EXPERIMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF ENERGY-SAVING DUE TO TRAINS REGENERATIVE BRAKING IN AN ELECTRIFIED SUBWAY LINE

The paper deals with the research activity conducted in order to deter mine the impact of regenerative braking techniques adopted on board of trains operating in subway electrified systems. Even though systems a dopting this technique are very diffuse world wide. experimental resul ts demonstrating the impact on energy consumption are rarely made avai lable for the scientific community. The paper reports the results of a n extensive experimental activity conducted on an electrified subway l ine in Rome, in order to estimate the energy saving due to the techniq ues above mentioned. Since the monitoring activity of the system deman d in absence of regenerative braking had to be limited to the traffic peak hours of only tno subsequent days. an available model, being able to simulate the instantaneous demand profile of DC electrified subway power systems, has been used in order to extend the numerical evaluat ions based on the experimental activity to a whole day of operation.