IRIS 02 - Operating conditions at the threshold Control electronics on rail vehicles must perform under the harshest of conditions Extreme heat and cold, humidity, massive shocks and dust... A rail vehicle is anything but an ideal operating location for electronic circuits. The vast proportion of electronic components available today were designed for use in consumer electronics, and would break down after a very short time here. The Transportation Solutions division at Friedrich Lütze GmbH & Co. KG is faced, on the one hand, with the challenge of developing extremely durable electronic components that exceed the limits for this field of application. On the other hand, LÜTZE is developing decentralised, intelligent control systems. These systems are more easily maintainable and can generate extensive diagnostic information. In contrast to this, the old control technology consisted of decentralised control units with looms of cables as thick as an arm, which ran through the entire rail vehicle. The new technology is more flexible, more economical in construction and far more reliable, in particular.

Rail vehicles are deployed throughout the world. Icy regions, such as Siberia or Scandinavia, temperate regions or tropical areas, even desert regions, are all traversed by railway lines. Depending on the time of year and area of application of the vehicle, the electronic circuits are exposed to temperatures of –40 °C to +85 °C. At the same time, they must continue to work without fault. For comparison purposes, the vast majority of electronic components and circuits available today, for example for PCs and TV sets, are designed for an operating temperature range of 20 °C to 40 °C and for digital cameras this is normally from 0 °C to 40 °C.

Resistant against shocks
Unlike machine control systems in industry that are conveniently housed in a switch control cabinet, the control unit in locomotives and rail cars is exposed to constant shocks. Even the dampening, air-filled rubber tyres of a car are absent on the rail. Impacts and high-frequency vibrations are transferred much more directly to the vehicle chassis and to the components installed there. Therefore, before approval is granted for series production, every LÜTZE product is exposed to all kinds of impacts and shocks – which the product must expect during the long serviceable life of a locomotive – on a special test bench during a procedure lasting several hours. The design of such components requires many years of experience and exact knowledge of the production processes.

Before any LÜTZE component goes to the customer and is installed in a machine, it is first tested in a performance test at full function in a climatic chamber for 48 hours. During these 48 hours, it is exposed repeatedly to all possible temperatures that it must expect during operation on the machines. Only modules that have passed this test without problems are then packed and shipped worldwide.

At the forefront of IRIS railway certification The examples mentioned above demonstrate that special measures are needed here to ensure that the equipment works. The latest revision of the IRIS (International Railway Industry Standard) has taken these increased demands into account. In 2010, LÜTZE was amongst the first 25 companies worldwide to obtain the new Railway Industry Standard IRIS 02 certification. The new IRIS Revision 02 goes significantly further than the requirements of the ISO 9001 standard applicable for the industry, and incorporates additional railway-specific requirements.

High technology from Weinstadt
Today, LÜTZE high-technology from Weinstadt is used tens of thousands of times over worldwide. LÜTZE control modules and other electronic railway components provide their service reliably on rail vehicles, track-laying machines, high-speed trains, freight locomotives and suburban trains or trams.

www.luetze-transportation.com

18 - 24 September 2012
InnoTrans 2012

8 - 11 October 2012
Motek 2012

October 23 - 26, 2012
MATELEC

27 - 29 November 2012
SPS/IPC/DRIVES 2012