OVERLOAD AND UNBALANCED LOAD DETECTING SYSTEM FOR RAILWAY AND DETECTING METHOD

Abstract

This application relates to an overload and unbalanced load detecting system for a railway and a detecting method. This system includes at least one steel rail. A rail web of each steel rail is provided with two sampling points at two sides between every two adjacent rail sleepers, respectively, and the two sampling points on one side are symmetrically disposed about the steel rail with respect to the two sampling points on the other side. A fiber-optic sensitive element used for continuously measuring a load when a train passes through the two sampling points is obliquely fixed at each sampling point, and two fiber-optic sensitive elements on the same side of each steel rail are disposed at an angle of 90 with each other.

Claims

1. An overload and unbalanced load detecting system for a railway, comprising at least one steel rail used as a force bearing carrier of fiber-optic sensitive elements, wherein a rail web of each steel rail between every two adjacent rail sleepers is provided with two sampling points at each side, the sampling points on one side are symmetrically disposed about the steel rail with respect to the sampling points on the other side, one fiber-optic sensitive element used for continuously measuring a load when a train passes through the two sampling points is obliquely fixed at each of the sampling points, the sampling points are disposed on a neutral axis of the steel rail, and two of the fiber-optic sensitive elements on a same side of each steel rail are disposed at an angle of 90 with each other; wherein the two sampling points are configured to be equidistant from a center of spacing between the two adjacent rail sleepers, and an effective data collecting section is formed between the two sampling points; force acting on the two sampling points on a same side is collected by the fiber-optic sensitive elements to obtain two shear-stress waveforms when the train passes through the two sampling points, and the two shear-stress waveforms are synthesized to form an approximately square effective data collecting section having peak values of the two shear-stress waveforms as end points; and when the train passes through the approximately square effective data collecting section at a high speed, data of signals continuously output from the two fiber-optic sensitive elements disposed at the two sampling points are synthesized to reflect the load of the train and an influence of vibration of the train on the load when the train is dynamically passing through; a plurality of the effective data collecting sections are continuously disposed between a plurality of the rail sleepers so as to obtain the load of the train and a complete waveform of the vibration of the train itself when the train is dynamically running; and an overload and unbalanced load detection data is accurately obtained by data analyzing and processing.

2. The overload and unbalanced load detecting system for the railway according to claim 1, wherein each of the fiber-optic sensitive elements is disposed at an angle of 40-50 relative to the neutral axis of the steel rail.

3. The overload and unbalanced load detecting system for the railway according to claim 2, wherein each of the fiber-optic sensitive elements is disposed at an angle of 45 relative to the neutral axis of the steel rail.

4. The overload and unbalanced load detecting system for the railway according to claim 1, wherein a center point of each of the fiber-optic sensitive elements coincides with a respective one of the sampling points.

5. The overload and unbalanced load detecting system for the railway according to claim 4, wherein the fiber-optic sensitive elements at two sides are disposed symmetrically along the steel rail.

6. The overload and unbalanced load detecting system for the railway according to claim 1, wherein a distance between the two sampling points on the same side of the same steel rail is not less than 250 mm.

7. The overload and unbalanced load detecting system for the railway according to claim 1, wherein the fiber-optic sensitive elements are fixed on the steel rail by cold spot welding.

8. The overload and unbalanced load detecting system for the railway according to claim 1, further comprising a collecting device connected with the fiber-optic sensitive elements, a processing device connected with the collecting device for processing signals output from each of the fiber-optic sensitive elements, and a displaying device and a storing device respectively connected with the processing device.

9. A method for detecting overload and unbalanced load on a railway, the method comprising the following steps: providing two sampling points at a rail web of each steel rail between every two adjacent rail sleepers at two sides, respectively, symmetrically disposing the sampling points on one side about the steel rail with respect to the sampling points on the other side, obliquely fixing a fiber-optic sensitive element used for continuously measuring a load when a train passes through the two sampling points at each of the sampling points, disposing the sampling points on a neutral axis of the steel rail, and disposing two fiber-optic sensitive elements on a same side of each steel rail at an angle of 90 respect to each other; wherein the two sampling points are configured to be equidistant from a center of spacing between the two adjacent rail sleepers, and an effective data collecting section is formed between the two sampling points; collecting force acting on the two sampling points on a same side by the fiber-optic sensitive elements to obtain shear-stress waveforms when the train passes through the two sampling points, and synthesizing two shear-stress waveforms to form an approximately square effective data collecting section having peak values of the two shear-stress waveforms as end points; and obtaining a sum of signal output from the two fiber-optic sensitive elements disposed at the two sampling points when the train passes through the approximately square effective data collecting section at a high speed to reflect the load of the train and an influence of vibration of the train on the load when the train is dynamically passing through; continuously providing a plurality of the effective data collecting sections between a plurality of the rail sleepers so as to obtain the load of the train and a complete waveform of the vibration of the train when the train is dynamically running; and analyzing and processing the data to accurately obtain an overload and unbalanced load detecting data; and displaying and storing the overload and unbalanced load detection data.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

[0037] FIG. 1 is a structural schematic view of a steel rail in the background art;

[0038] FIG. 2 is a waveform diagram of force and synthetic force in the background art;

[0039] FIG. 3 is a mounting schematic view of fiber-optic sensitive elements of an overload and unbalanced load detecting system on a railway;

[0040] FIG. 4 is a sectional schematic view of a mounted steel rail;

[0041] FIG. 5 is a force analysis diagram of a fiber-optic sensitive element on the steel rail;

[0042] FIG. 6 is a force analysis diagram of an overload and unbalanced load detecting system on the railway;

[0043] FIG. 7 is a schematic view of mounted fiber-optic sensitive element structure and welding-spots;

[0044] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an overload and unbalanced load detecting system on the railway; and

[0045] FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a circuit connection of a fiber-optic sensitive element.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0046] This application will be further explained in detail below in combination with embodiments and figures.

Embodiment 1

[0047] An overload and unbalanced load detecting system on a railway is shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. A fiber-optic sensitive element 4 is applied on a steel rail 1. The existing steel rail 1 includes a rail base 13, a rail web 12, and a rail head 11. The rail base 13 of the steel rail 1 is supported on the rail sleeper 3, and a distance between two adjacent rail sleepers 3 is 600 mm. The rail web 12 is provided with a special force bearing position, that is, a neutral axis which only bears shear-stress. In this system, the rail web 12 of each steel rail 1 between two adjacent rail sleepers 3 is provided with two sampling points at two sides, respectively, and the sampling points 2 on each side are symmetrically disposed with respect to the steel rail 1. A fiber-optic sensitive element 4 is obliquely fixed at each sampling point 2 which is disposed on the neutral axis of the steel rail 1, and two fiber-optic sensitive elements 4 on the same side of each steel rail 1 are disposed at an angle of 90 with each other. The fiber-optic sensitive element 4 is disposed at an angle of 40-50 relative to the neutral axis of the steel rail 1, in particular 45 to facilitate data processing after detection. The fiber-optic sensitive elements 4 at two sides are disposed symmetrically about the steel rail 1 (corresponding to the relative position and oblique angle of the sampling points 2). Under the premise that the sampling point 2 cannot coincide with a fulcrum of the rail sleeper 3, the distance between two sampling points should be as long as possible. Since the distance between two adjacent rail sleepers 3 is 600 mm in China, the distance between two sampling points 2, deducting the length occupied by the rail sleeper 3, should be greater than 250 mm as much as possible. In individual sleeper sections, the distance between fiber-optic mounting points is as uniform as possible, and the distance between the fiber-optic mounting point and a center of spacing between two adjacent sleepers is as equal as possible, so as to facilitate data processing and calculating.

[0048] Referring to FIG. 5, after mounting the fiber-optic sensitive element 4 described above in position, the steel rail 1 functions as a force bearing carrier of the fiber-optic sensors. When the steel rail 1 is deformed under stress, the characteristic that the output of the fiber-optic sensitive element 4 is a shear-stress waveform makes the optical fiber, as a new material, directly becomes a new detection device in the overload and unbalanced load detection system. By disposing the fiber-optic sensitive element 4 at the neutral axis of the steel rail 1, the fiber-optic sensitive elements 4 collect shear-stress signals, and the shear-stress waveform is shown in FIG. 5 when a train runs on the steel rail 1.

[0049] A formula of signals output from the fiber-optic sensitive element 4 is: F=Wg*S*q/L, in which Wg is a load, L is the distance between two sleepers used as the fulcrums of the steel rail 1, S is the distance from the force bearing point of the steel rail 1 to the fulcrum at one end, and q is an area of the force bearing point which is simplified to 1 here.

[0050] It can be seen from FIG. 5 and the formula as follows.

[0051] 1) Taking the intersection of a center point of the fiber-optic and the neutral axis of the steel rail 1 as a dividing line, the value output from the fiber-optic respectively changes in positive and negative directions with the position of the force bearing point changes from the dividing line to fulcrums at two ends (the waveform will move up and down accordingly when the center point of the fiber-optic sensitive element does not coincide with the sampling point 2, which is not conducive to subsequent calculations, therefore, the center point of the fiber-optic sensitive element is aligned with the sampling point 2 as much as possible when being mounted; and furthermore, the waveform will also move left or right according to the position of the sampling point 2).

[0052] 2) The value output from the fiber-optic is obtained by the formula: F=Wg*S*q/L which is linear, and the maximum value thereof is obtained when the force bearing point coincides with the intersection of the center point of the fiber-optic and the neutral axis (in both positive and negative directions).

[0053] 3) The maximum value output from the fiber-optic is only in linear correlation with the load in direct proportion when the distance between two sleepers is fixed and the position of the fiber-optic is fixed.

[0054] Referring to FIG. 5, although a peak value can be obtained, it is difficult to get the maximum peak value of the signal output from the fiber-optic (other values are determined by the ratio of S/L) when the train is running at a high speed and the sampling rate of the existing fiber-optic data collecting apparatus is only 1000/s, that is, an effective data collecting section is too short to collect effective data which can ensure measurement accuracy, and an error caused by this can reach even 6%.

[0055] Therefore, there provided two sampling points 2, as shown in FIG. 6, and the purpose of providing two fiber-optic mounting points in one sleeper section is to artificially create an effective data collecting section which is short but can increase the probability of obtaining effective data (refer to the synthesized waveform in FIG. 6). Although error may exist in the collecting section in practice, the error can be infinitely reduced by a weighted average method. A plurality of effective data collecting sections may be disposed continuously or discontinuously in a plurality of sleeper sections, which can steadily improve the measurement accuracy. According to calculation and experiment: the number of collecting sections should be more than 8 when the vehicle runs at a speed below 70 km/h.

[0056] In view of the fact that the train is swinging left or right in S-shaped curve when it is in a running state, and the force bearing point contacted between the wheel and the steel rail 1 is not always on a center line of the top surface of the rail, the signal output from the fiber-optic sensor will be interfered due to the swing of the wheel if fiber-optic mounting points are only provided at the neutral axis of the rail web 12 at one side, so that the same load cannot produce the same output. Therefore, fiber-optic sensors are fixed at the same angle at corresponding positions of two sides of the neutral axis of the rail web 12 of the steel rail 1. When the wheel passes through the fiber-optic mounting points on the steel rail 1, and the synthesized signal output from two fiber-optic sensors corresponding to the fiber-optic mounting points disposed at two sides of the rail web 12 is always linear correlation with the load in direct proportion, in spite of the swing of the wheels.

[0057] The structure of the fiber-optic sensitive element is generally shown in FIG. 7, and methods which can be used at present for mounting the fiber-optic sensitive element 4 at the sampling point 2 are: 1. sticking by glue, 2. spot-welding and full-welding by an additional carrier, 3. laser spot-welding, and 4. simulated laser cold spot welding. In this application, the simulated laser cold spot welding is preferred, and the shape of the fiber-optic sensor is determined from this. It is only necessary to perform a cold spot welding at a welding-spot 42 corresponding to the fiber-optic 41. The existing gluing cannot guarantee long-time stability, spot-welding and full-welding are not allowed to be performed on the railway site, and the equipment of laser spot-welding is bulky and expensive. On the contrary, the simulated laser cold spot welding will not damage an overall metallographic structure of the steel rail 1, cause the steel rail 1 to anneal, or affect the strength of the steel rail 1, and instead can overcome an unsafe factor of drilling holes at the rail web 12 for mounting the shear-stress sensor 21.

[0058] Referring to FIG. 8, this system further includes a collecting device connected with the fiber-optic sensitive element 4, a processing device connected with the collecting device for processing signals output from individual fiber-optic sensitive elements 4, and a displaying device and a storing device respectively connected with the processing device.

[0059] Referring to FIG. 9, the connection with the fiber-optic sensitive element 4 is a series connection in one embodiment.

Embodiment 2

[0060] An overload and unbalanced load detecting method for a railway includes the following steps.

[0061] Providing two sampling points 2 at a rail web 12 of each steel rail 1 at two sides between every two adjacent rail sleepers 3, respectively, symmetrically disposing the two sampling points 2 on one side about the steel rail 1 with respect to the two sampling points 2 on the other side, obliquely fixing a fiber-optic sensitive element 4 at each sampling point 2, disposing each sampling point 2 at a neutral axis of the steel rail 1, and disposing two fiber-optic sensitive elements 4 on the same side of each steel rail 1 at an angle of 90 respect to each other. Collecting force acting on the two sampling points 2 on the same side by the fiber-optic sensitive elements 4 to form shear-stress waveforms, synthesizing two shear-stress waveforms, and obtaining an overload and unbalanced load detection data; and displaying and storing the overload and unbalanced load detection data.

[0062] These embodiments are only an explanation of this application, and do not limit the protection scope of this application. Those skilled in the art can make modifications without creative contribution to this embodiment after reading this specification, and it is protected by the patent law as long as it is within the scope of the claims of this application.