DB Class 120

The 120 series is an electric locomotive class of Deutsche Bahn AG. Considered the first series three-phase locomotive ( with electronic inverters) in the world and represents a milestone in the development of electric locomotives; they thus represented then the last state of development, the AC drive, in which in from the AC of the catenary traction converters of phase current is obtained to drive the asynchronous traction motors. Based on the technology of the 120 series mid-1980s developed the first ICE power cars.

• 2.1 The electrical equipment
• 2.2 The brake system
• 2.3 The cab
• 2.4 The safety device

• 4.1 Books
• 4.2 Magazines

History

The drive of the 120 series is based on the three-phase asynchronous motor, which is distinguished from ground- technical point of view against the Einphasenreihenschlussmotor by its significantly lighter weight, more compact dimensions and lower maintenance. He also tolerates even in stand high loads because it has no commutators.

Having already used 1899 three-phase fixed voltage and frequency of two - or three-pole overhead lines for the propulsion of rail vehicles, could be produced with modern semiconductor technology in the 1960s in the vehicle itself using frequency -phase current. The engine power is regulated directly by variable voltage and variable frequency. First experiences with the AC drive technology became the German Federal Railroad in 1971 with the diesel-electric testing platforms of the series EN 2500 by Henschel. From one of these locomotives, 202 002, the diesel engine and the generator had been removed, and the locomotive was coupled to a control wagon type BDnrf 740.2. The control car took over the power of the locomotive; time, he was specially equipped with a transformer and a current collector. In this way, a three-phase electric locomotive could be simulated.

The 1974/1975 experiments carried out with the team ran very successfully and showed that the desired in anticipation of lower maintenance costs and downtime universal locomotive was technically feasible. It was possible, which was desire and goal of the developers since the beginning of the locomotive design: The locomotive has the potential to replace all electric locomotives located at that time in use and carry any type of train, no matter how hard or how fast. Back in the early 1950s wanted to achieve this with the E 10 DB. With the AC drive but this was not then possible, leading to the splitting in express train (E10 ) and freight locomotive ( E40/E50 ) led. The prospect of a general-purpose locomotive in 1976 led to the development contract for the BoBo electric locomotives of the series 120 consortium were BBC for electrics, and Krauss -Maffei, Krupp and Henschel for the vehicle part.

1976 was put into service with the Henschel E 1200 a first small series of three-phase locomotives for mines and port paths of the Ruhr coal AG. The findings of these six locomotives flowed with in the development of the 120 series.

The pilot series locomotives series 120.0

Was handed over to the then German Federal Railroad On May 14, 1979 with the 120 001 the first locomotive with AC drive technology. It was first approved for a maximum speed of 160 km / h and tested in practice in the operation of the Nuremberg plant Rbf. By January 1980 her sisters 120002-005 were delivered; the optically slightly different 120 005 ( with deep drawn kink on the front as well as an initial panel on the roof and around the buffer around) was thereby approved by delivery to a top speed of 200 km / h. The visual appearance of the 120 series was formative for the "face" of the German Federal Railroad in the 1980s and was continued at the vehicles of the series 240 and 628 and the S- Bahn- control car.

On 13 August 1980 presented the locomotive 120 002 to 231 km / h between Celle and Uelzen (rail route between Hanover and Hamburg ) to a new world record for three vehicles.

The AC drive technology and the much more efficient through the use of traction inverter electric regenerative braking ( the electric brakes the engine feeds power to the drive line back ) convinced completely, but the transformers of the locomotives were in need of improvement and were replaced by revised versions in the course of the test phase. The repair shop Frankfurt built from the 120 series to review the design of a pattern buffer until after the first bogie. Such a process is known from any other locomotive of the German Federal Railroad.

On 17 and 18 October 1984, the new series was officially unveiled. On October 17, 1984 reached the 120001-3 before a special train with 250 metric ton towing capacity, between Augsburg and Donauwörth, a speed of 265 km / h In the presence of many distinguished guests, including Minister of Transport Dollinger, presented the vehicle to a new world speed record for three vehicles. For this, the gear ratio and the windscreen was changed and replaced the scale of the speedometer. The maximum speed was reached after three minute drive. 1985, this locomotive was refitted for a record run. As part of a cooperation project of DB and SNCF railway and drive parameters between the two railway companies should be harmonized. The machine was to essentially new traction motors, with which it should be up to 280 km / h. The record locomotive was scrapped as the first vehicle of the series, in 2004 after a serious accident.

During the four years of field testing the five locomotives covered a total of four million kilometers.

The development costs of the 120 series are given with close to 100 million marks. Of which carried the former German Federal Railroad 60 percent.

The series locomotives class 120.1

After four years of testing in 1984 a total of 60 series locomotives of the series 120.1 were ordered at a price of 5.5 million D-Mark. In April 1985, Federal Transport Minister Werner Dollinger released the procurement of the last 24 of a total of 60 locomotives. So He solved an option under the purchase agreement, which provided an option for 24 more machines in addition to the stipulated delivery of 36 locomotives. The total investment was 380 million D-Mark. By the end of 1988, all the locomotives should have been delivered.

The changes compared to the prototype were low, has accounted for the built in as a fallback electric resistance brake, because the regenerative braking was contrary to initial expectations proved to be reliable. This is not necessarily to be seen in retrospect as a positive, because thereby the mechanical weaknesses of the pre-production models in the range 120.0 were retained in the series. After successful tests with a maximum of 160 km / h approved prototypes 120001-004 and approved already for 200 km / h 120 005 for the regular production of up to 200 km / h could be admitted.

On January 13, 1987, the industry gave the federal railway repair plant in Munich -Freimann with the 120- 103, the first production three-phase locomotive to the former German Federal Railways. For symbolic key handover came, among others, Federal Transport Minister Werner Dollinger and Federal Railroad Board Reiner Gohlke. Delivery of the regular production lasted until the end of 1989. They were immediately used in scheduled service, while daytime intercity and inter-regional trains and fast freight trains hauled at night in a streamlined roster.

The locomotives 120137-120160 were delivered with a modified gear ratio in order to obtain a higher traction at high speeds. However, this change leads to lower tensile force at low speeds.

Inserts on the DB AG

During the third stage of the railway reform, the locomotives were the long-distance business (later DB Reise & Touristik, DB long-distance again today ) slammed, so the stakes are now restricted in freight transport.

Pre-series 120.0

The five pre-series locomotives were used again and again over the years along with the other 120ern in regular service, but most of the time they served as cabooses ( they got this new number and have been on the series 752 ) or as a testbed for new technologies that were first used for the electric locomotive new acquisitions in the late 1990s in series. These included, for example, Disc brakes, which were previously reasons of space for locomotives not be used or new bogies and inverter were stationed for the Series 101 the experimental locomotives with the Federal Railroad central offices in Minden and München.

In developing the 101 series ABB Henschel pulled the 120 004 and 005 to help. ABB Henschel had no modern prototypes, but only a concept called ECO2000 and a technology demonstration on the basis of the two at that time already 15 years old converted pre-production 120ern.

In the component development for the ECO2000 you relied on the pre-series locomotives of series 120, 120 (or 752 ) 004 and 005, which were rebuilt by ABB in 1992 in order to test new technologies in practice. The 120 005 had received new converter based on GTO thyristors and a new avionics, 120 004 In addition, adapted also from ICE trucks, disc brakes, the integrated total power (IGA ) and a biodegradable polyol ester as a coolant for the main transformer. Both locomotives stored in this configuration, large distances in the scheduled IC - service trouble-free back. 120 004 can be regarded as the prototype of the 101 series because of the complex conversions.

Since early 2002, none of the pre-series 120 is more in regular service. The 120 003 is owned by the Nuremberg Transport Museum. She is currently (2011) in Augsburg Railway Park. 120 001 was destroyed in a severe accident in 2004 and disassembled on site, and 120 002 also has been scrapped in the meantime. The 752 005 was issued after the investigation periods on loan to the Railway Museum Weimar, only 752 004 was used as a last resort by DB Systemtechnik from Munich for test drives. In October 2011, she retired from the use of stock of DB Systemtechnik. Since the beginning of June 2012, the machine can be seen in the DB Museum Koblenz- Luetzel.

Series 120.1

The druckertüchtigten vehicles of class 120 were used on the several tunnels, opened in May 1988 the southern section Würzburg- Fulda Rail Line Hanover -Würzburg initially primarily because not enough were many pressure sealed vehicles. As problematic initially proved the high pollutant inventory, were not through in August 1988 up to 35 percent of the 120 fleet available. In the locomotives reported from 120 136 to the difficulties Radschutzkästen, which delayed the opening of additional vehicles.

Today, the Series 120 is further used by the DB AG primarily in the IC market. As the machines in the first years of use z.T. were overused (daytime long-distance passenger transport, heavy freight trains at night ), has the reliability now subsided significantly, there have multiplied frame cracks and other serious damage.

In 2007, the 120 series was considered to be very busy. In three of the roster were 37 locomotives of the series 120, especially in intercity transport, but also as a supplement for the newly established 200 km / h München- Nürnberg- Express, but rarely used freight trains.

The first resigned from the service operation series examples of the class 120-120110, 158 and 159 - which were used as a source of spare parts returned later due to the increased demand back to operating service back. 120 158 (as of January 2011) continues to be used as spare parts; the machine was put - z on June 16, 2010 and is after a long shut-down time in Munich now in the repair shop Dessau for the removal of other parts. This means that (as of January 2011) still 49 locomotives as Class 120.1 in the operating state.

Tag variant 120.2

The series is 120.2 with five based in Rostock machines and five new double-decker coaches each have a push-pull train of the Hanseatic Express. The route is part of the subnet " Baltic Coast".

Because of the increased driving dynamics values ​​( five instead of four cars) five locomotives of this series were for this purpose in 2007 for the first time equipped with a transport packet ( destination displays, train dispatching system, server, and others) and in the range 120.2 with new, continuous serial number ( 201 to 205) classified. With a maximum of 160 km / h they travel the route Rostock, Schwerin and Hamburg. The Federal Railway Authority had the 120.2 initially refused to approve, so here in 2008 locomotives of the series 112 ( mostly in the so-called Sandwich operating: one locomotive at top and tail ) until the spring were used.

The end of 2010 a further three machines were delivered by the new order numbers 120206-208 (formerly 120 136, 139, 117) to DB Regio Rheinland and based in Aachen. They are used in North Rhine -Westphalia on the Rhine -Sieg- Express, now by DB Regio NRW. Due to increased failures, the machines were there temporarily not used and turned off instead. Since it came regularly due to various damage and limit processes also in the five Rostock machines and bottlenecks which three Aachener machines support alternately also the Rostock stock. As of spring 2013 are 120 207 and 208 back, while 120 206 continue to help out in Rostock from Aachen in use.

Tag variant 120.5

120 153 and 120 160 in early 2005 were sold to the DB Systemtechnik and Nuremberg plant ( NNX ) a general overhaul IS 703 subjected. The locomotives were different locomotive numbers. From 120 153 120 was 501 and from 120 160 was 120 502 Both engines come with test and measurement trains throughout Germany for use. During the football World Cup in 2006, the locomotives were loaned to DB long-distance transport, arriving before the regular trains. Even today, it is possible that a 120.5 is used for lack of locomotives in front of a long-distance train. 120 502 2013 was to match the test car painted yellow.

DB Class 121 and successor

The timetable change on December 11, 2005 DB AutoZug had acquired some 120 locomotives of the series of DB long-distance traffic to these to use for car trains. The locomotives remained based in Munich, the planned renumbering for series 121 but was made ​​only at the 120 113, before the delivery of the machines was reversed at DB long-distance traffic because again gestiegenem needed.

A planned series 121 as successor to the 120 was not realized, though already two prototypes had been tested (because they wanted to keep free the 121 series, drove it as 127 001 and 128 001). The original concept of the 120 in the 1980s as a universal locomotive lost by the railway reform in importance as the independent business units have become the favorite DB specifically tailored to their needs vehicles for cost reasons.

The former hope of the German Federal Railroad was never appointed to the intended numbers. However, the power cars of the high-speed trains ICE 1 and ICE 2 are a direct evolution of the Series Locomotive 120 In addition, it was the inspiration for today's generation of new high-power electric locomotives, of the 101 series of the Class 152 ( development of the 127 001) up to class 145 ( development of the 128 001).

Construction

The electrical equipment

Behind the four separate secondary windings of the main transformer, the electrical engineering differs significantly from all that came before on German rails. At each secondary winding is connected to an oil-cooled traction, which consists of the following modules:

• Four-quadrant ( hereafter abbreviated 4q -S)
• DC voltage intermediate circuit with notch filter and back-up capacitor
• Pulse inverter ( PWR)

Two traction inverters are connected together and jointly provide the two motors of a bogie. The single-phase voltage of the secondary side of the transformer is rectified through the 4Q -S voltage. In the intermediate circuit with a nominal voltage of 2800 V ( maximum allowable: 3200 V) is a tuned to 33 1/3 Hz notch filter and a back-up capacitor. The pulse inverter are fed from the intermediate circuit and generate the three-phase alternating current with variable voltage ( 0-2200 V phase to phase) and frequency ( 0.4 to 150 Hz) for the drive motors. The 4q -S are each offset by 90 ° with 183 Hz - 11 times the mains frequency - clocked, the clock frequency of asynchronously clocked PWR is less than 200 Hz to a motor frequency of 20 Hz Above 20 Hz synchronized clock methods are used to to avoid beatings in the motor current. Since a 4q -S and PWR are basically constructed quite similar, also works the opposite direction of work, which makes you look at the electric brake of the locomotive advantage: The PWR then feeds the rotary power produced by the engines the intermediate circuit, and the 4q -S produces therefrom again single-phase alternating current, which is released into the catenary.

On the roof there are two pantographs of the type SBS 80th This was developed from the former standard Einholmpantografen SBS 65 and allowed up to 250 km / h ( SBS only 65 to 200 km / h) are used. The structure was 90 kg lighter than the SBS 65, and better suspension, in order to ensure secure contact even at high speeds. Since the series was 120 originally only intended as a test vehicle, it also resulted in the vehicle part lot of different than usual: the first time the main transformer could be placed under the vehicle floor, this made it possible to keep the engine room very clean and tidy and with a straight provide, through the center aisle. The entire vehicle part is characterized by extensive lightweight, which initially also paved problems. Especially the large gear wheels and gear boxes were easily performed, were frequent fractures and oil leaks until these parts have been replaced by stronger ones. In the bogies was decided upon conventional construction with pivot. The secondary suspension of the drives will be taken over by Flexicoil coil springs which can automatically and the bogie according to a curve running again reset in centered position allowing transverse movements of the locomotive body. The power transmission to the wheels is taken over by a hollow shaft universal joint drive by BBC; the mass of the traction motors is mitigated entirely by the bogie.

In terms of aid mode you went 120 completely new ways of BR first time, a three-phase auxiliary power plants was used, which allows not only smaller engines also a provision of the auxiliaries. The BR 120 has three auxiliary converters ( HBU ), which are fed by the auxiliary winding of the main transformer operations. HBU 1 and 2, each supplying the two driving motor fan a bogie and each has an associated transformer oil cooler fan. The engine speed depending on the cooling requirements by the HBU is controlled flexible. The third HBU working with a fixed frequency and provides other auxiliary equipment, such as transformer oil pumps. The air compressor of the BR 120 is also powered by the HBU 3. In order to enable easy start-up, is shut down briefly when switching on the air compressor HBU 3. The locomotive monitors all relevant temperature values ​​automatically. If, despite fully Stabilized auxiliaries to exceedances, traction power is output.

The brake system

As a braking device, the locomotives have in addition to the electric brake still on a continuous, indirectly acting mehrlösige air brake type KE- GPR with direct auxiliary brake to maneuver. In braking operation acts on the locomotive usually only the electric brake; the air brake is pre-controlled and comes only with the failure of the e- brake. In contrast to the electrical resistance of the braking, the braking force does not decrease Einheitselloks with decreasing speed, but the electric brake to act due to the AC drive technique to near standstill with full force. In order to improve the static friction on the rail in particular under poor weather conditions, was established later a so-called "cleaning brake", the block brake with 0.25 bar brake cylinder pressure creates during operation of the e- brake. This is to the wheel surfaces are roughened, resulting in improved train and braking traction. As a holding brake is a spring -loaded brake.

The cab

The DB unit cab for the first time used in the 111 series was already running pressure tight in the class 120.1 from delivery in order to use the locomotives on the new lines may have been retrofitted in accordance with 120.0. Pressure -proof interiors are important at high speeds because when trains the outside air through which is heavily compressed with a high relative velocity, often with more than 400 km / h mutually approaching trains especially in tunnels, in the worst case can cause hearing damage. Therefore, all vehicles used here must meet pressure protection requirements.

The security device

In addition to the prescribed safety package consisting of a safety control mechanism ( Sifa ), Point type train control including; Line train control ( LZB80/I80 with PZB 90), GSM -R train radio, an automatic drive and brake control ( AFB ), as well as control devices for the electro-pneumatic train brake ( ep ) and the emergency brake NBUE DB via IS (so a notgebremster not train in the tunnel, but only to stand behind it comes ). Were retrofitted computer for electronic Buchfahrplan EBuLa. All engines can be used for delivery both in double traction (ZDS ) and for push-pull trains ( CFB). Here for the first time the time-division push-pull train has been used, so they had to use the 101 series and the single locomotive, the control car -led IC trains with up to 200 km / h were allowed to slide. The pre-production aircraft were also still the conventional push-pull train, which for example allowed the use of push-pull trains from n- cars.

Color variations

The first five prototypes of the series 120.0 received the red / beige TEE paint upon delivery in 1979.

To improve the aerodynamics received 120 005 one over the other four locomotives of the pre-series easily changed front. The typical range for the bend in the front section, which was also the same time the color separating edge between red and beige is further pulled her down. For this reason, the lateral red stripes had to be slanted towards the driver's cab, which made them distinctive.

The commissioned a total of 60 production locomotives of the series received 120.1 starting with the 1987 equal to the then newly introduced orient red color scheme (RAL 3031) with an end in each case, white warning area, which is referred to as a railroad worker bibs. The warning area extends to the respective front side of the bend to the lower edge of the front window. Later, this area was issued with an orient red stripe below the windscreen. In the course of investigations and repairs worked with two paint variations, where there were occasional minor variations in shape and size.

With the introduction of traffic- red color scheme from 1996 onwards more and more locomotives were given the new, current color scheme.

The used against yellow painted Testing and measuring carriage 120 502 of DB Systemtechnik was in 2013 to match the test car painted yellow.

Also due to the large open spaces of this series, the 120 is often used as advertising, art or anniversary locomotive. Eg