Design and Implementation of Electronic Controller for Optimal Functioning of Vacuum Toilets in Railway Passenger Transportation

Vacuum toilet systems are used in most of the railway vehicles which manufactured for passenger transportation. The main purposes of using these systems are to suppress bad smells that may originate from toilets used in railway vehicles and to prevent diseases that may arise from toilet waste by improving hygiene conditions. In terms of environmental effects, it prevents causing corrosion on the rails because of human-made wastes and harms the environment by polluting water resources. In addition to these reasons, the vacuum toilet system saves 75-80% water in each wash cycle compared to a standard toilet. This study aims to design an electronic controller to be used in the vacuum toilet systems of passenger railway vehicles, which is cost-effective and can be easily adapted to different types of vacuum toilet systems. To design the controller, the systems used in railway vehicles were examined and the design parameters such as programming language and processor type to be used, electrical interface, the functions to be executed by the controller, the number of input-output signals, cost, etc., were defined. Afterward, the designed prototype controller was produced and on-desk/on-board tests were carried out. As a result of the study, a special electronic controller is developed for vacuum toilets systems used in passenger coaches and diesel multiple units operated for passenger transportation in Turkey, produced at an affordable cost and started to be used actively. The produced controller will be able to be used in different types and models of vacuum toilet systems which are used in railway vehicles used for passenger transportation, by adding or removing some functions deemed necessary on software.