German Technology Forges Ahead to New Frontiers
01 December 2004 09:43
The weighing technology experts at Pfister Waagen Bilanciai GmbH in Augsburg have again scored a hit at international level in the shape of their latest development, the SOLAR in-motion railway scale.
SOLAR weighs rail vehicles all over the world – precisely and verifiable to class (0.5) according to OIML R106. Following successful installations in Germany and Austria the swift SOLAR system was approved for an even higher speed in Australia by the National Standard Commission (NSC-approval reference P6/10B/74). SOLAR is thus the first continuously operating weighing system worldwide for verifiable in-motion weighing with a traversing speed of up to 85 km / h and a precision class (2) for individual wagon weights and (0.5) for total train weights.
The first major order followed hot on the heels of these successes. Over the past months Solar systems have been built in at seven different locations in the French railway network SNCF (Société nationale de chemin de fer).
The Solar system not only offers an impressively high degree of precision, it also combines a wealth of benefits in itself: SOLAR – the dynamic in-motion scale: non-stop weighing
Time is money: with this in mind the 'thinking' sleeper for the in-motion weighing of (coupled) rail stock was developed. The Solar system is modularly designed and consists of a series of individual measuring sleepers that may be arranged in 'series' according to requirements (typically 7 measuring sleepers).
Fast and easy installation: the 'thinking' sleeper consists of a sheet steel structure with the dimensions of a conventional concrete sleeper and is inserted in the existing ballast without any foundation. Neither bonding nor concreting measures are required, simply renewed compacting of the ballast. The influence of ballast movements are nevertheless eliminated to a large extent by additional shearing force sensors that detect and evaluate any settling effects on the measuring sleepers.
Tough and rugged: special load cells and load introduction elements are integrated in the measuring sleeper. This arrangement is to a large extent impervious to soiling, water, ice and snow. Special fusing measures protect against reverse currents, track clear signalling systems are not influenced.
Precise and sophisticated: the weighing system is linked to high precision electronics coupled to a standard PC via a fail-safe fibre optical conductor. The highly sophisticated, proven rail vehicle management system, MVO Plus (based on WIN – NT ) performs the evaluation and display of the weighing data.
Acting as an intelligent interface between man and machine, MVO Plus supports the entire technical weighing procedure. It performs operation, control, data organisation and administration as well as printing for the entire weighing procedure. Priority was hereby placed on simple, logical operation. The transfer of weighing data to external programs as well as the import / export of master data in common formats is also effortlessly achieved by MVO Plus.
Versatile: with this intelligent design, weighing may be performed wheel, axle or bogie-wise in order to calculate the wagon and entire train weight. Due to this feature SOLAR is ideally suited for load monitoring, safety weighing and track section class monitoring. SOLAR is moreover approved as a reference scale for preparatory calibration work.
Intelligent: the assignment of the wagon weights to the weighed wagons is performed independently of the direction of travel. Furthermore, SOLAR detects and deducts the weights of the traction vehicles within the wagon constellation regardless of their position.
Easy care: in the event of normal ballast settlement in the weighing zone area SOLAR may even be traversed by a heavy, fully automatic compacting machine and compacted again without problem. The system is not hereby impaired in any way whatsoever.
In a nutshell: in-motion weighing assures increased productivity and improved economy. SOLAR combines the benefits of maintenance-free, proven, long term service and maximum precision in the recording of wheel, wagon and train loads.
For more information on this company:
Pfister Waagen Bilanciai - Static and Dynamic Railway Scales and Test Systems
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