INTRODUCTION 1

What word comes to your mind to describe

The

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

COUNTS AXLES
COUNTS AXLES IN
AND OUT OF
SECTION

HOW IT WORKS AS TRACK

CIRCUIT
IF AXLES IN NOT
EQUAL TO AXLES
OUT THEN SECTION
OCCUPIED

SECTION IS OCCUPIED

IN = 50
SECTION IS OCCUPIED

IN = 50

OUT = 40

OUT = 0

SECTION IS CLEAR

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

COUPLING OF SIGNAL FROM

TRANSMITTER TO
RECEIVER
Audio frequency signal from transmitter coupled electro
magnetically to receiver coil is interrupted by passage of wheels
causing dips which are counted
Coupling above the rail
Coupling below the rail

HOW DIPS ARE CREATED BY

PASSAGE OF WHEEL
Wheel interrupts the signal coupled above the rail
Coupling above the rail interrupted
by wheel
Coupling above the rail
Coupling below the rail

VECTOR DIAGRAM OF
SIGNAL
With no wheel between the transmitter and receiver

The Resultant signal is large and of phase about 0 deg

With wheel between the transmitter and receiver

The Resultant signal is smaller and phase also changes

SIGNAL CAN INCREASE

WITH WHEELS
Track devices do not necessarily have reduced coupling
of magnetic field in the receiver coils when wheels
traverse over it. In Siemens make axle counter track
device the signal strength in the receiver coils increase
when the wheels traverse over it.
The main idea is that the signal changes as the wheel
traverses over the track devices and its detection.

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.
Dip of A precedes
that of B

A
A

Signal
A
A

Time

Dip of B precedes
that of A

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

Processor based evaluating unit

DETECTION IN BLOCK
SECTION
Processor can include suitable logic to transfer
information through radio or other
telecommunication link

Radio Link /OFC

Processor

Processor

AXLE COUNTER WITH OFC

INTERFACE

TYPICAL MULTI ENTRY

AXLE COUNTER CEL

TYPICAL AXLE COUNTER

SIEMENS

TYPICAL AXLE COUNTER

INDOOR EQUIPMENT
Power supply

CARDFILE

Input Card

Logic Card

Output Card

TRACK DEVICE
INSTALLATION
The picture shows track
devices fixed to the track.

Receiver coil

Transmitter coil

CLOSE LOOK AT TRACK

DEVICE INSTALLATION
Receiver coils
Clamp
Transmitter coils

Base

TRACK SIDE JUNCTION BOX

CEL
The track side junction box provides
matching of the signals to and from
the track side to the Indoor
processing unit. The junction box
includes receiver amplifier, a
transmitter and power supply. The
transmitter is a audio frequency sine
wave generator. There are separate
outputs and inputs of the two
transmitter and the receiver coils.
The cable length from the junction
box and the cable type is fixed to
maximize signal strengths and
improve noise immunity.

SPECIFICATIONS OF AXLE
COUNTER CEL

SPECIFICATIONS OF AXLE
COUNTER SIEMENS

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.