Abstract
A measurement system of contact force between overhead contact line and pantograph of train is developed which measures the contact force by using four sets of full-bridge strain gauges instead of load cells and accelerometers. The sensors are installed on the pan head of pantograph and the measured data from the sensors are transmitted to a server system in the train by way of wireless Lan. This configuration of the measuring system makes it easy to install on the trains without any alteration of train system. The measurement system is applied to KTX on the Kyungbu high speed line, and the measured contact force data shows good agreement with those measured by load cell and accelerometers. The waveform of the contact force between overhead contact line and pantograph contains essential information about their conditions. The proposed measurement system can probe any defects on overhead contact lines with train running at high speed, which will be a powerful solution for the maintenance of long-distance overhead contact lines.
