At substations of Shinkansen, three-phase power received from the utility power system is converted into a pair of single phase power sources with different phases. When a Shinkansen car passes the boundary between two power sources with different phases, the power source for Shinkansen instantly switches from one to the other. Vacuum switches have been used as changeover switches so far.
  However, it is difficult to suppress the inrush current into the main transformer by the conventional vacuum switch. In contrast, the use of static switch such as semiconductor device can decrease the exciting inrush current into the transformer of Shinkansen car. We investigated the control method for suppressing the exciting inrush current into the transformer when a static switch is used as a changeover switch.
  To verify the control method, we built and tested a mini-model to simulate a changeover switch.

Copyright (c) 2001 Railway Technical Research Institute