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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Estimating The Inner Ring Defect Size And Residual Service Life Of Freight Railcar Bearings Using Vibration Signatures, Jennifer Lima, Constantine Tarawneh, Jesse Aguilera, Jonas Cuanang
Estimating The Inner Ring Defect Size And Residual Service Life Of Freight Railcar Bearings Using Vibration Signatures, Jennifer Lima, Constantine Tarawneh, Jesse Aguilera, Jonas Cuanang
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
There are currently two primary wayside detection systems for monitoring the health of freight railcar bearings in the railroad industry: The Trackside Acoustic Detection System (TADS™) and the wayside Hot-Box Detector (HBD). TADS™ uses wayside microphones to detect and alert the train operator of high-risk defects. However, many defective bearings may never be detected by TADS™ since a high-risk defect is a spall which spans about 90% of a bearing’s raceway, and there are less than 30 systems in operation throughout the United States and Canada. HBDs sit on the side of the rail-tracks and use non-contact infrared sensors to …
Optimization Of Railroad Bearing Health Monitoring System For Wireless Utilization, Jonas Cuanang, Constantine Tarawneh, Martin Amaro Jr., Jennifer Lima, Heinrich D. Foltz
Optimization Of Railroad Bearing Health Monitoring System For Wireless Utilization, Jonas Cuanang, Constantine Tarawneh, Martin Amaro Jr., Jennifer Lima, Heinrich D. Foltz
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
In the railroad industry, systematic health inspections of freight railcar bearings are required. Bearings are subjected to high loads and run at high speeds, so over time the bearings may develop a defect that can potentially cause a derailment if left in service operation. Current bearing condition monitoring systems include Hot-Box Detectors (HBDs) and Trackside Acoustic Detection Systems (TADS™). The commonly used HBDs use non-contact infrared sensors to detect abnormal temperatures of bearings as they pass over the detector. Bearing temperatures that are about 94°C above ambient conditions will trigger an alarm indicating that the bearing must be removed from …
Prototyping A Conductive Polymer Steering Pad For Rail Freight Service, Anthony A. Villarreal, Constantine Tarawneh, Miguel Ontiveros, James Aranda, Robert Jones
Prototyping A Conductive Polymer Steering Pad For Rail Freight Service, Anthony A. Villarreal, Constantine Tarawneh, Miguel Ontiveros, James Aranda, Robert Jones
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
The AdapterPlus™ steering pad is a polymer component on a railcar that helps to reduce stresses on the axle as a railcar rounds a curve. One railway application requires a minimum of 240 mA to be passed through the steering pad to the rail, which activates air valves that control automated cargo gates. Currently, two copper studs are inserted into the pad to provide a conductive path. However, after continuous cyclic loading caused by normal service operation, the copper studs deform, wear, and eventually lose contact between the two surfaces rendering the pad nonconductive. One proposed solution to this problem …
Estimating The Outer Ring Defect Size And Remaining Service Life Of Freight Railcar Bearings Using Vibration Signatures, Joseph Montalvo, Constantine Tarawneh, Jennifer Lima, Jonas Cuanang, Nancy De Los Santos
Estimating The Outer Ring Defect Size And Remaining Service Life Of Freight Railcar Bearings Using Vibration Signatures, Joseph Montalvo, Constantine Tarawneh, Jennifer Lima, Jonas Cuanang, Nancy De Los Santos
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
The railroad industry currently utilizes two wayside detection systems to monitor the health of freight railcar bearings in service: The Trackside Acoustic Detection System (TADS™) and the wayside Hot-Box Detector (HBD). TADS™ uses wayside microphones to detect and alert the conductor of high-risk defects. Many defective bearings may never be detected by TADS™ since a high-risk defect is a spall which spans more than 90% of a bearing’s raceway, and there are less than 20 systems in operation throughout the United States and Canada. Much like the TADS™, the HBD is a device that sits on the side of the …
Vibration-Based Defect Detection For Freight Railcar Tapered-Roller Bearings, Joseph Montalvo, Constantine Tarawneh, Arturo A. Fuentes
Vibration-Based Defect Detection For Freight Railcar Tapered-Roller Bearings, Joseph Montalvo, Constantine Tarawneh, Arturo A. Fuentes
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
The railroad industry currently utilizes two wayside detection systems to monitor the health of freight railcar bearings in service: The Trackside Acoustic Detection System (TADS™) and the wayside Hot-Box Detector (HBD). TADS™ uses wayside microphones to detect and alert the conductor of high risk defects. Many defective bearings may never be detected by TADS™ due to the fact that a high risk defect is considered a spall which spans more than 90% of a bearing’s raceway, and there are less than 20 systems in operation throughout the United States and Canada. Much like the TADS™, the HBD is a device …
Defect Prognostics Models For Spall Growth In Railroad Bearing Rolling Elements, Nancy De Los Santos, Constantine Tarawneh, Robert E. Jones, Arturo A. Fuentes
Defect Prognostics Models For Spall Growth In Railroad Bearing Rolling Elements, Nancy De Los Santos, Constantine Tarawneh, Robert E. Jones, Arturo A. Fuentes
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
Prevention of railroad bearing failures, which may lead to catastrophic derailments, is a central safety concern. Early detection of railway component defects, specifically bearing spalls, will improve overall system reliability by allowing proactive maintenance cycles rather than costly reactive replacement of failing components. A bearing health monitoring system will provide timely detection of flaws. However, absent a well verified model for defect propagation, detection can only be used to trigger an immediate component replacement. The development of such a model requires that the spall growth process be mapped out by accumulating associated signals generated by various size spalls. The addition …
A Vertical Axis Rotor For Wave Energy Conversion, Yingchen Yang, Joab Soto, Francisco Salazar
A Vertical Axis Rotor For Wave Energy Conversion, Yingchen Yang, Joab Soto, Francisco Salazar
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
The present work augments vertical-axis unidirectional wave energy converter (WEC) designs with a new approach. The enabling technique is the hydrodynamic design of a special rotor, which consists of a series of uniquely shaped blades in a certain formation. Specifically, individual blades are realized by revolving a two-dimensional symmetric hydrofoil about its chord line. Then the blades are arranged around a vertical shaft in a desired formation to form the rotor. When driven by an approaching flow through interaction, the rotor naturally rotates about the vertical shaft in a predefined direction. The approaching flow could be from any spatial direction, …
Tracking Of Spall Deterioration On Tapered Roller Bearings, Amy Gonzalez, Constantine Tarawneh, Ping Hu, Joseph A. Turner, Brent Wilson
Tracking Of Spall Deterioration On Tapered Roller Bearings, Amy Gonzalez, Constantine Tarawneh, Ping Hu, Joseph A. Turner, Brent Wilson
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
Fatigue spall initiation is one of the major modes of premature bearing failure. The spall initiation is often exacerbated by the presence of impurities in the near-surface region (∼400 μm) of the bearing raceways. Once a spall initiates, it can propagate rapidly, leading to abnormal bearing operation and possible catastrophic failure if not detected early. Testing performed at the University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA) has focused on ultrasonically scanned tapered roller bearings found to have inclusion content within 400 μm of the surface of the raceways. These bearings undergo accelerated service life tests in which spall initiation is detected and …
Development And Testing Of An Actively Adjustable Stiffness Mechanism, Eleazar Marquez, Robert Freeman, Horacio Vasquez
Development And Testing Of An Actively Adjustable Stiffness Mechanism, Eleazar Marquez, Robert Freeman, Horacio Vasquez
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations
This study presents the comparison of the theoretical and experimental results of the performance of an adjustable stiffness mechanism. In particular, the use of redundant actuation is emphasized in the design of a one degree-of-freedom Watt II mechanism capable of independently controlling the effective stiffness without a change in equilibrium position. This approach is in contrast to spring mechanism designs unable to actively control the spring rate independent of deflection, and with potential applications in various types of suspension and assembly systems. Results indicate that two direct drive brush-type direct current motors are required to drive the redundantly actuated mechanism …