Flexible medium voltage DC electric railway systems

The overall aim of MVDC-ERS is to investigate the next generation railway electrification systems, DC power electronic traction transformers and technologies for integrating renewable sources, to challenge the traditional rail approach to develop innovative and breakthrough technological concepts.

Objectives

To introduce new high-efficiency topologies of power conversion systems to convert medium-voltage AC power into medium-voltage DC power with the capability of limiting the short circuit current.
To introduce high-power density topologies of power converters for on-board DC transformers.
To investigate the impact of the forthcoming wide band-gap semiconductor devices in terms of efficiency and voltage level for the converters of the feeder stations and in terms of weight and volume for the traction converters.
To understand how the new railway electrification system should be controlled and protected when renewable power sources are integrated.
To understand how on-board energy storage can be exploited and how it can optimise the operations of the network.
To work with industrial stakeholders to investigate the marketability of the new electrification system and trains.

Partners

Researchers

University of Birmingham

Dr. Pietro Tricoli, Project Coordinator, Supervisor of Mr Sina Sharifi

Contact details
Telephone: +44 (0) 121 414 3518
Email: p.tricoli@bham.ac.uk
Mr Sina Sharifi, PhD Student

Email: sxs1613@student.bham.ac.uk

Technical University of Cluj-Napoca

Professor Dorin Petreuș, Supervisor of Mr Izsák Ferdinánd Ferencz
Mr Izsák Ferdinánd Ferencz, PhD Student

Funding

This project has received funding from the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 826238. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the Shift2Rail JU members other than the Union.

Outputs

Publications

S. Sharifi, I. Ferencz, T. Kamel, D. Petreuș, P. Tricoli, “Medium-Voltage DC Electric Railway Systems: a review on feeding arrangements and power converter topologies”, IET Electrical Systems in Transportation.
Sina Sharifi and P. Tricoli, “Medium voltage DC (MVDC) railway electrification systems: Assessment of performance,” in World Congress on Railway Research 2022, June 2022.
Medium voltage DC (MVDC) railway electrification systems poster
Medium voltage DC (MVDC) railway electrification systems presentation
Ferencz, D. Petreus and T. Pătărău, “Small-Scale DC PETT Module Prototype for the Novel 25kV MVDC Electric Railway System (pre-print)”, 16th International Conference on Compatibility, Power Electronics and Power Engineering (CPE-POWERENG 2022), June 2022.
I. I. Ferencz, D. Petreus, "A Power Electronic Traction Transformer Model for a New Medium Voltage DC Electric Railway," Advances in Electrical and Computer Engineering, vol.21, no.3, pp.99-108, 2021.
II. S. Sharifi, T. Kamel, P. Tricoli , “Investigating the best topology for Traction Power Substations (TPSs) in a Medium Voltage DC (MVDC) railway electrification system,” in 2021 23rd European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications (EPE'21 ECCE Europe), August 2021.
III. S. Sharifi, T. Kamel, P. Tricoli , “Investigating the best topology for Traction Power Substations (TPSs) in a Medium Voltage DC (MVDC) railway electrification system,” in 2021 23rd European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications (EPE'21 ECCE Europe), August 2021, poster – dialogue presentation.
I Ferencz, D. Petreus, and T. Pătărău, “Comparative study of three snubber circuits for a phase-shift converter,” in 2020 International Symposium on Power Electronics, Electrical Drives, Automation and Motion (SPEEDAM), 2020, pp. 763–768.
I. Ferencz, D. Petreus, and P. Tricoli, “Converter topologies for MVDC traction transformers (pdf),” in 2020 IEEE 26th International Symposium for Design and Technology in Electronic Packaging (SIITME), 2020, pp. 362–367, doi: 10.1109/siitme50350.2020.9292214.
I. Ferencz, D. Petreus, and P. Tricoli, “Converter topologies for MVDC traction transformers,” in 2020 IEEE 26th International Symposium for Design and Technology in Electronic Packaging (SIITME), 2020, Posters: Poster 1; Poster 2; Poster 3.
I. Ferencz, D. Petreus, and P. Tricoli, “A Power electronic traction transformer for a medium voltage DC electric railway system (pdf),” in 2021 IEEE 44th International Spring Seminar on Electronics Technology (ISSE), 2021.
S. Sharifi, P. Tricoli, C. Roberts, “Flexible Medium Voltage DC Electric Railway System,” in Centre for Power Electronics (CPE) Annual Conference, July 2021, poster presentation”