Detection of the flats and peeling of railway wheelsets using laser sensors

A novel method for detecting the flats and the peeling of tread surface of the railway wheelsets is presented. A digital matrix reflecting the tread surface of wheelsets is established based on the laser sensor technology. The technique of the Marr edge detection, two dimension bilinear interpolation and the data modification according to the tread surface profile analysis are applied so that the flat depth and the peeling length can be detected quickly while the wheelsets are rotated. Accurately the status of the tread surface can be obtained and the failure can be diagnosed in time. The software is programmed by using the VC++ and the Matlab languages, which include the functions such as the processing of the matrix for tread surface, the automatic detection of the flats and peeling, and the display and printing of two or three dimension images of detection results. This proposed technique for detecting the flats and the peeling of the tread surface is applied actually in industry and is proven to be practi