IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v18y2025i5p1028-d1595649.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Research on the DC Ice-Melting Model and Its Influencing Factors on the Overhead Contact Systems of an Electrification Railway

Author

Listed:
  • Guosheng Huang

    (School of Electrical Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
    China Railway Construction Electrification Bureau Group Co., Ltd., Beijing 100043, China)

  • Mingli Wu

    (School of Electrical Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China)

  • Jieyi Liang

    (School of Electrical Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China)

  • Songping Fu

    (China Railway Construction Electrification Bureau Group Co., Ltd., Beijing 100043, China)

  • Fuqiang Tian

    (School of Electrical Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China)

  • Xiaojuan Pei

    (China (Beijing) Railway Construction Electrification Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd., Beijing 100043, China)

  • Qiujiang Liu

    (School of Electrical Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China)

  • Teng Li

    (School of Electrical Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China)

Abstract

The overhead contact system of the electrification railway is exposed to the natural environment throughout the year and is liable to encounter the problem of line icing. The icing on the line will reduce the current-collection performance of the pantograph, resulting in a decrease in the safety and reliability of the overhead contact system. It is an effective way to solve the icing problem by using the Joule heat generated by the DC in the conductor to melt the ice. In this paper, the multi-physics simulation software COMSOL is used to construct the finite element simulation model of the overhead contact system unit composed of a contact line, catenary wire and dropper. The model covers the physical processes such as convective heat transfer between conductor and air, heat conduction between overhead contact system and ice layer during ice melting, and considers the latent heat factor of ice melting. Under the condition of no icing, the actual data of several temperature points are measured under the applied current state of the overhead contact system, and the validity of the model is verified by comparing the simulated temperature data with the measured data. On this basis, the effects of ambient temperature, ice thickness and current on ice melting were studied using simulations. The results show that the ambient temperature has a significant effect on the ice-melting speed. Under 10 mm ice thickness and 2 m/s wind speed conditions, the time to start melting ice increases from 2 to 60 min until the ice cannot be melted as the ambient temperature decreases from −1 °C to −25 °C. Various initial conditions for ice thickness and wind speed were analyzed. Under the condition of no ice, the temperature rise of the contact wire and the catenary wire increases significantly with the current increase. When the current increases from 500 A to 2000 A, the temperature rise of the contact wire increases from 9.08–9.25 °C to 214.07–218.59 °C, and the temperature rise of the catenary wire increases from 6.88–7.01 °C to 173.43–177.13 °C. In addition, there is an optimal ice thickness range for the ice-melting process. When melting ice at −1 °C and −5 °C, the optimal ice thickness ranges are 4–8 mm and 1–4 mm, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Guosheng Huang & Mingli Wu & Jieyi Liang & Songping Fu & Fuqiang Tian & Xiaojuan Pei & Qiujiang Liu & Teng Li, 2025. "Research on the DC Ice-Melting Model and Its Influencing Factors on the Overhead Contact Systems of an Electrification Railway," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-20, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:5:p:1028-:d:1595649
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/5/1028/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/5/1028/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hao Pan & Fangrong Zhou & Yi Ma & Yutang Ma & Ping Qiu & Jun Guo, 2024. "Multiple Factors Coupling Probability Calculation Model of Transmission Line Ice-Shedding," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-24, March.
    2. Yanpeng Hao & Zhaohong Yao & Junke Wang & Hao Li & Ruihai Li & Lin Yang & Wei Liang, 2019. "A Classification Method for Transmission Line Icing Process Curve Based on Hierarchical K-Means Clustering," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Jiazheng Lu & Jun Guo & Zhou Jian & Yihao Yang & Wenhu Tang, 2018. "Resilience Assessment and Its Enhancement in Tackling Adverse Impact of Ice Disasters for Power Transmission Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-15, August.
    4. Jianlin Hu & Xingliang Jiang & Fanghui Yin & Zhijin Zhang, 2015. "DC Flashover Performance of Ice-Covered Composite Insulators with Parallel Air Gaps," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-17, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guolin Yang & Yi Liao & Xingliang Jiang & Xiangshuai Han & Jiangyi Ding & Yu Chen & Xingbo Han & Zhijin Zhang, 2022. "Research on Value-Seeking Calculation Method of Icing Environmental Parameters Based on Four Rotating Cylinders Array," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-17, October.
    2. Jun Guo & Tao Feng & Zelin Cai & Xianglong Lian & Wenhu Tang, 2020. "Vulnerability Assessment for Power Transmission Lines under Typhoon Weather Based on a Cascading Failure State Transition Diagram," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Huaizhi Wang & Xian Zhang & Qing Li & Guibin Wang & Hui Jiang & Jianchun Peng, 2018. "Recursive Method for Distribution System Reliability Evaluation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-15, October.
    4. Xiangxin Li & Ming Zhou & Yazhou Luo & Gang Wang & Lin Jia, 2018. "Effect of Ice Shedding on Discharge Characteristics of an Ice-Covered Insulator String during AC Flashover," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-11, September.
    5. Jingjing Wang & Junhua Wang & Jianwei Shao & Jiangui Li, 2017. "Image Recognition of Icing Thickness on Power Transmission Lines Based on a Least Squares Hough Transform," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-15, March.
    6. Dongli Jia & Zhao Li & Yongle Dong & Xiaojun Wang & Mingcong Lin & Kaiyuan He & Xiaoyu Yang & Jiajing Liu, 2025. "Restoration Strategy for Urban Power Distribution Systems Considering Coupling with Transportation Networks Under Heavy Rainstorm Disasters," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-18, January.
    7. Zhiwei Wang & Xiao Ma & Song Gao & Changjiang Wang & Shuguang Li, 2023. "Impact of the Operation of Distribution Systems on the Resilience Assessment of Transmission Systems under Ice Disasters," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-27, April.
    8. Xingbo Han & Xingliang Jiang & Zhongyi Yang & Conglai Bi, 2018. "A Predictive Model for Dry-Growth Icing on Composite Insulators under Natural Conditions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-16, May.
    9. Bao, Minglei & Ding, Yi & Sang, Maosheng & Li, Daqing & Shao, Changzheng & Yan, Jinyue, 2020. "Modeling and evaluating nodal resilience of multi-energy systems under windstorms," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    10. Jiazheng Lu & Pengkang Xie & Zhenglong Jiang & Zhen Fang & Wei Wu, 2018. "Voltage Distribution and Flashover Performance of 220 kV Composite Insulators under Different Icing Conditions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-13, March.
    11. Wang, Chong & Ju, Ping & Wu, Feng & Pan, Xueping & Wang, Zhaoyu, 2022. "A systematic review on power system resilience from the perspective of generation, network, and load," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    12. Guangquan Zhang & Xueqin Zhang & Bo Wang & Yujun Guo & Guoqiang Gao & Guangning Wu, 2022. "Study on the Discharge Characteristics along the Surface and Charge Movement Characteristics of Insulating Media in an Airflow Environment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-19, May.
    13. Adriana Mar & Pedro Pereira & João F. Martins, 2019. "A Survey on Power Grid Faults and Their Origins: A Contribution to Improving Power Grid Resilience," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-21, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:5:p:1028-:d:1595649. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.