High-Speed Contact Performance of a Catenary-Pantograph System : An Experimental Study Using a Dynamically Scaled Model

A dynamically scaled model, which can quantitatively simulate a property at twice the testing speed, is used to clarify how the performance of the existing system deteriorates with an increase in speed, how it depends on the system parameters and how the system can be improved. The contact loss and stress of the contact wire become so large that it is considered impossible to realize a satisfactory current collection at a speed of 300 km/h without appropriate improvements. It is also found that these factors depend mainly on the wave propagating velocity of the contact wire and can be eliminated by introducing a higher-tensioned and/or a lighter contact wire.