Development of lightning surge sensor for railway signal electronics

Abstract

We have developed a new railway signal control system, which controls railway signals, switches, track circuits based on IP protocol. In this system, much electronic devices are installed along harsh railway environment. Therefore, it is required that these electronic devices have environment resistance for lightning surge, temperature, vibration, waterproof and electromagnetic noise. As a countermeasure for the lightning surge, we utilize a protective device (cable arrester). However there is a case in which the electronic device is damaged by the degradation of the protective device. Therefore we develop a lightning surge sensor to detect the degradation of a protective device. In this paper, we describe details of the lightning surge sensor for railway. © 2008 The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan.