Development and applicability test of fast charge/discharge system for DC 1500V railway vehicles

By using energy storage technology, which is attracting attention as an element technology of the 4th industry, the energy required for train driving can be quickly charged at the station and the regenerative energy generated during braking can be stored as much as possible, so station-fast-charging method has emerged. The fast charge/discharge system, which is a key electronic component of this method, must reflect the characteristics required to be applied to railway vehicles, such as weight and size restrictions due to on-board installation, interface with high power energy storage packs, and energy transfer according to operation patterns. Accordingly, this paper introduces the development case of the first 1500V fast charge/discharge system for railway vehicles and proposes an applicability test method using an actual vehicle that can confirm whether the actually manufactured fast charge/discharge system satisfies the required characteristics of station-fast-charging railway vehicles.