Fault Detection of Vertical Dampers of Railway Vehicle Based on Phase Difference of Vibrations

In this paper, the authors proposed a method for detecting faults in the primary and secondary vertical dampers of railway vehicles by measuring the phase difference between translational and rotational motions. The method evaluated the bounce and pitch motions of bogie frames or a car body obtained with inertial sensors. Vibration excitation tests using a testing plant and running tests on a commercial meter-gauge line were used to evaluate the validity of the authors' proposal. The results of the study found that the phase difference between the bogie frames bounce and pitch motion was useful for both detecting primary vertical damper faults and for locating the fault. The proposed method was also found to effectively detect fault in secondary dampers.