Annual Report 2012 - Knorr-Bremse AG.

Report
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role. The latest brake control system also carries out condition monitoring of bearings, gearbox components
and wheels – at only a minimal increase in cost and complexity.
The COMORAN system monitors wheel bearings, analyzing their vibration frequencies and relaying
data on their condition either to an onboard computer or via Ethernet to a central server. Using information
based on experience with residual operating life, this enables condition-based maintenance of
components to be carried out without making any concessions in terms of availability and safety. Intelligent
use of mechatronics enables temperature and acceleration measurement to be integrated
into the existing sensor system.
A new system
monitors wheel
rotation and prevents
critical situations such
as derailment.
Following several years of field testing on a vehicle operated by Munich Metro, the system was officially
launched in 2012. The first commercial order has already been received, with COMORAN scheduled
for installation in a Brazilian urban train in 2013. The flexibility of the system not only enables the wheel
bearings to be monitored – it also detects critical situations such as derailment.
Knorr-Bremse develops new windscreen wiper
and washer system for high-speed applications
PHX (Pneumatic High End NeXt Generation System) is a new wiper and washer system specially designed
by Knorr-Bremse to cope with the forces acting on the large front windscreens of trains travelling
at high speeds. System testing for the first application started during the year under review.
The electro-pneumatic system is the latest generation of the tried-and-tested wiper and washer system
that Knorr-Bremse has been producing for various high-speed applications over the last 15 years.
It combines several subsystems and is therefore less complex than its predecessors. PHX is also smaller,
lighter and more compact.