SERVING THE WORLD’S RAILWAYS

Designed, Innovated and Manufactured to replace conventional Mechanical and Reed Relay based APC receivers

Now approved for use on all25kV Locomotives and EMUs.

Certificate NumberPA05/2950

At the intersection of two power distribution areas there is a short distance where the two ‘feeds’ are very close together. As the power for each of the feeds comes from different supply networks, it is important to keep them separated - and this gap between them is called the ‘neutral section’. Here there is no power supplied to the vehicle, which ‘coasts’ through. When the pantograph disconnects from one and then reconnects to the other, there is chance that the power will arc from the supply cable to the pantograph, causing damage to both.

The EAPC Receiver by Unipart Rail is triggered by a track-mounted magnet to open a circuit breaker to stop the traction unit from taking power from the first cable BEFORE it disconnects from the cable, and then from a second magnet to close the circuit breaker AFTER it has reconnected with the other cable.

This eliminates the arc potential.

The receiver has two mutually exclusinve 110VDC outputs designated ‘North’ and ‘South’ (or ‘Normal’ and ‘Operate’). An active North is the ‘Normal’ running condition of the unit. The presence of a trackside magnet causes the APC receiver to assume its ‘Operate’ state with an active South output. Returning the the ‘Normal’ state (active North output) is achieved through the ‘REset’ input’. The default state of the APC Receiver upon power-up is ‘Normal (active North

The track side magnets are mounted on specially extended bearers which place them to the outside of the rails. These are duplicated on each side of the track to allow for two-way running of vehicles. The position is calculated from the maximum permissible line speed.

As the vehicle approaches the neutral section the first magnet triggers the mechanism inside the receiver and the receive switches to its ‘operate’ mode. This then causes the control box to open the circuit breaker within 150ms of the magnet

detection, terminating the drawing of power from the overhead line or third rail. The vehicle will them immediately apply a reset pulse to the Reset input of the receiver, causing it to revert to its ‘Normal’ state.

The vehicle can now pass through the neutral section with the main circuit breaker open and the receiver in the ‘normal’ state.

After the neutral section the vehicle will reach the position of the second pair of APC permanent magnets (the same distance as the first pair). The APC receiver on the vehicle will pass through the magnetic field produced by one of the magnets. The receiver will detect the presence of the magnetic field and change its state from ‘Normal’ to ‘Operate’.

The main circuit breaker will close within 150ms of the receiver detecting the presence of the trackside magnet. The vehicle will immediately apply a reset pulse to the Reset input of the Receiver, and it will revert to its ‘Normal’ state.

The system consists of:

EAPC Receiver (train borne)

Control Unit (train borne)

Magnets (track side)

All components are compliant to:

Variants

We have developed receivers to perform the same function, but in different housings to suit the local requirements of the fleets. For Australia, we developed a more compact version to fit around existing equipment.

Plug Coupling

All our received are available with either plug couplers or hard-wired variants. Plug couplers are used to make the maintenance/repair process faster and simpler.

Conduit & Flex

The APC Receiver can be supplied either with a PMA flexible conduit or an Adaptaflex - Super Low Fire Hazard flexible conduit with Stainless steel Overbraid. A range of lengths are available to suit the installation.

Reset

A 40V or 110V reset option is provided, as specified by the customer.

What the EAPC receiver does

How it’s done

System Components & Compliance

Receiver Features

Visit www.unipartrail.com for details of our Worldwide Regional Offices

Copyright © U

nipart Rail. July 2014

Unipart Rail (Infrastructure)

Gresty Road, Crewe, Cheshire CW2 6EH

Tel: +44 (0)1270 847 600 Fax: +44 (0)1270 847 601email: enquiries@unipartrail.com

About UnipartThe Unipart Group is a leading UK manufacturer, full service logistics provider and consultant in operational excellence. Operating across a range of market sectors, including automotive, manufacturing, mobile telecoms, rail, retail and technology, Unipart offers a breadth of services to a wide range of blue chip clients internationally.