The DTK-System Flat Spots and Polygons in the wheels records the wheels of a vehicle when it passes a control point.
At this moment the vehicle's number and the position of the damaged wheel are displayed. A sensor is fixed at the track for recording the impact sound. Another sensor records each wheel and its passing time of the control point.
The measurement data is calculated in a controller and transferred to a PC with the analysis software. A digramm shows the curve of the impact sound that comes from the wheels when they pass the DTK-Control-Point. The flat spots of the wheel generate a very big impact sound.
With the recorded time between the wheels of a bogey and the known distance between the wheels, the speed of the vehicle can be calculated. The distance of the different impulses is recorded. If this distance is exactly the same like a wheel rotation, then they are emitted from the same wheel flat. The size of the defect is calculated by the measured data. Therefore the data is analysed by a easy to handle software. In that way you can also see the timeline for the wheel damage or the wheel's wear.

Publications Veröffentlichung 9 / 2004 Verkehr und Technik