Control system of the tram hall in the depot - Brno City Transport Company
Reference
The transport company of the city of Brno put a modern tram hall in the district Pisarky into operation. This modern workplace not only significantly increased the efficiency of daily maintenance and technical inspection of up to 130 trams, but also brought a distinctive architectural element to the surroundings.
A system consisting of 16 Tecomat Foxtrot PLCs (CP-2090, CP-2080), three communication drivers, PLCs from other manufacturers and the Reliance SCADA system was installed in the hall for operation management and visualization.
The control system ensures a smooth trams´passage from registration at the entrance to parking in the assigned place. The system tracks the length of each vehicle and compares it to the available free space on the tracks. The length of the tram, the line number, the vehicle number and the set mode are the input information for the optimal routing of the vehicles so that the road is not blocked by the vehicle due to excessive length. The risk is particularly the crossing of routes or the moment of closing the hall gate. Avoiding these problems is especially important in winter.
Upon arrival at the hall, each tram goes through an inspection of the chassis and electrical installation. Its interior will also be cleaned and disinfected. The technician will then determine its condition and decide on a possible shutdown to the workshop. The control system then automatically assigns the tram a line number and route for the following day, including a specific departure time, and accordingly it is parked in a suitable parking lane. The track and its position are displayed on a large screen at the driver's station, so that at the beginning of the work shift, they can search for the parking position of their tram in the depot.
The installed solution is decentralized and its individual parts control the connected switches independently of the system status, which is mainly used in the event of a malfunction or during service. During normal operation, the system works as a whole, and its software component (the Reliance SCADA system) collects and unifies information from individual PLCs.
The control system allows the operator to:
- monitor the location of vehicles
- set modes of individual tracks
- manually take control of partial parts of the track
- set parking modes
- set gate modes
- locate and capture vehicles
- control the heating of the switches
Other functions of the control system:
- communication with the vehicle using the RS485 interface
- communication with the information board using UDP datagrams
- conduit occupancy measurement for chassis control
- obtaining the tram number, length of the vehicle and the tram wash flag
- reading of parking spaces from the company´s database
- control of traffic lights by inspection staff
- track occupancy detection using the RS485 interface
- monitor control using TCP/IP communication