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2019 №02 (06) DOI of Article
10.15407/tdnk2019.02.07
2019 №02 (08)


Technical Diagnostics and Non-Destructive Testing #2, 2019, pp. 41-50

System of controlling the process of flash-butt welding of rails under stationary and field conditions to extend the service life and reliability of railway tracks

S.I. Kuchuk-Yatsenko, P.M. Rudenko, V.S. Gavrish, O.V. Didkovskiy, E.V. Antipin


E.O.Paton Electric Welding Institute of the NAS of Ukraine. 11 Kazimir Malevich Str., 03150, Kyiv, Ukraine. E-mail: office@paton.kiev.ua

Abstract:
Investigations were performed and welding modes and process specification were developed for flash-butt welding of rails from thermostrengthened steel. In keeping with the specification, a two-level system was developed, which allows increasing the accuracy of monitoring and control of the welding process. At the lower level in the system of direct digital monitoring of welded joint quality an algorithm based on «fuzzy» logic was proposed, which allows for blurred boundaries of admissible deviations, distribution of process parameters within the tolerance and mutual influence of parameter combination on butt joint quality characteristic. Technical condition of the equipment is monitored by the data of test and functional diagnostics. To ensure stable energy input, equipment for voltage stabilization at welding transformer input at power supply from two-phase mains and frequency and phase number converter at power supply from three-phase mains were developed. At the upper level, Ukrzaliznitstya Diagnostic Center performs statistical processing of rail welding protocols coming from the industry enterprises, in order to detect deviations, which are difficult to control by direct measurement, for instance, poor performance of additional operations on rail preparation for welding, deviations of physico-chemical properties of rail metal, unsatisfactory performance of technological operations by the welder and unsatisfactory production conditions. Algorithms and technical means were developed, which have passed experimental trials and can be recommended for further introduction into production. 3 Ref., 1 Tabl., 14 Fig.
Keywords: flash-butt welding, thermostrengthened rails, control system, quality control, monitoring technical condition of equipment, statistical control

Received: 20.02.2019
Published: 14.05.2019

References
1. Kuchuk-Yatsenko, S.I., Didkovsky, A.V., Shvets, V.I. et al. (2016) Flash-butt welding of high-strength rails of nowadays production. The Paton Welding J., 5-6, 4-12. https://doi.org/10.15407/tpwj2016.06.01
2. Kuchuk-Yatsenko, S.I., Rudenko, P.M., Gavrish, V.S. et al. (2015) Converter of frequency and number of phases for flash-butt welding of rails. Ibid., 7, 38-40. https://doi.org/10.15407/tpwj2015.07.06
3. Rudenko, P.M., Gavrish, V.S. (2013) Thyristor direct converters for supply of resistance welding machines. Ibid., 8, 54-56.