BTJ 5/2011 - Baltic Press

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FocusCondition-based maintenance for freight wagonsFinding optimumPhoto: DB SchenkerPhoto: DB SchenkerIn order to improve availability and reliability of freight wagons it is necessary to implement conditionbasedmaintenance. The CargoCBM research group is developing a system to make this a reality.As the exchange of goods withinthe European Union is increasingand worldwide trade is intensifying,a significant growth in goodstraffic can be expected in the next few years.The most recent appraisals estimate that thetraffic in goods transportation (tonnes transportedmultiplied by distance, in tonne/km)will increase in Germany by 69% from 2005to 2030 and by 110% by 2050. Transit trafficis expected to increase by 136% by 2030 andby 214% by 2050. However, the proportionregarding rail and barge is not supposedto be substantially higher and still only accountsfor 27%, while 70% belongs to traffictransportation. These trends are unlikelyto change without improvements made ingeneral conditions.To match climate targets, the Germangovernment is willing to take action to increasethe amount of goods transported byrail in order to reduce CO 2emissions andtake pressure off the crowded motorways.Modern and available rolling stock can beseen to be one of the main restraints to a disproportionatelyhigh growth in rail traffic.An improved efficiency in maintenance canbe the key to enhance this situation.Maintenance strategiesThere are three categories of general maintenancestrategies: permanent maintenance,preventive and reactive.When a wagon is constructed fatigueresistant(permanent) it is not supposed to50 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2011need any maintenance during its whole lifespan. This commonly used procedure in theautomotive industry is connected with higherproduction costs and wagon weight. Reactivemaintenance is a procedure that only dealswith the equipment after a component failure.This strategy is difficult to plan and impliesgreat storage capacities for spare components.Furthermore, consecutive faultsmay occur, which lead to further damagesresulting in additional costs and downtime.However, the fact that parts are being optimallyused can be seen as an advantage.Preventive maintenance can be separatedinto time-based and condition-basedmaintenance. The first strategy is currentlyused for freight wagons and is carried out infixed intervals in order to avoid unexpectedbreakdowns, minimize storage of spare partsand easier scheduling of down times. On theother hand, when applying condition-basedmaintenance, parts are replaced dependingon their actual wear status. To find theoptimal timing, the wear status has to beexamined regularly or permanently. The resultslie in greater reliability and availability,by simultaneously reducing costs.Today freight cars are being scheduled formaintenance in fixed intervals of six to eightyears in a preventive maintenance scheme. Askilometric performances greatly vary, freightcars are in a very different state when theycome into the workshop. Some wagons arein a really good state and could easily remainin operation without being repaired. Othersmight have shown technical problems alreadyand would have to be taken into maintenancebefore their planned time. A further difficultyis that damages through wheel flats, forexample, are occurring irregularly and thusare mileage independent. Discussions withwagon holders have shown that with the currentlyused maintenance strategy, annuallythree to four unplanned workshop visits perfreight car are occurring. This leads to problemsconcerning availability and thus cost,which have led to competitive disadvantagesof the rail freight transport in Germany.
In order to make condition-based maintenanceof freight cars possible, the Chair of RailVehicles of the Technical University of Berlincooperates with six industry partners (Eckelmann,Harting, PC-Soft, Lenord + Bauer,Vattenfall and Wascosa) to initiate the researchproject CargoCBM. The project was startedin January 2010 and is funded by the FederalMinistry of Economics and Technology.CargoCBM – general system designWithin the scheduled three-yearproject, required hardware and softwareon freight wagons for a condition monitoringsystem will be developed.From a technical point of view the CargoCBMsystem is divided into three components:wagon-based equipment, server-baseddata processing as well as customer frontend.Sensors will be implemented on the wagonside to collect data. An On-Board-Unit(OBU) will process these data mainly fordata reduction purposes. The informationis transmitted to a stationary device wheredata are stored in a database. This representsthe basis for the automatic data evaluationto investigate the wagon conditions. Plantmanagement software receives the gainedknowledge regarding the wear status. Thissoftware handles the wagon maintenance,disposition of wagons and capacities withinthe workshop. The user interface is at theend of the data processing chain. Here, carowners and railway operators can access thenecessary information.In the field of hardware the focus is onan independently working On-Board-Unit,a reliable transmission technology, robusthousing technology and sensors adaptedto railway applications. The OBU, installedon every freight car, bundles signals fromall active sensors, pre-processes data andFocuscontains on-car communication equipment.On the software side, automatic damagediagnosis algorithms and an interfacefor connecting the CargoCBM system to acomputerized maintenance managementsoftware are being developed. The latter allowsa fusion of the car database with gainedinformation about the condition, and servesas a user interface for the car owner.Through coordinated specification documentswith potential customers the greatestpossible acceptance of the final productshould be achieved. Extensive laboratory testsand testing on the tracks of Vattenfall EuropeMining in Lusatia are about to begin. Aftera successful test in January 2012 the systemwill be implemented in September 2012 onWascosa’s freight wagons across Europe. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Markus HechtDipl.-Ing. Christoph GerickeProf. Markus Hecht studied mechanical engineering at the University Stuttgart and RWTHAachen. He worked as a manager of control and measurement techniques and deputy headof engineering at Swiss Locomotive and machine factory, Winterthur. Since 1997 he has beena professor for Rail Vehicles at the Institute of Land and Sea Transport Systems at TechnicalUniversity Berlin – TUB (since 2005 the executive director of that institute). Christoph Gericke isa project manager and a research assistant in telematics and maintenance at the TUB’s Chair ofRail Vehicles. For more information go to www.schienenfzg.tu-berlin.de, www.cargocbm.de, orcontact Markus Hecht directly at markus.hecht@tu-berlin.de or +49 30 314 25150. POLZUG Intermodal GmbHContainer Terminal Burchardkai, HamburgTel.: + 49 40 - 74 11 45-0E-Mail: hamburg@polzug.dePOLZUG Intermodal POLSKA Sp. z o.o.ul. Ks. l. Skorupki 5, WarszawaTel.: + 48 22 - 336 34 00E-Mail: warszawa.info@polzug.pl POLZUG_BTJ_184x118_5.indd 1 5/2011 | Baltic Transport 23.09.11 Journal 12:34 | 51
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BTJ 5/2011 - Baltic Press

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