The Development of a Roller Rig for Experimental Evaluation of Contact Mechanics for Railway Vehicles

This paper discusses the development of a state of the art single-wheel roller rig for studying contact mechanics and dynamics in railroad applications. The use of indoor-based simulation tools has become a mainstay in vehicle testing for the automotive and railroad industries. In contrast to field-testing, roller rigs offer a controlled laboratory environment that can provide a successful path for obtaining data on the mechanics and dynamics of railway systems for a variety of operating conditions. The idea to develop a laboratory test rig started from the observation that there is a need for better-developed testing fixtures capable of accurately explaining the relatively unknown physics of the wheel-rail contact mechanics and dynamics. Developing a better understanding of such physics would assist with designing faster, safer, and more efficient railroad systems. A review of the existing roller rigs indicated that many desired functional requirements for studying contact mechanics are not readily available. The Virginia Tech Railway Technologies Laboratory (RTL) has embarked on a mission to develop a state-of-the-art testing facility that will allow experimental testing for contact mechanics in a dynamic, controlled, and consistent manner. The VT roller rig is intended to allow for actively controlling all the wheel-rail interface degrees of freedom: cant angle, angle of attack, and lateral displacement. Two AC synchronous servomotors, accompanied with proper gearheads, accurately drive the rotating wheels. A novel force measurement system, suitable for steel on steel contact, is configured to precisely measure the contact forces and torques. The control architecture is developed based on the SynqNet data acquisition system offered by Kollmorgen, the drive-motor and actuator supplier. The Synqnet provides a unified communication protocol between actuators, drives, and data acquisition system; therefore eliminating any difficulty with data conversion among these units. Other auxiliary sensors and measurement systems are implemented to help with characterizing the contact mechanics and contact geometry. This paper will describe the main steps in the design process of the VT roller rig and the final design solution selected. It will also present the testing capabilities of the rig. The design analysis indicates that the rig can successfully meet the set requirements: additional accuracy in measurements, and better control on the design of experiments.

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Development of a new State-of-the-Art Data Acquisition System for the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex

47th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting including The New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition ◽

10.2514/6.2009-1346 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Johannes van Aken ◽

Lei Yang

Keyword(s):

Data Acquisition ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Data Acquisition System ◽

Full Scale ◽

Acquisition System

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Electrical and Meteorological Data Acquisition System of a Commercial and Domestic Microgrid for Monitoring PV Parameters

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app10249092 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (24) ◽

pp. 9092

Author(s):

Edson L. Meyer ◽

Oliver O. Apeh ◽

Ochuko K. Overen

Keyword(s):

Data Acquisition ◽

Solar Irradiance ◽

Power Plants ◽

Meteorological Parameters ◽

Meteorological Data ◽

Data Acquisition System ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Acquisition System ◽

Data Logger ◽

Pv System

This paper centers on the design and installation of a robust photovoltaic (PV)-based microgrid data acquisition system (DAS) that can monitor different PV systems simultaneously. The PV-based microgrid consists of three solar systems: off-grid, hybrid and grid-assisted systems, each with 3.8 kWp located at SolarWatt park, Fort Hare Institute of Technology (FHIT), South Africa. The designed DAS is achieved by assembling and connecting a set of sensors to measure and log electrical and meteorological parameters from each of the three power plants. Meteorological parameters use a CR1000 datalogger while the electrical output parameters use a DT80 data logger. Calibration was done by voltage signal conditioning which helps to reduce errors initiated by analogue signals. The designed DAS mainly assist in assessing the potential of solar energy of the microgrid power plant considering the energy needed in the remote community. Besides, the simultaneous monitoring of the three systems ensures that the outdoor operating conditions are the same while comparing the logged data. A variable day and a week, data were used to verify the reliability of the system. The back of the array temperature was observed to be 42.7 °C when solar irradiance was 1246 W/m2. The ambient temperature and relative humidity were obtained at 21.3 °C and 63.3%, respectively. The PV current in all three systems increases with the solar irradiance and is highest around midday. The results obtained show that the designed DAS is of great interest in PV system developments.

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Development and Validation of a Tractor Drawbar Force Measurement and Data Acquisition System (DAQ)

Applied Engineering in Agriculture ◽

10.13031/aea.12489 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 33 (6) ◽

pp. 781-789 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

James BW Roeber ◽

Santosh K Pitla ◽

Roger M Hoy ◽

Joe D Luck ◽

Michael F Kocher

Keyword(s):

Data Acquisition ◽

Force Measurement ◽

Cost Savings ◽

Data Acquisition System ◽

Hydraulic Cylinder ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Acquisition System ◽

Draft Force ◽

Agricultural Tractors ◽

Development And Validation

Abstract. Matching agricultural tractors to implements towed by the drawbar is one of the important aspects of machinery management for ensuring optimum performance and fuel cost savings. A field deployable tractor draft force measurement and data acquisition system was developed and evaluated as part of this research project. A drawbar instrumented to measure draft force in field operating conditions was developed and statically calibrated. The drawbar was calibrated by applying loads from 4.45 to 134 kN using a hydraulic cylinder connected to a 444.8 kN load cell. Testing was conducted with the drawbar installed on a tractor on a concrete track. The Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory (NTTL) load car was used for applying draft loads to evaluate the instrumented drawbar. The track test consisted of seven loads corresponding to maximum power in seven gears. The draft forces as measured by the drawbar were compared to the draft measurements recorded by the load car. The error between draft force measurements of the instrumented drawbar and the load car measurements ranged from 0.21 kN (0.27%) to 0.99 kN (2.88%).There were no statistically significant differences between drawbar and load car measurements confirming that the drawbar force measurement and data acquisition (DAQ) system developed as part of this research can be used for field use. Keywords: Data acquisition, Draft load, Drawbar, LabVIEW, Strain gages, Tractor.

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CEBAF Physicists Ready A State-Of-The-Art Data Acquisition System

Computers in Physics ◽

10.1063/1.4822747 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 2 (4) ◽

pp. 12

Keyword(s):

Data Acquisition ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Data Acquisition System ◽

Acquisition System

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The Measurement of Component Friction Losses in a Fired Engine: Part 1 — Experimental Method

World Tribology Congress III, Volume 2 ◽

10.1115/wtc2005-64252 ◽

2005 ◽

Author(s):

Riaz A. Mufti ◽

Martin Priest

Keyword(s):

Data Acquisition ◽

Research Work ◽

Data Acquisition System ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Valve Train ◽

Acquisition System ◽

Sensor Technology ◽

Friction Measurement ◽

Frictional Loss ◽

Depth Analysis

The direct relationship of frictional loss and fuel economy in an internal combustion engine has resulted in increasing interest in understanding the performance of the engine at the component level. Also for the development of new engine lubricants it would be better to have an in-depth analysis of the interaction of lubricants with each individual engine component under fired conditions. With the advances in data acquisition system and sensor technology, extensive study of the main engine components i.e. valve train, piston assembly and engine bearings has been possible resulting in the development of a versatile engine friction measurement system. Total engine and component friction measurement was carried out on a single cylinder Ricardo Hydra gasoline engine under fired conditions at various lubricant temperatures, engine speeds and loads. The engine was fitted with more than fifty different sensors and to sample/log data from such a large number of transducers, an advanced high-speed synchronised data acquisition system was designed/developed. Experiments are reported for total and component friction at a range of engine operating conditions with SAE 0W20 and friction-modified SAE 5W30 lubricants. Due to the nature of the research work, the findings are presented in two parts. The first part, which is this paper, explains the complex measurement methods used to measure component friction whereas the results are discussed in the second part. This system can be used as a powerful tool for screening engine oils and studying the effect of different additives on the performance of each component under realistic conditions.

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