RAILWAY TRACK

CRACK DETECTOR
Robot

SYNOPSIS

SYNOPSIS:
The project relates to the detection of cracks in the railway
tracks using IR sensor. According to a possible embodiment, the
railway carriage carrying the control equipments is provided with
sensor orientated to detect the crack.
This project pertains to a process for monitoring the condition of
rail on train tracks and more specifically has the object of the
identification of defects detected by monitoring equipment on the
tracks to be checked to allow maintenance crews to subsequently
find these defects.
Two medal sensors are fixed in the wheels of the train is used
to find out the crack on the rail. Each sensor will produce the signal
related position with the rail. If the track is said to be normal on its
position when both the sensor gives the constant sensed output. If
any one misses their output condition to fail then there is defect on
that side. It will inform this by giving alarm. Where sensors and alarm
should connected to npn transistor.

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
There are many reasons why rail tracks crack. In bygone days,
it was common for a rail crack to start near the joint between discrete
rail segments. Manufacturing defects in rail can cause fissures.
Wheel burns can also contribute to rail cracks by changing the
metallurgy of a rail. Rails are also more likely to crack when the
weather is cold, when the ballast and ties/sleepers aren't providing as
much support as they should, and when ground or drainage condition
is such that 'pumping' occurs under heavy load. All of these
conditions can contribute to a broken rail, and in turn a possible
derailment.
MANUFACTURING DEFECTS IN RAIL:
The quality of rail steel has improved dramatically since the
early days of railroading. The trend toward using continuously welded
rail (CWR) requires a higher quality rail, due to the cyclic thermal
expansion and contraction stresses that a CWR would be required to
endure. In addition, rail operations in general have been trending
toward higher speed and higher axle-load operation. Under these
operating conditions, rail pieces rolled in the 19th century would likely

break at an unacceptable rate. Despite the improved rail quality and

rail metallurgy, if impurities find their way into rail steel and are not
detected by the quality assurance process, they can cause rail breaks
under certain conditions.
Recent rail-making processes have also been trending toward a
harder rail, requiring less frequent replacements under heavy loads.
This has the side-effect of making the rail more brittle, and thus more
susceptible to brittle fracture rather than plastic deformation. It is
therefore imperative that unintentional impurities in rail be minimized.
WHEEL BURN-RELATED RAIL CRACKS:
When a locomotive wheel spins without moving the train
forward (also known as slipping), the small section of rail directly
under the wheel is heated by the forces of friction between the wheel
and itself. The wheel rests on an area of rail no larger than a dime in
size, so the heating effect is very localized and occurs very quickly.
While wheel burn typically does not cause the entire rail section to
melt, it does heat the steel to red-hot temperatures. As the locomotive
stops slipping and starts moving--or worse still, slips forward by a
matter of inches and heats a different piece of rail--the heated spot

cools down very quickly to normal temperature, especially when the

weather is cold.
This heat-quench process results in annealing of the rail steel
and causes substantial changes to its physical property. It can also
cause internal stresses to form within the steel structure. As the rail
surface cools, it may also become oxidized, or undergo other
chemical changes by reacting with impurities that are on the surface
of the rail. The net result of this process is that an area of the rail that
is more susceptible to crackage is created.
WHEEL FLAT-RELATED RAIL CRACKS:
If the brakes are dragging or the axle ceases to move on a rail
vehicle while the train is in motion, the wheel will be dragged along
the head of the rail, causing a 'flat spot' to develop on the wheel
surface where it contacts the rail. When the brakes are subsequently
released, the wheel will continue to roll around with the flat spot,
causing a banging noise with each rotation. This condition is known
as wheel out of round.
The banging of flat wheels on the rail causes a hammering
action that produces higher dynamic forces than a simple passage of

a round wheel. These dynamic forces can exacerbate a weak rail

condition and cause a rail crack.

CHAPTER-2
LITERATURE REVIEW
LITERATURE SURVEY
Railway track:
Track-caused derailments are often caused by wide gauge. Proper
gauge, the distance between rails, is 56.5 inches (four feet, eightand-a-half inches) on standard gauge track. As tracks wear from train
traffic, the rails can develop a wear pattern that is somewhat uneven.
Uneven wear in the tracks can result in periodic oscillations in the
truck, called 'truck hunting.' Truck hunting can be a contributing
cause of derailments.
A rail breaks cleanly, it is relatively easy to detect. A track
occupancy light will light up in the signal tower indicating that a track
circuit has been interrupted. If there is no train in the section, the
signaler must investigate. One possible reason is a clean rail break.
For detecting the rail break this way, one has to use signal bonds that
are welded or pin brazed on the head of the rail. If one uses signal

bonds that are on the web of the rail, one will have a continued track
circuit.
If a rail is merely cracked or has an internal fissure, the track
circuit will not detect it, because a partially-broken rail will continue to
conduct electricity. Partial breaks are particularly dangerous because
they create the worst kind of weak point in the rail. The rail may then
easily break under load--while a train is passing over it--at the point of
prior fissure.

ULTIMATE AIM
The aim of this project is to find out the cracks developed on
the railway tracks, due to continuous use or while manufacturing. This
is achieved by installing IR (Infra red) sensor and solar power to the
maintenance crews wagon.

CHAPTER-3

DESCRIPTION OF EQUIPMENT
3.1 BATTERY:
Battery is use for storing the energy produced from the solar
power. The battery used is a lead-acid type and has a capacity of
12v; 2.5A.the most inexpensive secondary cell is the lead acid cell
and is widely used for commercial purposes. A lead acid cell when
ready for use contains two plates immersed in a dilute sulphuric acid
(H2SO4) of specific gravity about 1.28.the positive plate (anode) is of
Lead peroxide (PbO2) which has chocolate brown colour and the
negative plate (cathode) is lead (Pb) which is of grey colour.
When the cell supplies current to a load (discharging), the chemical
action that takes place forms lead sulphate (PbSO 4) on both the
plates with water being formed in the electrolyte. After a certain
amount of energy has been withdrawn from the cell, both plates are
transformed into the same material and the specific gravity of the
electrolyte (H2so4) is lowerd.the cell is then said to be discharged.

There are several methods to ascertain whether the cell is discharged

or not.

To charge the cell, direct current is passed through the cell in

the reverse direction to that in which the cell provided current. This
reverses the chemical process and again forms a lead peroxide
(PbO2) positive plate and a pure lead (Pb) negative plate. At the same
time, (H2so4) is formed at the expense of water,restoring the
electrolyte (H2so4) to its original condition. The chemical changes that
Occur during discharging and recharging of a lead-acid cell

BATTERY CIRCUIT DIAGRAM:

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM DETAILS:

In our project we are using secondary type battery. It is
rechargeable Type. A battery is one or more electrochemical cells,
which store chemical energy and make it available as electric current.
There are two types of batteries, primary (disposable) and secondary
(rechargeable), both of which convert chemical energy to electrical
energy. Primary batteries can only be used once because they use
up their chemicals in an irreversible reaction. Secondary batteries can
be recharged because the chemical reactions they use are reversible;
they are recharged by running a charging current through the battery,
but in the opposite direction of the discharge current. Secondary, also
called rechargeable batteries can be charged and discharged many
times before wearing out. After wearing out some batteries can be
recycled.
Batteries have gained popularity as they became portable and
useful for many purposes. The use of batteries has created many
environmental concerns, such as toxic metal pollution. A battery is a
device that converts chemical energy directly to electrical energy it

consists of one or more voltaic cells. Each voltaic cell consists of two
half cells connected in series by a conductive electrolyte.

One half-cell is the positive electrode, and the other is the

negative electrode. The electrodes do not touch each other but are
electrically connected by the electrolyte, which can be either solid or
liquid. A battery can be simply modeled as a perfect voltage source
which has its own resistance, the resulting voltage across the load
depends on the ratio of the battery's internal resistance to the
resistance of the load.

When the battery is fresh, its internal resistance is low, so the

voltage across the load is almost equal to that of the battery's internal
voltage source. As the battery runs down and its internal resistance
increases, the voltage drop across its internal resistance increases,
so the voltage at its terminals decreases, and the battery's ability to
deliver power to the load decreases.

3.2 ir sensor:
Ir transmitter:
PLASTIC INFRARED LIGHT EMITTING DIODE:

SCHEMATIC:

APPLICATIONS:
Optical communications
Safety equipment

DRAWING FOR IR RECEVER:

3.3. MOTOR:
D.C.MOTOR PRINCIPLE:
A machine that converts direct current power into mechanical
power is known as D.C Motor. Its generation is based on the principle
that when a current carrying conductor is placed in a magnetic field,
the conductor experiences a mechanical force. The direction if this
force is given by Flemings left hand rule.

WORKING OF A DC MOTOR:
Consider a part of a multipolar dc motor as shown in fig. when the
terminals of the motor are connected to an external source of dc
supply;
(i)

The field magnets are excited developing alternate N and S

poles.

(ii)

The armature conductors carry currents. All conductors

under N-pole carry currents in one direction while all the
conductors under S-pole carry currents in the opposite
direction.

Suppose the conductors under N-pole carry currents into the plane
of paper and those under S-pole carry current out of the plane of
paper as shown in fig. Since each armature conductor is carrying
current and is placed in the magnetic field, mechanical force acts on
it. Applying Flemings left hand rule, it is clear that force on each
conductor is tending to rotate the armature in anticlockwise direction.
All these forces add together to produce a driving torque which sets
the armature rotating. When the conductor moves from one side of
the brush to the other, current in the conductor is received and at the

same time it comes under the influence of next pole which is of

opposite polarity. Consequently the direction of force on the
conductor remains same.

PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION:
In any electric motor, operation is based on simple electromagnetism.
A current-carrying conductor generates a magnetic field; when this is
then placed in an external magnetic field, it will experience a force
proportional to the current in the conductor, and to the strength of the
external magnetic field. As you are well aware of from playing with
magnets as a kid, opposite (North and South) polarities attract, while
like polarities (North and North, South and South) repel. The internal
configuration of a DC motor is designed to harness the magnetic
interaction between a current-carrying conductor and an external
magnetic field to generate rotational motion.

Let's start by looking at a simple 2-pole DC electric motor (here red

represents a magnet or winding with a "North" polarization, while
green represents a magnet or winding with a "South" polarization).

Every DC motor has six basic parts -- axle, rotor (armature), stator,
commutator, field magnet(s), and brushes. In most common DC
motors, the external magnetic field is produced by high-strength
permanent magnets. The stator is the stationary part of the motor -this includes the motor casing, as well as two or more permanent
magnet pole pieces. The rotor (together with the axle and attached
commutator) rotate with respect to the stator. The rotor consists of
windings (generally on a core), the windings being electrically
connected to the commutator. The above diagram shows a common
motor layout -- with the rotor inside the stator (field) magnets.

The geometry of the brushes, commutator contacts, and rotor

windings are such that when power is applied, the polarities of the
energized winding and the stator magnet(s) are misaligned, and the
rotor will rotate until it is almost aligned with the stator's field
magnets. As the rotor reaches alignment, the brushes move to the
next commutator contacts, and energize the next winding. Given our
example two-pole motor, the rotation reverses the direction of current
through the rotor winding, leading to a "flip" of the rotor's magnetic
field, driving it to continue rotating.
In real life, though, DC motors will always have more than two poles
(three is a very common number). In particular, this avoids "dead
spots" in the commutator. You can imagine how with our example
two-pole motor, if the rotor is exactly at the middle of its rotation
(perfectly aligned with the field magnets), it will get "stuck" there.
Meanwhile, with a two-pole motor, there is a moment where the
commutator shorts out the power supply. This would be bad for the
power supply, waste energy, and damage motor components as well.
Yet another disadvantage of such a simple motor is that it would
exhibit a high amount of torque "ripple" (the amount of torque it could
produce is cyclic with the position of the rotor).

So since most small DC motors are of a three-pole design, let's tinker

with the workings of one via an interactive animation (JavaScript
required):

A few things from this -- namely, one pole is fully energized at a time
(but two others are "partially" energized). As each brush transitions
from one commutator contact to the next, one coil's field will rapidly
collapse, as the next coil's field will rapidly charge up (this occurs
within a few microsecond). We'll see more about the effects of this
later, but in the meantime you can see that this is a direct result of the
coil windings' series wiring:

There's probably no better way to see how an average DC motor is

put together, than by just opening one up. Unfortunately this is

tedious work, as well as requiring the destruction of a perfectly good

motor.
The guts of a disassembled Mabuchi FF-030-PN motor (the same
model that Solarbotics sells) are available for (on 10 lines / cm graph
paper). This is a basic 3-pole DC motor, with 2 brushes and three
commutator contacts.
The use of an iron core armature (as in the Mabuchi, above) is quite
common, and has a number of advantages. First off, the iron core
provides a strong, rigid support for the windings -- a particularly
important consideration for high-torque motors. The core also
conducts heat away from the rotor windings, allowing the motor to be
driven harder than might otherwise be the case. Iron core
construction is also relatively inexpensive compared with other
construction types.
But iron core construction also has several disadvantages. The iron
armature has a relatively high inertia which limits motor acceleration.
This construction also results in high winding inductances which limit
brush and commutator life.
In small motors, an alternative design is often used which features a
'coreless' armature winding. This design depends upon the coil wire

itself for structural integrity. As a result, the armature is hollow, and

the permanent magnet can be mounted inside the rotor coil.
Coreless DC motors have much lower armature inductance than ironcore motors of comparable size, extending brush and commutator
life.

The coreless design also allows manufacturers to build smaller

motors; meanwhile, due to the lack of iron in their rotors, coreless
motors are somewhat prone to overheating. As a result, this design is
generally used just in small, low-power motors. Beamers will most
often see coreless DC motors in the form of pager motors.
Again, disassembling a coreless motor can be instructive -- in this
case, my hapless victim was a cheap pager vibrator motor. The guts

of this disassembled motor are available (on 10 lines / cm graph

paper). This is (or more accurately, was) a 3-pole coreless DC motor.

3.4. GEAR:
The gear is made out of nylon. The gears used in this project are spur
gears. Spur gears are the simplest and most common type of gear.
Their general form is a cylinder or disk. The teeth project radially, and
with these "straight-cut gears", the leading edges of the teeth are
aligned parallel to the axis of rotation. These gears can only mesh
correctly if they are fitted to parallel axles
WHEEL AND PINION:
Whenever two toothed wheels are in mesh. The large wheel is
called as the gear and the smaller one as the pinion, regardless of
which one is the driver.
GEAR MATERIAL:
Numerous nonferrous alloys, cast irons, powder-metallurgy and
even plastics are used in the manufacture of gears. However steels
are most commonly used because of their high strength to weight
ratio and low cost. Plastic is commonly used where cost or weight is a

concern. A properly designed plastic gear can replace steel in many

cases; It often has desirable properties. They can tolerate dirt, low
speed meshing, and "skipping" quite well. Manufacturers have
employed plastic to make consumer items affordable. This includes
copy machines, optical storage devices, VCRs, cheap dynamos,
consumer audio equipment, servo motors, and printers.

3.5 RAILWAY TRACK:

Rail tracks are used on railways (or railroads), which, together
with railroad switches (or points), guide trains without the need for
steering. Tracks consist of two parallel steel rails, which are laid upon
sleepers (or cross ties) that are embedded in ballast to form the
railroad track. The rail is fastened to the ties with rail spikes, lag
screws or clips such as Pandrol clips.
The type of fastener depends partly on the type of sleeper, with
spikes being used on wooden sleepers, and clips being used more on
concrete sleepers.
Usually, a base plate tie plate is used between the rail and
wooden sleepers, to spread the load of the rail over a larger area of
the sleeper. Sometimes spikes are driven through a hole in the base

plate to hold the rail, while at other times the base plates are spiked
or screwed to the sleeper and the rails clipped to the base plate.
Steel rails can carry heavier loads than any other material.
Railroad ties spread the load from the rails over the ground and also
serve to hold the rails a fixed distance apart (called the gauge.)
Rail tracks are normally laid on a bed of coarse stone chippings
known as ballast, which combines resilience, some amount of
flexibility, and good drainage. Steel rails can also be laid onto a
concrete slab (a slab track). Across bridges, track is often laid on ties
across longitudinal timbers

CHAPTER-IV

EQUIPMENT USED
4.1 COMPONENTS AND ITS SPECIFICATION
The railway track crack detector consists of the following
components to full fill the requirements of complete operation of the
machine.
1. Track
2. Battery
3. Control unit

4. Motor
5. Gears

Chapter -6

WORKING PRINCIPLE
CHAPTER-V
WORKING PRINCIPLE
In this project we are using the sensor to find out the crack in
the track; this will be useful for the production of track and Track
maintenance. Track needs regular maintenance to remain in good
order, especially when high-speed trains are involved. Inadequate
maintenance may lead to a "slow order" being imposed to avoid
accidents Track maintenance was at one time hard manual labour,
requiring teams of labourers who used levers to force rails back into
place on steep turns, correcting the gradual shifting caused by the
centripetal force of passing trains. Currently, maintenance is
facilitated by a variety of specialized machines.

In our project we are using the machine with the help of sensor
used to find the crack in the track. The sensor is placed in the front of
the front wheel and the controlled by the control unit. When the
moving of the rear wheel with the help of motor with the gear
arrangement the total model is move on that time the sensor send the
signal to the control unit where the crack is in the track are not.

CHAPTER -6

MERITS
MERITS

Low cost
Reliable
Compact in size

CHAPTER-7
APPLICATIONS

It is applicable in the production industries and the

track maintenance

CHAPTER-XI
CONCLUSION
The project carried out by us made an impressing task in the
field of railway department. It is very useful for the workers work in
the production of track.
This project will reduce the cost involved in the concern. Project
has been designed to perform the entire requirement task at the
shortest time available.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Design data book

-P.S.G.Tech.

2. Machine tool design handbook Central machine tool

Institute, Bangalore.
3. Strength of Materials

-R.S.Kurmi