Can you forsee a failure? Scientist work on a diagnostic system for trams | Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Ship Technology at the Gdańsk University of Technology

Machines work until their components succumb to a gradual deterioration. They loose the working parameters and that leads to a failure. A tram simply stops and cannot function any more. 

– We intend to connect to the system, to monitor selected parameters of the tram operation in order to detect alarming changes of their values to warn against the impeding failure - says Jacek Czyżewicz, PhD, ME of the Institute of Mechanics and Machine Construction at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Ship Technology. - We would like to anticipate the moments when a machine should go to maintenance or repairs. Unforseen stopping if a tram and sudden need of a repair generate high costs, are long-lasting and often happen at a worst possible time. It is much cheaper to fix a component before its failure. 

To create a tram diagnostic system, GUT team uses XTrack telematic platform.

Approximately 50 sensors

The system is onboard tram no. 1176. It is based on a central unit XT4 and it also features main bus CAN. The bus contains concentrators - there are six of them. All of these are communicated with one another and with the central unit. The central unit, in turn, using a GSM network sends real-time reports to the dispatcher. The reports have been configured to show warnings regarding discrepancies. Each concentrator is connected to a battery of sensors monitoring various components: there are temperature sensors, carriage settling sensors, or brake hydraulic pressure sensors. Overall, there are nearly 50 sensors on the tram which have never been fitted before.

Scientists fitted tram no. 1176 with a diagnostic system. The project is conducted in cooperation with Gdańskie Autobusy i Tramwaje company. GUT team works on a diagnostic system on N8C trams - used trams bought from Germany. These trams are nowadays modernized in Gdańsk. 

To prevent a failure

For example, displacement sensor monitors the height of the carriage in a tram. The carriage is subject to wear and the measurement will allow us to forsee when the tram should undergo maintenance or regulation of the carriage elements. 

– One of the tram components is a driving gearbox. Let us assume that it fails - cogs will break or a bearing will wear out. This will result in complete stoppong of the tram. If this happens on Monday at 4:00 PM on Grunwaldzka street, all the trams following this one wiill also stop. The company will have to organize emergency bus service, send a team which will require a specialized equipment to tow away the broken tram. At the depot another team will disassemble the tram to check what happened. Next, appropriate parts will have to be ordered. When they arrive, the repairs will be carried out and the tram will be brought back online. The whole operation can last several weeks and cost several hundred thousand zlotych - says Jacek Czyżewicz.  

Apart from Jacek Czyżewicz PhD, ME the project team includes professor Artur Olszewski and professor Michał Wasilczuk and, among others, Oskar Wysocki PhD and Dominik Olszewski MSc, ME. The plans include establishing a spin-off company with the participation of the GUT and agreement with the GAIT on the scope and commercial rules of extending the system to other N8C trams operatied by the transport company. This will be the first such a complex diagnostic system in Poland. Even newest trams do not have such complex diagnostic systems.  

The project was conducted with e-Pionier program conducted by GUT Excento Company.