Hot axle box detectors -

Intelligent infrared detection of overheating axles and wheels, contributes to the safety and reliability of railways.

Overheated axle boxes and brakes are a major cause of derailments and early detection by means of wayside monitoring equipment is becoming more and more important.
The T891 hotbox detector is cost effective and economical to install. All too often rolling stock and the permanent way have been damaged due to derailment of trains, caused by overheating bearings. Early warning and detection of the problem can save enormously on capital.

ALSTOM Transport and Spoor-net, a division of TRANSNET, have jointly developed and manufactured the TS91 hotbox detector to meet the demand of increased train speeds, to ensure greater accuracy. The reliability of the system helps prevent unnecessary delays caused by false alarms - resulting in less inspection personnel required for manual and visual inspection.

The ALSTOM Transport system consists of the following basic elements:

Electronic wheel transducer:
System activation on train detection, counting up to 1024 axles, direction, speed calculation and returning to stand-by after the last train axle

Trackside electronics:
Controlling and managing all functions of the measuring station by microprocessor control

Data transmission:
Four wire circuits of nominal 600-ohm impedance, with minimum reception level of 30 dBM

Central display and control unit:
Based on a standard PC and printer

lnfra-red scanner:
Converts the heat radiated from the axle boxes, wheels and brake disks into electrical signal.

The system features important benefits:

	Overall system status: current status of all field units in the system as well as time of events and alarms, if any
	Individual field unit status:
	Current communication status of the default field units
	Truck number, axle number and location as well as bearing type
	Recent train log: logging all information of the specific train detected
	Train axle tables: logging axle number, distance between axles, raw and modified bolometer values
	Train truck tables: logging truck number, number of axles, vehicle classification and bearing type; up to 1 024 axles per train can be scanned
	Office unit communications statistics
	Train analysis statistics. Each central office unit can accommodate up to four dedicated field units strategically positioned along the trackside. Each additional office unit enlarges the system by multiples of four field units. Each field unit automatically records axle temperatures, train speed and direction of travel.

Measurement range
Hotbox detection:
Ambient to 125 degrees Celsius

Hot wheel detection:
Ambient to 450 degrees Celsius

Alarms Levels:
User Configurable

Axle Capacity:
1024 axles.

Operating conditions Scanners
-40 to 70 degrees Celsius

Power supply requirements
220V 50Hz AC+ 15%-20%
Office unit-2 kVA
Field unit - 1, 5 kVA.

System event log:
All reported or detected events are logged, giving date, time, source and description of up to 1000 events
Hot box alarms: sounding audible alarms when triggered, and remaining so until acknowledged.
Each hotbox description consists of

Train speed
Between 15 and 120 km/h (tested).
Between 15 and 280 km/h (simulated).

Scanner
Absolute temperature measurement, fast response time.