Fiber optic displacement sensor used in railway turnout contact monitoring system

Abstract:

Railway turnout contact monitoring is very important in high-speed rail operation systems. In order to measure the distance between the sharp rail and the basic rail in a switch system, a wide-range, high-precision fiber Bragg grating (FBG) displacement sensor was designed. Because the distance between the sharp and basic rails is always greater than 14 cm, the measurement range width and accuracy of the proposed sensor system are ensured through the use of a long spring and a beam of constant strength. A differential compensation method is used to eliminate temperature effects. Test results show that the resolution of the proposed sensor is 0.040 mm and the measuring range is 0—170 mm. A field test was also carried out to evaluate the performance of the sensors.