Design and Experimental Results of an Active Suspension System for a High-Speed Pantograph

In high-speed trains, current collection from the overhead line is assured by an articulated suspension system called the “pantograph.” Contact wires and overhead line are flexible systems that are subjected to oscillations that have to be compensated for a satisfactory quality of current collection. In high-speed railway applications, this technical problem is very important since higher traveling speed involves higher oscillations of the catenary. A feasible solution to improve current collection quality is to optimize the dynamical response of the pantograph suspension system through an active or semiactive suspension system. The authors of this paper have worked and cooperated with a team composed of members of Trenitalia SPA (main Italian railway company), Italcertifer (an Italian R&D agency), and many Italian Universities (UniversitÀ di Firenze, Politecnico di Milano, UniversitÀ di Pisa, and UniversitÀ di Napoli) to the development of a prototype of an innovative railway pantograph for Italian high-speed lines. The authors have designed the layout of the control system (actuation system, sensors, drive and control algorithm, etc.). The proposed control strategy has been successfully calibrated with experimental tests. Testing procedures and experimental results are shown in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed solution and performances achieved by the first Trenitalia prototype, the T2006 pantograph.