RU88154U1 - MOBILE VISUALIZATION SYSTEM FOR RAIL DEFECTS IN THE WHOLE VOLUME OF METAL WITH CALCULATION OF RESIDUAL RESOURCE - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to testing equipment for ultrasonic non-destructive testing and can be used to detect defects in rails, determine their dimensions and calculate the residual life of a defective rail. The mobile rail diagnostics system contains a computer designed to control the system - registration (recording), processing and presentation of automated ultrasonic control data, a system unit for controlling a scanning device and switching ultrasonic channels; a scanning device designed to ensure the movement of a set of piezoelectric transducers along the rolling surface and the side surface of the rail head with a programmable step, thermostatic battery pack designed to provide uninterrupted power to all components of the system, including at low temperatures, connecting cables, designed to connect the various components of the system. EFFECT: full automation of the scanning process, processing of data obtained during registration, determination of the defect as a result of processing the code, its actual size, presentation of the inspection results in the form of a protocol and in the form of a schematic display of defects on a three-dimensional image of a rail, in calculating the residual resource of a rail with a defect, as well as expanding the temperature range of ultrasonic monitoring of rails.

Description

The utility model relates to testing equipment for ultrasonic non-destructive testing and can be used to detect defects in rails, determine their dimensions and calculate the residual life of a defective rail.

A device is known for ultrasonic monitoring of rails (description of a utility model for RF patent No. 2017, class G01N 29/04 K 9/10, October 24, 2001) containing a frame mounted on wheels, a U-shaped holder rigidly fixed with it, an arm made in the form of an oval ring, a fixing unit made in the form of a carriage, rollers and converter blocks fixed on the bracket, fixed on a centering mechanism made in the form of a spring-loaded adjustable holder, the converters in the blocks being sealed with sealing rings and bushings.

A disadvantage of the known device is that it has significant weight and the ultrasonic testing using this device is not automated.

Closest to the claimed technical essence and the set of essential features is a device for defectoscopy of railway rails (utility model description to the RF patent No. 55477, class G01N 29/04, December 6, 2005), containing a registrar; two acoustic units, which include combined electromagnetic-acoustic transducers, providing the formation of shear polarized ultrasonic vibrations; a generator unit with additional probing pulse generators with different carrier frequencies; two multi-channel amplification units; multi-channel display unit; synchronization unit; two information processing units.

The disadvantages of this device include the fact that it does not allow to automatically determine the code of the defect detected in the rail, measure its actual dimensions, and also calculate the residual resource of the rail with the defect.

The disadvantage of this device is the low sensitivity of the control due to the use of electromagnetic-acoustic converters.

The objective of the utility model is to create a mobile rail diagnostic system designed to re-check defective rail sections to confirm the presence of defects, determine their location and actual dimensions, as well as calculate the residual resource of a rail with a defect.

The technical result achieved by using the claimed mobile rail diagnostic system is to fully automate the scanning process, process the data obtained during registration, determine the defect as a result of processing the code, its actual dimensions, present the results of the inspection in the form of a protocol and in the form of a schematic representation of defects in three-dimensional image of the rail, in calculating the residual resource of the rail with the defect, as well as expanding the temperature range of the ultrasonic Rails.

The technical result is achieved by the fact that the composition of the mobile rails diagnostics system includes a computer designed to control the system, with appropriate interface circuits and software, a system unit designed to control the scanning device and switching ultrasonic channels, a two-coordinate scanning device containing broadband, wide-opening piezoelectric transducers operating according to combined and separately combined measurement schemes, block kkumulyatornyh thermostated batteries designed to provide uninterrupted power to all components of the system over a wide temperature range.

Figure 1 shows a General diagram of a mobile system for visualizing rail defects over the entire volume of metal with the calculation of the residual resource.

Figure 2 shows an embodiment of a system unit.

Figure 3 shows an embodiment of an analog-to-digital module.

The general scheme of a mobile system for visualizing rail defects over the entire metal volume with the calculation of the residual life is depicted in FIG. 1. The system comprises a computer 1 (Figure 1), designed to control the system - registration (recording), processing and presentation of data AUZK, system unit 2, designed to control the scanning device and the switching of ultrasonic channels; a scanning device 3, designed to ensure the movement of the probe assembly over the rolling surface and the side surface of the rail head with a programmable step; thermostatic battery pack 4, designed to provide uninterrupted power to all components of the system, including at low temperatures; connecting cables 5, designed to connect the various components of the system.

The system unit, the preferred circuit of which is shown in FIG. 2, includes an analog-to-digital module 6; the power module of the system unit 7, which receives a constant voltage of 12 V from the battery unit and generates galvanically isolated voltages from it, which are necessary to power the system unit, providing a certain sequence of powering on the system unit modules, as well as to transmit information about the supply voltage to the computer internal temperature of the system unit; ultrasonic module 8, intended for preliminary amplification of echo signals and switching of ultrasonic channels by a command coming from an analog-to-digital module and received using an RS485 transceiver; control module of the scanning device 9, provides the reception and transmission of signals over the serial channel in accordance with the exchange protocol defined by the RS-485 standard, generates program-controlled signals necessary for the operation of step-by-step electric drives of the scanning device, and also processes and transmits information about the state of the end position sensors scanning device; a motor power module 10 that converts an input voltage of 12 V to a power output of 27 V, necessary to power the stepper drives of the scanning device

The structure of the analog-to-digital module, the preferred circuit of which is shown in FIG. 3, includes a twelve-digit high-speed analog-to-digital converter 11 with a low-pass filter at input 14, designed to convert echo signals coming from the ultrasonic module and amplified by an adjustable wideband digital-to-analog amplifier 12 a digital converter 13; a programmable logic integrated circuit 19 that digitally processes the signals from the analog-to-digital converter 11 and stores the processed signals in the buffer memory 15 for subsequent transmission to the computer, as well as generating commands for controlling the drives of the scanning device; shaper of the sounding signal 18, intended for the formation of the sounding signal in the form of a bipolar pulse with adjustable duration and amplitude, as well as the formation of commands for controlling the switching channels of the MUS; transceiver RS485 serial digital data with galvanic isolation 16, designed to receive and transmit commands on a serial channel in accordance with the exchange protocol, as well as the power module of the engines of the scanning device 17.

The transducers generate ultrasonic vibrations and receive reflected echoes. The scanning device provides scanning by the transducers during the monitoring process both in the longitudinal (along the axis of the rail) and in the transverse direction (across the rail) and includes clamps, which are hinged mechanisms for fixing the transducers, ensuring reliable contact between the transducers and the control object.

To move the transducers along the surfaces of the rail head, the scanning device includes a step drive along the "X" axis and a step drive along the "Y" axis. The scanning device also includes end position sensors “X HOME” and “Y HOME”.

Power is supplied to the drives from the motor power module.

For conducting AUZK rails, broadband, wide-bore — with an aperture angle at a level of 0.1 to 40 degrees — are used probes working according to combined and separately-combined measurement schemes.

For conducting AUZK of the neck and bottom of the rail, two combined probes are used at a frequency of 2.5 MHz with input angles of 40 degrees radiating towards each other, as well as one direct probe at a frequency of 5.0 MHz, operating in a combined mode. In this case, the input of ultrasonic vibrations is introduced from the skating surface.

For conducting AUZK of the rail head, two combined probes are used at a frequency of 2.5 MHz with input angles of 70 degrees, radiating from the rolling surface towards each other, two direct probes at a frequency of 5.0 MHz operating in a separately combined mode, one of which emits from the rolling surface, another from the side face, and also one direct probe on the frequency of 5.0 MHz, operating in a combined mode, emitting from the side face of the head.

The device operates as follows. The scanning device is mounted on a monitored rail. The data logging process starts.

After the registration of data is completed, an automatic determination of the defect code is carried out, auto-measurement of defects is carried out, the results of which form the window for the results of automated ultrasonic testing and the Protocol. In addition, according to the results of auto-measurement, the residual resource of a rail with a defect is calculated.

Claims (6)

1. A mobile system for visualizing rail defects over the entire metal volume with the calculation of the residual life, consisting of a system unit containing a probing signal former, a power module; from a scanning device containing piezoelectric transducers; from an ultrasound module containing a switch; from a battery pack, characterized in that it contains a system control unit for recording, processing and presenting automated ultrasonic monitoring data, implemented as a personal computer. 2. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that it contains a thermostatically controlled battery pack operating in a wide temperature range. 3. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the system unit has an analog-to-digital module that controls the ultrasonic module, the scanner control module, converts the signals into digital form for storage in a buffer memory and subsequent transmission to a computer. 4. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that as part of the system unit there is a control module for a scanning device that controls step drives along two axes and end position sensors. 5. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the scanning device has wide-opening, wide-band piezoelectric transducers that provide sounding of the entire rail section. 6. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that a software package is installed in the computer containing a module for calculating the residual resource of a rail with a defect.