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. 2020 Sep 2;20(17):4969.
doi: 10.3390/s20174969.

In-Service Detection and Quantification of Railway Wheel Flat by the Reflective Optical Position Sensor

Run Gao  1 , Qixin He  1 , Qibo Feng  1   2 , Jianying Cui  1
Affiliations

In-Service Detection and Quantification of Railway Wheel Flat by the Reflective Optical Position Sensor

Run Gao et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Railway wheel tread flat is one of the main faults of railway wheels, which brings great harm to the safety of vehicle operation. In order to detect wheel flats dynamically and quantitatively when trains are running at high speed, a new wheel flat detection system based on the self-developed reflective optical position sensor is demonstrated in this paper. In this system, two sensors were mounted along each rail to measure the wheel-rail impact force of the entire circumference by detecting the displacement of the collimated laser spot. In order to establish a quantitative relationship between the sensor signal and the wheel flat length, a vehicle-track coupling dynamics analysis model was developed using the finite element method and multi-body dynamics method. The effects of train speed, load, wheel flat lengths, as well as the impact positions on impact forces were simulated and evaluated, and the measured data can be normalized according to the simulation results. The system was assessed through simulation and laboratory investigation, and real field tests were conducted to certify its validity and correctness. The system can determine the position of the flat wheel and can realize the quantification of the detected wheel flat, which has extensive application prospects.

Keywords: condition monitoring; laser collimation; railway wheel; wayside measurement.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The picture of the sensor: (a) The light source and detection module; (b) The reflection module.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The schematic diagram of the installed sensor modules and the rail vertical deformation: (a) The installation location of the sensor; (b) The schematic diagram of the sensor; (c) The rail vertical deformation.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The optical path analysis diagram of laser collimation measurement system: (a) The schematic diagram of the vertical displacement of the sensor module; (b) The schematic diagram of the laser emission angle changes; (c) The schematic diagram of the vertical displacement of the reflection module; (d) The schematic diagram of the angle charge of the cube-corner prism.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The schematic diagram of laser collimation measurement system.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The schematic diagram of vehicle system dynamics model.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The finite element model of rail.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The response curve of the rail vertical displacement: (a) The vertical displacement response curve of the rail under the action of the wheel at 0.4 m/s; (b) The vertical displacement response curve of the rail under the action of the vehicle at 20 km/h; (c) The vertical displacement response curve of the rail under the action of the bogie at 20 km/h.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The impact response curves of the wheel flats at 20 km/h: (a) The impact response curves of the different flat lengths; (b) The flat signal waveforms.
Figure 9
Figure 9
The impact response curves of the wheel flat under the different impact positions at 20 km/h.
Figure 10
Figure 10
The impact response curves of the wheel flats at different speeds.
Figure 11
Figure 11
The impact response curves of the wheel flat under different loads.
Figure 12
Figure 12
The detection area and the normalization curve: (a) The schematic diagram of the detection area; (b) The normalization curve of the wheel flat.
Figure 13
Figure 13
The flow chart of the wheel flat calculation.
Figure 14
Figure 14
The relation curves between the maximum amplitude of the wheel flat and the flat length.
Figure 15
Figure 15
The wheel flat detection experiment: (a) The diagram of experimental devices; (b) The measurement waveform of wheel flat.
Figure 16
Figure 16
The measurement waveforms of three different wheel flat lengths.
Figure 17
Figure 17
The error curve of the wheel flat.
Figure 18
Figure 18
The field installation of the wheel flat detection system.
Figure 19
Figure 19
The vertical and lateral measuring waveforms on the site.
Figure 20
Figure 20
The simulation and experimental curves of the rail vertical deformation at 5 km/h.
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