Impact monitoring characteristics of piezoelectric paint sensor by thermal fatigue analysis for railroad vehicle applications

The strong aerodynamic drag under a railroad vehicle in motion causes the track ballast to fly up and around. The flying ballast can collide with the underside of the coach, damaging the electronics installed there. There are even cases wherein the aerodynamics of fast-moving train causes the gravel to hit the side of the coach and break the windows. Extensive and numerous studies are underway to reduce the damage caused by such phenomena. In this study, a “smart paint sensor” for impact monitoring was fabricated using piezoelectric nano powder and commercial paint for railroad vehicles, and the application of impact monitoring to railroad vehicles was analyzed. The process was simplified because the use of commercial paint eliminated the need to apply an additional layer of functionalized paint. Furthermore, the fact that the paint can be evenly sprayed on a large surface made it suitable for use on large and intricate objects such as a railroad vehicle bogie. Because railroad vehicles are exposed to thermal stress for a long period of time, a thermal fatigue test was conducted in order to figure out the stability of the polymer-based material, which is relatively vulnerable to temperature variations. The test results were used to analyze the impact sensitivity of the piezoelectric paint sensor. For the analysis, a full-size mock-up of the railroad vehicle bogie and an impact monitoring system with piezoelectric paint sensor were implemented in order to visualize the impact signals from differently shaped objects with large surfaces.