High-Power Railway Battery Chargers Designed for Train Manufacturers

Bel Power Solutions, a Bel group company, has introduced the LBC series, a ruggedized battery charger consisting of two or three parallel independent AC-DC converter modules employing PFC stage and isolated DC-DC stage to convert the 3-phase input voltage 400 / 480 VAC (line to line) to a bus voltage suitable for 110 V battery charging for decentralized railway applications. Rolling stock and train manufacturers will realize greater flexibility to distribute weight more efficiently away from the traction inverters, pantograph and auxiliary converter, with which historically it was integrated.

The system includes a DSP for control and monitoring. Rack dimensions are 347/406 by 600 by 166 mm / 13.7/16 by 23.6 by 6.5 inches (2-3 PSU inside the shelf with control unit and distribution). Two or three parallel independent units (4 kW each) inside the shelf with active current sharing are used, safeguarding reliability and providing partial redundancy of the system. The PSU includes DSP, which enables monitoring of electrical parameters (including input voltage of all 3 phases) and control of the PSU from the system controller. Flexible communications are built-in, including CAN bus and Ethernet.

LBC series is designed to meet railway standards EN 50155, EN 50121-3-2, EN 45545 and NFPA 130, and custom solutions can be configured for a variety of railway and industrial applications.