Evaluation of the energy saving potential of a Power Electronic Transformer for rolling stock under 25kV, 50Hz

Nowadays, the rolling stock powertrains under AC supply have a bulky and heavy electromagnetic transformer. A possible solution to replace it could be the solid state transformer. In this paper we simulate the most representative French rolling stocks, on different services, in order to emphasize the energy gains obtained by the replacement of the classical transformer by an electronic one, under 25kV 50Hz. These simulations have been used to estimate the gains of an entire regional fleet for Alsace region (France). Important gains in energy (kWh) are highlight but they are not enough to have a good ROI (€) in France, without adding new value to the power electronic transformer functionality’s, as the mass and volume reduction, redundancy, reliability and easy switch between different voltage supply’s.