AMOtronics Saturn Series

The Transient Recorders and Measurement Satellites of AMOtronics’s SATURN series offer a proven solution for complex measurement tasks in distributed power systems having differing reference voltage potential. The technique is used during e.g. homologation testing of railway vehicles. The goal: Find frequencies in the vehicle’s return current that can disrupt train detection systems by signal interferences or overlays.

The train is one of the safest means of transportation. This is also ensured by fully automated safety features such as train detection. These safety systems continuously check whether a vehicle is on the track and warn if the route is not free. The rails are as well used as transportation media for communication as for conducting the return current of electrically supplied trains. The power electronics of modern locomotives could unintentionally disturb the communication systems by signal interference and overlapping. Therefore each type of vehicle has to pass interference current tests before qualification. These tests ensure that the multiple mega watt drives operate outside the critical frequency ranges.The noise-sensitive measurements are even more challenging when multiple locomotives are coupled together to form a train. The current must then be measured in parallel in several vehicles. Differences in voltage potential of several hundred volts can be found between the measuring points, so that there is no unique reference potential available.