A Tram Network's Worst NIGHTMARE!

this video is sponsored by caliper Australia prone to Killer Spiders massive fruit and crams [Music] Melbourne has the biggest tram Network in the world with almost 500 trams running 24 7. these things are everywhere chick look there's one here they're everywhere and they don't stop very easily anyway and it's what look at them unreal dominating the road but despite being a malvernian and being around trans for so long I realized that I don't know a lot about them and I wondered why are they so hard to stop and what other things does a network of this size have to deal with Sandra why what let me catch you up real quick this is Chris he's from keolis Downer the operator of Yara trams now he's invited me along to this new iot trial that they're running to help reduce maintenance on their Network yeah I've Got Friends in our places so let's just rewind a bit there so Chris what is the biggest maintenance issue you've got with trams particularly this time of year uh we're talking about Sam sand yeah sand what do you even use sand for with trams so we actually use up to 250 tons a month of 250 tons a month yeah and it's just tram's been breaking out in the network at this point I thought Chris was pulling my leg but then he showed me where the trans poop out the sand to help not only with braking but also with slippage on the track Chris explained to me that this system is largely automatic and will activate when the Tran detects slip and it can also be deployed manually by the driver which sometimes leaves these huge pyramid sand poops okay now I understand why the trans use sand but it had me wondering why is this such a big issue for them [Music] thank you this here is a point and it's where the mechanism creates a change in direction for the tram but if you get any silt or grit inside of this thing it can stop working or at worst derail the tram you see these points are traditionally checked manually and can cause a lot of downtime for the network and this is where caliper's remote monitoring unit can help but how does it work and what is that trying to detect anyway so this setup here is super simple you've got the cactus pulse light which has two inputs so you've got the first warning shot on this read switch and then the last one when it's overflowing is this top one here you see when it rains these points fill up with water and eventually drain away but if they're full of sand and debris they'll fill up much quicker and then drain away much slower and that is what they're trying to detect so while sand is clearly Enemy Number One there is another major issue that all rail networks face extreme heat extreme heat stream Heat so a problem we have on hot days is that rail can expand and grow and for us as maintainers it's hard for us to know the locations we need to go to first so what these sensors will do is give us the information for how hot things are in each location and tell us where to go to First well Chris is trying to say is that they're installing two units on either side of the track the first is untouched premium ballast track this is the control and the other will be coated in a heat resistant paint which will be compared against the control to see its Effectiveness but I bet you're wondering how does this sensor work so over here we're measuring the ambient temperature in the air but here is where the magic comes in this is a neodymium magnet that has 15 kilos of pull force and it gets put on the rail just like that um uh oh my God that's unbelievable wow why this Innovation was so important to keep all this Downer yeah always taking the approach of not just maintaining but also trying to innovate and enhance the way that we do our work on the network this is a good example of that where we have seen a problem and tried to find a way to make the maintenance of it better I've always been amazed at the way that infrastructure works and how to technology can help us better understand it but as my day draws to a close I felt a new connection with these rhinos of the rail and reflected on the true reason that these iconic trams have lasted so long [Music] it's the if the innovators like Chris the maintenance Crews and of course the drivers who add a human touch that's the true power behind Melbourne's amazing tram Network [Music] why did the trial work so it's been a couple of months since the trial began and the results are looking pretty promising Chris told me that there's been several points already attended and immediately clinged as a result of higher level alarms pretty cool I reckon as for the rail temperature even coming into the colder months keola Stander has seen a significant difference in the ambient air temperature compared to the rail temperature so as you can imagine this is going to be critical data for them coming into the hotter months so if you're looking for an iot solution for your assets head on over to caliber.com and see what they've got to offer and hey if you're not convinced check out this video on how calipers helping save millions of liters of water every year and it's here where I'm searching for one of the most elusive of water creatures there is the leak recently reported that they received over 155 000 Mega liters of water for this annual year

Channel: thinkLIST

Views: 57,527

Keywords: kallipr, iot, trams, melbourne trams, trains, electrical, electrical engineering, veritasum, tom scott, tram network

Id: QvyawoSt4tg

Length: 6min 20sec (380 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 22 2023