NextSense - Calipri-Wheel: Accurate, Non-Contact Measurement of Railway Wheel Sets

NextSense develops, produces and markets mobile, laser-based profile measuring devices. A patented method allows, for the first time, the precise non-contact measuring of almost any profile, carried out by hand.

NextSense is producer of the Calipri-Wheel, a non-contact, laser-based wheel-wear measurement system. Calipri-Wheel has been developed for the wear test of railway wheel sets. Wear parameters such as flange height, flange slope, brake disc wear or wheel diameter are measured precisely.

The contact-free mode of operation delivers values that are significantly better reproducible in comparison to conventional measurement methods using contact – even in constrained space under the vehicle in a service workshop.

Wheel profile / wheel-wear measurement equipment

For the measurement, the user moves the sensor by hand over the railroad wheel or the object to be measured. The intelligent image processing system continually records the segments of the wheel profile or object and combines them.

The distance and angle of the sensor to the measured object do not have to be kept precisely the same throughout. Acoustic feedback signals support the user during the measurement process. Visit our website to view a user video on how easy the usage of the Calipri is.

Quick and productive railway wheel set measurement

A complete measurement process takes approximately five seconds per wheel profile. This means far less expenditure of time and growth in productivity. As soon as the entire profile line of the wheel has been recorded, the data is evaluated, and the resulting measurement values are visible on the Calipri display. Any exceeding of given tolerances is displayed immediately.

Error-free railway wheel-set measurement

Typical measurement errors when measuring with gauges – for example, due to tilted scanning, undefined measuring force or loop-sided application of the device – are ruled out with Calipri-Wheel. The measurement result is free of operator influences and is reproducible.

Railway wheel-set measurement applications

The innovative measurement method facilitates the recording of a wide range of profile shapes with one and the same measurement device. This feature in turn makes possible a broad spectrum of applications. Currently, the following measurement modules are available:

• Wheel profile
• Brake disc
• Wheel clearance
• Wheel thickness
• Wheel diameter
• Wheel defects
• Runout
• Rails
• Switch
• Equivalent conicity

Please read the product sheets on our homepage for more detailed information on currently available measurement modules.

Wheel-set measurement data interface

All measurement and profile data are made available for processing in the XML or CSV format. All measurements can be visualised and analysed using the optionally available Calipri Explorer software. The creation of individual reports constitutes another feature. This entails sending measurement data in a clear presentation directly to a printer or elsewhere, generating a pdf document.

For more information, please contact us at the address below.