Commissioning and Measuring Braking Distances for Mauritius

Daniel Kramps. The Mauritius project is yet another tram assignment which HANNING & KAHL has implemented together with the Spanish company CAF. HANNING & KAHL supplied the brake equipment for 18 vehicles in total. These vehicles are low-floor, bi-directional trams with a length of 45m respectively.

Static commissioning took place in the Spanish city of Beasain in May. Each of the three motor bogies has four calipers of type YS 252 and a hydraulic unit HZY-K160-PR-NL. There are four calipers of type HYS 258 in the trailer bogie, a hydraulic unit HZY-K160-PR-NL and the large brake control unit HEY-1P4G. The mechanical and hydraulic components were inspected for correct installation and function with the HANNING & KAHL simulator. The electric interface between the brake control unit and the hydraulic unit was verified with the HANNING & KAHL diagnostic program “BMON_NET”, as was the interface to the vehicle controller. Commissioning was successfully completed in two days.

Dynamic commissioning followed in July on CAF’s newly constructed test line in the Spanish city of Corella. The objective was to test all braking states for correct function including special conditions, for example the failure of one or more electro-dynamic brakes. Another testing point was wheel-slide protection. Dynamic commissioning was also successfully completed in two days.

The project concluded at the end of July with braking-distance measurements on Corella test line in temperatures above 40°C. Prior to the measurements, a test matrix was set up and deceleration targets / braking distances were defined for the different braking states. The definition was based on EN13452-1 specifications and CAF stipulations. Tests were performed from different speeds for the various braking states including diverse failure scenarios. Each test case was performed three times, whereby the starting speed had to lie in a delta of +/- 3km/h of the defined speed.

Overall, it was vital that the measurements consisted of a good mix of deceleration with a high mechanical element and purely electro-dynamic deceleration in order to minimize the thermic strain on the brake discs. This was particularly important for the first phase when measurements were performed on a loaded vehicle.
Upon completion of the first measurements, 57 test runs had been successfully performed. The following week, the procedure was repeated with an empty vehicle.