Riftek Rail Measurement Instruments for Railway Transport - Available from Ixthus Instrumentation

Towcester – UK – April 2015: RIFTEK Limited design and manufacture measurement equipment and gauging systems based on laser and other non-contact sensor technologies. Represented exclusively in the UK by Ixthus Instrumentation, RIFTEK has a specialist line of rail industry gauge systems that are aimed at maintenance and inspection of wheel diameter and wheel profile, disk brake profile and back to back wheel distance measurement.

Characterised by ease of use and the ability to use the portable instruments in-situ under almost any ambient conditions directly on rolling stock without wheel set removal, the range offers straightforward digital read-out displays or data transfer via USB or wireless Bluetooth to PDAs or the customers’ PC for more comprehensive data acquisition - with dedicated software included for database support. The range is widely used in more than 60 countries globally for first line inspection of rail, tube and tram maintenance and RIFTEK and Ixthus additionally offer complete customised test and measurement instrumentation systems based on these compact, reliable and well established components.

RIFTEK’s IDK series wheel diameter gauge provides accurate measurement with a resolution of 0.01 mm in just a few seconds using a three point measurement principle where the gauge is simply placed on the wheel circumference in multiple positions and accumulated readings are averaged and displayed for rolling circle diameters from 600 mm to 1300 mm. The IDK-BT version provides a Bluetooth output for connection to a supplied PDA or a PC for wheel-set wear tracking data storage.

The IKP series wheel profile gauge is a complete profilometer for measuring geometric parameters of the rail wheel flange. The laser scanning based device returns the dimensions of the wheel thickness, slope and height as well as the rim/tyre thickness and essentially provides the full profile of the wheel roll surface. These profilometer systems for the rail industry have the distinction of using a blue laser source instead of a red which can significantly increase measurement integrity of wheels with very shiny surfaces. Supplied with database and software package for wheel set wear data storage and processing, the portable PDA based instrument has both USB and Bluetooth interfaces and provides accuracy to 0.01 mm. Also using RIFTEK’s laser scanning technology, the IKD series provides wear measurement for rail disc brakes with data acquisition information that can be read back from the integral PDA.

For determining back to back wheel distance RIFTEK’s IMR series incorporates its RF600 series contactless laser triangulation sensor to provide position measurement within +/- 25 mm of the target. The sensor features a digital numeric display or can be supplied with an optional Bluetooth interface for PC connection.

The PRP series - a fully portable rail profile measurement gauge – is available for vertical and lateral railhead wear of up to 14 mm with an accuracy in the region of 0.1mm. With integral PDA connection the motion controlled device laser scans the rail profile with information that may be transferred to a PC database with simultaneous additional parameters such as date, operator number, permanent way division, track number, rail type etc.

RIFTEK’s fully automated VKP and LKP rail wheel measurement systems are also available for measurement of geometric parameters for inspection in railcar/wheel repair shops and depots. These systems employ tried and tested RF600  laser scanners and RF656 optical micrometers to return a complete dataset of information over one wheel rotation  for wheel diameter, profile, wear characteristics and more.