Team 8, sponsored by Triple Crown Services, is designing a system where pressure transmitters are to be integrated into the air brake system of the Roadrailer trailer cars at regular intervals along the train.

The Triple Crown RoadRailer is a Bimodal Transportation system.  RoadRailer Trailers arrive at the rail terminal like any other semi-truck (figure 1). A trailer is backed up onto the railway tracks and disconnected from the highway truck (figure 2). Once in place, the trailer bed is coupled to a rail bogie (Figure 3). The road tires lift and then the process is repeated for each trailer (Figure 4). Once the train is assembled, the brake lines are connected, and then the air brakes are tested.  This currently takes quite a lot of time, as the length of the train must be walked to detect leaks or blockages. A single train may be up to 1.5 miles long.

 Our transmitters, installed into the air brake line, will send the pressure data to a gateway location. This could save many hours of labor since walking the entire length of a train with more than one hundred cars is extremely time consuming. Our devices will make the system more efficient, as the transmitters will provide precise pressure information and location of the data source. To achieve this, Team 8 has designed a sensor system to measure the air brake line pressure. This system will operate efficiently in harsh environments of all kinds. The transmitters work flawlessly in temperatures ranging from -20^oF Michigan winters to 120^oF Florida summers.

RoadRailer Air Break Fault Localizer