Schmid Engineering - Mobile and Stationary Rail Measurement Equipment

Schmid Engineering, a globally-active system integrator and solution provider, supplies several mobile and stationary rail measurement devices and systems. Rail parameters including longitudinal and cross profiles are measured, processed, visualised and stored on removable media for further analyses.

The products excel in high productivity, robustness and ergonomics. Designed for tough outdoor environments, Schmid’s rail systems are able to withstand temperatures ranging from -20°C to 79°C, vibrations, dirt, sparks and high humidity.

LOCALISING RAIL DEFECTS

The following rail parameters of grooved rails, vignoles and switches are measured:

• Cross profile geometry
• Longitudinal profile geometry
• Gauge
• Banking
• Pitch
• Head height (vignoles)
• Groove depth (grooved)
• Cant
• Rail to rail distance

This allows to rail defects such as profile wear, grinding depth, edge steepness, chamfer length, corrugations, pit holes, squats, shelling and tracking errors to be localised.

LASER-BASED CROSS PROFILE MEASUREMENT

The Railmonitor RML3000 is a combination of a unique, non-contact laser measuring technology, integrated TFT monitor and integrated calculation software for several parameters including a comparison with standard profiles. It also makes for enormous savings in time and money thanks to its fast measuring cycle including placement, measuring and analysis of less than 20sec per profile.

MEASURING GROOVED RAILS AND VIGNOLES

Its measuring range and overall design allow operators to measure vignoles and grooved rails as well as switches, including tongue, with only one unit. The measured curves are shown immediately on the integrated TFT monitor and saved on a CompactFlash card for job scheduling and quality verification on an office PC

The main features include

• Onsite measurement specification
• Onsite variance comparison with digital templates and interactive error beam
• Zoom and measurement cursors
• Easy single measurements (process control)
• Several preliminary and subsequent measurements
• Head height measurement. The side profile of the rail’s gage side is scanned using a deviation mirror. This allows automatic determination of head height and grinding depth.

CONTINUOUS RAIL MEASUREMENT

RailSurf, the mobile instrument jointly developed with Zehnder AG, measures longitudinal rail profiles and geometrical parameters such as gauge, pitch and banking.

Every measurement can optionally be completed with GPS data to be geo-referenced in a PC application. Smart online defect filters extract the most influencing rail defects like cracks.

For complex rail analyses, Zehnder AG also offers a complete service using a flexible measuring vehicle.

NETWORKED RAIL ANALYSIS WITH RAILMAP

Railmap PC software networks and visualises all recorded rail parameters and compacts them to the essential information contents. Measurements include geo-referenced cross and longitudinal profiles as well as position parameters.

The profiles are visualised in graphs and simultaneously shown on a digital map. Intelligent, configurable digital filters immediately localise rail defects and generate graphical error report.

JOB SCHEDULING WITH RAILJOB

RailJob offers offline job scheduling and quality verification to support rail maintenance tasks. Complete measuring campaigns can be planned offline and transferred to the measuring units using removable media.

RailJob also features a history function with several profiles shown on the same graph on different layers for comparison. Measured profiles can be exported to commercial drawing and CAD tools supporting the DXF Drawing Exchange Format.

MEASURING SYSTEMS IN VEHICLES – SMART GRINDING

RML300X is a derivative of the mobile instrument RML300 and designed to integrate into rail grinding or measuring vehicles. This allows goal oriented maintenance to boost productivity. The RML3000’s basic features are extended by:

• Optional high-speed optical laser sensor
• Visualisation of both rail profiles (two TFTs)
• Error spectrum for both rails covering the whole angular range
• Simple chamfer measuring by polar cursors
• Automatic worst error localisation