Analysis of rail potential and stray current in MVDC railway electrification system

In contrast to the conventional direct current railway electrification system(DC-RES),the medium voltage direct current(MVDC)-RES is considered promising for long-distance high-speed corridors.In the MVDC-RES,traction substations(TSSs)are placed much farther and train loads are much heavier than in the conventional DC-RES.Hence,the MVDC-RES brings a drastic change in catenary voltage,TSS spacing,and train loading,which affects rail potential and stray current.In this connection,this work performs some significant quantitative analysis of rail potential and stray current in the MVDC-RES environment.An MVDC simulation model is proposed and different grounding schemes are analyzed for a single-train and two TSSs scenario as well as for a multi-train multi-TSS scenario.According to the simulation and analysis,the maximum values of rail potential and stray current at MVDC-RES distances and the maximum safe distance between adjacent TSSs are determined.

Effects of Shielding Coatings on the Anode Shaping Process during Counter-rotating Electrochemical Machining

Electrochemical machining （ECM） has been widely used in the aerospace, automotive, defense and medical industries for its many advantages over traditional machining methods. However, the machining accuracy in ECM is to a great extent limited by the stray corrosion of the unwanted material removal. Many attempts have been made to improve the ECM accuracy, such as the use of a pulse power, passivating electrolytes and auxiliary electrodes. However, they are sometimes insufficient for the reduction of the stray removal and have their limitations in many cases. To solve the stray corrosion problem in CRECM, insulating and conductive coatings are respectively used. The different implement processes of the two kinds of coatings are introduced. The effects of the two kinds of shielding coatings on the anode shaping process are investigated. Numerical simulations and experiments are conducted for the comparison of the two coatings. The simulation and experimental results show that both the two kinds of coatings are valid for the reduction of stray corrosion on the top surface of the convex structure. However, for insulating coating, the convex sidewall becomes concave when the height of the convex structure is over 1.26 ram. In addition, it is easy to peel off by the high-speed electrolyte. In contrast, the conductive coating has a strong adhesion, and can be well reserved during the whole machining process. The convex structure fabricated by using a conductive iron coating layer presents a favorable sidewall profile. It is concluded that the conductive coating is more effective for the improvement of the machining quality in CRECM. The proposed shielding coatings can also be employed to reduce the stray corrosion in other schemes of ECM.

Research on conductive-material-filled electrodes for sidewall insulation performance in micro electrochemical machining

In micro electrochemical machining(ECM)processes,stray corrosion causes undesired metal dissolution and the deterioration of shape accuracy.Adopting a sidewall-insulated electrode is an effective approach to suppressing stray corrosion.Most sidewall-insulated electrodes are made of metal substrate and non-metallic thin films.Nevertheless,the thin-film insulating materials attached to a metal substrate are susceptible to damage in an electrolytic environment.This study presents a novel concept of the conductive-material-filled electrode for better sidewallinsulation performance.The micro-scale quartz tube serves as the insulating substrate.Commercially available conductive fillers including metal wire,molten metals,and silver powder are filled inside the working cathode of the quartz tube.Consequently,the metal-wire-filled electrode,moltenmetal-filled electrode,and nano-powder-filled electrode are designed and fabricated.From the verification results of electrode toughness,material removal rate,and surface topography,the metal-wire-filled electrode and moltenmetal-filled electrode exhibit the same performance as a traditional metal-based electrode and much better durability.By contrast,the nano-powder-filled electrode is unable to withstand long-term ECM processes because of the loss of cured powder particles.In ECM experiments,microstructures with steep sidewalls(taper angle<9.7°)were machined using the metal-wire-filled electrode and molten-metal-filled electrode,which could replace the traditional electrode,achieving a longer service life and superior sidewall-insulation performance.

Electrochemical trepanning with an auxiliary electrode

Electrochemical trepanning(ET)is one of the main methods for processing the blisks in aero-engines.However,stray corrosion in ET has a very negative impact on the machining quality of the blades.This paper proposes an innovative ET method with an auxiliary electrode surrounding the inner wall of the cavity above the cathode.Two-dimensional electric-field models are established and simulations are carried out with the auxiliary electrode at different positions and different electric potentials.The electric-field simulations show that adding the auxiliary electrode reverses the directions of the current lines in the processed area,thereby protecting it.The results show that when the distance from the bottom of the auxiliary electrode to the top of the cathode tool is 3 mm and the potential difference between the auxiliary electrode and the anode workpiece is 5 V,the area corroded by stray current is decreased.Experiments are performed under the parameter values determined by the simulations,and they confirm that this method is effective at reducing stray corrosion.Specifically,at a feed rate of 2.5 mm/min,the blade taper angle is decreased from 1.37°to-0.09°,the thickness of the leading and trailing edges is increased from 0.307 mm to 0.704 mm,and the average surface roughness is decreased from S_(a)=8.239μm to S_(a)=7.028μm.

Electrochemical machining of a convex strips structure on a revolving part by using site directed power interruption

Revolving parts with complex surface structures are widely used in machinery and mechanical equipment. The ECM process provides its adequacy to cut hard materials with different shapes, and its applications are widely increased, due to its outstanding advantages. In this paper, a new method for machining a convex strips structure on a cylinder by using site directed power interruption（SDPI） in the ECM process is presented. A variable correction value of the power-off time was defined and optimized to obtain the ideal interval for better machining accuracy and stability.The electric field distribution and the simulated convex profiles show that the stray current density can be reduced effectively by using the proposed method. The correction value has an important influence on the machining accuracy. A suitable correction value in the range of 0.6–1.2 s can effectively improve the machining accuracy of the convex strips structure. Experiments were also conducted to verify the proposed method. Results have confirmed that the stray corrosion on the convex strips surface is significantly reduced and the machining accuracy of convex strips structure is remarkably improved by using the proposed method with a suitable correction value in the ECM process. Finally, a convex strip with a height of 2 mm on a thin-wall revolving part was also produced successfully using a correction value of 0.9.