Schienentriebfahrzeug

摘要

An electric rail vehicle for DC operation has conducting running wheels and a single-pole current collector feeding a circuit which is connected to the track earth via a return current path insulated from the vehicle body and at least one wheel. There is an earth protection node (7) on the body, going to earth via at least one wheel. There is a rectifier element (13) between the return current path (8) and the earth protection node, with the conducting direction being from the node to the path. The element is a high current semiconducting diode, with several others in parallel. The first-mentioned one is dimensioned electrically and thermally to handle the maximum earth fault current before the overcurrent protection trips.