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HAIL HYDRA : TEAM MEMBERS

TEAM MEMBER ENROLMENT NUMBER

Aayush Meena 2018meb1198

Abhay Chilkoti 2018meb1199

Aditya Rajak 2018meb1204

Aman Saini 2018meb1207

Anand Kumar 2018meb1210

Divyanshu Garg 2018meb1221

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Figures and Tables……..............................................................................................4
Executive Summary..........................................................................................................3
Chapter 1: Ultrasonic Crack Detection……….......................................................................6
1.1 Basic Schema and topology............................................................................................8
1.2 Angle of operation…………………………. …......................................................................8
1.3 Summary of specifications…………………………………...................................................9

Chapter 2: Live Thermal Mapping........................................................................12

2.1 Basic Schema and Topology……….………………………........................................................12
2.2 Analysis of rail-track Temperature...............................................................................12
2.3 Technical details and specifications................................................................................12

Chapter 3: Infrared sensing of track……………............................................................16

3.1Basic Schema and topology………….......................................................................16
3.2 Technical Specifications…………………………………………………………………………………………55

Chapter 4: Budget of the prototype……………………………………………………………...............52

Chapter 5: Design Considerations and Future Aspects……………………………………………..16

References and bibliography............................................................................................25

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Table of illustrations
Fig.1

Fig.2

Fig.3

Fig.4

Fig.5

Fig.6

Fig.7

Fig.8

Fig.9

Fig.10

Fig.11

Fig.12

Fig.13

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Not only for an ambitiously developing country like India ,it would be undesirable
for any nation to lose lots of lives and property for any unwanted cause whatsoever.
Railways are often called as the backbone of India for being one of the most
important. There is a need for manual checking to detect the crack on railway track
and always railway personnel takes care of this issue, even though the inspection is
made regularly. Sometimes the crack may remain unnoticed. Because of this the
train accident or derailment may occur. In order to avoid this situation and
automate the railway crack detection has been proposed. Here ultrasonic sensor is
used to detect the crack in the railway track by measuring distance from track to
sensor, if the distance is greater than the assigned value the microcontroller
identifies there is a crack, also it tells the exact location of the crack by the formula
“DISTANCE=SPEED*TIME”. While the checking process is going on, the train may
approach, it is identified by the vibration sensor and gives alert to the
microcontroller, thereby shrinks the size of the robot between the two tracks. After
the train has crossed it returns to its normal position and continue its checking
process.

There are very fundamental reasons why this problem is too critical to be left
unnoticed.

(following stats have been compiled as per the information received from m/o
railways)

Fig.1 Statistical analysis of railway accidents.

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 ULTRASONIC CRACK DETECTION

AVRUDDHA
RAILWAY
MANAGEMENT

INFRARED SENSING LIVE THERMAL MAPPING

Fig.2 Project web

PRIMARY SENSORS USED:

1. Ultrasonic Crack Detection

HC-SR04-Ultrasonic Range Finder

https://robu.in/product/hc-sr04-ultrasonic-range-finder/

2. Infrared Sensing

IR Infrared Obstacle Avoidance Sensor Module

https://robu.in/product/ir-infrared-obstacle-avoidance-sensor-module/

3. Live Thermal Mapping

Adafruit AMG8833 IR Thermal Camera

https://www.adafruit.com/product/3538

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CHAPTER 1

ULTRASONIC CRACK DETECTION

1.1 BASIC SCHEMA AND TOPOLOGY

Fig. 3 The ultrasonic sensing module Fig.4 Schematic diagram showing working ofUltrasound

Fig 5. Circuital topology ultrasound

1.2 ANGLE OF OPERATION

The HCSR04 ultrasonic sensor uses sonar to determine distance to the horizontal
level of the railway track, i.e. noncontact range detection with high accuracy and
stable readings. The prototype developed by the team has the range 2cm to 400 cm

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or 1” to 13 feet. It operation is not affected by sunlight or black materials. It is thus
a double sensor with ultrasonic transmitter and receiver module.

Fig 6. Practical test of performance: best in 30 solid angle

The ultrasonic sensor emanates almost parallel ultrasonic sound waves but at the
time of striking the target, there is an inevitable dispersion and hence a solid angle
which is subtended by that non-parallel reflection. The aforementioned ultrasonic
sensor is no exception and the data corresponding to that solid angle is shown in the
graph above. Empirically the sensor works best when the object of interest lies
inside the arc of 30.

1.3. SUMMARY OF SPECIFICATIONS:

● Power Supply :+5V DC

● Quiescent Current : <2mA
● Working Currnt: 15mA
● Effectual Angle: <15°
● Ranging Distance : 2cm – 400 cm/1" 13ft
● Resolution : 0.3 cm
● Measuring Angle: 30 degree

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● Trigger Input Pulse width: 10 s
● Dimension: 45mm x 20mm x 15mm

CHAPTER 2

LIVE THERMAL MAPPING

2.1 BASIC SCHEMA AND TOPOLOGY

The next pillar of our railway management is the live thermal sensing of the railway track. Thermal
camera is used in the prototype for live sensing of the track. So basically the idea is that we are
using live thermal imaging techniques to trace the curved railway tracks, as the railway tracks are
always going to be curved, it is very important for us to make sure that our crack detection
systems previously explained are mounted well and in proper orientation. So, the fundamental
idea that we are using is the temperature difference between the metallic rails and the ground
around it. This thermal energy based imaging system creates thermal (heat ) maps which can be
manually interpreted or can be controlled via basic image processing. What follows is the basic
topology of circuits we have used for thermal imaging as well as the basic theoretical background
for deciding the temperature, or rather the temperature difference between rail and the
ground .As will be shown, the temperature difference which the Infrared sensor is finally going to
sense depends on a lot of factors ranging from season to wind velocity.

Fig. 7 Image of thermal camera

Fig 8.Circuital topology with Pi

2.2 ANALYSIS OF RAIL TRACK TEMPERATURE

The precise value and the variation of the rail track temperature is very important to be
determined clearly and regularly because it not only affects our thermal sensing but also the
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stresses in the railway track. An improperly designed railway track can hence buckle. A railway
track is stressed based on the ambient temperature and an efficient implementation of avruddha
shall require meticulous analysis of both the stress and the temperature. The rail is mechanically
or thermally altered (stressed) so that its length equals the same at a chosen stress-free
temperature; the rail can then be fixed in place with no thermal forces in effect. The stress-free
temperature that is used is dependent on environmental extremes and thus varies with location.
In the United Kingdom, CWR (continuous welded rail) is stressed to 27 °C (81 °F), the mean
summer rail temperature. Typically , standard stress free temperatures vary from 18 to 40 °C .
Despite stressing the CWR before installation, a rail may still reach its "Critical Rail Temperature"
(CRT). This is the temperature of the rail above which buckling may occur.

The CRT may be reached due to disturbance of the ballast, track components or track geometry.
For example, the CRT may be reached due to a removal of a rail section. A stressing engineer
measures the rail section to be removed and places indicators with marks on the foot of the rails.
After the rail section is cut out, its first stress free temperature is determined. The new rail section
is cut and replaced and then welded at one end. A "stressing kit" (hydraulic rail tensor) or other
method is used to adjust the other end and make the join ready for welding.

Rail Temperature Prediction Model : From the point of view of physical sciences, following are
the parameters used in determination of railway track temperature in the real life (practical)
scenario,

• Used parameters:
• Air Temperature
• Intensity of solar radiation
• Solar angle
• Wind speed
• Sky temperature
• Heat absorptivity and emissivity of rail
Fig. 9 graphs to illustrate the relation between rail temperature and a few physical factors by
means of a set of an empirically calculated data.

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2.3 TECHNICAL DETAILS AND SPECIFICATIONS

We have used Adafruit AMG8833, which is an 8x8 array of IR thermal sensors. When connected to
the microcontroller (or raspberry Pi) it will return an array of 64 individual infrared temperature
readings. This part will measure temperatures ranging from 0°C to 80°C (32°F to 176°F) with an
accuracy of +- 2.5°C (4.5°F). It can detect a human from a distance of up to 7 meters (23) feet.
With a maximum frame rate of 10Hz,it matched the requirements of our prototype. On the Pi,
with a bit of image processing help from the SciPy python library we were able to interpolate the
8x8 grid. As per our requirements, we have set the temperature range with the central set being
(min 12C , max 24C). That is to say, the sensor shall consider temperature above 24C as high
and below 12C as low. The temperature in between are the transition temperatures.F.

Fig. 10 RESULTS WITH THE COLOURED (VIBGYOR) MODE

However, as we were required to sense this heat map by IR sensor capable of sensing only black –
white contrast, we converted the heat mapping code to black – white such that high (+24C) is
considered as black and low (-12C) as white.

Fig 11. RESULTS OF THE BLACK AND WHITE HEAT MAP

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 CHAPTER 3

IR SENSOR: TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

3.1 BASIC SCHEMA AND TOPOLOGY

Fig 12. IR transmission

As shown in the schematic diagram above, the IR sensor is used to sense the distance at which an
object is located, by sensing the reflected IR rays. The central aim thereof is to sense either the
display of the heat map or to act line – following by sensing the track.

Fig13.IR Connections with the microcontroller

3.2 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Main Chip LM393 Dimensions (mm) LxWxH 48 x 14 x 8

Operating Voltage Range 3.6~5 VDC Weight (gm) 5

Average Current Consumption (mA) 0.06 Distance Measuring Range 2 ~ 30cm

Detection Angle 35 °

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CHAPTER 4

BUDGET OF THE PROTOTYPE

CHAPTER 5
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Master code involved
#include <Servo.h>

#define LS 12      
#define RS 13
#define motorPin1 6
#define motorPin2 9
#define motorPin3 10
#define motorPin4 11

const int pingPin = 7;

const int echoPin = 5;

Servo servo_test;
int angle=90;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
 pinMode(LS, INPUT);
  pinMode(RS, INPUT);
  servo_test.attach(3);      
  servo_test.write(90);

pinMode(motorPin1, OUTPUT);
 pinMode(motorPin2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(motorPin3, OUTPUT);
pinMode(motorPin4, OUTPUT);

void loop() {
 double duration, inches, cm;
   pinMode(pingPin, OUTPUT);
   digitalWrite(pingPin, LOW);
   delayMicroseconds(2);
   digitalWrite(pingPin, HIGH);
   delayMicroseconds(10);
   digitalWrite(pingPin, LOW);
   pinMode(echoPin, INPUT);
   duration = pulseIn(echoPin, HIGH);
   cm = microsecondsToCentimeters(duration);
   Serial.print(cm);
   Serial.print("cm");
   Serial.println();
   delay(10);
   if (cm>=7)
   {
    analogWrite(motorPin1, 0);
analogWrite(motorPin2, 0);
analogWrite(motorPin3, 0);
analogWrite(motorPin4, 0);
  }
    else
  {
analogWrite(motorPin1, 50);
analogWrite(motorPin2, 0);

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analogWrite(motorPin3, 50);
analogWrite(motorPin4, 0);
   }

     if(digitalRead(LS) && digitalRead(RS))     // Move Forward

 {
    angle=90;
   servo_test.write(90);
  
 }
     if(!(digitalRead(LS)) && digitalRead(RS))     // Turn right
 {
    angle -= 2;
   servo_test.write(angle);
   delay(10);
 }
    if(digitalRead(LS) && !(digitalRead(RS)))     // turn left
 {
    angle += 2;
     servo_test.write(angle);
     delay(10);
 }
 
  if(!(digitalRead(LS)) && !(digitalRead(RS)))     // stop
  {angle=90;
    servo_test.write(90);
 }
}

long microsecondsToInches(long microseconds) {

   return microseconds / 74 / 2;
}

long microsecondsToCentimeters(long microseconds) {

   return microseconds / 29 / 2;

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CHAPTER 5

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS AND FUTURE ASPECTS

Although elegantly designed, our prototype has a few critical design and operational
aspects to be discussed .Our prototype has a very viable practical implication and
application but some shortcomings as well as future aspects must be considered .
Firstly, we had limitations of our sensors : thermal camera had a very limited
resolution and hence we were not able to use our already limited capable thermal
sensor to sense the heat map. That was the reason we were required to send the
track directly and not the heat map. Although some complicated image processing
could have been used for the same purpose.So, in a nutshell, the aforementioned
points are can be considered as the future aspects of a prototype.

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REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. https://innovate.mygov.in/innovation/rail-track-crack-detection-system-by-using-ultrasonic-sensor/
2. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/263/5/052045/pdf

3. CRACK DETECTION SYSTEM FOR RAILWAY TRACK BY USING ULTRASONIC AND PIR SENSOR

IJAICT Volume -1, Issue-1, Corresponding Author: P.Navaraja, Mahendra Institute of Technology,
Namakkal, Tamilnadu, India126Prof. P.NavarajaAssistant Professor,Electronic and Communication
Engineering,Mahendra Institute of Technology,Namakkal, Tamilnadu, India.

4. https://m.economictimes.com/industry/transportation/railways/on-track-railways-safety-record-in-
2017-2018-best-in-57-years-shows-official-data/articleshow/63757894.cms

5. INDIAN RAILWAYS –SAFETY PERFORMANCE

LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT, PARLIAMENT LIBRARY AND REFERENCE, RESEARCH,

DOCUMENTATIONAND INFORMATION SERVICE (LARRDIS) MEMBERS’ REFERENCE SERVICE, FACT
SHEET .No. 1/FS/Ref./February/2017

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