Increasing the reliability of quality control of the wheels of freight cars in motion using digital data processing

Abstract

Rolling surface defects of freight car wheels in motion increase the dynamic forces in the wheel and rail system and make their fatigue rupture more likely. Such defects are discovered in a timely manner using floor level strain gauging diagnostic complexes [1]. Strain gauges are used as the primary converters. A wheel pair passes along a section with strain gauges and rail deformations are recorded by which the parameters of the dynamic interaction of the wheel with the rail are defined.Signals from the strain gauges carry intrinsic equipment noises and external pulse or continuous inter ferences. These interferences are generated by automatic equipment or distance control systems, auto matic cab and wigwag signaling, etc. In addition, recorded signals contain an uninformative component that is related to nonlinearity and variation in rail base elasticity, external effects, and the path of wheel travel along the rail.The reliability of the control results is increased using hardware tools in which signal trimming to com pensate for temperature variations, sensitivity calibration of the gauging passage, and filtration of noises and interferences are provided. The use of software tools makes it possible to apply the broad capacities of digital processing of diagnostic signals efficiently and to improve the quality of data processing. This paper is aimed at improving the reliability of strain gauge quality control of wheels in motion by creating and optimizing methods for identifying informative diagnostic signals.A five meter railroad section that was in operation was chosen for the measurements [2]. At a height of h = 82 mm wire strain gauges with a rated resistance of R = 200 Ohm were attached on the inside and outside of the right rail web above each crosstie (pos. 1, 2, 5, and 6 in Fig. 1). Two pairs of strain gauges were mounted symmetrically between the crossties (pos. 3 and 4) and oriented along the z axis to measure the deformation components ε z . The signals from the strain gauges were recorded by a Dinamika 1 multi channel fast response strain gauging system (No. 32885 06 in the Public Register of Measuring Instruments). The sam pling rate of the AD converter (ADC) was 16 kHz and the weakest discharge equaled 0.8 mln -1 .The system's operation was synchronized with train movements by notification signals from a Kompleks 2 floor level diagnostic tool. Upon being recorded by the rapid response strain gauging sys tem, the signals from the strain gauges mounted on the section of measurements were transmitted to a computer for processing in a specialized software environment [5].The rail under the train load experienced substantial 3D deformation. The twisting torque deforming the rail according to the twisting model results from the impact of lateral force and the eccentricity of nor Abstract-An analysis of the pattern of rail deformation under a passing train using a rapid response strain gauge system is described. Digital signal processing algorithms are created, which involve filtra tion and regression a...

Сalibration method for a strain-gauge measurement system based on bidirectional rail loading

“…3a). The asymmetric arrangement of strain gauges in the recording system on inner and outer sides of the rail affects the reliability and accuracy of measurements [5][6]. In order to assess the effect of asymmetry, it is proposed to estimate a relationship between pairs of readings from strain gauges.…”

“…Specialists of the Siberian Transport University (Novosibirsk) have been engaged for a long time in developing the strain-gauge method to monitor wheel tread defects in freight MATEC Web of Conferences 216, 03005 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201821603005 Polytransport Systems-2018 cars [3,9,13]. In collaboration with the Chaplygin Siberian Scientific Research Institute of Aviation (SIBNIA), they improve measuring equipment, study methodological aspects of monitoring, and test the method in operation [5,6,14].…”

Methods of determination of forces in the “wheel-rail” system

“…1). The transducers are oriented vertically [8], half-sum and half-difference of deformations are used for calculations, the data is recorded in several measuring cross-sections. There are alternative methods as well [9].…”