SMARZ

Smart Dampers for Overhead Contact Lines

Description

The design and prototyping activity for a new generation of dampers for electrical conductors followed two parallel and simultaneous development lines: one for spacer dampers (SD) for overhead power transmission lines and another for the railway dropper damper (RDD). Officina F.lli Bertolotti had two objectives:

1. Completing the validation of the SD for the Italian market;
2. Completing the validation of the RDD for the Italian market.

Result to be enhanced

The results of the theoretical study of the RDD – railway damping dropper – on the pantograph-catenary contact for a double pantograph train, as specified by the new version of the sector standard, showed an enormous effectiveness of the RDD in dampening the vibrations induced by the first pantograph on the second, which completely eliminates the problem of contact loss and thus in fact introduces a remarkable technological improvement, such that it can be expected to increase the speed of transport on the currently existing lines.

Why is it important?

The product has a potential market ranging from high-speed lines to ordinary transport, but it is not limited to this. An analysis of the technological status conducted on the road freight transport sector opens up the possibility of extending the technology developed for the railway sector into a new field. Many companies are engaged in R&D projects for new eMobility solutions, which aim to significantly reduce CO2 emissions caused by road freight transport. For example, a technology developed provides hybrid trucks with electricity captured from an overhead line via a pantograph, halving energy consumption and substantially reducing local air pollution. Several field tests have been conducted in Germany, Sweden and the United States. In Germany, it has been planned to equip 300 kilometres of motorways with overhead contact lines by 2023 and electrify a total of 4,000 kilometres by 2030 to achieve the climate target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector by 40 per cent. The similarities between the issue addressed in the SMARZ project for the realisation of the RDD and the technical characteristics of the solution mentioned above (i.e. overhead contact line-pantograph) are evident. Officina Fratelli Bertolotti is also moving in this direction to present its technology to the companies that are developing these solutions, with the aim to verify whether the RDD can improve the safety and/or wear of the catenary system.  The greatest effort remains obviously focused on presenting the potential of the current tech solution to the many European railway companies. Indeed, the excellent results demonstrated by the RDD suggest that the speed of passenger trains on existing lines could be increased. The effects of such an improvement would directly affect the transport economy of the entire sector, by shortening the travel times due to the increased speed, but would have a direct and difficult-to-quantify impact on all industrial sectors for which rail freight transport is required, as it would shorten delivery times for goods. For this reason, SNCF has already shown interest in the study of a solution dedicated to freight transport, which could lead to the production and validation of new prototypes based on the different types of catenary installed on the lines.