From: gl4317@yahoo.com
In article ,
"Adam H. Kerman" wrote:
> Or are you saying additional room is required for control equipment,
> nothing to do with the cab?
No, this is nothing to do with the cab itself. The radiator fans,
coolant pump, diesel engines, etc. all have contactors associated with
them, and they have to be driven by computer controls. With the under
floor space taken up by engine equipment and a fairly large fuel tank
the stuff that an electric multiple unit has under the floor has to go
somewhere.
Yes, the Budd RDCs crammed all that into a very compact locker at the
end, but that was a much simpler era. Electronically controlled engines
and transmissions require a lot of electronic equipment. Compare the
amount of stuff under the hood of today's automobiles to the era of the
RDC for a good comparison of all the new control equipment for engines
and transmissions today.
Then we get into things like HEP equipment. The Colorado Railcar DMUs
had a separate engine for providing HEP. This is also how the Danish
Flexliner did it. There aren't too many 480 volt 3 phase inverters that
are large enough for HEP that run from the 72 volt standard locomotive
battery voltage, and in the case of the Colorado Railcar DMUs the
engines weren't even available with a 72 volt electrical system. They
had to use a 24 volt DC starting battery system for the main engines, so
the amount of power available off of an inverter from the battery system
was even more limited. Really, the separate 480 volt HEP generator made
a lot of sense, but it also meant more controls to find somewhere to put.
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