Rail Flaw Detection

TKS’ long-range ultrasonic technology (LRUT) for rail inspection is designed to be retrofitted onto Hy-Rail vehicles. The EMATs are housed inside and aluminum enclosure to protect the electronics from the environment.   Inspect your track for internal flaws in conjunction with your weekly visual inspections. The sensor cables are installed along the Hy-Rail vehicle chassis into the vehicle's cab and connected to the ultrasonic instrumentation. In-vehicle computer, keyboard and monitor are used to alert the rail inspector to rail flaws.

 

The LRUT technology is designed to detect the most costly rail flaws and head defects. Long-range ultrasound travels axially in the rail at distances ranging from a few feet to a few hundred feet, depending on the application. Powerful ultrasonic waves are reflected from transverse defects, and rail breaks when the longitudinally traveling wave strikes the discontinuity.

 

Long range ultrasound is generated efficiently in rail using non-contact electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs).  The EMATs travel along the rail head and introduce ultrasound pulses into the rail head.  The pulses flood the rail head with ultrasonic energy that reflects powerfully from transverse-oriented rail flaws and discontinuities.  The ultrasound penetrates underneath surface shelling and engine burns to detect hidden transverse flaws commonly missed by traditional rail flaw inspection techniques. The analysis software is embedded with artificial intelligence capabilities. Pattern recognition classifiers are used to classify defects in real time.  Each defect is tagged with  GPS coordinates for follow-up inspection and reporting purposes.