It's the middle of the night. You're riding on a train, only a few miles from home. Settling deep into your seat, you start to drift asleep. A noise snaps you awake. Is that what you think it is? Loud screeching fills the train car, and it begins to shake violently. Suddenly, the train tumbles off the tracks.

It's a nightmare for most, but it happens in the real world. Sometimes trains de-rail due to weather or human error – but sometimes an unforeseen culprit is to blame.

"Believe it or not, simple things like rail temperature and stress can lead to horrible accidents," says Jim Bilodeau, CEO of DataTraks. "It's a scary thought, but significant fluctuations from the track's neutral temperature or excessive stress is all it takes for rails to malfunction."

Using Advantech's ADAM data aquisition controller, workers can wireless monitor railway conditions...

Proper Monitoring

Sunlight, heat, and rail traffic can cause these variances. The track's neutral temperature is the temperature of the rail when it not under compression or tension. Rail temperatures significantly above the tracks neutral temperature can cause the rail to buckle or kink. So, how can such variances be avoided?

"It's a matter of proper monitoring," Bilodeau explains. "But until now, there hasn't been an efficient way to keep track of the stress levels or neutral temperatures of the tracks."

A new wireless device, developed by Instrumentation Services/DataTraks of Fort Collins, CO, may be the missing link. It acts as an early-warning system, alerting railway technicians about potentially hazardous sections of track.

Setting Up Safety

Working with distributor MSI Tec of Centennial, CO, DataTraks has developed the Longitudinal Stress Detector (LSD). Using wireless data acquisition technology from Advantech Automation, the LSD is mounted directly to the track where it records temperature and stress levels as frequently as once an hour. The data is then downloaded by technicians into their PDAs.

The system is based on Advantech's line of ADAM products, using the ADAM-5510 stand-alone data acquisition controller, along with the ADAM 5017, 5018, and 5068 to monitor track temperature and stress while acting as a power supply.

"But we didn't want to stop there," say Bilodeau. "We wanted to make sure these things worked all the time and we could put them wherever they'd do the most good, so we converted them to run on solar power. And, we wanted technicians to be able to use them easily, so we had the information wirelessly download to a PDA. They don't even need to get out of their car to examine the rail. It does it for them."

...via the Longitudinal Stress Detector, which can be mounted directly on the tracks.

The ADAM-5510 is suitable for PC-based data acquisition and control applications. It is a compact controller with an Intel x86- based CPU running Datalight ROM-DOS. Built-in battery backup SRAM allows for complex logic or data storage applications, such as the LSD.

The unit allows programs to be written and compiled in Inprise Turbo C and downloaded to the ADAM-5510. With the power of the ADAM- 5510, users can easily accomplish specialized functions that are difficult with traditional controllers. Each ADAM-5510 system can handle up to 4 I/0 slots (up to 64 I/O points)."We want to make the world's railways safer," Bilodeau says. "The Longitudinal Stress Detector, using Advantech's data acquisition technology, will help us do that."

The LSD is currently being tested on railroads across the nation.

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