Method for monitoring the state of a bogie of a railway vehicle comprising at least one wheel set

A method for monitoring the state of a bogie of a rail vehicle, comprising at least one wheel set and at least one anti-rolling damper, wherein wheels of the at least one wheel set are rigidly connected by an axle and have an approximately conical wheel profile, the method comprising:

• determining a damping characteristic value signals supplied by at least one sensor arranged on the bogie;
• comparing the determined damping characteristic value with a stored typical value or value range for the damping characteristic value;
• checking how high a speed of the rail vehicle is in elation to a predefined speed limit when there is a deviation of the determined damping characteristic value from the stored value or value range for the damping characteristic value which exceeds a predetermined amount;
• generating a signal (S) indicating the occurrence of a change in the vicinity of the anti-rolling damper of the bogie when a speed of the rail vehicle undershoots a predefined speed limit;
• filtering signals which correspond to a sinusoidal motion of the at least one wheel set of the bogie out of signals supplied by the at least one sensor arranged on the bogie based on the approximately conical wheel profile when the speeds of the rail vehicle reach or exceed the predefined speed limit;
• determining a damping characteristic value of the wheel set of the bogie as a function of the determined frequency (f) of the sinusoidal motion and a present speed (v) based on at least one stored characteristic diagram which describes dependence of the damping characteristic value of the wheel set on the speed (v) of the rail vehicle and the frequency (f) of the sinusoidal motion;
• comparing the determined damping characteristic value of the At least one wheel set of the bogie with a stored value or value range indicative of the present speed (v) of the rail vehicle and the current frequency (f) of the sinusoidal motion for the damping characteristic value of the at least one wheel set of the bogie;
• and
• when there is a deviation of the determined damping characteristic value of the at least one wheel set of the bogie from the stored value or value range for the damping characteristic value of the wheel set of the bogie which exceeds a predetermined amount, generating a signal (S) for the occurrence of a change in the vicinity of the wheel set of the bogie;
• or
• when there is a deviation of the determined damping characteristic value of the at least one wheel set of the bogie from the stored value or value range for the damping characteristic value of the wheel set of the bogie which reaches or undershoots the predetermined amount, generating a signal (S) for the occurrence of a change in the vicinity of the anti-rolling damper of the bogie.