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attempt by two objects to occupy the same space at the same moment in time
INRODUCTION ACCIDENT
This is something which signal engineers work towards ensuring do not happen while running trains. Therefore we need identification of this happening well in advance to ensure that trains can be stopped before this can occur.
TRACK CIRCUITS
Track circuits are used to identify the presence of a train in particular section of a track and protect against accidents occurring on account of two trains moving to the same section of the railway track. Track circuits use various techniques and axle counting is one of them.
AXLE COUNTER
IN = 50
OUT = 0
SECTION IS CLEAR
IN = 50
OUT = 40
IN = 50
OUT = 50
ADVANTAGES
INSULATED TRACK NOT REQUIRED INDEPENDENT OF BALLAST CONDITION TRACK CIRCUIT LENGTH CAN BE UNLIMITED VERY GOOD FOR PROVING BLOCK SECTION IS CLEAR CAN OFFER COST EFFECTIVE SOLUTION IN MONITORING YARDS WITH SHARED PROCESSOR AND MULITIPLE DETECTORS
The Resultant signal is large and of phase about 0 deg With wheel between the transmitter and receiver
COUNTING OF AXLES
Earlier Axle counters only monitored the amplitude of the signal from detectors. Present versions monitor both amplitude and phase. This gives additional discrimination between presence and absence of wheels.
DETECTION OF DIRECTION
Detection of direction of movement is important and it is done by having two detectors adjacent to each other. Depending on the direction of movement the sequence of dips of the two detectors changes.
A A B
A A B
Time
COUNTING CIRCUITS
Dips are analyzed using failsafe electronic circuits and systems. Older systems used discrete electronic circuits and then logic chips were used and presently processors are used Multiple detectors are used to monitor point zones and even complete yard using shared processing equipment thus reducing cost and equipment.
DETECTION IN YARDS
Detector 2 Detector 1 Detector 3
Detector 4
Input Card
Logic Card
Output Card
Transmitter coil
Base
IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES 1
The output of the axle counter is fed to a relay. This relay is picked up when the section being monitored by the axle counter is clear of any trains as detected by the track device at the extremities of the section.
EVALUATOR
RELAY
IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES 2
This relay drops when the section being monitored by the axle counter is clear of any trains as detected by the track device at the extremities of the section. This relay contact is used in the signalling circuit similar to track repeating relay.
TRAIN
EVALUATOR
RELAY
VALIDATION
When a axle counter is started up it does not know the position of trains in the section it is monitoring. There is therefore the need to ensure that at start up it takes a safe state and that is it assumes that the section is occupied. The first train run and detected successfully is then used to allow the monitoring of the section by the axle counter. The signalling circuits are to be designed implementing this principle.
RESETTING
Instead of running a validation train another method adopted is resetting of the axle counter by manual means to start the monitoring of the section. This can be safety risk and so normally procedure for resetting ensures more than one person will be be required to enable a reset. Resetting causes the counts recorded by the axle counter to be brought back to zero if there are any residual counts. So even if not used for validation is required to take care of counts registered due to unknown reasons.
MAINTENANACE
Track devices require maintenance as the relative position of the transmitter coil, receiver coil and the rail on which it is fixed requires to be ensured for reliable detection of wheels of trains as it traverses the track devices. For proper adjustments dummy wheels are used which are moved across the track devices and the dip in the signal from the receiver coil ensured to meet the specifications.
PROBLEMS
Some of the main problems faced are a) Unreliable wheel detection caused by installation of the track devices or setting of signal levels. b) Failure to detect fast trains caused by improper adjustment of the track device coils. c) Unreliable wheel detection during some periods of the day. Possibly due to defective track devices like fine cracks in the core material of the coils.