275 research outputs found

    Study of an onboard wired-wireless health monitoring system equipped with power save algorithm for freight railway wagons

    Get PDF
    Goods transport is an essential factor for the European market for its significant contribution to economic growth and thus to the creation of new employment. Nowadays, approximately 75% of goods are transported by road within the European Union. The use of more efficient and sustainable modes of transportation, such as rail transport and inland waterways, would reduce oil imports and pollution abatement. The growth of rail goods transport must be accompanied by an increasing introduction of tools and technologies that make possible to constantly monitor the European rolling stock. The introduction of monitoring technologies that allow to constantly know the status of the wagon would bring real and concrete benefits to the world of rail transport enabling to optimize the maintenance of rolling stock thus reducing costs but ensuring at the same time a maximization of the safety. Currently, the only information available are provided by the equipment installed along the railway network, separated by tens of kilometers. However, to identify and intervene on an incipient failure, it is necessary to have continuous monitoring and a communication system that can warn the train conductor and the maintenance staff of wagon’s owners. A good monitoring system has to be: cheap, energy autonomous, wireless and reliable. Currently monitoring systems can be divided into two large groups. The former are those developed by universities or research centres within projects financed by third parties, while the latter are monitoring systems developed individually by companies operating in the logistics sector. In light of the existing research projects and products already available on the market, the following thesis work aims to develop a monitoring system demonstrator dedicated to freight wagons that can demonstrate the effectiveness of these devices. The results of preliminary literature and market analyses served as the base for the realization of a first wired demonstrator. All the subsystems of the first demonstrator were long tested in laboratory in order to guarantee the maximum reliability of the device and maximum repeatability of the recorded data. The parameters monitored were the pressures of the pneumatic braking system, the temperature of the cast-iron brake blocks and the dynamics of the body frame. The second demonstrator developed was significantly more complex. In fact, it consists of two wireless units: a base station which represents the further development of the first demonstrator and a completely new axle box node monitoring system. From the analysis of the brake block temperature data two fundamental aspects emerge. The first is the need and importance of maintaining the braking system always in good conditions, doing maintenance in line with the regulations. The second is related to the adoption of new brake blocks in synthetic material. In fact, in addition to the complete review of the brake system as prescribed by the regulation, also the material of the wheelsets must be suitable for the use of new type of brake blocks. Another aspect subject to monitoring in this work is the vibration monitoring. Vibrations of particular interest for freight wagon monitoring are those along the vertical axis and the longitudinal axis. The accelerations along the vertical axis in fact describe the stability of the vehicle and its interaction with the rails. Vertical acceleration is a parameter that allows to determine if the wagon is traveling safely or not. In fact, this parameter makes it possible to identify a possible derailment, if the acceleration level recorded is anomalous. The longitudinal acceleration is a parameter monitored by all the railway monitoring devices present on the market. It is important to know the longitudinal accelerometric levels both in the phases of train composition and during the braking operations in order to identify possible incorrect behaviour. The second demonstrator allowed to monitor the external temperature of the axle box cover and verified the correct behaviour of bearings. The most important result of the second demonstrator was the creation of a wireless network that makes it possible to monitor any quantities without invasive wiring. The creation of a wireless network has also required the development of power saving algorithms for the reduction of energy consumption in order to obtain the maximum operating time. In both prototypes developed, the monitored parameters were very numerous and were sampled with a very high frequency, especially those related to temperatures and pressures. This is a typical feature of the demonstrators. Instead, in order to monitor and study the phenomena related to the dynamics of the wagon it is necessary a sampling frequency as the one adopted. The developed prototypes, even if marked by a strong manual activity, have shown a very high reliability. Monitoring all these parameters for such a long distance led to the creation of a large database. Generally, only large industrial groups can boast such prolonged tests. The prototypes made, thanks to their hardware and software effectiveness, were the basis for the most complex monitoring system that we have set ourselves to achieve with the SWAM Rail project. In conclusion, the project carried out in these three years has therefore obtained as results the realization of demonstrators of monitoring devices, the collection of data that would allow to understand and study the operation of a wagon in optimal maintenance conditions, the development of thermal models and the identification of threshold parameters for delimiting conditions of normal operation by fault conditions

    Towards the Internet of Smart Trains: A Review on Industrial IoT-Connected Railways

    Get PDF
    [Abstract] Nowadays, the railway industry is in a position where it is able to exploit the opportunities created by the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) and enabling communication technologies under the paradigm of Internet of Trains. This review details the evolution of communication technologies since the deployment of GSM-R, describing the main alternatives and how railway requirements, specifications and recommendations have evolved over time. The advantages of the latest generation of broadband communication systems (e.g., LTE, 5G, IEEE 802.11ad) and the emergence of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) for the railway environment are also explained together with the strategic roadmap to ensure a smooth migration from GSM-R. Furthermore, this survey focuses on providing a holistic approach, identifying scenarios and architectures where railways could leverage better commercial IIoT capabilities. After reviewing the main industrial developments, short and medium-term IIoT-enabled services for smart railways are evaluated. Then, it is analyzed the latest research on predictive maintenance, smart infrastructure, advanced monitoring of assets, video surveillance systems, railway operations, Passenger and Freight Information Systems (PIS/FIS), train control systems, safety assurance, signaling systems, cyber security and energy efficiency. Overall, it can be stated that the aim of this article is to provide a detailed examination of the state-of-the-art of different technologies and services that will revolutionize the railway industry and will allow for confronting today challenges.Galicia. Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria; ED431C 2016-045Galicia. Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria; ED341D R2016/012Galicia. Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria; ED431G/01Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España); TEC2013-47141-C4-1-RAgencia Estatal de Investigación (España); TEC2015-69648-REDCAgencia Estatal de Investigación (España); TEC2016-75067-C4-1-

    Wireless Sensor Networks for Condition Monitoring in the Railway Industry : a Survey

    Get PDF
    In recent years, the range of sensing technologies has expanded rapidly, whereas sensor devices have become cheaper. This has led to a rapid expansion in condition monitoring of systems, structures, vehicles, and machinery using sensors. Key factors are the recent advances in networking technologies such as wireless communication and mobile adhoc networking coupled with the technology to integrate devices. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) can be used for monitoring the railway infrastructure such as bridges, rail tracks, track beds, and track equipment along with vehicle health monitoring such as chassis, bogies, wheels, and wagons. Condition monitoring reduces human inspection requirements through automated monitoring, reduces maintenance through detecting faults before they escalate, and improves safety and reliability. This is vital for the development, upgrading, and expansion of railway networks. This paper surveys these wireless sensors network technology for monitoring in the railway industry for analyzing systems, structures, vehicles, and machinery. This paper focuses on practical engineering solutions, principally,which sensor devices are used and what they are used for; and the identification of sensor configurations and network topologies. It identifies their respective motivations and distinguishes their advantages and disadvantages in a comparative review

    Rail freight research: How market trends and customers' needs drive technology innovation

    Get PDF
    The article presents an investigation of current market trends and customers’ requirements, which have driven research aimed at developing a novel wagon concept that integrates innovative solutions relating to the identified major challenges for the freight vehicles of the future. These challenges are: i. Freight condition monitoring; ii. Lightweight wagon design; and iii. Predictive maintenance. This research was initiated by the INNOWAG project, which is funded by the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking under the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The major challenges in rail freight competitiveness relate to the increasing complexity and sophistication of supply chains, increasing transport capacity and logistic capability, as well as improving RAMS and lowering LCC. Therefore, the goal is to develop intelligent cargo monitoring and predictive maintenance solutions integrated on a novel concept of lightweight wagon

    X2Rail-4 D7.2 - OTI Technology Migration

    Get PDF
    The aim of the work was to look at the introduction of On-board train integrity (OTI) from different perspectives. Different OTI product classes are considered in their areas of application as well as the various railway market segments, with particular attention being paid to the freight transport sector, as this is particularly complex in terms of optimised wagon equipment due to single wagon traffic. To accompany the development of the on-board train integrity solutions up to TRL7, an outlook on the technology migration of the OTI is given. The work aimed at is to identify optimised migration paths for the rollout of OTI technology. To achieve this, boundary conditions are analysed in terms of surrounding migration strategies in the control and signalling of railway transport as well as migration conditions for the different market segments. Based on the technology specifications from the X2Rail-2 and X2Rail-4 projects, representative scenarios have been defined to apply the migration strategy. An optimization methodology was developed and computationally modelled and then applied to a railway network with an operating program. Based on the results of the optimization model, an economic evaluation of the different OTI migration strategies was performed. Life cycle cost analysis has been done to compare monetary effects of the different migration paths as well as the effects for different stakeholder

    Multimodal, intermodal and terminals

    Get PDF
    The chapter looks at rail freight terminals, rail--sea interfaces, in particular, as part of a multimodal, or integrated transportation network. Terminals are key infrastructure for linking individual transport modes and governing and managing their interchange in a manner that creates a seamless and sustainable transportation system. Therefore, their performance is critical for maximising transport efficiency and modes integration. This chapter focused on how to measure the operational performance of rail freight terminals in a framework of integrated transportation network. In an increasingly competitive and commercialised world, there is an increasing demand to be able to rank transport options and routes in some way. Drawing on new material, this talk attempts to outline possible methods for how to measure the performance of rail terminals. It focuses on the identification of suitable methods to assess performance by key indicators. Intermodality demands for going beyond safeguarding the individual modes to ensuring the security of the intermodal inter-faces (terminals), the nodes that link and integrate passenger and freight flows. That demands for an integrated holistic approach built on the collaboration between international, national organisations and operators. The study put emphasis on the security challenges and threats to freight transport generally and in rail-sea interfaces more specifically. It moves onto the regulations already governing security in rail-sea interfaces. Finally, it focus on the role that infrastructure planning can play in improving security and offer some conclusions and recommendations for the futur

    A case study of product-service integration for train braking systems

    Get PDF
    A product service system requires coordinated approach from multiple stakeholder groups. Industry, government, and civil society must work together to create and promote the deployment and smooth operation of these systems for a more sustainable economy. The train braking system problem areas such as failure detection, big data collection and sensor-based degradation monitoring have created opportunities for researchers to create jobs in the service sector. The paper aims to design product-service integration train braking system as a big data component with combination of dataset, volume, speed, and data diversity. The big data potentials and analysis using “V” model for train brakes integration and ishikawa diagram for the electro-pneumatic brake system that is applicable to the railcar brakes manufacturing industries fuse railcar’s sensory components innovation to market. This is where advanced analysis to examine the available data and organize it using advanced visualization techniques

    Raveguard: A noise monitoring platform using low-end microphones and machine learning

    Get PDF
    Urban noise is one of the most serious and underestimated environmental problems. According to the World Health Organization, noise pollution from traffic and other human activities, negatively impact the population health and life quality. Monitoring noise usually requires the use of professional and expensive instruments, called phonometers, able to accurately measure sound pressure levels. In many cases, phonometers are human-operated; therefore, periodic fine-granularity city-wide measurements are expensive. Recent advances in the Internet of Things (IoT) offer a window of opportunities for low-cost autonomous sound pressure meters. Such devices and platforms could enable fine time\u2013space noise measurements throughout a city. Unfortunately, low-cost sound pressure sensors are inaccurate when compared with phonometers, experiencing a high variability in the measurements. In this paper, we present RaveGuard, an unmanned noise monitoring platform that exploits artificial intelligence strategies to improve the accuracy of low-cost devices. RaveGuard was initially deployed together with a professional phonometer for over two months in downtown Bologna, Italy, with the aim of collecting a large amount of precise noise pollution samples. The resulting datasets have been instrumental in designing InspectNoise, a library that can be exploited by IoT platforms, without the need of expensive phonometers, but obtaining a similar precision. In particular, we have applied supervised learning algorithms (adequately trained with our datasets) to reduce the accuracy gap between the professional phonometer and an IoT platform equipped with low-end devices and sensors. Results show that RaveGuard, combined with the InspectNoise library, achieves a 2.24% relative error compared to professional instruments, thus enabling low-cost unmanned city-wide noise monitoring
    corecore