Laboratory set-up for high-power cable-car applications

The power chain of a cable car has to meet special requirements concerning grid coupling and drive concept: On the grid side very low short-circuit power is available and on the drive side the bearable torque ripple is very low. Due to the long cable connections, the use of very line friendly line-side converter topologies and control concepts is a must. The minimization of the torque ripple is the main requirement of the speed-variable drive in order to guarantee safety and comfort issues. Further requirements are relevant in context of redundancy. In this paper, a power-chain topology for a cable car drive system is suggested which fulfils the introduced requirements. Furthermore, control concepts for both, line-side and driveside converters, are presented. A 200 kW laboratory set-up is presented.