The design was made in cooperation with Alstom Transport, which was looking for modern, compact, and reliable surge arresters for their new generation of trams called Citadis. The VARISIL™ range of polymer housed gapless products for 1 to 4,8 kV are used in trams, trolleybuses, and subways but they can be applied in overvoltage protection in low voltage DC (direct current networks), too.
Small But Powerful
Every day, millions of people use public rail transportation for their travels. Overvoltage may cause the transport equipment to fail, thus delaying the journey and making both users and operators unhappy, in addition to high repair costs.
Ensto’s VARISILTM HDC surge arresters are used to protect direct current equipment from overvoltage to save the expensive devices and ensure the availability of the transportation system – and to keep the schedules of us all. Even if the product is a small and cheap component in comparison to all other system devices, the role of it is without a doubt of great importance!
Worldwide Overvoltage Protection
Still today, every Citadis tram is equipped with VARISILTM HDC arresters all over the world: France, Belgium, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Mexico, Canada, USA, Korea, China, India, Australia… The products are sold to car manufacturers e.g., in Japan and to transportation system operators e.g., in Colombia. They are used both in substations and as direct current surge arresters in vehicles. Furthermore, there are many ongoing projects to study additional uses for these highly reliable, compact surge arresters that can be used for both fixed installations and rolling stock.
Overvoltage protection for rail traffic with VARISILTM HDC surge arresters:
- Suitable for both fixed installations and rolling stock
- High endurance to shock and vibration stress thanks to the fiberglass reinforced resin structure
- Compact design allowing easy integration
- High reliability proven in all weather conditions; from very cold to hot and humid
- Maintenance free.
Laurence Puigmal from Ensto's sales gives more infromation about railway surge arresters, contact laurence.puigmal@ensto.com.
