Electronic Control of the Future: The Robust and Compact VTCsmart

With the VTCsmart, Voith Turbo has developed a completely new control system that is tailor-made for rail applications and perfectly combines robustness and accuracy. The first installation of the new control system for cooling units will take place in the diesel-electric BB 460000 shunting locomotives of SNCF. The 160 locomotives are built by Vossloh España S.A. in Spain.

Developed especially for rail applications per EN 50155, VTCsmart operates in an ambient temperature range from -40°C to +105°C. It complies with protection class IP67 and is vibration and shock resistant per EN 61373. The control system is directly installed into the cooling unit.

The development of the control system took only one year. Its basis is the proven transmission control system Voith Turbo Integrated Control (VTIC). Owing to the mechanical hardware design and the absence of vibration dampers, the VTCsmart can be produced as a compact unit. By using existing operating software, the application software for the cooling unit could be developed at low cost.

Apart from the control system, the Voith Turbo delivery package includes individual components of the cooling unit, such as cooler, fan, hydrostatic drives, hydrostatic motor fan and a compensation tank.

Courtesy of Voith