Losses of Recovered Electric Energy in the Elements of a DC Electric Transport System

The regenerative braking is one of the most attractive ways for energy saving in electric transport. It has many advantages and its effectiveness is discussed in numerous researches, but there are no significant publications, which describe the power losses in the way of recovered current flowing. The paper describes an alternative method for estimating recovered energy losses in the elements of a DC electric transport system. In comparison with existing methods, it is based on the correlation theory of stochastic processes and takes into account the Fryze's concept for reactive power. The method is verified by the experimental researches, which are performed for the VL8, VL11M, VL11M6 locomotives, EPL2T multiple-unit train and T4D tram, which operate in DC sections, Ukraine. The losses are calculated for different elements of an electric transport system, and their theoretical and statistical distributions with basic probabilistic characteristics are shown. The results prove the validity and applicability of the method.