Development of an Uplift Measurement System for Overhead Contact Wire using High Speed Camera

The measurement of contact wire uplift in electric railways is one of the most important test parameters to accepting the maximum permitted speed of new electric vehicles and pantographs. The contact wire uplift can be measured over short periods when the pantograph passes monitoring stations. In this paper, a high-speed image measurement system and its image processing method are being developed to evaluate dynamic uplift of overhead contact wires caused by pantograph contact forces of Korea Tilting Train eXpress (TTX) and Korea Train eXpress (KTX). The image measurement system was implemented utilizing a high-speed CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) camera and gigabit ethernet LAN. Unlike previous systems, the uplift measurement system using high speed camera is installed on the side of the rail, making maintenance convenient. On-field verification of the uplift measurement system for overhead contact wire using high speed camera was conducted by measuring uplift of the TTX followed by operation speeds at the Honam conventional line and high-speed railway line. The proposed high-speed image measurement system to evaluate dynamic uplift of overhead contact wires shows promising on-field applications for high speed trains such as KTX and TTX.