Experimental studies of microclimatic conditions in the cabins of electric locomotive drivers to improve workplace safety systems and devices and increase safe railway operation

The article presents the results of a statistical analysis of the microclimate parameters (temperature, the environmental heat load index – EHL-index) in the cabins of electric locomotive drivers of the EP1M, 2ES5K and VL-80 series. The study is based on data of a special assessment of electric locomotive crews’ working conditions carried out at different times of the year. The methods of descriptive statistics and data visualization revealed that the empirical distributions of the studied parameters differ significantly from the normal one and represent a mixture of several components, each of which corresponds to a certain class of working conditions and is close to the normal distribution. It has been established that the effect of a heating microclimate poses a greater risk to locomotive crew members compared to the cooling one. The results of the work serve as the basis for the development and validation of mathematical models of heat and mass transfer, as well as for the design of microclimate normalization systems and devices in drivers' cabins to ensure workplace safety and safe railway operation of rolling stock.

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