PRE2016 3 Groep3

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Group 3: Railway Maintenance Robots

• Lindsey van der Aalst
• Thomas Bastiaanse
• Micha van den Herik
• Tim van Leuveren
• Job van der Velde
• Floris van der Velden

Week 1

Introduction

Delays with the trains are a common complaint of most people, and the company National Railways (‘Nationale Spoorwegen’) takes a lot of the blame. Some of the delays are caused by small objects positioned on the tracks or the condition of the railway tracks by itself. As a result, the train’s stopping distance increases by big margin. For this problem, a small robot is designed to minimize these problems. It will check the tracks for snow and leaves and use laser technology to free the tracks of these things. Not only that, it also detects the wear and will ultimately also maintain the condition of the tracks.

USE Aspects

User: NS

Could be an expert knowing all the in’s and out’s of the machine. But in general, it is the NS themselves. Efficiency is important for the User. The machine will have to move at the same speed as trains and be able to remove obstacles when needed, as well as detect any wear on the tracks. The machine should be easily operable. However, since an expert will be having an overlook on the machine, easily operable is not high on the priority list.

Society: train travellers

Delays can occur due to weared out tracks which are in need of reparation, snow or obstacles of the tracks. Train travelers want to get from point A to B as quickly as possible, delays would give these travelers negative value. By the use of an automation machine, which can detect and remove obstacles that can cause delays, train travelers can get from A to B more quickly than without the machine.

Enterprise: ProRail

As mentioned in User, efficiency is important for both the User and Enterprise. Also, the Enterprise want the machine to be most profitable as possible. The cost of the machine is then also desired to be as low as possible, while still doing its tasks. Most of the arguments mentioned in User and Enterprise will overlap. In our case, we will be more focusing on the Entrepreneurial side of ProRail.

Objectives

• Functions at the same time as other trains are in use (same speed as the trains)

• Detection wear of tracks
  • Rust
  • Cracks (ultrasonic?)
  • Dimensions & shape

• Maintenance of tracks;
  • Removing snow, using a laser
  • Removing leaves, using a laser and compressed air/shovel
  • Removing rust, using a laser

Side Objectives

• Not have much wear of itself on the tracks
• Charge in front of the trains for optimal use
• Modular ‘carts’ -> different equipment for different tasks
• Additional detection: Condition of welds, fasteners, sleepers and ballast, temperature of railway
• Possible detection of railway track geometry using gyroscope. (heavy maintenance required for readjusting railway track geometry)

Extensions

• Good for the climate and environment.

Approach

• The focus lies on the User and the Enterprise, which are the NS and ProRail, respectively. Especially the Enterprise aspects are important for this system. This means that the system needs to be efficient, sustainable and that the production costs need to be as low as possible while still remaining quality.
• Research has to be carried out about state-of-the-art technology. For example, one of the recent developments in railway technology is a laser which can remove leaves from the railway tracks (Smith, 2016). We will also implement this technique into our system. Also, currently a monitor has been developed to check the condition of the tracks (ETS SPOOR B.V., n.d.). This technique is used to measure the cross section without contact. This technique could possibly be used for our system.
• A literature study will make clear if our idea is really innovative and unique. We will also do research about how the system needs to be designed, what the most efficient form is, how it needs to be loaded, etc.

Sources

06-02-2017 - http://www.etsspoor.nl/producten/meetapparatuur/railmonitor/ 06-02-2017 - http://www.thememo.com/2016/09/12/train-leaves-leaf-zapping-trains-rail-safety-and-standards-board-are-arming-up-with-microwaves-and-lasers/ 06-02-2017 - http://railwayinnovation.com/protran-and-johns-hopkins-university-develop-unmanned-rail-inspection-robot/ 06-02-2017 - http://research.loccioni.com/en/robotics/felix/ 06-02-2017 - http://ifworlddesignguide.com/entry/90335-railroad-probe/