A study on sensors for measuring load of railway vehicle wheels in motion

The aims of the paper are investigations, analysis and improvements of the wheel load measuring technology for running railway vehicle. The device used for measuring includes two specialized force sensors, incorporated in the rail track. The railway vehicle passes on the sensors and the computer system records the data of the force measured at each wheel. The recorded information is analyzed and the errors in loads due to the non-perfect tract section measured during the railway vehicle motion are determined. A proper methodology for error reduction is proposed. An analysis of the power-line interference on the signals is performed and appropriate notch filter for its rejection is adopted. An improvement of the algorithm for the wheel load estimating is offered and tested with real signals.