Industrial Consultancy & Sponsored Research (IC&SR) , IIT Madras
An Overhead Line and Equipment Inspection Device
Categories for this Invention
Technology: Overhead line & equipment inspection device; Industry: Railways; Applications: Automated Inspection System;
Market: The global inspection machines market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.7 % during 2022 to 2027;
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Problem Statement
- Generally, it is noted that the manual process of inspection of over headlines is very tedious and a time-consuming procedure.
- An overhead line with faulty alignment can entangle with the running trains pantograph and break.
- Further, Indian Railways do not have an automated inspection system to detect such faults and prevent such a failure.
- Hence, there is a need to mitigate above challenges and present invention provides solutions by addressing above issues in efficient manner.
Technology
- The present invention describes a system for inspection of pantograph overhead lines associated operably on railway electric traction system, which has pantographs mounted on the roof of the trains contacting the overhead suspended catenary delivering power to the electrically powered train.
- The system includes
- a sensor being a depth sensor which is an infrared based vision camera;
- a motion sensor to identify and process the parameters of pantograph and overhead lines.
- The parameters include a stagger, height of plurality of overhead lines, thickness of overhead lines, detection of spark at contact points of overhead lines with the pantograph, & pressure exertion of pantograph on the overhead lines. (Refer figures.1 & 2)
- Said system is operationally associated with GPS receiver for identifying the GPS coordinates of the vehicle.
Key Features / Value Proposition
Technical Perspective:
- The depth sensor and the motion sensor are enclosed in a casing and is mounted on any vehicle including electric train, railway engine, railway EMU, train, trolley bus, moving platforms.
- The system is operationally associated with cloud-based data Centre which offers centralized data processing, analyzing & reporting system.
- Mapping the measured parameter with GPS coordinates allows convenient maintenance.
- Claimed system can work during the night making it easier to integrate with the existence maintenance schedule of the railways which usually happens during the night due to low traffic.
- Claimed device can work on trains travelling at speeds up to 120kmph.
Industrial Perspective:
- Provides a hermetically sealed surgical tool assembly to connect to a disposable surgical tool tip end effector for a tele-operated surgical robot applicable in surgical units in the Hospitals/Medical Institution.
- Completely automated inspection system right from data collection to reporting & storage, in effect saving time and increasing the efficiency of maintenance processes.
- Total cost and marginal cost of manufacture is lower than other existing systems.
Questions about this Technology?
Contact For Licensing
sm-marketing@imail.iitm.ac.in
ipoffice2@iitm.ac.in
Research Lab
Inventors:
Mr. Vignesh Krishnakumar
Department of Computer Science & Engineering;
Mr. Kishore Natarajan
Department of Ocean Engg.
Intellectual Property
IITM IDF Ref. 1004
IN Patent No: 435986
Technology Readiness Level
TRL- 4
Proof of Concept ready & validated