Abstract
As one of the most important transportation, the safety of railway is paid much attention to. The quality of wheel should
be checked periodically, especially in high-speed application. Normally, Non Destructive Testing (NDT), such as
ultrasonic inspection method, is applied on wheels to find the defect. A stationary automatic railway wheelset inspection
system by using ultrasonic technique is described in this paper. The phased array ultrasonic technique and wheel defect
inspection method is described in detail. Specially designed line is installed for wheelset transportation. Wheelset lifting
and rotating device is used for wheelset loading, unloading and rotating. A steel frame with complicated mechanical
structure and ultrasonic devices are designed for wheelset defect detecting. System ultrasonic performance, system
working flow, system control networking, data processing and results displaying are also described in the paper. Now,
the system is installed in Chinese EMU maintenance center for disassembled wheelset inspection and the safety of
wheels is well protected.
