Development of DMPS-EMAT for Long-Distance Monitoring of Broken Rail

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2023-06, Vol.23 (12), p.5583
• Main Authors: Guo, Wujun, Yu, Zhiyang, Chui, Hsiang-Chen, Chen, Xiaoming
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accident prevention; Aluminum; constructive interference; Defects; Economic development; Electromagnetism; EMAT; Methods; Monitoring; Propagation; Railroads; Railway tracks; signal enhancement; Signal to noise ratio; single-mode A0 wave; Track circuits; Transducers; Ultrasonic imaging; Velocity
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s23125583

The safety of railway transportation is crucial to social and economic development. Therefore, real-time monitoring of the rail is particularly necessary. The current track circuit structure is complex and costly, posing challenges to monitoring broken tracks using alternative methods. As a non-contact detection technology with a lower environmental impact, electromagnetic ultrasonic transducers (EMATs) have become a concern. However, traditional EMATs have problems such as low conversion efficiency and complex modes, which can limit their effectiveness for long-distance monitoring. Therefore, this study introduces a novel dual-magnet phase-stacked EMAT (DMPS-EMAT) design comprising two magnets and a dual-layer winding coil arrangement. The magnets are positioned at a distance equal to the wavelength of the A0 wave from each other, while the center distance between the two sets of coils beneath the transducer is also equal to the wavelength. After analyzing the dispersion curves of the rail waist, it was determined that the optimal frequency for long-distance rail monitoring is 35 kHz. At this frequency, adjusting the relative positions of the two magnets and the coil directly underneath to be one A0 wavelength can effectively excite a constructive interference A0 wave in the rail waist. The simulation and experimental results show that DMPS-EMAT excited a single-mode A0 wave, resulting in a 1.35-times increase in amplitude.