CONDITION MONITORING
Smart plastics for real-time monitoring of rail components Industrial component supplier Treotham Automation says smart plastic parts can help eliminate unplanned outages by predicting failures before they happen on rollingstock and the rail network.
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REOTHAM AUTOMATION, which supplies components and products to a wide range of industrial markets in Australia and New Zealand, tells Rail Express the igus range of smart plastics can boost reliability in both above rail and below rail applications. Smart plastics are designed to provide information on the status of components in real time. In rail, this can allow for the proactive maintenance of trains, preventing delays and boosting efficiency. igus’ range of flame-retardant motion plastics, distributed by Treotham, includes polymer bearing technology, energy chains and fail-safe cables. The range is designed to monitor components on the interior or exterior of passenger rollingstock and wagons, on special rail vehicles, on fixed infrastructure like rail switches, and on dynamic pieces of below rail and trackside infrastructure. At the most recent Innotrans event in Berlin in 2018, igus specifically showed off how the range can enable predictive maintenance of doors on trains, trams and high-speed suburban rail vehicles. “Train doors can be directed to open and close hundreds of times every day,” a Treotham Automation spokesperson told Rail Express. “A common problem is that if a safe edge, which offers protection against people getting injured by closing doors, becomes defective, the door in question is usually immediately disabled. Boarding and alighting times are therefore longer and the timetable is thrown into disarray with delays being a consequence.” By applying the igus CF.Q intelligent cable to this application – equipping the cable to the safe edges in question – faults can be predicted ahead of time. “The isense modules monitor the condition of the cables and send the status data to the control centre of the operating company by means of the igus mobile Communication Module (icom),” the spokesperson explains. “In the control centre, employees use dashboards to monitor the condition of the safe edges in all trains. The system manages all limits and gives advance notice of the imminent failure of a safe edge. Thanks to this advance information, operators can plan preventive replacement centrally and carry it out during scheduled stops.” Another igus product highlighted at Innotrans was its intelligent range of energy chains (e-chains) and linear units, which can be incorporated as part of a train’s interior equipment.
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igus’ e-chain range, which has applications across numerous industries including manufacturing and packaging, can be used in the opening and closing mechanism on a train or tram door, allowing for predictive maintenance of that mechanism. Nuremberg’s municipal rail operator, VerkehrsAktiengesellschaft Nuremberg, has incorporated both the e-chain and intelligent cable technologies into the doors of trams around its network. “The developments and requirements are increasingly moving in the direction of the intelligent door,” VAG system technician Robert Meier says. “Each door of VAG railways has to cope with around 70,000 opening and closing cycles per year. “For this purpose, there are cable for the optical door closing signal, for the sensors that detect trapping and for the door switches.” Contact: www.treotham.com.au Phone: 1300 65 75 64
ABOVE: The new igus range can enable predictive maintenance of doors on trains, trams and high-speed suburban rail vehicles.
RAIL EXPRESS | ISSUE 6 2019
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