An Uninterruptible Smart Electric Neutral Section Executer for AC Electrified Railway

The further development of high-speed and heavy-haul railways is restricted due to the existence of neutral sections. In order to address the power interruption and the speed loss caused by neutral sections, a modified auto-passing neutral section system based on thyristors for AC electrified railway, which is also named as uninterruptible smart electric neutral section executer (USENSE), is proposed in this paper. With the help of two additional transformers, the neutral section voltage is transferred more smoothly. Both the structure and control of the proposed USENSE are simple. Compared with the traditional thyristor-based scheme, the inrush current is avoided effectively and a very short power interruption time that can be neglected is achieved by USENSE. It helps to eliminate the influence of neutral sections on the train operation and promote the development of electrified railway. The working principle of USENSE is introduced in this paper and the feasibility and superiority is verified by simulation results.