The DB Class E 410 locomotive of the German Federal Railways (DB), also known as DB Class 184, was one of the first four-current electric locomotivesMulti-system vehicles, i.e., rolling stock capable of operating on railway networks with different electrification systems, are divided into the following types:
"dual voltage," capable of operating with current of the same nature (direct or alternating) at two different voltages (for example: dual voltage locomotive at 1.5 and 3 kV=, dual voltage locomotive at 16 and 25 kV 50 Hz); "bifrequency", suitable for operating with alternating current at two different frequencies (for example: 15 kV Hz bifrequency locomotive and 25 kV 50 Hz); "bi-current", capable of operating indifferently with direct current at a given voltage or alternating current at a given voltage and frequency (for example: bi-current locomotive at 1.5 kV= and 25 kV 50 Hz); "polycurrent," capable of operating indifferently with direct current at different voltages and alternating current at different voltages and frequencies. This includes the vehicles: "three-current" (for example: three-current locomotive at 1.5 kV=, 3 kV= and 25 kV 50 Hz); "four-current" (for example: four-current locomotive at 1.5 kV=, 3 kV=, 15 kV Hz and 25 kV 50 Hz).
Cf provided for international services from Germany to France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Since those rail networks used different electrification systems from the one adopted by German railways, in order to eliminate the downtime generated by the need for traction unit changes at borders the DB central officesBZA: abbreviation for Bundesbahn-ZentralÄmter (central offices of the federal railways). in Munich, in cooperation with the German railway industry, built five prototype four-current locomotives all equipped with Krupp mechanical parts.
Of them, three were built with an electronically driven traction circuit made by Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG) and two with a conventionally driven circuit made by Brown Boveri & Cie (BBC).
The units designed and built by AEG, for the first time in the history of machines intended to cross "electric frontiers," were equipped with thyristor electronic converter electrical equipment..
The locomotives were delivered between 1966 and 1967 forming the E 410 group, renamed 184 under the new unified classification adopted by DB in 1968. Nicknamed "Europa-Lok," they underwent extensive trials, in Germany and on the networks of other European countries including Italy, and were then used on various domestic and international routes (including those of some Trans Europ Express trains) until the end of the twentieth century.
Background In the early 1960s, the development of power electronics, and in particular thyristors, also known as "silicon controlled diodes" or SCRs,SCR: stands for Silicon Controlled Rectifier demonstrated the possibility of overcoming the space and mass problems that had hitherto slowed the introduction of multi-system traction vehicles.The multi-system vehicles of the first generations used ignitrons or excitrons as rectifiers. Cf Ugo Cantutti, Il treno, in Il mondo della tecnica, under the direction of Gustavo Colonnetti, vol. 4°, Turin, UTET, 1962, p. 31..
Notable among the multi-system vehicles of the generation before the introduction of power electronics were the cases of the French railways (SNCF), which had locomotives powered by two, three or four types of current,. and the four-current TEE electric train of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) RAe 1050 that regularly travelled to Paris and Milan..
Design and construction The E 410 electric locomotives (later Group 184) of the German Federal Railroad (DB) came into being with the aim of eliminating downtime for changing traction vehicles at the borders with the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France, whose rail networks used different electrification systems from that adopted by the German railways..
Based on the experience gained with the three prototype bifrequency locomotives equipped with silicon rectifiers constituting the E 320 01,In 1981, locomotive 182 001 (formerly E 320 01), which had already been shelved by the DB, was granted for use to AEG-Telefunken, which mounted on it at its own expense an experimental equipment with three-phase motors that it intended to develop mainly for foreign networks with single-phase 25 kV 50 Hz power supply, but which could also be tested on the German 15 kV Hz network. With the transformation, carried out by AEG in Munich Freimann, the locomotive was equipped with a bogie with two three-phase motors with a total rated power of 2 870 kW, while the original motors in the other bogie were excluded from the traction circuit. On the occasion of the conversion, 182 001 was repainted in the red, beige and pearl gray color scheme. Cf Notizie flash in I treni oggi, 2 (1981), no. 13, p. 7. 11, and 21.In 1968 the three prototypes E 320 01, 11 and 21 were reclassified into the 182 group as 182 001, 011 and 021 respectively. Cf . Later Group 182 was reused by Deutsche Bahn AG to classify the 25 15 kV Hz and 25 kV 50 Hz ES 64 U2 locomotives put into service in 2001-2002. Cf . groups that ran service from 1960 on the Homburg-Saarbrücken-Forbach-Metz route, electrified in Germany at 15 kV Hz and in France at 25 kV 50 Hz, the DB central offices in Munich developed with German industry the design of a new family of electric multi-power locomotives that included: the bifrequency locomotives E 310 (later Group 181), planned to run under the 15 kV Hz alternating current electrified networks of German railways (DB) and 25 kV 50 Hz of French (SNCF) and Luxembourg (CFL) railways; the four-current locomotives E 410, which were also planned to run under the 1.5 kV direct current electrified networks of the Dutch railways (NS) and 3 kV of the Belgian railways (SNCB).
The aforementioned locomotives were also capable of operating under the overhead catenaries of other countries where they were not expressly scheduled to run, namely the 15 kV Hz alternating current electrified networks of the Swiss (SBB) and Austrian (ŐBB) railways and, limited to the E 410s, the 1.5 kV direct current electrified networks of the French (SNCF) and 3 kV electrified networks of the Italian (FS) railways..
The E 410 locomotives, which according to Bachman "essentially was to be a multi-current version of the DB's successful E10 (later BR 110) class," known as the "Europa-Lok," were ordered in 1963. and built between 1966 and 1967 in five examples with the mechanical part made by Krupp and the electrical equipment supplied by Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG) and Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC)... These locomotives, accepted by the DB between 1967 and 1968, were reclassified in 1968 into group 184.
Other goals of the project included having machines capable of providing the same performance as DB Group 110 locomotives.
In addition to the four-current locomotives E 410 001-003, Krupp and AEG produced the four prototype bifrequency locomotives E 310 001-004 in 1966, which were accepted in 1967 by the DB and reclassified in 1968 into subgroups 181.0 and 181.1..
Mechanical part The design of the mechanical part was particularly complex because of the objectives and constraints imposed during specification:. limit in-service mass to 84 tons; fall within the international gauge limit; mount electrical equipment from AEG and the BBC indifferently.
An extremely light chassis structure and a particularly careful design of the electrical part were used to contain the mass, achieving the goal with a deviation of less than 3% (86000 kg for locomotives with AEG electrical part and 85 400 kg for those with BBC equipment).
The constraints generated by the international gauge limit, which was 300 mm lower in height than the German gauge limit,. and the interchangeability of the electrical part were met by designing a coupling system between the body and bogies that would allow the floor level of the driving cabs to be lowered as much as possible and by recessing the main transformer deeply into the floor.
In addition, to facilitate maintenance work, the central area of the crate, intended to contain the electrical equipment, was divided into three individually removable elements on the shop floor.
Coloring All "Europa-Loks" were delivered in the "steel blue" color scheme, then standard for DB fast passenger train electric locomotives, extended to the roof for the first time, while the chassis and bogies were painted in a new shade of gray..
During the first general overhaul, some locomotives were repainted in the new "ocean blue-beige" color scheme, notably 184 002 in June 1986 and 184 003 in July of that year.
Electrical part The electrical part of the E 410 001-003 (later 184 001-003) locomotives was made by AEG making use of power electronics for the first time, while the E 410 011-012 (later 184 111-112) were prepared by BBC using traditional electromechanical technology.
Common components The electrical components common to the two series were mainly housed on the locomotive's roof, where the pantographs and their connecting line, the main disconnector and the main switch for alternating current were located; the extra-rapid switch for direct current, which had to operate with currents up to 2000 A, was instead placed in the engine room because its large size prevented its housing on the roof.
Finally, in the turret on the roof were housed the resistors for electric braking.
Pantographs Having to circulate on the electrified networks of different railway administrations on which there were overhead contact lines with very different geometrical and mechanical characteristics (e.g., laying height, polygonation and material of the catenary, position of the supporting brackets in relation to the contact wire, maximum force that could be impressed on the contact wire by the pantograph),Differences in contact line cross-section and pull, and consequently those in the width and materials of the contact strips and pantograph pressure on it, were and are one of the major constraints to interoperability. Cf Leonardo Micheletti, Sulla trazione elettrica ferroviaria, in La tecnica professionale, n.s. 19 (2012), no. 4, pp. 13-19. which required the use of different types of pantographs, a compromise solution was adopted involving the use of four single-arm pantographs, two of which were identical to each other...Pagina dei lettori, Europa difficile, in Itreni, 18 (1997), n. 186, pp. 12-13.
The specialization of the pantographs, numbered from 1 to 4 starting from locomotive cab 1, is summarized in the following table: Pantographs 1 and 4 Pantograph 2 Pantograph 3 Railway network NS SNCF SNCB DB ŐBB FS FFS SNCF Type of electrification 1,5 kV = 3 kV = 15 kV ~ 3 kV = 15 kV ~ 25 kV ~ Contact strip type quadruple double double Contact strip width 1 950 mm 1 900 mm 1 460 mm Contact strip material hard coal coal steel The pantographs were connected in parallel with each other with a line designed with insulation for the voltage of 25 kV.
To select the type of power supply, the engineer operated the button corresponding to the rail network under which the locomotive was located, and the control system, once verified that the voltage on the pantograph matched the selection made, automatically configured the traction circuit appropriately..
On the shunting bench, in addition to the selection buttons for the countries in which the locomotive operated daily, there were also buttons for the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and Austrian Federal Railways (ŐBB) networks, on which the locomotive was not scheduled to run in commercial service.
Repetition of signals in the vehicle