During the entire past decade, solutions from TVEMA have employed cutting-edge, resource-saving technologies providing for considerable savings of financial and human resources at the institutions and enterprisesoperating railway tracks. In the context of the persisting general economic problems, this fact boosts the demand among these facilities for the Company’s novel products. 

One of the most popular among such products is the SPRUT NDT/track geometry device, which was awarded the “Quality Mark” for innovative solutions and the Golden medal “For measurement consistency” at the Moscow Forum Metrology ’08.

The main buyers of the SPRUT system are enterprises having their own side tracks requiring daily inspection and maintenance. The compactness of the device facilitates easy control, and its versatility ensures the simultaneous solution of several problems. While measuring track gauge and level, SPRUT at the same time detects defects in both rail threads along the entire length and across the entire width of the rail (excluding rail base plates, rail web areas, and rail base under bolt holes) and is logging the coordinates of each defect. The precise referencing of these measurements is provided by a GPS receiver installed on the inspection bogie in the equipment mix. The inspection bogie is a frame chassis with wheels and travel handles. 

The SPRUT NDT/track geometry device meets the international standard ISO 12710:2002 “Non-destructive  testing - Ultrasonic inspection - Evaluating electronic characteristics of ultrasonic test instruments” and provides for detection of rail defects according to the international index UIC Code 712 R “Rail defects”. 

The inspection bogie hosts a microprocessor with a display and a control unit, a battery power supply unit, a canister with contact liquid, a maintenance kit box, and a probe skid. Sensors measuring total travel, level and track gauge are mounted on the frame. The data being acquired from sensors is on-line displayed and simultaneously recorded on the memory chip for further processing. An advantageous feature of SPRUT is acoustic contact monitoring in each channel throughout all measuring cycles. The wide dynamic range of the logged signals increases decoding performance enormously and, with it, inspection reliability. Consecutive energising of transducers prevents spurious signal appearance for any probe transducer  configuration. This simplifies the decoding procedure and increases inspection reliability. Presently the SPRUT NDT/track geometry device is available in the following versions: with 1520, 1435, 1676 mm track gauge

with English user interface of the electronic unit software.

 Detected defects:

According to NDT-TsP-1-93: 10.1-2, 11.1-2, 17.1-2, 20.1-2, 21.1-2, 24.1-2, 25.1-2, 26.3, 27.1-2, 30G.1-2, 30.V.1-2, 38.1,

52.1-2, 53.1-2, 55.1-2, 56.3, 66.3, 69.1-2, 70.1-2, 74.1-2, 79.1-2; DR.21.2, DO.20.2 , DSN.20.2, DO.60.2 & DSN.60.2,

DUN.21.2, DU.22

According to UIC Code 712 R: UIC111/211, UIC411.1/421/431, UIC471/481, UIC112/212, UIC113/213, UIC133/233,

UIC132.1/232.1, UIC132.2/232.2, UIC135/235/236, UIC154/254, UIC100/200, UIC301/302, UIC412/422, UIC127/237,

UIC125/225, UIC124/224, UIC133/233, UIC154/254