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Re: "Regenerative braking,maybe Max has an answer.
Author: Max Wyss
Date: 04-23-2016 - 15:27
Thanks for that lookup.
I had a little chuckle when reading the UtilityDive article. They claim that regenerative braking "has been around for about a generation". In fact, it has been around for about 5 generations. In fact, the very first three-phase electrifications (such as Valtellina, or the whole network in northern Italy) had regenerative braking "for free", and they date back into the late 19th century. Single-phase AC electrifications had it also very early (although it is a bit more complicated than 3 phase); the Lötschberg line opened in 1913, and the very first locomotives (the famous Fb5/7) already had regenerative braking. And the more signature Gotthard electrification (1920) used locomotives with regenerative braking (among them the famous Crocodiles (Ce 6/8).
The article is insofar right that regenerative braking for light rail applications became available in the late 1980s, mainly with the evolution of semiconductor-based drives.
I had a little chuckle when reading the UtilityDive article. They claim that regenerative braking "has been around for about a generation". In fact, it has been around for about 5 generations. In fact, the very first three-phase electrifications (such as Valtellina, or the whole network in northern Italy) had regenerative braking "for free", and they date back into the late 19th century. Single-phase AC electrifications had it also very early (although it is a bit more complicated than 3 phase); the Lötschberg line opened in 1913, and the very first locomotives (the famous Fb5/7) already had regenerative braking. And the more signature Gotthard electrification (1920) used locomotives with regenerative braking (among them the famous Crocodiles (Ce 6/8).
The article is insofar right that regenerative braking for light rail applications became available in the late 1980s, mainly with the evolution of semiconductor-based drives.
