Demonstration of a Condition Monitoring Scheme for a Locomotive Suspension System

A condition-based monitoring (CBM) system provides the possibility for the railway industry to guarantee reliability by executing prompt and low-cost maintenance. In this study, a simple model-based condition monitoring strategy for the railway vehicle suspension system is demonstrated. The method is based on a recursive least-square (RLS) algorithm regarding a deterministic parametric model. The fault detection approach for the locomotive suspension system is illustrated with three diagnostic modules. Multi-body simulation data are employed to validate the feasibility of this CBM strategy. The designed diagnostic model reveals that the suspension parameter estimates are consistent with the reference values. The corresponding demonstrator provides evidence that the monitoring system has potential applications and is suitable for further development.