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Integration of an Ultrasonic Sensor within a Robotic End Effector for Application within Railway Track Flaw Detection

LUKE CILIA, Christian Griffiths, Andrew Rees Orcid Logo, Jennifer Thompson

Applied Sciences, Volume: 14, Issue: 3, Start page: 1164

Swansea University Authors: LUKE CILIA, Christian Griffiths, Jennifer Thompson

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DOI (Published version): 10.3390/app14031164

Abstract

The rail industry is constantly facing challenges related to safety with regard to the detection of surface cracks and internal defects within rail tracks. Significant focus has been placed on developing sensor technologies that would facilitate the detection of flaws that compromise rail safety. In...

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Published in: Applied Sciences
ISSN: 2076-3417
Published: MDPI AG 2024
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa65593
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spelling v2 65593 2024-02-08 Integration of an Ultrasonic Sensor within a Robotic End Effector for Application within Railway Track Flaw Detection 5b6bd579051e8694d5e972be5a93a38a LUKE CILIA LUKE CILIA true false 84c202c256a2950fbc52314df6ec4914 Christian Griffiths Christian Griffiths true false 8ad88a26ea4d8ea14dbcf86ac1de862b Jennifer Thompson Jennifer Thompson true false 2024-02-08 The rail industry is constantly facing challenges related to safety with regard to the detection of surface cracks and internal defects within rail tracks. Significant focus has been placed on developing sensor technologies that would facilitate the detection of flaws that compromise rail safety. In parallel, robot automation has demonstrated significant advancements in the integration of sensor technologies within end effectors. This study investigates the novel integration of an ultrasonic sensor within a robotic platform specifically for the application of detecting surface cracks and internal defects within rail tracks. The performance of the robotic sensor system was assessed on a rail track specimen containing sacrificial surface cracks and internal defects and then compared against a manual detection system. The investigation concludes that the robotic sensor system successfully identified internal defects in the web region of the rail track when utilising a 60° and 70° wedged probe, with a frequency range between 4 MHz and 5 MHz. However, the surface crack investigation proved that the transducer was insensitive to the detection of cracks, possibly due to the inadequate angle of the wedged probe. The overall outcome of the study highlights the potential that robotic sensor systems have in the detection of internal defects and characterises the limitations of surface crack identification to assist in enhancing rail safety. Journal Article Applied Sciences 14 3 1164 MDPI AG 2076-3417 Flaw detection; rail inspection; robotic system; ultrasonic testing 30 1 2024 2024-01-30 10.3390/app14031164 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University This research received no funding. 2024-04-04T14:06:06.0197111 2024-02-08T11:18:40.8205099 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Aerospace, Civil, Electrical, General and Mechanical Engineering - Mechanical Engineering LUKE CILIA 1 Christian Griffiths 2 Andrew Rees 0000-0003-0455-5444 3 Jennifer Thompson 4 65593__29529__5500943e1baf46199b79362d38092d19.pdf 65593.pdf 2024-02-08T11:22:10.8377372 Output 1840219 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2024 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Integration of an Ultrasonic Sensor within a Robotic End Effector for Application within Railway Track Flaw Detection
spellingShingle Integration of an Ultrasonic Sensor within a Robotic End Effector for Application within Railway Track Flaw Detection
LUKE CILIA
Christian Griffiths
Jennifer Thompson
title_short Integration of an Ultrasonic Sensor within a Robotic End Effector for Application within Railway Track Flaw Detection
title_full Integration of an Ultrasonic Sensor within a Robotic End Effector for Application within Railway Track Flaw Detection
title_fullStr Integration of an Ultrasonic Sensor within a Robotic End Effector for Application within Railway Track Flaw Detection
title_full_unstemmed Integration of an Ultrasonic Sensor within a Robotic End Effector for Application within Railway Track Flaw Detection
title_sort Integration of an Ultrasonic Sensor within a Robotic End Effector for Application within Railway Track Flaw Detection
author_id_str_mv 5b6bd579051e8694d5e972be5a93a38a
84c202c256a2950fbc52314df6ec4914
8ad88a26ea4d8ea14dbcf86ac1de862b
author_id_fullname_str_mv 5b6bd579051e8694d5e972be5a93a38a_***_LUKE CILIA
84c202c256a2950fbc52314df6ec4914_***_Christian Griffiths
8ad88a26ea4d8ea14dbcf86ac1de862b_***_Jennifer Thompson
author LUKE CILIA
Christian Griffiths
Jennifer Thompson
author2 LUKE CILIA
Christian Griffiths
Andrew Rees
Jennifer Thompson
format Journal article
container_title Applied Sciences
container_volume 14
container_issue 3
container_start_page 1164
publishDate 2024
institution Swansea University
issn 2076-3417
doi_str_mv 10.3390/app14031164
publisher MDPI AG
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Aerospace, Civil, Electrical, General and Mechanical Engineering - Mechanical Engineering{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Aerospace, Civil, Electrical, General and Mechanical Engineering - Mechanical Engineering
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description The rail industry is constantly facing challenges related to safety with regard to the detection of surface cracks and internal defects within rail tracks. Significant focus has been placed on developing sensor technologies that would facilitate the detection of flaws that compromise rail safety. In parallel, robot automation has demonstrated significant advancements in the integration of sensor technologies within end effectors. This study investigates the novel integration of an ultrasonic sensor within a robotic platform specifically for the application of detecting surface cracks and internal defects within rail tracks. The performance of the robotic sensor system was assessed on a rail track specimen containing sacrificial surface cracks and internal defects and then compared against a manual detection system. The investigation concludes that the robotic sensor system successfully identified internal defects in the web region of the rail track when utilising a 60° and 70° wedged probe, with a frequency range between 4 MHz and 5 MHz. However, the surface crack investigation proved that the transducer was insensitive to the detection of cracks, possibly due to the inadequate angle of the wedged probe. The overall outcome of the study highlights the potential that robotic sensor systems have in the detection of internal defects and characterises the limitations of surface crack identification to assist in enhancing rail safety.
published_date 2024-01-30T14:06:02Z
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