Energy Efficient Architecture of Power Supply for Field Devices and Controllers of the RFI Computer-Based Interlocking

This paper aims to present an innovative and high efficiency solution for the power supply system of Field Devices alongside the railway. The main purposes of this research work consist in reducing electrical energy consumption and, consequently, carbon emissions related to its production and increasing the reliability of the power supply system, adopting cutting-edge power conversion topologies and last generation wide band-gap (WBG) power devices. The proposed architecture is based on a Distributed Power System (DPS) with an intermediate DC bus and Field Device Controllers (FDCs). The different sections of this power supply architecture are described, focusing on their design and the tasks they have to perform. The results of experimental tests are presented and discussed focusing on the measured efficiency, that is larger than 98% for each power converter of the DPS.