Railway battery charger with IP65 for desert

Demanding climatic environments require much more rigorous custom solutions to offer the customer the same reliability as other stable contexts.

A factor such as extreme temperature is a stress factor for all components and this is one of the most common challenges at Premium PSU we face.

We present this interview format, with the collaboration of Ignasi Bonet – Sales & Business Development Manager – where he explains one of his case studies in the railway sector. The product is a battery charger designed to run at temperatures between -40°C and 70°C.

PSU : Ignasi, Which were the customer’s objectives?

Our customer is a train manufacturer and they needed a battery charger with an IP65 protection rating (input 360 … 528VAC and output 16.8 … 30V and 250A), this charger is equipped on the trains that the manufacturer supplied to the state-owned company of the United Arab Emirates. This company is responsible for the administration and development of the country’s railway network and its subsequent management and operation.

We aim to cover all three-phase nominal supply voltages on the market, i.e. 400Vac, 440Vac and 480Vac, with a single product. The output is for 24Vdc NiCd batteries, which are precisely those of these trains (specifically the NiCd 20 cells 220Ah SAFT SRX 220 FR or NiCd 20 cells 160Ah SAFT MRX 120).

In addition, we also plan to complete the range with a 10kW model for 110Vdc batteries very soon.

PSU :What problems did they want to solve?

They needed a solution with a competitive price but at the same time robust enough to guarantee its good performance in the highly demanding conditions required in the desert, where erosion and temperatures are extreme. Also, they wanted to improve the efficiency and power factor of the chargers they previously used in similar applications.

PSU : What is the application for our product? Where is it installed or located?

The battery charger [BTS10k-0836] is mounted directly outside, underneath the train frame to power its NiCd batteries. That means exposing fully to the very high temperatures of the desert.

PSU : Why did they choose Premium PSU’s customized solution?

We offered a product that met all their technical needs, with a competitive price and reasonable lead times. We also assured them of a 30-year supply of the product.

Finally, they were interested in having a versatile product that we could supply in different IP ratings and with an extended temperature range of -40 to 55˚C/º70˚ C, so they could put it into other future projects.

PSU: How has Premium PSU impacted the customer objectives?

They have a much more versatile, modern and efficient battery charger, with a power factor of 0.94 that allows them to adjust both the cable cross-section and the thermal protection thermal gauge of the equipment. All this with a more than reasonable MTBF of 91kh at 40˚C and MTBFS of 102kh at 40˚C and a service life of 30 years. Otherwise, they have been able to incorporate other functionalities that they considered important such as:

– Battery SOC (State Of Charge).
– Maintenance port for accessing the event log
– CAN BUS communication

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