Autonomous Damage Detection System for Damaged Axle Bearings of Railway Car Bogies

Abstract

Axle bearings of railway car bogies are important parts that support the running of the cars. It is desirable to detect damage to axle bearings at an early state. Therefore, an autonomous damage detection system (ADDS) was de (cid:89) eloped that does not re (cid:84) uire a power supply nor wiring and noti (cid:191) es axle bearing damage to the (cid:89) ehicle after detecting. The ADDS utilized an anti-vibration rubber with a built-in piezoelectric element and wireless transmitter; which was installed on the axle box. The damage detection performance of the ADDS was evaluated using a test machine. In the case of a damaged bearing, the power generated by the piezoelectric element built-in the rubber could drive the radio transmitter, and the damage could be noti (cid:191) ed.