How can the availability and reliability of trams be increased even further with digitalization?
The solution requires automated collection of information about the condition of the trams and track as well as suitable correlations with analysis procedures for reliable, plannable, and predictive maintenance.
Partners from Saxon research, transport companies and industrial solution providers - including Robotron - now want to develop and deliver the best-practice example of this in a joint project - with the help of the digital image of a light rail vehicle fleet, the Light Rail Vehicle Twin (LRVTwin).
A brief Summary
The project will be implemented both by evaluating existing measurement data, from the monitoring of individual vehicles from fleets in Dresden and Leipzig, and by implementing a new observation locomotive. This tram will be equipped with extensive sensor technology for the direct recording of the vehicle condition. The new and extensively collected measurement data provide the basis for the use of machine learning, which establishes complex correlations between vehicle condition, signals from the vehicle standard sensors and the vehicle bus system. These models can ultimately be applied to any individual locomotive. A cloud based overview of the fleet conditions benefits the operators and maintenance companies by, for example, providing the basis for more efficient maintenance schedules and optimized availability.
Robotron is a Data Specialist
It is at this point that we Robotron bring our expertise in data management and processing to the project. Our core task is the creation of the cloud solution for hosting the measurement data including database and software architecture, data security and data access. In addition, we are entrusted with the implementation of a digital fleet condition management system, the data transfer from transmission from the data logger as well as the data hosting over the project duration.
Partner
For this interdisciplinary joint undertaking, we are working with the Institute of Solid Mechanics and the Institute of Lightweight Engineering and Polymer Technology at the TU Dresden, the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS), Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe GmbH (LVB), its maintenance specialists IFTEC GmbH & Co. KG, Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG (DVB) as well as SDS Schwingungs Diagnose Service GmbH, Estino GmbH and Leichtbau-Zentrum Sachsen GmbH.
In addition to the developed methodology, its broad applicability and transferability are to be demonstrated. This goal will be achieved by implementing the data processing chain of the digital fleet in both Leipzig and Dresden, each with nearly identical 10 vehicles. In addition, the use of the 5G infrastructure in Leipzig allows real-time connection of the fleet monitoring, which can be used to optimize maintenance processes.
The German Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport (BMDV) is supporting this project with a share of 74% of the approximately 3 million Euros required for its completion.
