| 摘要 |
Flanged steel wheels remain in service on rail cars, locomotives, and other heavy rail guided machinery until they no longer maintain minimum specified rim or flange profile dimensions. If at this point the wheel rim or flange profile cannot be returned to at least minimum specifications by surface machining operations, the wheel is condemned as being defective and is removed from service and scrapped. It is desirable to be able use an automated inspection method to determine if a wheel is approaching this condemning limit for profile wear; to date no satisfactory means for doing so is commercially available. In this method, high flange, thin rim, and thin flange type surface profile defects are detected automatically while equipment or axle mounted wheels pass between rail mounted antennae which transmit microwave radiation. This antennae configuration, when energized and influenced by a wheel possessing condemnable rim thickness, flange thickness, or flange height surface profiles will cause a D.C. voltage to propagate at a microwave detector inserted into an interconnected comparison bridge network. By monitoring this detector with a suitable controller it is possible to effect alarms at a remote location which will not only notify operating personnel but will also sequentially log the date and time of the alarm occurrence, axle and wheel position location of the defective wheel, and note the specific profile defect present on the wheel. |
