OREANDA-NEWS. The latest Alstom Innovation Awards have recognised, with a Jury Special Prize, a new maintenance tool, TrainScanner, developed by the Spanish Services team in collaboration with the UK Services Team. The Alstom Innovation Awards is an internal competition organised since 2008 with the objective of rewarding the most innovative ideas and thus foster innovative projects throughout the Company. In this edition the finalists were selected from 358 submissions from over 17 countries.

TrainScanner is one of the building blocks of Alstom’s HealthHub solution for predictive maintenance and allows monitoring the health of trains, using advanced data analytics to predict their remaining useful life. It is an innovative approach designed to shift from traditional mileage-based maintenance to condition-based predictive maintenance.

The TrainScanner automated diagnostics portal is capable of measuring the condition of three key consumables of a train as it moves through the portal: wheels, brake pads and pantograph carbon strips. TrainScanner also checks the integrity of the train (e.g. are all doors properly closed) which also reduces the time needed to prepare the train for a new mission.

This new and innovative tool also strengthens the implementation of the “pit-stop” approach by reducing the time needed to check the train. The train passes the scanner in only 90 seconds, enough time to collect the relevant data and to create 3D profiles of the train’s exterior from all angles. This information provides over a thousand measurements with and accuracy of +/- 0.5 mm, a level of accuracy and granularity never achieved before.

 For operators, the advantages are multiple: they optimize their fleet’s-size thanks to the increased train availability (the time in depot is reduced), improved safety and reliability (main components are deeply checked each time) and lowered costs (It allows up to 15% of material costs to be saved by replacing them only on an as-needed basis).

 The first TrainScanner has already been installed at the Manchester traincare centre where it has been deployed to optimise the maintenance strategy for the fleet of 56 tilting Pendolino operated by Virgin Trains and maintained by Alstom.