A drive system for raising or lowering a sliding piece of a current collector for rail vehicles. The sliding piece is disposed on a positioning device of the current collector, and the sliding piece is configured to be brought into contact with an overhead line using contact pressure. The drive system includes a bellows drive which is actuated by compressed air to actuate the positioning device, and a pneumatic control unit having a control valve for supplying or withdrawing compressed air to/from the bellows drive. The drive system includes a detection line and a lowering valve for venting the bellows drive when pressure drops in the detection line, the lowering valve being a 3/2-way valve disposed in a pneumatic supply line between the control valve and the bellows drive.

The invention relates to a contact unit and to a method for steering electric arcs on a contact unit, in particular for supplying vehicles with power via an overhead wire (20), the contact unit comprising a sliding contact device (19), the sliding contact device having a contact strip support (21) and a contact strip (22) disposed thereon, the contact unit having a steering device (24) for electric arcs (25) which is disposed on the contact unit, the steering device being provided with a magnet (30).

A device (100) for transmitting an electrical current between two elements that are movable relative to each other, by a strip (30) containing carbon, which extends in a longitudinal direction and is designed to rub against one of the elements so as to transmit an electrical current, the transmission device including: a strip holder (6), and bearing structure (10) designed to exert force on the strip (30), which urges same against the holder (6), the force being transverse relative to the longitudinal direction, wherein the bearing structure (10) and/or the holder (6) are shaped so as to occupy only a portion of the length of the strip (30) in the longitudinal direction.

A slidable current collector has an array of terminals with carbon brushes for contacting conductor rails to deliver electrical power to a moving work machine. The terminals have upper sections with a conductive post, lower sections that include a reservoir of liquid metal, and bladders that connect the upper sections with the lower sections. Magnets surround outer shells of the terminals. Fluid above a threshold pressure fed into the bladders holds the upper sections apart from the lower sections and forces the magnets away from the conductor rails. Fluid below the threshold pressure allows the magnets to clamp the terminals to the conductor, lowers the conductive post into the liquid metal, and urges the carbon brushes against the conductor rails. The bladders provide a fluid suspension distributed across the array of terminals, enabling consistent electrical contact and wear for the carbon brushes.

A current collector for a rail vehicle intended for international transport includes a support bringing two contact strips into electrically conductive contact with a contact wire on the roof of the rail vehicle. Each contact strip has a first length and a contact strip extension at each end. Each contact strip extension is rotatably mounted and connected to a respective end of the contact strip. In a first position the contact strip extensions are hinged inwards, such that a resulting total length of the contact strip with the associated contact strip extensions corresponds to the first length of the contact strip. In a second position, the contact strip extensions are hinged outwards, such that the resulting total length of the contact strip with the associated contact strip extensions corresponds to a second length of the contact strip which is greater than the first length.

A monitoring system for an electric vehicle that draws current from a conductor by means of a current collector that contacts a conductor in operation of the electric vehicle. The monitoring system includes a plurality of sensor modules throughout the current collector, wherein each sensor module comprises a plurality of FBG (Fibre Bragg Grating) sensors. Sensors of each module are arranged in a geometric pattern that compensates for temperature induced wavelength changes in the FBG sensors of each module. An optical source illuminates each sensor module and an optical coupler optically couples the optical source to each sensor module. An optical signal interpretation module receives optical signals from each sensor module wherein the optical signals are generated by the sensor modules in response to illumination of the sensor modules, wherein the interpretation module is configured to determine from the optical signals, a temperature-independent strain measurement for each sensor module.

The invention relates to a device for fastening a sliding element to a current collector or to a rocker mounted there, to draw electrical energy from an overhead contact line to an electrically driven vehicle. The device comprises a sliding element, a carrier, and a carbon contact piece arranged on the carrier, and a fastening point for fastening the sliding element to the current collector is formed between the sliding element and the current collector. At each fastening point between the sliding element and the current collector, a detent means is arranged on the side of the sliding element and, for each detent means, a receptacle for said detent means is arranged on the side of the current collector, wherein each detent means and the receptacle associated therewith are releasably brought into engagement with each other by inserting and locking the detent means in the receptacle.

The present invention provides a graphene copper pantograph pan material for high-speed trains and a preparation method thereof, and the pan uses graphene as a reinforcing material, copper and iron as base materials, coke powder and graphite fiber as self-lubricating wear-resistant materials, and titanium, tungsten and molybdenum as additives. After being uniformly mixed, all the components are directly formed by hot pressing. The pantograph pan prepared by the present invention has the advantages of favorable electrical conductivity, wear resistance, impact resistance, ablation resistance and the like, and has little wear to overhead lines. The pan not only has simple preparation process, but also has much better performance than the conventional carbon pans and metal impregnated pans. The pan material is not only suitable for pantograph pans for high-speed trains such as high-speed rails and bullet trains, but also suitable for electric contact materials for low-speed trains such as subways.

The invention relates to a device for fastening a sliding element to a current collector or to a rocker mounted thereto, to draw electrical energy from an overhead contact line to an electrically driven vehicle. The device comprises a sliding element, a carrier, a carbon contact piece arranged on the carrier, and a fastening point for fastening the sliding element to the current collector is formed between the sliding element and the current collector. At each fastening point between the sliding element and the current collector, a detent assembly is arranged on the side of the sliding element and, for each detent assembly, a receptacle for the detent assembly is arranged on the side of the current collector. Each detent assembly and the receptacle associated therewith are releasably brought into engagement with each other by inserting and locking the detent assembly in the receptacle.

The present disclosure relates to a novel high-performance repairable sliding plate of a pantograph of an electric locomotive and a manufacturing method thereof. The sliding plate includes a monometallic substrate and a conductive, wear-resistant, anticorrosion and self-lubricating coating integrated with the substrate. The coating is formed by plasma spraying CuTiO.sub.2 core-shell composite powder on the monometallic substrate directly, and includes the following components by mass percent: 60-70% of Ti.sub.4O.sub.7, 15-25% of Cu, 10-15% of Ti.sub.xO.sub.(2x1) and 5-10% of TiO.sub.2, where 5x10. The multifunctional composite coating is the working layer of the sliding plate of the present disclosure, and the damage of the coating can be repaired by plasma spraying with the composite powder, thereby recovering dimensional accuracy and service performance.