- Traction drives
- Auxiliary converters
- AC & DC power supply systems
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In July 2018, a Dragon 2 locomotive equipped with SiC converters from Medcom was presented on the track of the Railway Research Institute in Żmigród. After a little more than five years, the 50th vehicle of this series rolled off the production line of Newag, a company based in Nowy Sącz, Poland.
Dragon 2 is Europe’s first 6-axle electric locomotive that is fully compliant with the Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI 2014) and equipped with a Level 2 ETCS. The vehicles are equipped with silicon carbide (SiC) converters supplied by Medcom, which ensure trouble-free operation at high temperatures and reduce noise levels, energy losses by 50%, and the size and weight of the equipment by 60%. In addition to the converters, Medcom supplies 2 traction inverters and battery chargers for the Dragon 2 locomotives. The 50th Dragon 2 locomotive rolled off the production line earlier this year.
“Dragon 2 is the first Polish locomotive equipped with power electronics using the silicon carbide technology. Thanks to SiC power modules, new algorithms, the latest processors and software, but also the experience of our engineers in the optimization of the mechanical design of the converters, we have created a compact product with an efficiency of up to 96%. This value is impossible to achieve in a comparable product of this type that is based on silicon,” said Piotr Wroński, vice president of Medcom. “We are extremely happy that, together with the previous agreements, including a huge contract with Akiem, Newag can already claim with pride that it has received more than a hundred confirmed orders for single-system and multi-system Dragon locomotives. We look forward to many more years of successful cooperation in this area with our partner from Nowy Sącz,” he added.
The main strength of Dragon 2 is its very high tractive effort, which, combined with the locomotive’s large weight, effective anti-slip system, and all-axle drive, makes it possible to pull heavy freight trainsets. Each locomotive is equipped with a set of two fully redundant Medcom converters with a capacity of 175 kVA each. In order to make optimal use of the liquid cooling system and the space, the DC/DC blocks of the converters manufactured for Newag are mounted in containers, together with the traction inverters, and the DC/AC blocks of the converters are placed in a separate container with forced air cooling.