Wheel Inspection
Overview
Automated Train Wheel Inspection System (WIS)
With more than a million kilometers of railway track around the world, trains are an important method of transporting goods and people. Wheel integrity is essential for safe train operation. For use on different railroad networks, train wheels are manufactured with different diameters, profiles, and weights. To help prevent railway catastrophes, manufacturing quality requirements and standards for railway wheels are increasingly demanding.
Fast and Compliant Inspection
The Wheel Inspection System’s phased array probes inspect the rim, from the tread and one face, in addition to the hub from both sides in less than one minute.
The fully automated system detects the typical defects found in train wheels:
- Rim face volumetric defects
Equivalent to 1 mm–3.2 mm (0.04 in.—0.13 in.) diameter flat-bottom holes (FBHs) with a near-surface resolution of 5 mm–6 mm (0.2 in.—0.24 in.) - Rim tread volumetric defects
Equivalent to 1 mm–3.2 mm (0.04 in.—0.13 in.) diameter flat-bottom holes (FBHs) with a near-surface resolution of 5 mm–6 mm (0.2 in.—0.24 in.) - Hub inner and outer face defects
Equivalent to 2 mm (0.08 in.) diameter flat-bottom holes (FBHs) with a near-surface resolution of 5 mm–6 mm (0.2 in.—0.24 in.)
Optimized Mechanical platform
A complete turnkey inspection station, the WIS is designed to be directly installed in the production line.
Wheels are fed into the system horizontally on a rail, rolling at low speed, fully inspected using phased array ultrasonic probes, and then ejected from the system onto a rail.
Main components of the system:
- Adjustable probe holders out of the water
- Motorized rollers with hydraulic wheel height adjustment out of the water
- Wheel kickers IN/OUT
- HUB inspection water wedge with height adjustment (Optional)
- Automatic Probe Debubbling device
- Fixed immersion tank with water circulation with filtering
Versatile and Efficient System
Advantages
- Rollers out of the water preventing wearing and simplifying maintenance operation
- Hydraulic device with accurate height positioning
- Include a full control of the handling to optimize the cycle time
- Retaining arms to avoid shocks on the rollers which might create misalignment and frequent mechanical adjustments
- On board electronics to limit the probe cable length
- Ease-to-use dedicated software
- User interface designed to ease the train wheel inspection workflow
- Communication OPC to facilitate system upgrade
Manufacturing Inspection
In-service train wheels require periodic reprofiling. During this process, material is removed from the wheel to restore it to its original profile. When reprofiling is completed, the wheel rim is checked from the tread using a linear phased array probe before it goes back into service (Figure 3). Typically, a 5 MHz, 128-element phased array probe is used in this application. A linear scan is performed to cover the area of interest (Figure 4).
Software Features
RailView Software
RailView acquisition and analysis software is PC based and offers powerful inspection features, advanced analysis tools, and fully customizable displays.
Acquisition and Analysis Software
This software has been designed specifically for train wheel inspection and includes features that ease the entire process.
Special attention has been given to the ergonomics of the interface, providing a human-machine interface (HMI) that optimizes the wheel inspection workflow.
Software Features
- User interface designed to ease the train wheel inspection workflow
- Multiple beam sets per probe
- Assistance for mechanical adjustment of probes, including envelope readouts and water column measurement
- Cropping tool to optimize the probe coverage
- Calibration assistance tools
- Time-corrected gain (TCG)
- Communication with level 2 through the OPC
- Multiple user levels
- Automatic verdict generation (accept, reject, or retest)
Specifications
Cast steel wheel
Forged steel wheel
Rim inspection from tread and one face
Additional hub inspection (possibility to inspect the web on request)
1 mm FBHs
5-6 mm near-surface resolution
