RAIL BREAKAGE DETECTION METHOD AND RAIL BREAKAGE DETECTION DEVICE AND RAIL BREAKAGE SECTION DETECTION METHOD USING THE DEVICE

PURPOSE:To enable the detection of breakage of rail from a train at every place in the electrified section by detecting a current of each return wire which flows in a pair of rails on the right and left respectively, computing imbalance based on the result of the detection, and detecting breakage of rail in accordance with the result of computation. CONSTITUTION:In a devie which detects breakage of rail at the start of rail- road, currents I1, I2 of each return wire which flow in a pair of rails on the right and left is detected by current detectors 5, 5 of each rail. On the other hand, a rate of imbalance in currents I1, I2 of each return wire, namely an imbalance rate, is computed in an operation circuit 6. That is, concerning currents I1, I2 of each return wire, an absolute value of a difference between them is subtracted in a subtraction circuit 7, sum of them is added in an addition circuit 8, and the absolute value of the difference is divided by the sum in a division circuit 9 to compute the imbalance rate. Whether the imbalance rate exceeds the set value or not is judged in a Schmidt circuit 10. Consequently, when the imbalance rate exceeds the set value, breakage of rail is detected.