subject: How Does Traction Drive Work For Railways [print this page] Railways are one of the more popular modes of transport in todays society because they are fast, affordable and efficient. Motors are essentially the heart of such vehicles and parts like servo controller and traction ensure that your locomotive gets the right kind of torque. This article speaks about the uses of traction motor for railways.
So what exactly is a traction motor? The word traction means to pull or haul, so this motor is mainly used for locomotives, golf carts, lift trucks, elevators, etc. This provides primary rotational torque, which is usually converted into linear motion. Also known as gear box, it is known to have mounting features, temperature sensors and wiring terminals that aid the mounting of the motors in a vehicle. The motors may be brush or brushless, AC induction or based on an AC servo control system.
A traction drive aids in getting precision and speed that is ideal for electrical vehicles like trains that need better control, which may not be provided by internal combustion engines. This motor is used by engineers to improve the stability, safety and appropriate controlling of the motor torque.
Earlier, a traction motor was a simple piece of equipment that had a series-wound brushed DC motors and used approximately 600 volts. The traction drive had three-points suspended between the bogie frame and the drive axle. However, a portion of the motor's weight was unsprung, which increased the forces on the track leading to an issue. Now, thanks to high-powered semiconductors, this has become simpler and more practical.
DC motors were in use for a long time after the older technology. These consisted of two parts: a rotating armature and fixed-field windings surrounding the rotating armature mounted around a shaft. The armature had a set of coils wound around a central shaft and connected to the field windings through brushes. These were spring-loaded contacts pressing against an extension of the armature called the commutator, which collected all the terminations of the armature coils and provided them in a circular pattern to ensure correct sequence of current flow. These motors were then followed by brushless servo controls and other systems, along with hybrid ones.
Thus, today we may see that exceptional levels of speed and increased amounts of torque are provided to the railways, regardless of the size of load and capacity.
