Railway

With predictive maintenance, train maintenance cycles can be optimised based on usage and problems can be identified before they occur. This minimises downtimes, reduces operating costs and increases operational safety in rail traffic. ELTEC Elektronik, Splunk and ESE Engineering with DRIVE 1.0 have offered a solution for the efficient, fast and safe acquisition and communication of train operating data and their transmission to higher-level systems.

It has been announced that Luso has introduced the WAF300 series, which is well suited for high power Rail applications. The range covers input voltages of 18 to 75V in, or 43 to 160VDC with available output voltages of 12, 15, 24, 28 and 48V. Supplied in a compact four by six inch package this versatile unit can be either wall mounted or affixed using a din rail mount.

  RECOM has introduced evaluation platforms for its DC/DC railway converters up to 240W. They are available in either high voltage (-1) or high current (-2) layouts and include a RIA12 surge stopper. The R-REF04-RIA12-1 and R-REF04-RIA12-2 are complete reference designs for railway applications.

Teams of undergraduate students, industry apprentices and young professionals from the UK and overseas will compete in a new track-based challenge as part of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Railway Challenge at Stapleford Miniature Railway in Leicestershire. This year will see the introduction of a new auto–stop function element to the competition, where participating teams will have to design their locomotive to stop automatically as close as possible to a marked point on the track.

EMKA’s new catalogue of Ingenious Locking Technology for the Railroad Industry includes many new approaches to the specific needs of rail installers. The Program 1057 flush mounting quarter-turn latch is one such item. Designed for rear fitting to door panels of 3.5-21mm thickness and to present a very neat flush and vandal-resistant face, this lock is partnered with its sister Program 1000 IP65 stainless steel compression latch for mounting in the same way.

Modern railways rely on a host of electronic systems in order to operate safely and provide passenger comfort and convenience. A typical railway carriage distributes either 72V or 110V DC of battery power to these various systems many of which require lower and regulated operating voltages.

Global provider of Embedded Computing Technology (ECT), Kontron, has announced the TRACe-RM404-TR, a fanless 19” 1,5U railway computer. EN50155-certified, it is designed for train control and communication applications. A robust and compact 19” 1.5U box computer, the TRACe-RM404-TR provides a balance between processing performance, I/Os, power consumption, and reliability in demanding railway environments.

In a deal that secures a long-term future for battery-powered trains in the UK, Hoppecke Industrial Batteries and Vivarail have confirmed that they will be working together to design and integrate batteries to power Vivarail's Class 230 passenger trains. In October this year Vivarail launched the UK's first passenger train powered by a mobile charging unit developed by Hoppecke, the UK's industrial power specialist. 

The power conversion specialist, Ideal Power, has announced the availability of a new range of Surge Suppression Modules (SSMs) from P-Duke. The SSM series products provide surge protection to protect DC/DC converter modules in railway applications. The SSMs can clamp input surge voltages to a safe level to protect DC/DC converters, and enable them to keep working. 

Stäubli Electrical Connectors has long been a supplier of advanced connection equipment to the rail industry, and its commitment to quality has been recognised with its certification to the new rail industry standard ISO/TS 22163. Based on ISO 9001, the standard replaces IRIS (International Railway Industry Standard) and defines rules for project management, special process control, risk analysis and knowledge management within the rail sector.