Method for monitoring the condition of rail switch points
AssigneeVoest-Alpine Eisenbahnsysteme Gesellschaft m.b.H.
InventorsWolfgang Nayer, Gerald Durchschlag
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Abstract
In a method for monitoring the condition of rail switch points and for detection of premature abrasive wear-and-tear in the region of the tongue switching rail (3) of the points, the signals from at least one proximity sensor (2) in the region of the tongue switching rail (3) of the points are evaluated when the tongue switching rail is travelled upon, and the smallest measured value of the separation distance (l) during the travel is stored in memory. The smallest measured value stored in memory and at least a first limiting value for the smallest separation distance are compared with one another and, when the smallest measured value in memory exceeds this first limiting value, a warning signal is generated.
Claims7
A method for monitoring a condition of a rail switch point and for detecting premature abrasive wear-and-tear in a region of a tongue switching rail and a stock rail of the rail switch point, comprising the steps of:
- successively detecting signals, provided by at least one proximity sensor disposed in a region of the tongue switching rail, said signals representing a separation distance between the tongue switching rail and the stock rail during at least a period of time when the rail switch point is being travelled upon;
- storing in a memory a measured value representative of one of the signals detected during the detecting step, said measured value representing a minimum separation distance;
- comparing the measured value stored in the memory to, at least a first limiting value to obtain a result value;
- and
- generating a first warning signal when the measured value stored in the memory is greater than the first limiting value compared thereto.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.