Saft Nickel-Cadmium Battery Systems Provide Onboard Back-Up Power for Siemens TS New Generation of Eurosprinter
10 October 2007 11:06
Siemens Transportation Systems is using Saft MATRICS MRX nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) integrated rail battery systems to provide reliable, onboard back-up power with optimised Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for its new Eurosprinter family of multi-system electric locomotives.
The Saft MRX battery systems have been installed on the Austrian Federal Railways (OBB) Eurosprinters - including the world's fastest locomotive (Rh 1216 050-5) that set a world record in September 2006 of 357km/h. Saft MRX battery systems also feature on Eurosprinter projects for Slovenia State Railways and Portuguese Railways Caminhos de Ferro Portuguese.
The Siemens Eurosprinter family is a versatile electrical vehicle concept that encompasses both heavy freight locomotives and those suited for fast passenger service. The 50 Eurosprinters operating with OBB as Class Rh 1216 are a new type of locomotive that combines the multi-service capability of the service-proven Class 189 freight locomotives used by German Rail with the heavy duty performance of the Taurus bogies designed for OBB. They are Europe's first high-speed, high-power locomotives capable of operating in both AC and DC networks. 20 of the same type of Eurosprinter locomotive are also operating with Slovenian Railways (SZ) as the Class SZ 541.
The on-board 110 V battery system plays a vital role on the Eurosprinter locomotives as it has to provide up to two hours of back-up power for the entire control and communication systems and emergency lighting as well as supporting the auxiliary compressor (used to raise the pantograph during start-up). Most importantly, even if the charging system should fail, the battery has to have sufficient capacity to provide this support independent of its state of charge.
Saft MATRICS MRX batteries provide the ideal solution for the Eurosprinter as they have been purpose-designed to deliver maximum performance and reliability and optimised TCO in rail applications. In this particular application they are projected to have a service-life of over 15 years, so will only have to be changed once during the expected 30-year life of the locomotive.
The MATRICS MRX design is also extremely reliable and does not suffer from the 'sudden death' which can affect some batteries, even in extreme temperatures ranging from -30° to +70°C. They also show a major size and volume advantage compared with conventional batteries and feature an integrated water filling system. This is particularly important for the operator as it enables all the cells to be filled from one central point, substantially reducing the battery maintenance requirements by enabling cells to be topped-up quickly, safely and accurately, maximising the battery's useful life.
Saft supplies the Eurosprinter batteries to Siemens as a fully integrated 110 V system, housed in a custom-designed stainless steel box for installation below the train floor, complete with connectors and ready to 'plug and play'. Each system comprises 80 MRX cells, in two groups of 40. Depending on the specific application either MRX80 (80 Ah capacity) or MRX100 (100 Ah capacity) cells are specified.
For more information on this company:
Saft - Nickel-Cadmium Batteries for Mass Transit Applications
Copyright 2008SPG Media Limited a subsidiary of SPG Media Group PLC
