Wheels and brake disks of rail-mounted vehicles are wearing parts. Similarly as with motor-car tires the constant loads between wheel and rail cause a material removal and/or a material deformation at the wheel. The effects are jerky run, more noise, a load rise of the construction units, which leads to subsequent damages at the wheels and rails and ends in the worst case with a derailing.

For these reasons all wheels are examined constantly and after-measure. For this task ÖBB Technical Services GmbH (ÖBB TS) bought a new measuring instrument from the NextSense GmbH in Graz. It took four years to develop this mobile measuring instrument (Product name “Calipri”). With this tool you can measure contactless and precisely the whole profile of the wheel and you can also determine the wear of the brake disc in one work procedure extremely reliable. The measuring data are automatically transferred to the central material-control-system.

DI(FH) Thomas Müller from the ÖBB TS describes the advantage of the new high-tech Calipri against the old mechanic measuring: „The measuring with the new Calipri saves much time. We also get much more precisely results. The results are more comprehensively and so the following analysis of the wheel wear is easier. The new Calipri makes it possible to optimize the usage of our wheel sets. Because of the yearly cost saving the investment of the new measuring instrument will be rapidly amortized“.

The useability of the Calipri is not only limited to the train industry. DI Clemens Gasser, CEO of the NextSense Mess- und Prüfsysteme GmbH, explains new possibilities of usage: „The Calipri is actually a contactless caliper gauge. The Advantage is that the operator does not have to position the gauge precisely to the measuring object. A tilting, which is caused by leading with free hand, is automatically corrected“.

The next operational area at NextSense ist the Quality assurance with the production of cars. The Calipri® will revolutionize the gap- and disalignment measurement in the car industry.

ÖBB – Technical Services GmbH
The technical services GmbH, an enterprise in the ÖBB holding, is the competent partner for railway transport enterprises for economic, safe, as well as reliable preservation and advancement of rail-mounted vehicles. The technical services GmbH services with 4.000 employees 25,000 rail vehicles as well as 15,000 vehicle components. Maintenance and modernization of rail vehicles and their components is the one strength of the technical services, development and planning of innovative solutions the other one.