Embedded Ultrasonic NDT Wheelset

加拿大拥有世界第五大铁路网，铁路服务运营商面临着维护轨道以提供安全高效服务的挑战。严重的钢轨磨损、表面损坏、道碴破坏等问题往往会导致轨道车辆减速、服务中断、计划外工程施工，有时还会发生灾难性的故障。轨道车辆安装的检测系统在整个铁路网中自动收集数据，以试图识别离群点位置。加拿大国家研究委员会(NRC)目前提供一种应变片测量轮对，试图了解关键的车辆轨道相互作用(VTI)参数，如轮轨接触状况，但这项技术只能推断此类信息。总部位于谢菲尔德的技术公司Peak to Peak测量解决方案有限公司(PktoPk)专门提供嵌入式超声波传感器系统，用于非侵入性测量国际铁路、海洋、汽车、制造、这笔赠款将资助PktoPk现有的轨道安装超声波传感器技术的开发，该技术将部署在仪表化轮对上。这将是第一次将超声波换能器阵列嵌入到轨道上的轨道车辆轮对中。传感器将为以下关键VTI参数提供带地理标记的自主实时测量：*轮轨接触面积、形状、接触位置、法兰接触、车轮爬升、轨距问题、循环顶部、车轮卸载点、对泵送的了解(接触分布、磨损/损坏)*了解钢轨磨损/轨头缺陷*轮轨接触压力和刚度(推断表面粗糙度和牵引力)*润滑剂/第三体层状况；沙子、冰、落叶*轮轴偏转/攻角这些信息中的许多信息无法使用现有的检测车辆安装的传感器产品进行测量。新的“超声波无损检测轮对”可安装在专用检测车辆、税收服务车辆或拖车上，并能以最快的收入服务速度捕获关键数据。在整个铁路网中拥有最新的量化地理标记VTI数据将支持下一代智能工程业务系统，为铁路服务运营商提供关键实时信息。其结果将是丰富的数据流，为数字连接奠定基础，安全地为我们提供下一个世纪的高效运营，先进的维护计划、最高的轨道车辆运行速度和最高的收入车辆吞吐量。这一合作将使我们的合作伙伴NRC能够提供基于谢菲尔德大学和PktoPk开发的嵌入式超声波技术的卓越的仪表式轮对产品解决方案。

Canada has the 5th largest rail network in the world and rail service operators are challenged to maintain the trackage to provide safe and efficient services. Severe rail wear, surface damage, ballast disruption, and other problems often result in revenue rail vehicle speed reduction, service disruption, unscheduled engineering works, and sometimes catastrophic failure. Rail vehicle mounted inspection systems gather data autonomously across the rail network in an attempt to identify 'outlier' locations.The National Research Council Canada (NRC) currently supplies a strain-gauge instrumented wheelset in an attempt to understand critical vehicle track interaction (VTI) parameters such as the wheel-rail contact condition, but this technology can only infer such information.A Sheffield based technology company Peak to Peak Measurement Solutions Ltd. (PktoPk) specialise in the supply of embedded ultrasonic sensor systems for the non-invasive measurement of dynamic machine contacts in the international rail, marine, automotive, manufacturing, and renewables markets.This grant will fund the development of PktoPk's existing rail-mounted ultrasonic sensor technology to be deployed onto an instrumented wheelset. This will be the first time ultrasonic transducer arrays have ever been embedded into the wheelset of an on-track railroad vehicle. The sensors will provide autonomous geotagged real-time measurements of the following key VTI parameters:* Wheel-rail contact area, shape, location of contact, flange contact, wheel climb, problems with gauge, cyclic top, wheel unloading points, understanding of pummelling (distribution of contact, wear/damage)* Understanding rail wear/rail head defects* Wheel-rail contact pressure and stiffness (inferring surface roughness and traction)* Lubricant/3rd body layer conditions; sand, ice, leaves on the line* Wheel axle yaw/angle of attackMuch of this information cannot be measured using existing inspection vehicle mounted sensor products. The new 'ultrasonic NDT wheelset' can be installed on dedicated inspection vehicles, revenue service vehicles, or towed coaches, and can capture critical data at full revenue-service speeds.Having up-to-date quantitative geotagged VTI data across the rail network will support next generation intelligent engineering business systems providing critical real-time information to rail service operators. The result will be a rich stream of data laying foundations of digital connectivity that will safely deliver us to our next century of efficient operations with advanced maintenance scheduling, maximum rail vehicle operating speeds and highest revenue vehicle throughput.This collaboration will allow our partner NRC to offer a far superior instrumented wheelset product solution based on the embedded ultrasonic technology developed at The University of Sheffield' and PktoPk.