Influence of the Crosswind on the Pantograph Arcing Dynamics

As one of the most important electrified railway components, the pantograph-catenary (PC) system plays a key role in the energy transfer for the train through the sliding electric contact. However, the performance of the PC system is severely limited by pantograph arcing, and the study on the dynamic characteristics of pantograph arcing is still far away from satisfactory. In this article, a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model of pantograph arcing is first established, which focused on the impact of crosswind as well as the input current on the arcing dynamics. Once the model was validated by laboratory experiment, the influences of the crosswind and input current on the arc temperature and voltage are studied in detail. Two parameters, namely the diameter of the catenary and the gap distance between the pantograph strip and the catenary, were varied to see what effects that might have. An interesting periodic phenomenon for both the temperature and voltage fall has been found, which was explained based on the Karman vortex street of fluid theory.