IMPROVING TRAIN MOVEMENT SAFETY BY USING AUTOMATIC CONTROL OF SIGNAL CURRENT PARAMETERS IN TRACK CIRCUITS
Authors: HAVRYLIUK V. , SHEMANOV S. 
Published: October 2024

Purpose. The safety of train traffic largely depends on the functional safety and reliability of railway automation and communication. At the same time, a special role in this belongs to the system of interval regulation of train traffic, which includes autoblocking, automatic locomotive signaling (ALS), driver alertness control systems, hitchhikers. One of the main problems with the current approach to rail lap monitoring is the use of manual measurements, which are expensive, time-consuming and prone to human error. In addition, these manual processes often do not provide the necessary accuracy to detect defects at an early stage. To fill this gap, continuous automatic monitoring of the signal current in the rail wheels is necessary, which allows for timely detection of critical signal distortions and excess electromagnetic interference in the rail wheels, which can cause malfunctions in their operation. The purpose of the research is to improve the safety of train traffic through automatic control signal current parameters in rail circuits. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to determine the characteristic features of the signal current in the RC, which can be used for timely and reliable detection of defects and excess interference in it, which can lead to failures in the operation of train traffic control systems. Results. It was determined that the analysis of voltage levels at the input of the track receiver during pulses and pauses of the signal current can provide additional information about potential defects of the LCD, which may not be obvious only with the help of simple voltage measurements on the rail receiver. Although the analysis of the rms voltage of signals in rail circuits provides valuable diagnostic information, it alone may not be enough. By monitoring the voltage levels, in particular in pulses and pauses of the signal current, and supplementing it with spectral analysis, you can get a much more detailed understanding of the state of the rail circuit. Spectral analysis, in particular, allows you to detect disturbances that may not be obvious when analyzing in the time domain, but still indicate potential malfunctions. It is proposed that the spectral analysis of the signal current in the rails should be performed separately for pulses and pauses, similar to the analysis in the time domain. However, due to the short duration of the pulses and pauses (approximately 0.083 seconds), it is difficult to perform spectral analysis with the required accuracy due to the fundamental uncertainty principle. Spectral analysis is more time-consuming and computationally intensive than time-domain analysis. As a result, a two-stage diagnostic process is recommended. At the first stage, a simpler analysis of the signal current in the time domain should be performed to quickly identify any signs of excessive interference. If any anomalies are detected, a more detailed time-frequency analysis can be performed as a second step to confirm the nature of the signal distortion and assess its impact on the rail circuit performance. Thanks to the continuous monitoring of signals in the HC with their analysis in the time and frequency domains, it is possible not only to detect malfunctions, but also to predict them before they occur, which allows for more effective maintenance planning and reduces the risks of malfunctions. Practical significance. The obtained results can be used in the development of a system of continuous monitoring of rail circles, which will increase the safety of train traffic and reduce operational costs. The proposed method allows not only to detect malfunctions in rail wheels, but also to predict them before they occur, which allows for more effective maintenance planning and reduces the risk of malfunctions.