Diarmuid Ryan – Telemattica

Contact Wire Wear

Diarmuid Ryan — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 04:26:01 +0000

Issue: contact wire wearing under splice

Risk: main overhead contact wire failure, dewirement, damage to rolling stock, infrastructure with health and safety of personnel at risk

Value: early intervention and prevention of dewirement from pantograph catching tension wire

Event Description:

Electrified overhead wiring networks are comprised of many lengths of cable that are joined or spliced together by clamps. Over time, through use and wear, clamps can work loose and cables may become kinked. This can result in abnormal wear rate of the contact wire. The network maintainer has been able to precisely identify when the contact wire has become kinked and show accelerated wear to the overhead line and rollingstock pantographs. As such, an infrastructure failure is prevented through early and precise fault detection.

Catenary Tension Wire Fault

Diarmuid Ryan — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 07:37:12 +0000

Issue: incorrect catenary tension wire height

Risk: dewirement, physical danger, reputation damage, extended service delays and damage to pantograph

Value: early intervention and prevention of dewirement from pantograph catching tension wire

Event Description:

An overhead catenary system has several supporting features, including wires to tension the main contact line. In this instance, a tension wire is set too low for the network, causing a severe impact, damaging the carbon contact strip, applying excessive force and catching on the pantograph horn as the vehicle passes through the location. In this situation the operator is able to precisely diagnose the cause of impact and schedule emergency repairs prior to an overhead line dewirement.

Tree Impact with Pantograph

Diarmuid Ryan — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 00:08:17 +0000

Issue: overhanging tree encroaching on overhead wiring network

Risk: potential dewirement, extended service delays, significant repairs, physical danger and damage to environment

Value: Ability to cut tree and perform maintenance to environment prior to significant event

Event Description:

Damage to pantographs and overhead wiring networks can be caused by features external to the catenary interface. In this case an overhanging tree contacts the pantograph and wiring on the underside of the pantograph head. This alert allows the operator to identify a major hazard, the cause of pantograph damage and also direct the remediation task to the correct stakeholder.

Intersection Hard Spot on Network

Diarmuid Ryan — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 00:05:43 +0000

Issue: intersection joiner set incorrectly

Risk: impact damage to pantograph and infrastructure, heat damage to carbon contact, damage to multiple rollingstock, service downtime for emergency repairs

Value: identification of defective infrastructure and ability to improve maintenance procedures

Description:

Intersection of wire infrastructure set at incorrect height and level causing loss of electrical contact, impact and significant arcing across the main overhead wire and pantograph contact, producing excessive heat. This alert details the effect of a defective intersection on infrastructure and demonstrates the importance of correctly set wire heights and tension. As a function of this data, the stakeholder is enabled to perform maintenance at this location and validate the works performed.