Railway rolling stock axle load monitor - has sensitivity increased by making thinner centres to rail sections with strain gauges

摘要

The axle-load monitor, for railway rolling stock, consists of sections of rail with strain gauges bonded to their centres and connected to form a 4-branch bridge circuit. The output of the bridge is connected to an indicator. In the region where the strain gauges are bonded to the rail sections, the thickness of the centre of each section is less than elsewhere. The strain gauge bridge is connected in series with a resistor that allows the axle load to be read directly in units of force. The advantage of the thinner region where the gauges are mounted lies in increasing the monitor sensitivity.