Article: Inspection device to provide safety in rail operations

By: Simon Sonnekus | July 29, 2016

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has developed a prototype
survey and inspection device (SID) to survey and inspect South Africas railway
lines, which is intended to improve safety and operations.
Apart from reporting on the condition of the rail infrastructure, the SID can also
provide early warnings for trains by travelling ahead of them, alerting them to
track obstacles and potential hazards at level crossings.
According to SID principal engineer Danny Naicker, the device will also perform
the inspection of various parameters of interest on the rails and the
surrounding infrastructure.
The SID operates autonomously in metros and rural areas, collecting data on
items of interest and reporting this data through a mixed set of wireless
communications, including on-board LTE, 3G or GPRS, as well as WiFi and longrange radio, should it be necessary, he notes.
The SID, which houses a 13 kW, 300 cc motorcycle engine, has been tested to
reach speeds of between 3 km/h and 100 km/h while maintaining a tested fuel
efficiency of 4 for every 100 km using a 12 petrol tank.
As the SID prototype weighs only 200 kg, it will be easy to deploy and handle
at depots. Currently, the SID is transported on a trailer and deployed on the
tracks using at least six people. Our engineers are looking at mechanisms to
address this and ease deployability, Naicker avers.
To aid in surveillance, the SID is fitted with laser scanners to check the
condition of tracks, while infrared cameras are used for obstacle detection.
Naicker adds that high-definition cameras will be used for infrastructure
inspection, while a multispectral camera will be used to inspect the overhead
power lines. He notes that accelerometers are used for spin-mark detection and
that downward-facing cameras will be installed to inspect substructures and
sleepers.
The idea is to provide the locomotive driver with enough information to ensure
safety protocols are implemented in time. We have noted that locomotives with
varying loads take up to 2 km to come to a complete stop.
Naicker adds that the SID can duly act as a pointsperson at level crossings,
which have become increasingly dangerous, by occupying the track to ensure
motor vehicles do not cross illegally.

Our research has shown that rail crossings, especially those which do not use
boom gates, are the most dangerous. We believe that the SID will be able to
prevent or at least reduce these kinds of accidents.

Source: http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/inspection-device-to-providesafety-in-rail-operations-2016-07-29/rep_id:4136