GRINDING QA IN THE OFFICE - FULL VIEW

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.

Charts such as these provide a detailed view of the differences between the actual and desired profiles. This set of charts shows one mile of track. The South rail is shown in the top three charts, the North rail in the bottom three. Each plotted point is a measurement of a single rail profile.

In the top chart, the thicker red line shows the difference between the ground profile and the grinding template in the 'Extreme Gauge Zone', which was defined by this user as the portion of the rail head between the gauge face and a point 1.0" (25.4 mm) from the centre point of the template. The thinner red line shows the deviation in the 'Gauge Zone' between 1.0" (25.4 mm.) and 0.5" (12.7 mm.) from the centre point.

The second chart shows deviations in the 'Field' and 'Centre' zones.

The third chart shows the crown radius in the 'Centre Zone'.