Train door closing pinch force tester

Case study

Door pinch cradle and original AFG gauge montage

New design Train Door Closing Force Tester

Solution

Digital force gauge
Cradle with cantelever pinch mechanism

Benefits

Reliable peak force checker
Portable and small design, easy to use

Requirement

South West Trains required a system to measure the closing force (pinch) of their external flush fitting train doors.

Solution

A cantilever assembly was fitted to the rear of a 500 N Advanced Force Gauge. This enabled a direct compressive reading to be applied to the loadcell when the tips of the cantilever were placed in between the closing doors.

The pass/fail alarm feature on the gauge provided an immediate analysis of the result. The cantilever arrangement enabled the doors to be measured at a distance similar to the width of a human hand.

The operators hands were also well away from the test area, which would have proved difficult with a conventional loadcell solution.

This type of solution could be adapted for many similar applications by extending or reducing the length and profile of the cantilever beam.