The first four units of ABB’s TPR56-F turbochargers, installed in Chinese DF11G diesel locomotives, have successfully completed 900,000km in field operation, doubling the time between overhauls (TBOs) from the older VTC254-13 turbochargers, which the China State Railway began replacing in 2017 as part of an improvement plan.
Turbochargers are a critical component of diesel locomotives, which work in extreme conditions, where operating temperatures can exceed 600°C, while rotors run at tens of thousands of revolutions per minute.
Chinese diesel locomotive manufacturer CRRC Qishuyan had designed the DF11G locomotives, which originally used ABB’s VTC254-13 turbochargers, with a maximum speed of 170 km/h for the Z-series locomotives on the express passenger train route, enabled the passenger train outbound from Beijing in the evening will arrive in Shanghai in the morning for the first time.
Compared with the VTC series turbochargers, commonly used in locomotives, the TPR56-F turbocharger is a new generation of turbochargers designed and manufactured by ABB dedicated for the diesel locomotive market, and everything from structural design and production process to materials applications has been optimized.
Driving locomotive efficiency
Train engines that are equipped with TPR56-F turbochargers have lower engine thermal load, greatly improving reliability. ABB’s latest turbochargers can also significantly lower fuel consumption under 60 percent to 80 percent of the engine load.
Given the current operating ambient conditions of DF11G locomotives, each train could potentially save more than RMB 200,000 in fuel costs for every 900,000 km.
The lifetime of the rotors for the TPR56-F turbochargers are designed toreach 3,600,000 km, double that of the rotors in the VTC254-13 turbochargers.
The TPR56-F turbocharger optimizes the VTC series of insertable turbine disks into an integrated turbine disk design, greatly reducing the stress of the turbine disk and blades originating from the machining process. The use of new materials can greatly increase the lifetime of the turbine disks.
The updated compressor wheel and turbine improve the efficiency of the turbocharger, further reducing fuel consumption and emission of locomotives. The TPR56-F turbocharger’s bearing design with three oil wedges and squeeze film damper, offer high load capacity and shaft motion damping, decreasing wear while doubling the TBOs and lifetime.
Optimizing China’s railways
“With excellent performance, high reliability and longer TBO, ABB’s TPR series of turbochargers is poised to become the standard for the newly developed HXN and FXN locomotives in the Chinese railway market,” noted Allan-QingZhou Wang, country manager China, Turbocharging, ABB.
Currently, ABB has delivered more than 1,000 TPR56-F turbochargers to the Chinese market.
Usually diesel locomotives need to be overhauled every 300,000 km to 450,000 km to ensure optimum performance. ABB’s new TPR56-F turbocharger can go twice as far without the need for maintenance. This upgrade will help customers to fulfill the dream that turbochargers don’t require maintenance during the 900,000 km, and the temperature before turbine of the engine drops by more than 50°C.
In accordance with the “In China, For China” strategy and by leveraging the company’s world-leading turbochargers and localized services, ABB will continue to create more value for customers as a major contributor to the rapid development of China’s railways.
