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Ultrasonic inspection solution for railway crossing points

Descripción del proyecto

Nueva solución para mejorar la seguridad ferroviaria

La integridad estructural de los pasos a nivel, conocidos como «ranas», plantea un reto importante en la industria ferroviaria. Estas instalaciones mecánicas vitales permiten a los trenes pasar sin problemas de una vía a otra. Sin embargo, las continuas colisiones por impacto del material rodante pasan factura a las ranas, lo que provoca grietas por fatiga que comprometen su seguridad. En este sentido, el proyecto SAFTInspect, financiado con fondos europeos, se ha revelado como una solución innovadora. Mediante una técnica de enfoque de apertura sintética (SAFT, en inglés), el proyecto SAFTInspect introducirá un enfoque revolucionario que permitirá inspeccionar a fondo los cruces ferroviarios, identificando fallos en componentes críticos. Al mejorar la seguridad ferroviaria y evitar descarrilamientos de trenes, este innovador dispositivo también beneficiará a operadores ferroviarios, proveedores de servicios de mantenimiento y fabricantes.

Objetivo

The heart of the rail crossings points also known as “frogs”, are a mechanical installation that enable a train to switch from one track to another.Frogs are subjected to repetitive impact collisions from the rolling stock.Such actions cause fatigue cracking which compromise the structural integrity of these safety critical components.For this reason, the EU infrastructure employs manganese steel at safety critical locations such as crossing.
Railway sector involves companies that need to inspect railway crossing accurately and in time.SAFTInspect is the only solution that will warranty the total inspection of the “frog” and it will also monitor the evolution through time with a Data base (Big Data).
SAFTInspect is based on a Synthetic Aperture Focussing Technique (SAFT) that facilitates for the first time full volume inspection of railway crossings devices in order to detect flaws on critical parts reinforcing the railway safety regions.SAFTInspect system will improve levels of safety for the railway industry preventing train derailments.Rail operators, underground operators, rail maintenance service providers and manufacturers, will benefit from our SAFTInspect innovative device that will be used both in pre-service and in-service analysis:
Pre-service: SAFT Inspect will allow the manufacturer to control every asset produced and to offer a better service to its customers (100% of quality). No special infrastructure is required, no special skills from the user.
In-service:Full volumetric inspection is more effective (90%). We will reduce 85% the total time per inspection and 94% on savings from labour costs.
Cracks that occur during service will be detected at an early stage in their growth cycle.Therefore we will eliminate the unnecessary cost of replacing frogs that are not damaged (savings around €1.89M per year).
From a global perspective, avoiding unscheduled maintenance, rail operators will save up to €87.5M in penalties in Europe due to train derailments.

Convocatoria de propuestas

H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017

Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoria

Convocatoria de subcontratación

H2020-SMEINST-2-2016-2017

Régimen de financiación

SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2

Coordinador

AIRTREN, S.L.
Aportación neta de la UEn
€ 631 181,00
Dirección
CALLE JOSE LOMBANA IGLESIAS 14
28023 MADRID
España

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Pyme

Organización definida por ella misma como pequeña y mediana empresa (pyme) en el momento de la firma del acuerdo de subvención.

Región
Comunidad de Madrid Comunidad de Madrid Madrid
Tipo de actividad
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Enlaces
Coste total
€ 901 687,50

Participantes (1)