Industrial Camera

Too many options to make a recommendation.Check PTZ cameras. Pan-tilt-zoom camera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cheers lyn

You could first try the cheap approach. I've used a £10 webcam to solve several problems, saving hours of staring at equipment waiting for it to go wrong.

If it doesn't show enough detail, you haven't wasted much and it may give a clue how much better kit you need to use.

http://www.lumenera.com/products/industrial-cameras/index.php

Get onto Ness Security, they're at morningside in Brissy phone 33994910 They do ptz and high def cameras and DVR's. if you want good quality make sure you go high def, these can also be accessed remotely via pc iphone etc. We are in Bundy so a bit far away for you but if you need a hand let me know and i can get you our contact details.

Cheers Glenn

Do you intend to fix the cameras statically around the point of derailment, or on the trolley? If on the trolley, there will be a need to counteract the inevitable vibration.

A high-speed camera may be required to see the moment of derailment clearly.

I expect that raising the trolley from the rails and spinning the wheelset will show an uneven wear on the contact surface, and checking the rails around the derailment area with a template will show shoulder wear on the tracks.

Yes it will be set statically, but I was thinking of using a magnetic mounting for repositioning, with anti vibe mounts built in.

The plant ( an abattoir) is over 30 yrs old and the part of the area in question has been in use for about 25 yrs. We do intend to redesign, but am stuck with it for now. The area in question has a lot of pneumatic switching as well rails dividing and intersecting in the vicinity, so the idea is that we can move the camera to a different position depending the issue.

We have checked the rails and the surfaces are OK, but there is a gate that brings 2 rails into 1. we suspect that is the problem, but also need to eliminate other areas as well. this problem might only happen about every 2-3 months.

Wheel tread and flange profile is important, as is the distribution of weight on each wheel and the suspension arrangements. Railway technology has been developing for more than 200 years, and it is there where many solutions to this issue may be found.

Without setting too high an expectation: I suspect that if you post any picture of the wheel rim profile and the track cross section here; together with more details (track width, speed, weight of trolleys, wheels fixed or rotating about a vertical axis, track curvature &c.): then PWSLACK (above) will be able to tell you what's wrong straight away.

Using a "good" camera does not relieve you of having to be in the right place at the right time. While you may get lucky, there is a greater chance that you will miss the event because the timing or the angle or the focus or the speed isn't just right.

Been there, seen that. Changed to a more logical approach such as Team Oriented Problem Solving or a Risk Analysis Sheet to look for problems before they occurred. In many cases it was possible to eliminate re-occurance.

Have you tried any of these techniques yet?

I know that thermal imaging is expensive, BUT, There are TI that can give you PTZ, along with motion activation. Also available would be automatic tracking when movement is detected.

The TI might have other uses in the plant when this project is resolved. Good luck.