The great season of railway electronic drives

The article provides an overview of the steps taken by electronic drives for railway vehicles, from the first steps of the '70s to the gradual diffusion up to the total affirmation of today, highlighting the confrontation of very different technological solutions, in fierce competition between them. Alternatives not only referring to the choice of power circuits (voltage-source or currentsource inverters, single-stage or two-stage converters, two-level or three-level), but also the type of electric traction motors (synchronous or induction, single or double star), the cooling systems of power converters (oil, natural or deionised water). The evolution of power electronic components (thyristors, GTO, IGBT) and that of the components and the electronic control circuits for the converters (from the wired logic to the microprocessors) had great influence. The conclusions show the differences between the situation at the time and the current phase of technology.