How to Improve Power Quality in Railway Operations?

China’s subway network is expanding rapidly, and ensuring reliable power quality is crucial for the safe and efficient operation of subway systems. To address this, China Metro Corporation partnered with Strong Power to implement advanced power quality monitoring solutions at its substations.

Project Objectives:

  1. Continuous Event Tracing: Leverage continuous waveform recording technology to systematically track the origin of power quality issues, differentiating between upstream grid and downstream load-side factors, rather than relying on event-based triggers.
  2. Harmonic Compliance: Conduct harmonic studies in compliance with IEEE 519 standards to ensure grid stability and regulatory adherence.
  3. Comprehensive Power Quality Analysis: Monitor key power quality parameters, such as RMS, active power, reactive power, apparent power, and power factor curves, across the entire load cycle. The solution must also distinguish between capacitive and inductive loads.

Our Solution:

Strong Power proposed a robust solution featuring its advanced power quality analyzers equipped with continuous waveform recording technology. These analyzers capture and store high-resolution waveform data (up to 1024 samples per cycle) without needing trigger configurations or threshold settings, ensuring comprehensive and accurate long-term monitoring.

To meet the customer’s requirements, Strong Power installed eight analyzers across four substations, with each substation housing two analyzers focused on monitoring the 33kV outbound metro feeders. This strategic deployment provides real-time insights into power quality dynamics at critical points in the metro network.

The real-time monitoring capability enables proactive detection and resolution of power quality issues, improving operational efficiency, ensuring grid stability, and enhancing the reliability of subway services. Through continuous analysis, the solution empowers China Metro Corporation to optimize its power infrastructure for the growing demands of the subway system.