Rangecam Grind Analyst
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What it is...

Grind Analyst is a software module that works with other IMI Rangecam software products: the Field System, the Office System, or Track Analyst. It is used for rail grinding planning and quality assurance.

Who uses it...

Rail grinding planning and supervisory personnel.

Benefits...

• detailed profile visualization takes the guesswork out of rail grinding
• the grinding plan can be saved, edited, and printed as a work order
• productivity features reduce the time required to plan and administer rail grinding
• quality assurance features help ensure value for grinding dollars

RPR Grinding Features

MAIN WINDOW

All the major functions of the Grinding System occur within the main Grinding Window. The user can superimpose grinding templates on measured profiles, create or edit a grinding plan, and save it to the database.

Grind Analyst - Main Window

Features Include...

• automatic assignment of grinding templates to curves, using user-defined rules based on degree of curvature
• metal removal charts and area of metal to be removed are displayed
• charts can be scaled vertically
• grinding stone angles can be customized for different grinders
• wear and curvature information are displayed
• lip and negative cant are flagged in red
• comparisons from year to year, or between 'before-grind' and 'after-grind' profiles can be displayed

GRINDING TEMPLATE SELECTION

The Template Selection dialog is used to select and superimpose templates on both rails.

Features Include...

• automatic template superimposition with manual over-ride
• user-settable minimum and maximum metal removal
• custom grinding templates can be defined and imported

GRINDING PLAN EDITING

The Plan Edit dialog is used to create a grinding plan by entering grinding patterns and speeds. It is also used to view or modify a previously-written plan.

Features Include...

• grinding patterns and speeds can be entered for any number of passes
• navigation buttons move from curve to curve and from profile to profile
• reference function allows comparison to another plan
• selected templates can be saved with curves for streamlined use in future plans

GRINDING CHECKPOINTS

Grinding checkpoints can be defined within each curve and tangent segment. These are track locations at which profiles considered to be representative of the segment are collected for a grinding plan. The use of grinding checkpoints as a repeatable reference helps ensure consistency and quality in a grinding program from year to year.

Used in the field, the RPR Grinding System automatically acquires profiles at each defined grinding checkpoint and displays them on the screen. If grinding templates have been saved for the track segment, they are automatically superimposed. This saves time, and reduces subjective variation in selecting 'typical' profiles for a grinding plan.

GRINDING SURVEY REPORT

The Grinding Survey report is the final product of grind planning. It can be handed to the grinding crew as a work order, or used as a reference by the grinding supervisor.

• example:

GRINDING QUALITY ASSURANCE

The RPR Grinding System helps assure rail grinding quality in two ways. In the field, the system allows you to follow the grinder and compare the ground shape of the rail head with the grinding template representing the desired shape. This provides feedback enabling the grinding operator to achieve the best possible result. Rail profile measurements collected after the grind can also be used to generate two types of quality assurance reports.

Grinding QA in the Field

The field system Review mode monitors the quality of grinding operations. While following the grinder, profiles from the previously-created grinding plan are retrieved and displayed with templates superimposed. At grinding checkpoints, or on demand, additional profiles are captured 'live' and overlaid on the display, providing a 'before and after' picture of how closely the actual grinding results match the plan.

Field QA Features Include...

• comparisons of actual to desired profile shape allow fine-tuning of the grinding plan during grinding operations
• the plan can be edited on the fly, creating a grinding record of work actually performed
• after the final pass, review profiles can be saved to the database as a record of the grind results

Grinding Quality Assurance in the Office

The Grinding System can be used to calculate the deviations between measured rail profiles and the ideal profile shape represented by the grinding template. Using optical rail measurement data collected after grinding is complete, the system can generate charts and a statistical report that provide an objective and comprehensive measure of overall grinding quality.

The Grind Quality Report calculates statistics on the deviations shown in the charts, summarized by curves and tangent track segments.

The report provides a summary view of the differences between actual and desired profiles for each of the four user-defined zones across the rail head, for each curve and tangent segment.

Office QA Features Include...

• detailed chart and summary reports showing differences between actual and desired rail head shape

• differences are calculated for four user-defined zones across the rail head

• crown radius is also calculated

• report may be produced in text format, as shown, or in CSV format for direct import to a spreadsheet