Formation Mechanism of Undulating Wear of Overhead Rigid Conductor Lines and Methods to Inhibit It

Abstract

Overhead rigid conductor lines are adopted in many subways, because a few wire breaks due to wear occur, and the space required for installation is small. However, when undulating wear occurs on sliding surfaces, arcs due to contact loss cause extreme wear of the contact lines and contact strips of pantographs. In order to investigate the formation mechanism of the undulating wear of overhead rigid conductor lines, we carried out precise measurements of the sliding surface unevenness, excitation tests of pantographs, theoretical analyses with a dynamic model and a questionnaire survey among domestic railway companies. This paper describes the mechanism of formation of undulating wear in relation to the mechanical impedance of the pantograph, and suggests methods to inhibit undulating wear, such as the installation of a side-wound contact wire, grinding of the sliding surface and pantograph design based on undulating-wear-inhibiting guidelines.