Energy management of traction power substations on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system

Abstract

The Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Light Rail System (LRT) is unique among all other Light Rail Transit Systems in North America because it employs a real time, Energy Management Demand Metering System (EMS) to monitor and control traction power load.This system has been provided to reduce the cost impacts of demand billing imposed by the local electric utility. The fundamental requirement of the EMS is to predict the occurrence and timing of maximum peak loads and remotely control the power contributions from traction power substations to optimize the overall demand balance of each utility metering point. Figure 1 shows the EMS display for the south end of the DART LRT system. 0-7803-55334/99/$10.00 8 1999 IEEE

Optimal placement of rectifier substations on DC traction systems

“…In addition, there are some traction systems whose substations are directly connected to the local electric utility company network and, therefore, those substations are subjected to demand billing. In those cases, higher the contracted demand, higher the costs [9]. An optimal load sharing would better distribute the total demand among the traction substations and also would reduce the peak demand on heavier loaded substations.…”

Simulação do sistema de tração elétrica metro-ferroviária.

“…A carga em uma subestação, em um certo período de tempo e para um dado headway, pode se aproximar ou exceder a demanda contratada. Para minimizar o impacto desta demanda, as contribuições das subestações podem ser redistribuídas,direcionando a carga excedente para as subestações que não estejam na condição de demanda máxima (load shifting) (Griffiths;Sanders, 1999).…”

“…Um exemplo de aplicação é o sistema de VLTs pertencente ao DART (Dallas Area Rapit Transit) nos Estados Unidos (Flowers, 1995) e (Griffiths;Sanders, 1999).…”