WO2006064303A1

WO2006064303A1 - A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks

Info

Publication number: WO2006064303A1
Application number: PCT/IB2004/004129
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sudesh Kumar Mittal; Mehar Alam Shamshi; Sandeep Kalra; Bal Kishor Sharma
Original assignee: Council Of Scientific And Industrial Research
Priority date: 2004-12-15
Filing date: 2004-12-15
Publication date: 2006-06-22
Also published as: EP1824719A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to an 89C52 micro-controller based Oscillation Monitoring System with high storage capacity and better user interface, designed for Monitoring, Detection and Recording of Horizontal & Vertical accelerations of the Railway Vehicles (Railway coaches, wagons, locomotives etc) as well as of Railway Tracks. The system has the following units: 1. Micro controller based main unit 2. Transducer assembly-cum power pack unit 3. Detachable printer unit 4. Electronic rotary pulse generator (Tacho) unit 5. Corded event marker unit 6. External power supply cum battery charger

Description

A PORTABLE MICROCONTROLLER BASED APPARATUS FOR MONITORING RAILWAY TRACKS

Field of Invention: The present invention relates to an 89C52 micro-controller based Oscillation Monitoring System with high storage capacity and better user interface, designed for Monitoring, Detection and Recording of Horizontal & Vertical accelerations of the Railway Vehicles (Railway coaches, wagons, locomotives etc) as well as of Railway Tracks.

The system has the following units: 1. Micro controller based main unit

2. Transducer assembly-cum power pack unit

3. Detachable printer unit

4. Electronic rotary pulse generator (Tacho) unit

5. Corded event marker unit 6. External power supply cum battery charger

Background and prior art references:

Indian Railways is the second largest network in the world and the largest civilian organization under a single management. The main problem, which Indian Railways is facing at this point of time, is accidents. The main cause of accidents is the human failure or the failure of assets like bridges, tracks, engines and coaches. The main cause of asset failure is the inadequate maintenance or constraints of existing methods of preventive maintenance. The existing problem of high accidents at Indian Railways can be reduced or even minimized through technological upgradation. The human factor involved in maintenance and operations of Indian Railways has to be minimized by adopting modern technology.

Railway infrastructure is increasingly coming under the close scrutiny of the health and safety measures due to large number of incidents. In order to tackle this immediate problem, it is^'required that an attempt should be made to improve the current methods of linking particular types of track irregularities with derailments etc. It is highly desirable that modern instrumentation system based on automatic detection techniques should be evolved to allow operators and infra structure managers to monitor these irregularities more effectively and to direct maintenance over the long term. In order to make compliance with safety targets, we have taken the challenging task on design and development of Oscillation Monitoring System.

Several track monitoring equipment have been designed and developed with limited results and accuracy of measurements of faults in the tracks.

Reference may be made to Patent named TRACK MONITORING EQUIPMENT, Patent Number: WO03006298 Dated: 2003-01-23 Applicant(s): GILBERT DAVID (GB); AEA TECHNOLOGY PLC (GB). This invention was related to equipment for monitoring railway tracks, in particular for determining their alignment (their longitudinal profile). The equipment was comprising of accelerometer mounted on a bogie of a railway vehicle, the accelerometer being arranged to detect lateral accelerations. The system contains a displacement transducer also arranged to monitor the lateral displacements of a wheel set of the bogie & electronic means to digitize signals from the accelerometer and from the displacement transducer. A computer was arranged to process the digitized signals. The process corresponding to double integration was used so as to deduce the lateral displacements of the bogie, and in conjunction with the signals from the displacement transducer hence to determine the effective lateral displacements of the track. The equipment included a position locating instrument arranged to provide position information to the computer, and automatic means for transferring data from the computer to a base station remotely.

Reference may be made to Patent named Track monitoring equipment Patent Number: US6668239 Dated: 2003-12-23 Inventor(s): GILBERT DAVID (GB); WESLEY PETER DAVID (GB) Applicant(s): AEA TECHNOLOGY PLC (GB). This Equipment was designed for monitoring railway tracks, in particular for determining the rail profile. The equipment comprised a base station, with one instrumentation package installed in a service vehicle, and automatic means for transferring data from the instrumentation package to the base station. The instrumentation package was comprised of sensors including one or more accelerometers mounted on the vehicle, one position locating instrument arranged to provide positional information, and a computer arranged to receive data from the sensors. The computer was required to process data from this accelerometer to determine linear displacements.

Reference may be made to the Type model OMS 2000 Oscillation Monitoring System (OMS) used by Indian Railways, Type model Real Time Oscillation Monitoring System manufactured by Captronic System # 19, Alif Arcade 7th Main Road, Block Koramangala Bangalore-560034 Karnataka (www.captiOnicsystems.com/html/randd/realtime.htm) & Type model KT400 Mold Oscillation Monitoring System manufactured by Kiss Technologies, Inc 76 Veterans Drive ,Suite 660 Holland, MI USA 49423 (www.kisstechnologies.com/images/products/kt400.html) The system named track monitoring system patent no: WO03006298 was basically designed for the measurement of lateral accelerations & lateral displacement of the wheel set. The system contains accelerometers for oscillation measurement & displacement transducer to measure lateral displacement. The system requires a computer for processing digitized signals. Hence the equipment measures the effectiveness of the track in guiding the wheels laterally. No measurements are made of the positions of the rails themselves, either by contact or non-contact sensors. No event marking facility has been provided with this system. The system requires a computer for its operations. The system does not calculate the ride index behavior of Railway track or vehicle by means of Ride Index value calculation. This system is not suitable for the requirement of many countries and is very costly also.

The system named track monitoring system patent no: US6668239 is basically for the measurement of linear & vertical displacements. The system contains only one accelerometer for oscillation & displacement measurement. No ride index value is calculated in this system. No event marking facility has been provided with this system. The system requires a computer for its operations and is not suitable for Railways and is very costly also. The system only provides root mean square vertical displacements. Presently, Indian Railways are using OMS 2000, which is 8086 microprocessor-based instrument. This instrument is having very low capacity RAM of 32Kbyte. The software for this system does not provide a good user interface. The information displayed on LED is not sufficient to meet the user's requirement. The power consumption is very high and size is also very big, which is not suitable for field operated instruments. The hardware circuitry contains high power consumption cards, which are very big in size. So the overall size of OMS 2000 is large. The printer used by OMS 2000 is a low speed printer & does not contain any kind of memory buffer. This can cause loss of printing in case of high frequency of peaks. The system does not contain any plug & play cards & devices for future extension & improvements. The event marker of OMS 2000 contains the keys for only two events that are Kilometer post & Telegraph post. The system contains facility for hardware calibration only. Unavailability of software calibration leads to wastage of time for lab calibration. The sample rate of this machine is less than 50 samples per second. No Real Time Clock is interfaced with the system for date & time requirements.

The type model Real time Oscillation Monitoring System designed by Captronics System, Banglore is an improved version over OMS 2000 but still have shortcomings. The system is having a memory capacity of 2Mbyte. Again the printer used in the system is a low speed printer, which does not contain any buffer. The system does not contain any plug & play cards & devices for future extension & improvements. The system contains a small character size LCD display & contains 12 keys. The system does contain the facility for software calibration but does not have any facility for hardware calibration. The cost of this system is more as compared to the system designed by CSIO The type model KT400 Oscillation Monitoring System developed by Kiss Technologies, USA is a PC based oscillation-monitoring system & is quite costly.

The system of the present invention developed by CSIO Chandigarh, India overcomes all the above mentioned disadvantages and is an improvement over the previously developed systems. The storage capacity of Oscillation Monitoring System is 16 Mbytes, which is very high. Flexible Architecture of our OMS is having the facility of serial as well as parallel printing . Additional facilities for transferring the recorded data into another solid- state disk module are also possible in our OMS. This OMS contains both software as well as hardware calibration for transducer assembly. Better interface with audiovisual warning system & Real Time Clock(RTC) are also one of the important key features. System is having a detachable printer unit with 2Kbyte of memory buffer, which is more suitable for field operation. OMS can be programmed greater than 100 samples per second, which provides very precise & accurate data measurement. All the PCB are plug-in-type and interconnected through connectors back plane PCB with suitable locking arrangements to withstand vibration and shocks during transit as well as operation on moving railway vehicles. The OMS designed by C.S.I.O. is very much cost affective. The cost of developed O.M.S. is 1/3 as compared to internationally available similar system.

Objects of the Invention:

The main object of present invention is to develop "An improved Micro-controller based

Oscillation Monitoring System for the safety of Railway Vehicles with High Storage capacity & Real Time Warning Facility " Yet another object of the present invention is to develop a system with high storage capacity of 16 Mbytes, so that user can record the data of multiple runs without erasing the previous data.

Yet another object of the invention is to develop an Oscillation Monitoring System with

Auto calibration facility for transducer through software. Yet another object of the invention is to develop a Micro-controller based Oscillation

Monitoring System whose cost is lower as compared to the other internationally available systems.

Yet another object of the present invention, is to develop a system with Plug & Play architecture based on 89C52 Micro-controller which makes the system flexible for future extension, small sized, low power consuming, portable & most suitable for field applications.

Summary of the present invention:

The present invention relates to an 89C52 micro-controller based Oscillation Monitoring

System with high storage capacity and better user interface, designed for Monitoring, Detection and Recording of Horizontal & Vertical accelerations of the Railway Vehicles

(Railway coaches, wagons, locomotives etc) as well as of Railway Tracks. The system has the following units:

1. Micro controller based main unit

2. Transducer assembly-cum power pack unit 3. Detachable printer unit 4. Electronic rotary pulse generator (Tacho) unit

5. Corded event marker unit

6. External power supply cum battery charger Detailed Description of the Invention: Accordingly the present invention relates to a portable microcontroller based apparatus for monitoring railway tracks with high storage capacity and real time warning facility comprising:

Main Unit [1] comprising a centrally placed microcontroller unit connected internally through data buses to an EPROM for storing the machine codes as firmware, NVRAM for storing the calculated results, analog to digital converter for converting the analog input from transducers and tachometer into digital format, a Real Time Clock to provide real time operations, a printer interface unit and an RS 232 interface unit. Transducer assembly and power pack unit [2] in communication with the said Main Unit [1], said Transducer assembly, signal conditioning and power pack unit comprising two orthogonally placed accelerometers for sensing horizontal and vertical accelerations, a signal conditioning module for conditioning and amplifying the signals and a power pack to supply energy to the entire system.

Electronic rotary pulse generator (Tacho) unit [3] mounted on the axle of train wheel and in direct communication with the said Main Unit [1], said unit [3] used for the accurate speed and distance measurements.

External power supply cum battery charger unit [4], said unit [4] accepts inputs available in railway coaches and provides a single output for the operation of the system and charging of the internal batteries. LCD Display unit [5] connected to the Main unit [1], said unit [5] displaying the results of computations and error messages.

A corded Event marker unit [6] in communication with the said Main unit [1], said unit [6] comprising embarked buttons for events like Level Crossing, Point Crossing, Start of Bridge, End of Bridge, Entry of Curve, Exit of Curve and Switch extension joint, said unit [6] used for making occurrences of various events in real time mode. A keyboard [7] connected to the said main unit [1] for entering system parameters and controlling the system operation.

A detachable small printer [8] for printing the computation results.

In another embodiment of the present invention unit [2] is connected to the said main unit [1] through circular connecter family UTGS - Shielded Bantam of FCI (Framatome

Connectors International) make.

In another embodiment of the present invention the microcontroller used is 89C52.

In another embodiment of the present invention unit [1] operates on 12 Volts in built rechargeable battery. In yet another embodiment unit [2] is housed in a separate metallic box having a self weight in the range of 8 to 10 Kgs.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention the system is capable of manual hardware calibration and automatic software calibration.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention the Real Time Clock (RTC) comprises of an in built battery backup avoiding repeated reprogramming of the system.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention unit [3] operates on opto electronic principle.

In still another embodiment of the present invention the system is capable of measuring the accelerations in the bandwidth range of 0.4Hz to 20.0Hz. In yet another embodiment of the present invention the system is designed as a plug and play architecture which makes the system flexible for future extensions.

In yet another embodiment of the present of the present invention the storage capacity of

NVRAM is in the range of 2 MB to 16 MB.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention the sample rate of the sensors is in the range of 100 to 300 per second.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention printer [8] comprises a memory buffer with storage capacity in the range of 2 to 8 Kbytes.

In still another embodiment of the present invention the system comprises of an audio visual warning system. In still another embodiment of the present invention the system is capable of withstanding vibrations up to ± Ig in all three orthogonal axes.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention the system is immune to electromagnetic interference. In yet another embodiment of the present invention unit [4] accepts inputs of 220/110V

AC or 110 V DC with ±20% variation and provide a single output of 12 V DC for the operation of the system and charging of the said internal battery.

In still another embodiment of the present invention the system comprises of unique diagnostic facilities for fault rectification and removal, said diagnostic facilities comprising of Battery Voltage test, Printer paper check, keypad test, Memory test, Display (LCD) test,

Event marker test, ADC test, Serial communication test, Printer test, Transducer test and

Electronic rotary pulse (Tacho) generator test.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention an Oscillation Monitoring System is developed around modules/sub assemblies using industry grade low power consuming components and moisture proof printed circuit board. All the PCBs are plug-in-type and interconnected through connectors back plane PCB with suitable locking arrangements to withstand vibration and shocks during transit as well as operation on moving railway vehicles.

In yet another embodiment, An event marker with 16 different keys have been introduced which is connected to main unit through a 10 meters long cable so that user can record the events by sitting far away from main unit.

In yet another embodiment, a high-speed small size detachable parallel printer has been introduced so that online printing can be made possible without loosing real-time data.

In yet another embodiment, an RTC (Real Time Clock) with in built battery backup has been introduced for date & time facility. There is no need to reprogram the system again & again for date.& time.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a transducer assembly module has been used which contains a pair of accelerometers mounted orthogonally for sensing vertical & lateral accelerations of ±lg. Brief Description of the Drawings:

FIG 1 : Placement of Accelerometer & Tachometer in Railway coach

FIG 2: Block Diagram of Improved Oscillation Monitoring System

FIG 3 : Photograph of Improved Oscillation Monitoring System FIG 4: Peak Value Trend

FIG 5 : RI Values for Km Blocks

FIG 6: RI Value Trends on Fixed Frequency & Fix Voltage

FIG 7: RI Value pattern for varied frequencies and fixed voltage providing a comparison between the performance of OMS 2000, OMS of the present invention and theoretically calculated values.

Detailed Description of the Invention:

To fulfill the objects, the present invention provides an improved Oscillation Monitoring

System based on 89C52 micro-controller that has been designed for the Monitoring of the

Railway track as well as Monitoring of Railway vehicles (Railway coaches, wagons, locomotives etc).

The system has the following units:

1. Micro controller based main unit

2. Transducer assembly-cum power pack unit

3. Detachable printer unit 4. Electronic rotary pulse generator (Tacho) unit

5. Corded event marker unit

6. External power supply cum battery charge

Referring FIG.2 Unit [2] Transducer assembly and power pack unit has power pack required for supply of energy to the entire system. It is connected to the main unit [1], by means of cable adequate corage and conductor size for carrying the two accelerometers output as well as power, through circular connector family UTGS- Shielded Bantam of FCI (Framatome Connectors International) make. Two accelerometers are placed inside the unit [2] orthogonally for detecting the horizontal & vertical accelerations. These signals are conditioned and amplified with the signal conditioner circuit placed in unit [2]. Unit [1] takes the signals coming from unit [2] after every 10 msec and calculates and detects the accelerations and frequency continuously. Unit [1] contains a Micro-controller card which works on 18 Mhz clock. From the acquired and corrected samples; peak values are determined for each half cycle positive as well as negative in unit [I]. Higher is the peak value, higher is the irregularity on the track. With the help of these peak values, Ride Index behaviour of tracks is detected. System software also takes care of the interrupts coming from Electronic rotary pulse generator (Tacho) unit [3] as well as corded event marker unit [6] so that it can identify the location of the occurrences. All the peak values of vertical and lateral accelerations measured during every stretch of 200 meters run, have been taken to calculate the overall Sperling Ride Indices (RI), and the values are stored on battery built in NVRAM with the help of Unit [I]. On passing of a kilometer post (placed at intervals of approximately one Km), all the RI values shall be displayed and printed on the on-line printer unit [8]. The ride indices behavior RI will be calculated for the different blocks in one kilometer as well as for the total kilometer with the help of unit [I]. Architecture of Unit [1] is highly flexible which is having the facility of transferring the recorded data into another solid-state disk module as well as on PC. Unit [1] consumes low power and operates on 12 Volts in built rechargeable battery. Unit [1] also operates with External Power Supply cum Battery Charger Unit [4] which accepts inputs available in Railway coaches i.e. 220V AC/110V AC or HOV DC with ±20% variation and provide a single output 12V DC for the operation of the system and charging of its internal battery. Transducer Assembly Cum Power Pack Unit;

The transducer assembly for the system contains accelerometers of adequate range of measurement,^' mounted in true horizontal and vertical positions. The mounting arrangements of accelerometers are properly designed to produce true electrical output proportional to acceleration. It is housed in a separate metallic box having adequate self weight (approximately (8 Kg) to prevent loss of contact when placed on floor of moving railway vehicle. This unit is also having power pack required for supply of energy to the entire system. It is connected to the main unit, by means of cable of adequate corage and conductor size for carrying the two accelerometers output as well as power, through circular connector family UTGS- Shielded Bantam of FCI (Framatome Connectors International) make. The Tachometer produces seven pulses per revolution of wheel and works on Opto electronic principle, which is used for the computation of the speed of the train. The accelerometer is placed in the train coach and tachometer is mounted on the axle of train wheel as shown in FIG. 1. The Micro-controller card works on 18 MHz clocks by which all the operations are synchronized. The system acquires values of two sensors after every 10msec. From the acquired & corrected samples; peak values are determined for each half cycle positive as well as negative. System software also takes cares of the interrupts coming from Tachometer as well as corded event marker so that it can identify the location of the occurrence.

This system (OMS) is a technologically advanced rugged, compact and portable system for monitoring the following parameters of running railway vehicle in real time mode, i. Vertical and lateral accelerations ii. Sperling ride index and speed iii. Identify and record exceedence of vertical/lateral acceleration above a threshold value. Exceedences shall be displaced with audio alarm in real time, iv. These occurrences then be stored in a battery backed up on board NVRAM and print both acceleration value and distance from last kilometer post traversed on a on-line printer in real time mode. v. Distance from any predetermined reference point (generally a Kilometer post) vi. Executive summary for the whole run in off line mode vii. Speed, distance and location shall be computed from data taken directly from the Tachometer or from the Telephone Pole (TP) in non-tacho mode. The system measures these acceleration value once every 10 milliseconds. The sampling rate can be further increased if required. viii. All the peak values of vertical and lateral accelerations measured during every stretch of 200 meters run, have been taken to calculate the overall Sperling Ride

Indices (RI), and the values are stored on battery built in NVRAM. On passing of a kilometer post (placed at intervals of approximately one Km), all the RI values shall be displayed and printed on the on-line printer. ix. At the end of the run, it is possible to take out an executive summary of the whole stretch tested, to get locations of all the spots where acceleration value recorded are more than any desired value .

Oscillation Monitoring System continuously measures vertical & lateral accelerations at any desired location on the floor of railway vehicle (generally over one of the pivots of bogie frame) and simultaneous measurement of distance from fixed points of track (generally kilometer posts) on real time basis. The system reported here are improved portable instrument to measure & record oscillations of railway vehicle while in motion. Photograph of the complete system is shown in fig[3]. System has a auto calibration facility in which outputs from two channels are adjusted/calibrated for any possible zero error and proportional error of measurement automatically by the system by means of executing calibration function as and when required by operator. To achieve the required accuracy, the system acquires data at a rate of at least 100 samples per second for vertical as well as lateral channels. This system can measure the accelerations within nominal bandwidth of 0.4Hz to 8Hz . The shifting of average value of accelerations ^'from zero (base) line during run, due to any reasons like drift of transducer assembly, centrifugal accelerations experienced at curves, tilt of vehicles etc are removed, as the system has built in auto zero correction through software. From the acquired and the corrected samples, peak values are determined for each half cycle, positive as well as negative for both vertical and lateral signal. These peak values are immediately compared with the predetermined threshold limits, to find exceedence thereof and simultaneously identify the location of occurrence in terms of distance traveled (when electronic rotary pulse generator unit i.e. Tacho meter is connected-distance mode) otherwise time elapsed (time mode) from passage of any reference point (generally kilometer post). In distance mode the system also calculates instantaneous speed of the Railway vehicle and provides the value in Kmph against each peak detected. The information generated are being sent to the printer for on line printing of results. The ride indices behavior RI will be calculated for the different blocks in one kilometer as well as for the total kilometer. All the peaks on a 200 meters stretch of track (user selectable), will be used for RI computation by using the following formula:

Where n = No. of completed half waves bi = Peak value of the ith half wave fi = frequency of the ith half wave =1/(2 Ti ) F( fi ) correction factor for the ith half wave Ti = Time period of the ith half wave

SPECIFICATIONS OF THE SYSTEM:

Table -1

Software Solution

1) System Software Packages

Complete system software has been developed in Assembly Language of 89C52 and converted into Machine code. The Machine code has been programmed into EPROM as a firmware of the system for the operation of OMS. Highly complex & typical calculations have been simplified with the help of systematic & simple program routines in 89C52 assembly language. The software has been designed keeping in view the memory requirements & takes very less space as compared to the cross compiled software. The online software is password protected & gives full security to the user. No other person can change/temper any information without clearing the password formalities, which is known to the user only. System software has been designed keeping in view that the precise & accurate calculations are done with in the time limit & no real time data is lost. The software provides the facility to diagnose errors in different modules of OMS. The software also provides the various utility functions like selective reprinting, selective deletion, serial communication, auto-calibration & parameter editing etc. 2) Offline Software for Data Analysis

Offline software has been developed in 'C Language'. Software provides facility for various kind of Data Analysis like different Runs, Different Blocks, Different Kilometers & Different Types of Report Generation. Software has been provided to visualize the data in Graphical Form on Laptop/PC. The offline software provides the facility of executive summary generation as per the requirement of the user.

Features and Advantages of the Oscillation Monitoring System developed by CSIO : 1 Storage capacity of Oscillation Monitoring System is 4 Mbytes, which is very high.

User can record the data for multiple runs without erasing previous data .The design is so much flexible that the memory capacity can be increased to 16 MB if required, without any change in hardware/software.

2 The designed OMS is very much cost affective & does not require a PC/Laptop for its real-time online operation & still can perform all the required functions. The cost of developed O.M.S. is 1/3 as compared to internationally available similar system.

3 Architecture of OMS is highly flexible which is having the facility of serial as well as parallel printing with extendable additional facilities for transferring the recorded data into another solid-state disk module.

4 This OMS has Auto calibration facility for transducer assembly through software. User interface for designed OMS is much better due to the audiovisual warning system & LCD display .

5 It has in built Real Time Clock(RTC). Therefore no need to reprogram the time & date again & again whenever the system is used for data recording. System is having a detachable printer unit which is more suitable for field operation.

6. The Sampling rate of OMS is programmable & very high. OMS can be programmed upto or greater than 100 samples per second, which provides very precise & accurate data measurement. This facility is not available in other micro-controller based OMS.

7. Oscillation Monitoring System has been designed & developed around modules/sub assemblies using industry grade low power consuming components and moisture proof printed circuit board. AU the PCB are plug-in-type and interconnected through connectors back plane PCB with suitable locking arrangements to withstand vibration and shocks during transit as well as operation on moving railway vehicles. The system is so rugged that it can work in normal condition and withstand vibration upto '±lg' in all three orthogonal axes without any problem. It is immune to Electromagnetic Interference. Complete system is housed in an airtight & weatherproof cabinets, which are made of light metal (Aluminum) and painted with powder-coated paint. The whole system operates from single voltage in-built rechargeable power pack of 12V maintenance free battery. It also operates with External power supply cum battery charger, which accepts inputs available in Railway coaches i.e. 220 VAC/110V AC or IIOVDC with ± 20% variation and provide a single output 12VDC for the operation of the system and charging of its internal battery.

RESULTS AND EXAMPLES:

Following examples will illustrate the results of Oscillation Monitoring System Developed by CSIO, Chandigarh (On Amballa Cantt to Jalandhar Cantt Railway Track) OMS designed by CSIO was placed in the Track Recording Coach(TRC) on the route from Amballa Cantt to Jalandhar Cantt (INDIA). The system was put into operation in Tacho mode. The total run was approximate 165 Kilometers long. The recording trends in peak values is shown in FIG. 4 and the RI Values of KM Block are illustrated in FIG. 5. As can be seen the results obtained using the CSIO developed OMS are very accurate as compared with the known values. The OMS 2000 RI value is calculated up to two decimal places while in the OMS developed in the present invention, RI value is calculated accurately up to three decimal places. In this way results in the OMS of the present invention are more precise and accurate.

On giving fix voltage and fixed frequency from a known source, RJ trends recorded by the OMS developed by CSIO are almost matching as per the input. These trends are illustrated in FIG. 6.

In another experiment the voltage signal at different frequencies was given to both OMS2000 and OMS of the present invention. The peak values calculated by OMS of the present invention are exactly same as per theoretically calculated values. The RI values and there pattern for both the systems is illustrated in FIG.7.

Claims

1. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks with high storage capacity and real time warning facility, said apparatus comprising:

(i) main unit [1] consisting of a centrally placed microcontroller unit being connected internally through data buses to an EPROM for storing the machine codes as firmware, NVRAM for storing the calculated results, analog to digital converter for converting the analog input from transducers and tachometer into digital format, a real time clock to provide real time operations, a printer interface unit and an RS 232 interface unit; (ii) transducer assembly and power pack unit [2] in communication with the

^• said main unit [1], said transducer assembly, signal conditioning and power pack unit consisting of two orthogonally placed accelerometers for sensing horizontal and vertical accelerations, a signal conditioning module for conditioning and amplifying the signals and a power pack to supply energy to the entire system;

(iii)electronic rotary pulse generator (Tacho) unit [3] mounted on the axle of train wheel and directly connected with the said Main Unit [1], said unit [3] used for the accurate speed and distance measurements;

(iv) external power supply cum battery charger unit [4], to accept inputs available in railway coaches and provides a single output for the operation of the system and charging of the internal batteries; (v) an LCD Display unit [5] connected to the Main unit [1] for displaying the results of computations and error messages;

(vi)a corded Event marker unit [6] in connected with the said main unit [1], said unit [6] consisting of embarked buttons for events like level crossing, point crossing, start of bridge, end of bridge, entry of curve, exit of curve and switch extension joint, said unit [6] used for making occurrences of various events in real time mode;

(vii) a keyboard [7] connected to the said main unit [1] for entering system parameters and controlling the system operation; and (viii) a detachable small printer [8] for printing the computation results.

2. A portable for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1, wherein unit [2] is connected to the said main unit [1] through circular connecter family UTGS - Shielded Bantam of FCI (Framatome Connectors International) make.

3. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1, wherein the microcontroller used is 89C52.

4. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1, wherein unit [1] operates on 12 Volts in built rechargeable battery.

5. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1, wherein unit [2] is housed in a separate metallic box having a self weight in the range of 8 to lO Kgs.

6. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1, wherein the analog to digital converter is an 8 channel 12 bit ADC.

7. A ^'portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1 capable of manual hardware calibration and automatic software calibration.

8. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1, wherein the Real Time Clock (RTC) comprises of an in built battery backup avoiding repeated reprogramming of the system.

9. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1, wherein unit [3] operates on opto electronic principle.

10. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1 measuring the accelerations in the bandwidth range of 0.4Hz to 20.0Hz.

11. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1 having a plug and play architecture which makes the system flexible for future extensions.

12. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1, wherein the storage capacity of NVRAM is in the range of 2 MB to 16 MB.

13. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1 with a sample rate in the range of 100 to 300 per second.

14. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1, wherein the printer [8] comprises a memory buffer with storage capacity in the range of 2 to 8 Kbytes.

15. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1 comprising of an audio visual warning system.

16. A .portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1 capable of withstanding vibrations up to ± Ig in all three orthogonal axes.

17. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1 immune to electromagnetic interference.

18. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1, wherein said unit [4] accepts inputs of 220/110V AC or 110 V DC with ±20% variation and provide a single output of 12 V DC for the operation of the system and charging of the said internal battery.

19. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1 comprising of unique diagnostic facilities for fault rectification and removal, said diagnostic facilities comprising of Battery Voltage test, Printer paper check, keypad test, Memory test, Display (LCD) test, Event marker test, ADC test, Serial communication test, Printer test, Transducer test and Electronic rotary pulse (Tacho) generator test.

20. A portable apparatus for monitoring railway tracks as claimed in claim 1, said apparatus calculating Ride Index (RI) value up to three decimal places.