IEC 63438:2024
(Main)Railway applications - Fixed installations - Protection principles for AC and DC electric traction power supply systems
Railway applications - Fixed installations - Protection principles for AC and DC electric traction power supply systems
IEC 63438:2024 applies to the electrical protection system, provided for AC and DC electric traction power supply systems. It:
– establishes railway specific protection principles;
– describes the railway specific protection system functionality;
– specifies minimum functional requirements and informative examples of their application;
– establishes limitations of the protection system and the acceptability of residual risks;
– specifies principles for design verification.
This document is applicable to:
– railways;
– guided mass transport systems, such as tramways, elevated and underground railways, mountain railways, trolleybus systems, and magnetically levitated systems which use a contact line system.
This document can also be applied to electrified road traffic with a contact line, such as truck-trolley systems.
This document applies to new electric traction power supply systems and can be applied to changes of existing systems.
This document does not apply to:
– underground mine traction systems;
– cranes, transportable platforms and similar transportation equipment on rails, temporary structures (e.g. exhibition structures) in so far as these are not supplied directly or via transformers from the contact line system and are not endangered by the traction power supply system;
– suspended cable cars;
– funicular railways;
– magnetic levitated systems (without a contact line system);
– railways with an inductive power supply without contact system;
– railways with a buried contact system that is required to be energized only below the train to ensure safety.
This document does not cover:
– technical requirements for products, e.g. protection devices;
– rules for maintenance of protection systems.
Applications ferroviaires - Installations fixes - Principes de protection pour les réseaux d’alimentation de traction électrique à courant alternatif et à courant continu
La CEI 63438:2024 s'applique au système de protection électrique prévu pour les systèmes d'alimentation électrique de traction électrique à courant alternatif et continu. Il:
– établit des principes de protection spécifiques aux chemins de fer ;
– décrit la fonctionnalité du système de protection spécifique au chemin de fer ;
– spécifie les exigences fonctionnelles minimales et des exemples informatifs de leur application ;
– établit les limites du système de protection et l'acceptabilité des risques résiduels ;
– spécifie les principes de vérification de la conception.
Ce document s'applique à :
- les chemins de fer;
– les systèmes de transport de masse guidés, tels que les tramways, les chemins de fer aériens et souterrains, les chemins de fer de montagne, les systèmes de trolleybus et les systèmes à sustentation magnétique qui utilisent un système de lignes de contact.
Ce document peut également s'appliquer au trafic routier électrifié avec ligne de contact, comme les systèmes camions-chariots.
Le présent document s'applique aux nouveaux systèmes d'alimentation électrique de traction électrique et peut être appliqué aux modifications des systèmes existants.
Ce document ne s'applique pas :
– les systèmes de traction pour les mines souterraines ;
– les grues, les plates-formes transportables et les moyens de transport similaires sur rails, les structures temporaires (par exemple les structures d'exposition), dans la mesure où ceux-ci ne sont pas alimentés directement ou via des transformateurs par le système de lignes de contact et ne sont pas mis en danger par le système d'alimentation en énergie de traction ;
– téléphériques suspendus ;
– funiculaires ;
– systèmes à sustentation magnétique (sans système de ligne de contact) ;
– les chemins de fer avec une alimentation inductive sans système de contact ;
– les chemins de fer dotés d'un système de contact enterré qui doit être mis sous tension uniquement sous le train pour garantir la sécurité.
Ce document ne couvre pas :
– exigences techniques pour les produits, par ex. dispositifs de protection;
– règles de maintenance des systèmes de protection.
General Information
Standards Content (Sample)
IEC 63438 ®
Edition 1.0 2024-12
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
Railway applications – Fixed installations – Protection principles for AC and DC
electric traction power supply systems
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IEC 63438 ®
Edition 1.0 2024-12
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
Railway applications – Fixed installations – Protection principles for AC and DC
electric traction power supply systems
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 45.060.01 ISBN 978-2-8327-0063-1
– 2 – IEC 63438:2024 © IEC 2024
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 4
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 7
3 Terms and definitions . 7
4 System to be protected . 14
4.1 Description . 14
4.2 Interfaces . 15
4.2.1 Infeed . 15
4.2.2 Rolling stock . 15
4.2.3 Electrical installations fed by the electric traction power supply system . 16
5 General principles . 16
5.1 Objectives . 16
5.2 System requirements . 17
5.2.1 General . 17
5.2.2 Protection reliability methods . 18
5.2.3 Load discrimination . 19
5.2.4 Speed of protection . 20
5.2.5 Selectivity of protection . 20
5.2.6 Economic feasibility . 20
5.3 Description of the protection system . 20
5.4 Fault and abnormal conditions . 21
5.5 Protection concept . 22
6 Specific requirements of different systems . 23
6.1 General . 23
6.2 AC systems. 24
6.2.1 Power conversion infeed . 24
6.2.2 Busbar infeed . 24
6.2.3 Line feeder . 25
6.2.4 Switching station feeder. 27
6.2.5 Autotransformer . 28
6.3 DC systems . 28
6.3.1 Power conversion infeed . 28
6.3.2 DC busbar infeed . 29
6.3.3 Line feeder . 30
6.3.4 Switching station feeder. 31
6.3.5 Frame leakage protection . 31
6.4 Overview of protection reliability methods . 31
7 Limitations and residual risks . 33
8 Design verification . 34
Annex A (informative) Examples of protection schemes . 35
A.1 General . 35
A.2 Description of the structure of the protection scheme examples . 35
A.3 Protection scheme examples . 36
Annex B (informative) Example of a protection concept for a 25 kV line section . 41
B.1 Overview. 41
B.2 Protection concept . 41
B.3 Interfaces . 42
B.4 Fault conditions . 42
B.5 Clearance times . 42
B.6 Main protection functions . 42
B.7 Reliability methods . 43
B.8 Selectivity of protection . 43
B.9 Grading time requirements . 43
B.10 Coordination requirements . 43
B.11 Maintenance requirements . 43
B.12 Protection device structure . 43
B.13 Operating sequence . 45
Annex C (informative) Example of a protection scheme for a 25 kV line section with
automatic changeover section . 47
C.1 General . 47
C.2 Function of a changeover section . 47
C.3 Fault condition of neutral section . 48
C.4 Duration of removing fault on neutral section . 49
C.5 Main protection function for changeover section. 49
C.6 Reliability methods for changeover section . 49
Bibliography . 50
Figure 1 – Electric traction power supply system and its interfaces . 15
Figure 2 – Example of a protection system. 21
Figure 3 – Example for single protected line sections. 26
Figure 4 – Example for a grouped protected line section . 26
Figure 5 – Example for an extended protected section of an additional line feeder of a
short section by bridged section insulation . 27
Figure A.1 – Key for protection scheme, example of protected section 'busbar' . 35
Figure A.2 – Example of a protection scheme for AC 50 Hz electric traction power
supply systems without busbar infeed circuit-breaker . 36
Figure A.3 – Example of a protection scheme for AC 50 Hz electric traction power
supply systems with busbar infeed circuit-breaker . 37
Figure A.4 – Example of a protection scheme for AC 16,7 Hz electric traction power
supply systems with busbar infeed circuit-breaker . 38
Figure A.5 – Example of a protection scheme for DC electric traction power supply
systems with busbar infeed circuit-breaker . 39
Figure A.6 – Example of a protection scheme for DC electric traction power supply
systems with regenerative power absorbing equipment . 40
Figure B.1 – System single line diagram . 41
Figure B.2 – Scheme functional diagram of feeder breakers A1 and A2 . 45
Figure B.3 – Typical scheme sequence diagram – Fault on Feeder A. 46
Figure C.1 – Example of protection scheme for AC system with changeover section . 47
Figure C.2 – Example of switching sequence on neutral section passing system with
changeover switchgear . 48
Table 1 – Overview of reliability methods . 32
Table 2 – Limitations of protection systems and generic residual risks . 33
– 4 – IEC 63438:2024 © IEC 2024
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
RAILWAY APPLICATIONS – FIXED INSTALLATIONS –
PROTECTION PRINCIPLES FOR AC AND DC ELECTRIC
TRACTION POWER SUPPLY SYSTEMS
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international
co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To this end and
in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications, Technical Reports,
Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referre
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