A novel design of a compact S-shaped balance with FBG sensors for the pantograph-catenary contact force measurement

Marco Bocciolone; Lorenzo Comolli; Pietro Crosio

doi:10.1117/12.975146

17 October 2012 A novel design of a compact S-shaped balance with FBG sensors for the pantograph-catenary contact force measurement

Marco Bocciolone, Lorenzo Comolli, Pietro Crosio

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8421, OFS2012 22nd International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensors; 84214Z (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.975146
Event: OFS2012 22nd International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensor, 2012, Beijing, China

Abstract

The measurement of the contact force between pantograph and catenary in railway engineering has been carried out in the past with conventional electrical load cells. This study evaluates the use of fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) sensors, so that electrical insulation of the load cells, placed on high voltage parts, is obtained by means of the fiber optic intrinsic insulation. While FGB sensors can be compared to traditional resistance strain gauges, their dimensional and strain profile characteristics required the development of a novel load cell design. A trade-off between two opposite requirements were made: an adequate sensitivity of the FBG output (high strains) and a high reliability (small strains). Moreover the application requested predefined dimensional constrains. The selected design is basically an S-shaped load cell. Static and dynamic calibrations were performed also to asses the separation of the effects due to axial force, bending moment and temperature. Both test rig and in-service measurements has been performed, and the very first results show the good operation. The main metrological characteristics are: design full scale of ±500 N with a static safety factor of 5, equivalent spectral noise of 0.064 N/√Hz, first resonance frequency of mounted cell of about 200 Hz (so that a useful range of at least (0 to 50) Hz is obtained).

Citation Download Citation

Marco Bocciolone, Lorenzo Comolli, and Pietro Crosio "A novel design of a compact S-shaped balance with FBG sensors for the pantograph-catenary contact force measurement", Proc. SPIE 8421, OFS2012 22nd International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensors, 84214Z (17 October 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.975146

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