Increasing the energy efficiency of the multi-motor traction electric drive of an electric locomotive for railway quarry transport

The improvement of the energy efficiency of an electric locomotive for railway quarry transport with a multi-motor traction electric drive while disconnection of the traction electric motors has been investigated. Mathematical models of the movement of the train on the track section and during manoeuvring, as well as the model of the energy exchange processes in the traction electric drive, which are used to perform the traction task when the train moves on the track section, have been developed. Through mathematical modelling, the calculation of energy during movement on the track section was performed with all connected and partially disconnected electric motors. When part of the electric motors are disconnected, the energy consumption is reduced by 10% for the cargo half-passage, and by 27% for the empty direct passage. The reduction of energy consumption with disconnected electric motors during manoeuvring has been noticed. The obtained results confirm the expediency and necessity of conducting research aimed to increase the energy efficiency of the multi-motor traction electric drive of an electric locomotive for railway mining transport. (c) 2023 Karabuk University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).