1. TECHNOLOGY By ERIC POWELL
Wheelin’ out the WheelView
Rail Sciences’ new laser scanner measures wheel integrity, but will it measure up in service?
er, and snow hitting them in the face, it
makes it a difficult challenge and [Wheel-
View] will hopefully eliminate that human
component of measurements and put it
on a very accurate scale.”
“Hopefully” is the key word for the time
being, because the first commercial exam-
ple of WheelView is now in place on one of
the three main tracks of Union Pacific’s
busy Overland Route at Gothenburg, Neb.,
about 35 miles east of North Platte.
“We’ve done some testing with it, but in
a real, live commercial sense, the site at
Gothenburg is the first in-track test of this
thing, and it’s on their heavy coal route,”
Wolf says. “It will be a real acid test of its
capabilities and its reliability.”
Arguably, the greatest test for Wheel-
View will be the snow, ice, wind, and recur-
ring freeze and thaw cycles of a Nebraska
winter. It makes for brutal operating condi-
tions for even the most rugged machinery,
let alone the delicate measuring instrumen-
tation contained within the WheelView.
Inside the wheel measuring system’s viewing windows (located on the inside and outside of Rail Sciences came up with some creative
both rails) is a small black box housing a camera. The protective steel plating is angled at defenses against the harsh conditions: heat-
the sides to deflect dragging equipment that might damage the cameras. Gar y Wolf ing elements in the inspection glass that acti-
vate when ice or snow is detected, and an
Not so many years ago, the idea of 1987 after a 17-year research and develop- automated compressed air system that acti-
pointing a laser at a freight train probably ment career with Southern Railway and vates when a train approaches to keep lenses
conjured up images of a “War of the Norfolk Southern, says WheelView can free of snow, dust, and other light debris.
Worlds” scenario, with alien invaders try- scan wheels at speeds up to 60 mph, check- The WheelView unit at work near Go-
ing to blast the train to smithereens. ing a number of important dimensions thenburg also measures each wheelset’s
Today, though, a laser-driven detection such as flange height, wear, and thickness, “angle of attack:” the angle at which the
device developed by Beena Vision Systems as well as tread wear. wheelset runs along the rails. The wheelset
and used by Rail Sciences Inc. could sig- Just as an automobile poses a safety risk should run perpendicular to the rails; if
nificantly improve railcar safety and pre- if a tire is low, or the steering or suspension there is play, there can be truck misalign-
ventative maintenance. system is compromised, wheel or truck ment and poor performance.
Scottdale, Ga.-based Rail Sciences’ problems on freight cars can lead to disas- Also at work at Gothenburg is a me-
WheelView system scans railcar wheels as trous results. Railroads have employed car chanical vision system. A camera measures
a train passes over, instantaneously check- inspectors to manually check for wheel and brakeshoe thickness and uses computer al-
ing for defects in railcar wheels and trucks truck problems for more than a century, and gorithms to determine if a given brakeshoe
that are often the culprit of derailments. they have done a masterful job keeping on a passing car is outside the AAR con-
“It has lasers that look upward as the trains safely rolling in all kinds of weather. demning limit for thickness.
train goes across at track speeds,” says Gary WheelView takes the process further in “Our expertise is helping railroads be-
Wolf, president and founder of Rail Scienc- three ways, says Wolf: It is precise, calculat- come safer and more efficient,” Wolf says.
es. “It shoots a laser image of each wheelset ing wheel dimensions to within a thou- Will WheelView help Rail Sciences live
as it traverses the measurement system, in- sandth of an inch; it is repeatable, in that it up to that creed? Time will tell as day after
cluding flange and tread area. It records the can build a database of wheel wear trends day of testing takes place on the Nebraska
data into a computer, [and] the computer for a given car as it travels back and forth prairie. One thing is certain: Rail Sciences
algorithms can calculate key [Association of over the system; and it is durable, designed and Beena Vision have taken a technology
American Railroads] measurements for the to work day and night, impervious to the once reserved for science fiction and placed
wheel for condemning limits.” worst weather Mother Nature can offer. it in a real-world application that could
WheelView is placed within a steel “I’ve done classes where I train people revolutionize railcar safety and mainte-
cross tie that Rail Sciences engineers in- to use manual [wheel measuring] gauges,” nance, and any step made in the name of
sert among the existing wooden or con- Wolf says. “It’s amazing the variances we safety is a step in the right direction.
crete ties, so it has little impact on the can get from people looking at the same
existing track structure. wheel. Trying to look at something with a ERIC POWELL lives in Indianapolis and is a
Wolf, who founded Rail Sciences in flashlight in one hand, a gauge in the oth- frequent contributor to Trains.
18 Trains MARCH 2009