Annotation:
The article discusses the issues of increasing the reliability, safety, and survivability of power supply for railway automation and remote control devices. The authors have analyzed failures in the automation and remote control facilities in recent years, estimated the proportion of device failures due to lightning overvoltages, and highlighted an upward trend in the railway automation and remote control failures due to switching and lightning overvoltages. The design of modern uninterruptible power supply devices is provided with a description of the main structural units. Methods are proposed for the implementation of active protection for power supply of railway automation and remote control by introducing the thunderstorm locating functionality into the technical diagnostics and monitoring system. This solution will enable registration of hazardous thunderstorm activity and maintaining the devices' serviceability and efficiency, and will ensure the continuity and safety of the transportation process, which will help reduce damage incurred due to hazardous electromagnetic effects, including lightning overvoltages. The article suggests synchronizing the thunderstorm location system with the existing lightning detection networks through the Internet, a global computer network, as well as the option of installing a single-point lightning detector at an electrical interlocking post.
Key words:
Railway automation power supply systems, atmospheric overvoltage, electromagnetic effects, a system for technical diagnostics and monitoring of thunderstorm activity, an active protection method