Enclosure and keypad help Sperry check rails

An instrument used to detect cracks and other types of flaws in railway rails uses a keypad and enclosure from Custom Design Technologies to provide the operator interface.

Sperry Rail's RSU ultrasonic walking stick, an instrument used to detect cracks and other types of flaws in railway rails, uses a keypad and enclosure from Custom Design Technologies (cDT) to provide the operator interface.

The RSU ultrasonic walking stick is particularly important for detecting flaws that are wholly internal to the rail and cannot be detected by visual inspection.

It is designed to detect flaws while being pushed along the rail by a pedestrian operator.

The instrument is based on a roller search unit (RSU) which is a wheel with a liquid filled tyre that contains a number of ultrasonic transducers for projecting sound into the rail in a variety of directions.

This provides a complete inspection of the cross-section of the head and web of the rail.

The walking stick has an integral multiplexer unit which interfaces a flaw detector to the RSU allowing a number of inspections to be carried out simultaneously as the instrument is pushed along.

The multiplexer features a keypad, supplied by Custom Design Technologies, that enables the operator to select the various operating modes, carry out calibrations and select individual probes during defect analysis.

An LCD screen provides continuous status information.

As the walking stick instrument is designed for outdoor use, the keypad features an IP65 rated seal built into the membrane layers to protect the circuitry from the elements.

It also features a red/green bicoloured LED built in and has 3M adhesive on the back for ease of mounting.

The keypad is mounted onto an enclosure also supplied by Custom Design Technologies.

The enclosure is fabricated from plastic sheet that is cut and grooved using the latest CAD/CAM technology and then folded to the finished shape.

Graham Dale, Sperry Rail's Senior Engineer, commented: "The main requirements for the enclosure and keypad were that they should be weatherproof and for the keypad to be simple to use".

"Custom Design Technologies provided an excellent service, delivering a cost-effective solution for a highly sophisticated instrument".

Ian Watson, cDT's Marketing Director, added: "This project is an excellent illustration of the Custom Design Technologies philosophy of providing high quality enclosure and keypad solutions for low volume production runs".

"Our well-established Bafbox enclosure manufacturing technique is ideal for producing high quality housings without the need for expensive moulding tools".

"Similarly, our flexible Custom Keypads division was able to produce an IP65 sealed keypad featuring a transparent window for the LCD panel and surface mount LEDs incorporated within the membrane layers".

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