Laser triangulation sensors measure lateral position of rail bogie wheels

ActiWheel is a traction system that uses artificial intelligence to guide trains along the tracks – enabling quicker, smoother and more economical rail travel. The solution could dramatically change the way that rail vehicles run on the railway. As Martin Whitley, Director at SET Limited, explains, “This revolutionary wheel
motor can be controlled to produce more driving force on one side or the other in order to steer the wheelset down the centreline of the track. For the last 200 years, conventional rail vehicles have only had a solid axle and wheel coning providing this capability, which drives
some significant compromises and issues. What we want to do is to see this technology implemented as the technology of choice for rail passenger vehicles of the future.”

In the ActiWheel solution, the motor is integrated into the wheel, which means there is no transmission between the two and no
moving parts beyond a bearing which every wheel and axle has. In addition, there are no friction braking systems, so there would be a significant reduction in the amount of maintenance required.

Neil Cooney, Technical Director at SET Limited, comments, “One of the biggest issues facing the rail infrastructure
is Rolling Contact Fatigue [RCF], which occurs due to the energy in the contact between the wheel and the rail. Conditions under the contact patch are always severe and the yield stress of the rail wheel is always exceeded, on at least a microscale.

Read the full article in the July issue of DPA.