A Study on the Development of Panel Sensor for Obstruction Detecting at the Railway Level Crossing

For a short-term measurement to reduce an accident on a railroad crossing, it is necessary to find out the weakness and problems of existing equipment in the railroad transportation system. The analysis of railroad crossing accidents shows that main causes of accidents (24.9%) are the careless driving including an engine problem, damage on the safety equipment, slide on the snow, and an engine stop on the railroad crossing. Therefore, it is required to install a sensor, or to make a crossing gate at the exist for detecting obstacles on a railroad to prevent collisions among trains. This paper suggests 'a panel sensor using the strain gauge' to make up the weaknesses of the sensing Dead Zone, which are caused by using a laser method, and to detect any small objects passing railroads in order to reduce the errors, which are occurred in the earth magnetic field for controlling Exit Slide Crossing Arm Detector. The device, suggested in this paper, is verified with detecting any small objects passing the railroad, with judging entry decision clearly, and with controlling passing gate and obstruction warnings/cautions obstacles at the same time, through an experimental test.

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