Introduction
Established in 2004, the Institute of Power Electronics & Electric Traction (for short, the Institute of Power Electronics) is the main construction unit of the Electric Traction Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education. It has 18 teachers, including 8 professors (1 winner of the Excellent Youth Scholars of National Natural Science Foundation of China), 7 associate professors, 3 lecturers, and over 190 doctoral and master students.
In recent years, Institute of Power Electronics undertaken and completed more than 130 research projects, including National Key Technology Support Programs, National Key Research and Development Program of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Defense Science and Technology projects, and industrial research projects. It has established long-term close cooperation with industry and academia: in 2016, "CRRC Research Institute Green Power System Research Branch of Beijing Jiaotong University" was established; cooperated with Beijing Spacecraft Co., LTD, Beijing Jingyi Renewable Energy Engineering Co.Ltd, Beijing Jingyi Jingye Electrical Technology Co., Ltd. and more than ten well-known enterprises to establish the strategic industry-university-research alliance or partnership. The Institute of Power Electronics has carried out research work on the key technology of rail transit energy conversion, special customized industrial power supplies. Moreover, we obtain the research development funds by providing technical support for our partners, which also provide the internship and practice base for graduate training.
In recent five years, it has published more than 120 SCI/EI academic papers (2 ESI highly cited), 10 books, more than 30 authorized invention patents and more than 30 software Copyrights. It has won many provincial and ministerial science and technology progress awards, and cultivated more than 40 outstanding graduates and national scholarship students.
Research Direction
- Traction Drive Control System of Rail Transit
- Evaluation of Service Reliability and Operational Safety for High-Speed Railway Electric Traction System
- Special Customized Power Supply
- Electric Traction System Based on Wide Bandgap Power Semiconductor Devices
- Energy-Saving and Wireless Power Transmission Technology of Rail Transit.
Representative Results
（1）Traction Converter Control Technology for Heavy-Load Electric Locomotive
Developed the control system of traction converters (including four-quadrant rectifiers, traction inverters) and traction motors, auxiliary converter (composed of inverter, chopper, charger and overvoltage suppressor) and its control system for heavy-load electric locomotive. At present, the developed technologies have been successfully loaded in over 800 heavy-load electric locomotives produced by CRRC, such as HXD2C and HXD2.
（2）Traction Drive Control System of High-Speed Train
Participated in the development of the traction drive control system for high-speed trains, which was successfully applied to the 160km/h, 250km/h power-distributed EMU and 350km/h Fuxing high-speed EMU of CRRC, realizing the industrial application.
（3）Wayside Energy Storage System of Urban Rail Transit
Y&L LAB has been conducting research on urban rail transit energy storage and energy-saving technology since 2007. It independently developed the first set of 200kW urban rail wayside supercapacitor energy storage system in China, and completed the test verification on the Beijing Metro Wanliu Depot in 2014. On this basis, in cooperation with CRRC Qingdao Sifang Rolling Stock Research Institute, Beijing Metro, and Beijing Urban Engineering Design & Research Institute, the first set of MW-class urban rail wayside supercapacitor energy storage system in China was developed. In 2016, the operation test was completed on the Beijing Metro Batong Line, the average energy saving is more than 1,300kWh per day. This technology has been applied in subways of Beijing, Qingdao, Suzhou, and Wuxi, and has been expanded for port energy conservation. Based on the “Thirteenth Five-Year” National Key Research and Development Program, Y&L LAB has developed the world's first MW-class urban rail wayside supercapacitor/lithium battery hybrid energy storage system in cooperation with Beijing Metro. The device has been installed at Liyuan Station on the Beijing Metro Batong Line in 2020, the average energy saving is more than 15%.
（4）Technology of Ground-Charged Auto-Passing Neutral Section
A ground-charged auto-passing neutral section system based on combination switches——Smart Electric Neutral Section Executer (SENSE), adopts a combination structure of thyristors and high-voltage contactors to switch the neutral section voltage. It can not only avoid the issues of overvoltage, inrush current and electric arc, but also greatly reduce the system loss so as to lower the cost and the system volume. Meanwhile, a novel train positioning method based on the voltage and current information of traction network is proposed to directly locate the positions of all pantographs in the neutral section. This method ensures the safe switching of neutral section voltage and the length of neutral section is greatly shortened. As a result, the reliability of the auto-passing neutral section system is enhanced. The proposed SENSE could make the train pass the neutral section with power supply, which promotes the development of high-speed and heavy-load railways and improve the comprehensive benefits of railway transportation.
（5）Urban Rail Transit Stray Current Mitigation Solution
DC Auto-Transformer (DCAT) and Zero Resistance Converter System (ZRCS) based traction power supply system were proposed to mitigate the stray current issues in urban rail transit. The new solutions may solve the rail potential and stray current from the source, thus reducing the line voltage and power loss. In addition, DCATs can also be used as energy storage device to recycling the regenerative braking energy of trains.
(6) High Power Vehicle-mounted Power Electronic Traction Transformer
With a Power Electronic Traction Transformer (PETT) as the core, a new lightweight, energy-efficient electric drive system with excellent dynamic and static performance can be established, which allows replacing the traditional power frequency transformer and represents the future development direction of on-board electric drive system. It has taken the lead in the research on key technologies of high-power on-board PETT in China. The institute is the first to complete the main circuit parameters design, device selection, and control system design of the 2.24MW on-board PETT suitable for 25 kV/50 Hz power supply network. Besides, the institute has presided over the national key research and development project "Research and Application of Power Electronic Transformer and Its Control Strategy -- Key Technology Research of Secondary Power Supply" (2017YFB1200901-09), which realized the research achievement transformation in CRRC Zhuzhou Institute, CRRC Yongji, and other companies.
Configuration and Setup of High-Power Vehicle-mounted Power Electronic Traction Transformer
（7）High-Power Electric Arc Heater Power Supply
A 126MW power supply for electric arc heater of high-voltage and high-power arc heater is developed, which is the largest capacity arc heater power supply in China. It has been in operation for 7 years with stable performance. The system has been used to test the aerothermal performance of man kinds of spacecrafts such as Shenzhou series spacecraft, satellites, strategic missiles.
（8）Power Conditioning Unit for Spacecraft
A power conditioning unit for spacecraft is developed, which can convert solar energy into electrical energy, and store, transform and adjust it, so as to supply uninterruptible power to each subsystem of spacecraft. The device is one of the core components of the spacecraft.
（9）Applications of Wide Band Gap Semiconductor Devices
The research includes applied of wide band gap semiconductor devices, such as SiC (silicon carbide), GaN (gallium nitride), in UAV, laser, traction converter and other industrial power systems.
