Development of a Robust Position Detection System to be implemented on Urban Tramcars equipped with Active Steering Bogies

High squeal noise levels and severe wear of both wheel and rail are topics of major concern when dealing with the tight curves typical of tramways. A drastic improvement of the curving performance of a bogie can be achieved by decreasing the wheel-set angle of attack with respect to the track by means of a proper axle steering system, actively controlled. In this paper a position detection system is proposed, which can provide the necessary information for the activation and execution of the steering control action when the tramcar enters a curve. The positioning system is suitable for detecting the exact position of a curve along the track and can provide its main characteristics, i.e. radius, length and left/right side orientation.