Power Harvesting for Railroad Track Safety Enhancement using Vertical Track Displacement

A significant portion of railroad infrastructure exists in areas that are relatively remote. Railroad crossings in these areas are typically only marked with reflective signage and do not have warning light systems or crossbars due to the cost of electrical infrastructure. Distributed sensor networks used for railroad track health monitoring applications would be useful in these areas, but the same limitation regarding electrical infrastructure exists. This motivates the search for a long-term, low-maintenance power supply solution for remote railroad deployment. This paper describes the development of a mechanical device for harvesting mechanical power from passing railcar traffic that can be used to supply electrical power to warning light systems at crossings and to remote networks of sensors via rechargeable batteries. The device is mounted to and spans two rail ties such that it directly harnesses the vertical displacement of the rail and attached ties and translates the linear motion into rotational motion. The rotational motion is amplified and mechanically rectified to rotate a PMDC generator that charges a system of batteries. A prototype was built and tested in a laboratory setting for verifying functionality of the design. Results indicate power production capabilities on the order of 10 W per device in its current form. This is sufficient for illuminating high-efficiency LED lights at a railroad crossing or for powering track-health sensor networks.