Railway Metrics and Dynamics

The two Swedish companies Railway Metrics and Dynamics and Strainlabs have entered into a cooperation agreement that strengthens the possibilities of predicting arising faults in trains. Strainlabs has developed Internet of things screws, which measure the temperature in the screw and how tightly it is tightened. Thus, the IoT screw can detect if it is not tightened enough, or if the temperature is about to get too high.

Railway Metrics and Dynamics has developed a system platform for analysis and monitoring of infrastructure in real time – a system of systems that includes data from different types of sensors, for example weight sensors, trailer lock sensors and pantograph sensors. The heart of the system is the magnet-mounted sensor Performance Monitoring Unit (PMU), which registers the vibrations that occur when a train moves along the track. With the help of machine learning and AI, the PMU can – by analyzing changes in the vibration pattern – detect if a fault is about to occur in, for example, a train wheel or in the track.

With the new cooperation agreement between the two companies, Railway Metrics and Dynamics' system solution becomes even stronger, when  IoT screws are installed in the axlebox on trains that are also equipped with PMUs. The screws sends their information to nearby PMUs, where the information from the screws is analysed together with the data from the PMU.

– Strainlab's connected screws are an extremely flexible solution. With the data from the screws, another dimension of information is added to the Railway Metrics and Dynamics system solution, which opens up for even better analyses of the condition of trains in real time, says Jan Lindqvist, CEO of Railway Metrics and Dynamics.

With Strainlab's and Railway Metrics and Dynamics' combined technology can, for example, derailments caused by thermal overload in the wheel axlebox be avoided. Strainlab's IoT screws can detect the increased temperature in thermally overloaded wheel axleboxes, while the PMU registers changed vibrations in them – either immediately when a derailment occurs, minimizing the infrastructure damage, and in the best case, before the derailment even occurs.

– Railway Metrics and Dynamics' solution is incredibly innovative. Combined with our technology, a super strong solution is formed that will make a huge difference to the railway industry, says Csaba Madru, CEO of Strainlabs.