Austria | Germany | France | Sweden | India | USA | China | Singapore
Cloud-based Railway Bridge Monitoring with Solar Powered Q.series DAQ
News | 2 minutes Reading Time |

Cloud-based Railway Bridge Monitoring with Solar Powered Q.series DAQ

For a large railway operator, Gantner Instruments continuously monitors a railway bridge using displacement transducers to detect deflection in bridge support elements.

Bridge movement is measured with every passing train and data is transferred to a Gantner Cloud system via 4G modem. In the case of unwanted bridge movement, an alarm is generated and the Railway Operations Center is notified by Email. For every passing train, data is acquired at 500Hz with high resolution to ensure precise measurement of bridge movements for further evaluation.

The challenge was the tight schedule to provide a solution with no possibility to power the measurement system from any local grid. In combination with the demand to generate fast and precise measurement data with every passing train, the power supply system had to be designed with great care. After analysis of the local region’s weather data from the past 5 years, two solar panels were selected along with a high-quality Lithium-Ion battery. This carefully selected combination of products guarantees several days of measurement autonomy, even under harsh environmental conditions including low temperature and solar radiation during the winter season.

The entire process from first customer interaction to the installation and commissioning of the off-grid measurement system took only 3 months. Gantner Instruments was responsible for the complete system design of the measurement cabinet as well as the simulation and design of the solar powered off-grid system. After 2 weeks of full-scale testing at Gantner Instruments’ headquarters located in Schruns, the complete measurement system was delivered on-site.

Thanks to close cooperation with the customer during all project phases, both the installation and commissioning of the complete measurement system were executed within one day. With the Gantner Cloud system now in operation, data is collected with every passing train while live measurement values and system status information is accessible for railway crew with just a few mouse clicks. With a web browser-based fleet monitoring system such as the Gantner Cloud, it is possible to manage any number of constructions, regardless if on-site grid power is available.

More articles

News

End-of-Line Testing of Preh’s Battery Management Systems

End-of-line testing for high-voltage Battery Management Systems (BMS) is critical to ensuring performance, safety, and longevity, both for the systems themselves and the vehicles they power. As battery technologies advance, BMS testing grows increasingly complex. Discover how Preh uses Gantner Instruments' high-voltage data acquisition technology for end-of-line testing, specifically designed to meet the demands of e-mobility.

Read more...
Tips & Trends

Monitoring Solutions for Asset Management

Gantner Instruments provides monitoring solutions for both static and dynamic equipment in terms of vibration monitoring of piping, vessels, heat exchanger, large machines (static) and pumps, fans, and turbines (dynamic). Based on the robust and flexible Q.series modules with its decentralized signal conditioning and data acquisition modules, a very reliable and cost effective trend and condition monitoring solution is available and working also under harsh environmental conditions. With the monitoring solution of Gantner Instruments the asset becomes smart and delivers detailed status information.

Read more...
News

GI.bench is OUT!

We continue to improve our GI.bench data acquisition software with a strong focus on making it a scalable platform that is easy to use for both small high-speed measurement and high-channel-count, mixed-signal data acquisition applications.

Read more...
Tips & Trends

The Hydrometer

A novel soft sensor that significantly improves the drinking water treatment process

Read more...