Detonator monitoring

The need

The five-shot detonator is a safety element used to warn the driver of a train that he has crossed a closed signal, a signal whose indication must be taken into account, by means of an acoustic emission.

Following a resurgence of incidents on this product, SNCF Réseau expressed the need for a remote surveillance system to know the condition of the detonator and to know if it is in good working condition.

Vapérail, a French company specializing in the development of solutions dedicated to railways and their environment, wanted to collaborate with SNCF Réseau's business teams to meet this need, by committing to a 4-month sprint.

The solution

Vapérail proposed a solution composed of 5 IoT sensors integrated into the detonator box. They make it possible to check the general condition and the proper functioning of the detonator via a dedicated interface.

The experiment

The experiment took place on a detonator, from November 18, 2021 to February 10, 2022, on the test site without rail traffic in Vaires-sur-Marne.

Apprenticeships

The tested prototype made it possible to verify that it is possible to measure certain detonator constants. However, some parameters, such as the control and the rate of fall of a hammer depend on the detonator, still remain difficult to countermeasure.

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