Wikov
This article first appeared in the Railway-News magazine Issue 3 2021.
No-Load Series Testing of Rail Vehicle Gearboxes with Artificial Intelligence
For the efficient series manufacture of rail vehicle gearboxes, it is also necessary to ensure that there is sufficient capacity for the no-load testing of every gearbox. For the last 18 years, Wikov has built up its position as a key European manufacturer of gearboxes and drives for rail vehicles. It has a strong development workplace with experimental test stands, including those with dynamic loads; Wikov further has a cooling chamber for cold climate tests at its disposal. Up to now, no-load testing has been performed according to the current needs of individual projects within a big test room, in which gearboxes for trams or underground units used to be in the immediate vicinity of industrial gearboxes for rubber mixers or mobile recycling crushers. These days are over. Wikov has opened a new test room exclusively intended for rail vehicle gearboxes, utilising state-of-the-art elements of present-day testing, including the integration of artificial intelligence.
Concept Behind the New No-Load Test Room
The site for testing rail gearboxes is equipped with two mutually independent test beds. According to the test being performed, these test beds are mechanically arranged by means of prefabricated unified devices which are able to cover the entire range of gearbox types, from spur-gear, through bevel-spur-gear, up to special planetary-bevel ones.
