Development of the Structure for the Technical Implementation of the Modernized System for Automatic Regulation of the Capacity of the Compressor Unit at the Marshalling Yard

The article presents the results of the development and technical implementation of the automatic modernized system for the control of the compressor unit power at the existing marshalling yard. Existing compressor stations on railroad marshalling yards are equipped with automatic compressed air capacity control systems. Their operability and functioning ensured by traditional methods with a set of typical operations: starting/stopping the engine, connecting an additional “dead volume,” switching the compressor unit to idle and throttling. Taking into account the peculiarities of the technological process of work at the station and the hump, as well as modern requirements for energy saving in transport, the known control methods seem to be outdated and ineffective. In addition, these control methods do not exclude transient surges of currents and voltages, which significantly reduces the service life of compressor units. The article analyzes the existing methods and means of regulating the performance of compressed air in the compressor units of marshalling yards of railways. Because of the performed analysis, we proposed a frequency method for controlling the performance of a compressor station. To do this, the article proposes a block diagram of a frequency-controlled compressor station. Based on the block diagram, we developed the model of an automatic control system (ACS) with typical transfer links and a transfer function of the ACS. The article also proposes the conditions for establishing and adjusting performance indicators, as well as algorithms for their calculation. A feature of this model is the use of data based on monitoring information and the results of an analytical computational study. An algorithm developed by the authors for the formation of a predictive performance indicator of a compressor unit at an existing marshalling yard is proposed. The model makes it possible to evaluate the dynamic properties of the control system and, on its basis, present the principal model of the control system. The results of qualitative modeling confirmed the rational behavior of the proposed system. The control system described in the article allows you to adjust the performance of compressed air with a given accuracy, as well as ensure the safe start and stop of power units. This together reduces the economic costs of operating the station in the process of breaking up the train on the hump and servicing the plant. The described structure useful to synthesize the main units of the system for automatic control of the compressor unit (CU) performance and to model the system at the level of the principal model with values of electrical parameters that are close to real ones. This approach and implementation mechanism will make it possible to get rid of an expensive prototype in laboratory tests.