Virtual Section Meeting: Development and Evaluation of Locomotive Undercarriage Thermal Inspection Systems (LUTIS)
Webinar
This presentation reviews the development and testing of locomotive undercarriage thermal inspection systems, showing good correlation between onboard thermocouples and in-track sensors for failure detection.
Member: Free
Credit Info
- Contact Hours: 1
- IACET CEUs: N/A
- Valid for ASNT Level III recertification: Yes
Original air date: 18 January 2024
Course Overview
This presentation discusses the early development and in-service assessment of locomotive undercarriage thermal inspection systems (LUTIS), also known as “in-track thermal detectors.” MxV Rail installed thermocouples (TC) and data loggers on three different styles of locomotives to record the real-time temperatures of the high-load mechanical components as the locomotives traversed the network.
The TC locations were selected to be visible to the in-track LUTIS. The continuous data obtained from the onboard unit was useful for determining warmup profiles and average operating range temperatures for the various components. When the locomotives passed the test site, direct point-by-point temperature comparisons were made between the TC data and the in-track LUTIS readouts. The revenue service trials of the in-track LUTIS demonstrated a good correlation between the scanned and onboard temperature measurements. Overall, differences averaged approximately 1°C between the two LUTIS units themselves, and approximately 3.6°C between the thermocouples and either of the in-track units. These differences were minor when considering the inherent differences of each measurement system (e.g., thermal scan technology, resolution, precise location of the thermocouples versus scan target) and the range of operating temperatures. The differences appear insignificant when compared with temperatures associated with an impending component failure.
Further work from the industry has been focused on trending and identification algorithms to identify abnormal temperature readings and trends. Early deployment in revenue service of more than a dozen units resulted in at least 120 indications in the first year.
Meet the Speaker
Anish Poudel, PhD
Anish Poudel, PhD, is Principal Investigator II for NDE at MxV Rail, specializing in wayside inspection and data analytics for the North American railway industry. With over 15 years’ experience, he leads a team and serves as a subject matter expert. An accomplished mentor and author of 100+ technical publications, Dr. Poudel holds two patents and is an ASNT Fellow, actively contributing to committees and advancing NDE technologies for rail safety and efficiency.
Questions? Contact us at education@asnt.org