ABB recently localized the production of traction motors for urban rail vehicles in Shanghai, as the latest initiative to deepen its localization strategy. The first batch has passed the routine and type tests. Adopting ABB's global quality standards, the "made-in-China" traction motors are tailor made based on customers' requirements so as to meet China's fast-growing market demands for urban transport.
As new-style urbanization has been promoted in China in recent years, the convenient and environmentally friendly urban mass transit is growing rapidly. According to the 13th Five-Year Plan, China will build 1-hour commuter circles between the central cities of metropolitan areas and key surrounding cities and towns, continue to improve the rail transit networks in megacities, as well as connect the urban mass transit lines for cities with a population over 3 million in the next five years, adding another 3,000 km to the existing urban mass transit infrastructure.
As one of the core technologies of urban rail vehicles, traction drive determines the vehicles' power quality, energy consumption and control features to some extent, and also has impact on their economy, comfort and reliability. Traction motor is an integral part of traction drive system. The electric energy obtained by vehicles from railway catenary or contact rail is converted into kinetic energy through traction motors and mechanical transmission devices, generating forward traction force or backward braking force.
To better support the development of China's rail transit, ABB decided to set up a traction motor production line in Shanghai in early 2015, so as to meet the growing market demand for rail transit equipments with compact, reliable, low-noise and low-vibration traction motors. Furthermore, with profound expertise in motor technologies for more than one century and extensive experiences in rail transit traction motor application, ABB provides tailor-made motor design and production based on different operating environments and technical requirements.
For example, considering the limited installation space in 100% low-floor streetcars and the special terrain, ABB offered compact traction motors with strong climbing ability for Wuhan East Lake High-Tech Development Zone's modern streetcars. After an in-depth research into its carrying capacity, the distance between the stations and station dwell time, ABB designed motors that deliver the highest power level of 230 kilowatts and meet the all-electric braking requirement for Shanghai Metro Line 17. ABB's traction motors have also been deployed in many other local projects, including Guangzhou Metro Line 9, Nanjing Metro Line 1, Shenzhen Metro Line 4, Shenyang 100% low-floor modern streetcars, Blue Silicon Valley Line R1 of Qingdao Subway, modern streetcars of Wuhan East Lake High-Tech Development Zone and Shanghai Metro Line 17.
In addition, ABB plays an active role in overseas projects of Chinese companies, helping them accelerate the pace of "go global". In Izmir of Turkey, Tangshan Railway Vehicle Co., Ltd., CRRC Corporation Limited gained an order for designing and manufacturing 95 light-rail trains for the city's Light Rail II. The project has strict requirements for traction motors' compactness, heat dissipation, dust prevention and damp-proof abilities, material grade and mechanical strength of spare parts. To meet such requirements, ABB optimized the design of the traction motors to help Tangshan Railway Vehicle Co., Ltd. expand Turkey's rail transit market.
As a global leading supplier in urban rail transit, ABB has been vigorously promoting the localization of its entire value chain, including manufacturing, R&D and engineering service, for many years to better serve the Chinese market. At the end of 2010, ABB founded ABB Micro-union Traction Equipment Ltd. in Guangzhou, which focuses on rail vehicle traction systems for China market. In 2014, ABB set up the Rail Transit System R&D Center in Guangzhou, in order to stay closer to the market and respond rapidly to customers' demands for innovative rail vehicle traction systems.
ABB is a leading global technology company in power and automation that enables utility, industry, and transport & infrastructure customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in roughly 100 countries and employs about 135,000 people. ABB has a full range of business activities in China, including R&D, manufacturing, sales and services, with 18,000 employees, 40 local companies, and an extensive sales and service network across 147 cities.
For more information on ABB, please visit http://new.abb.com/cn, Sina Weibo: @ABB China, Official WeChat Account: abb_in_china, Official WeChat QR Code:
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