Condition Monitoring System and Faults Detection for Impedance Bonds from Railway Infrastructure

Abstract

Nowadays, sensors and condition monitoring systems are expanding rapidly and becoming cheaper. This contributes to increasing developments in condition monitoring in railway transport infrastructure. A condition monitoring system that uses an online device and sensors to acquire electrical parameters from railway infrastructure has been developed and applied for fault detection and diagnosis of impedance bonds. The impedance bond condition is monitored in real-time using current and temperature sensors, providing early warning if predefined thresholds are exceeded in terms of currents, imbalance currents, and temperatures. The proposed method and the developed monitoring device have been validated in the railway laboratory to confirm its capability to detect defects. The acquired parameters from impedance bonds are used to extract thermal stresses and technical conditions of this equipment. Experimental results and appropriate data analysis are included in the article.

Innovative Integrated Solution for Monitoring and Protection of Power Supply System from Railway Infrastructure

“…During the maintenance activities of the railway infrastructure, issues related to the return circuit in the electric traction have often been found, namely [5]:…”

“…During the maintenance activities of the railway infrastructure, issues related to the return circuit in the electric traction have often been found, namely [ 5 ]: insufficient tightening of the connecting terminals; oxidized electrical contacts, broken/missing the connecting ropes between the impedance bond terminals and the railway tracks; broken railway tracks; circuit insulation damage; short circuit in the winding of impedance bond; oil leakage of some equipment (classical impedance bond), etc. …”

“…In this context, to reduce the problems that may occur in the return circuit of the railway traction, it is necessary to monitor the currents through the railway tracks, the temperatures in the contact area, etc. Thus, the monitoring and protection system for railway infrastructure installations offers a solution to some of the issues highlighted, and is focused on the monitoring of impedance bond from return circuit [ 5 , 7 ].…”

“…and environmental conditions. The aim of railway condition monitoring and protection is to detect the incipient deterioration of some elements from railway infrastructure before causing any damage or preventing railway operations [ 4 , 5 , 6 ].…”

“…Timely detection and identification of faults in railway infrastructure are very important for the availability, reliability and safety of the railway system. In order to reduce the failure risk in railway infrastructure, it is necessary to acquire, collect and process some parameters which give the technical condition of equipment and, thereby, enable prediction of any damage to the electrical equipment [ 5 , 7 ].…”