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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SAFTInspect (Ultrasonic inspection solution for railway crossing points)

Teaser

The heart of the rail crossings points also known as “frogs”, are a mechanical installation that enable a train to switch from one track to another. Frogs are subjected to repetitive impact collisions from the rolling stock. Such actions cause fatigue cracking which...

Summary

The heart of the rail crossings points also known as “frogs”, are a mechanical installation that enable a train to switch from one track to another. Frogs are subjected to repetitive impact collisions from the rolling stock. Such actions cause fatigue cracking which compromise the structural integrity of these safety critical components. For this reason, the EU infrastructures use manganese steel at safety critical locations such as crossing.
Railway sector involves companies that need to inspect railway crossing accurately and in time. SAFTInspect is the only solution that will warranty the total inspection of the “frog” and it will also monitor the evolution through time with a Data base (Big Data). SAFTInspect is based on a Synthetic Aperture Focussing Technique (SAFT) that facilitates for the first time full volume inspection of railway crossings devices to detect flaws on critical parts reinforcing the railway safety regions.
The primary objective of the SAFTInspect scanner is to offer a unique cost-effective solution to achieve full automated coverage of the critical area of high manganese crossings from the top surface.

Work performed

So far, during the first period of SAFTInspect project the industrial adaptation and design of the prototype was performed, as well as the industrial manufacture.
SAFTInspect can be divided in two core parts, the Software and the Hardware. Developing the right Software has been one of the main challenges at this stage of the project, which was successfully overcome, achieving an intuitive, easy and costs-efficient tool while minimising the input required from technicians. The Hardware also required a careful design and manufacture, to create a functional application that perfectly merge with the software.
The work will continue in the second period of the project, where the system validation and final tuning-up of the commercial prototypes will be done.

Final results

SAFTInspect system will improve levels of safety for the railway industry preventing train derailments. Rail operators, underground operators, rail maintenance service providers and manufacturers will benefit from SAFTInspect innovative device that will be used both in pre-service and in-service analysis:
Pre-service: SAFT Inspect will allow the manufacturer to control every asset produced and to offer a high-quality service to customers. No special infrastructure is required, no special skills from the user.
In-service: Full volumetric inspection is up to 90% more effective. It is expected to reduce 85% the total time per inspection and 94% the labour costs.
Cracks that occur during service will be detected at an early stage in their growth cycle. Therefore, unnecessary costs of replacing frogs that are not damaged will be eliminated (savings around €1.89M per year). From a global perspective, avoiding unscheduled maintenance, rail operators will save up to €87.5M in penalties in Europe due to train derailments.

Website & more info

More info: http://crossinspect.com.