Rail crossing automated by Arduino

[AlmightyArjen]

Hey all,

I'm working on a big automation project and I needed some automated rail crossings for that. This was already a project on itself which I like to share with you. I work with the 9V system and make trains stop by disabling isolated segments in the rails. That princicple is also used in the automated rail crossing. The crossing is controlled by a printed circuit board which I have designed myself. The PCB is multifunctional and can control two single crossings or one double crossing. This means that the board has two connections for sensors, two connections for signals and two connections for isolated track segments.

Printed Circuit Board

The heart of the system is stand alone Arduino chip. When the sensor is triggered by a train that is passing by, the non-priority track is disabled and the concerning signal is put to red. As long as the train triggers the sensor, the non-priority track remains disabled. When the train has cleared the sensor, a timer is started to make sure the train has left the crossing before the non-priority track is enabled again. This timer is adjustable by means of an adjustable resistor. Since the PCB can control two crossings, it contains also two adjustable resistors. The value of the delays is displayed on a 4-digit display. This way the system is flexible and can cope with slower or faster trains.

Sensor

Ofcourse you want to see the thing in action, so I also made a video. In this layout a double crossing is controlled by the PCB.

 

[dr_spock]

Cool.  Good work on the circuit board.  Is there a reason the LED display is using I2C_OUT instead of I2C_DISPLAY? 

P.S. I think it is more fun to watch if the trains do collide at the crossing after several prevention stops. 

[Ex cinno]

 

Nice work: i couldn't bear a SantaFe crushing... 

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Fantastic layout ...and amazing video (like always from you)

I like the four crossing track together and those amazing trains from different years!

The phone call is funny!

[AlmightyArjen]

10 hours ago, dr_spock said:

Cool.  Good work on the circuit board.  Is there a reason the LED display is using I2C_OUT instead of I2C_DISPLAY? 

P.S. I think it is more fun to watch if the trains do collide at the crossing after several prevention stops. 

No, not a particular reason. Both connections are parallel to each other. I used the one closest to the display. That should have been the I2C_DISPLAY connection, it's a little flaw in the PCB design. I didn't have many collisions but I'll upload a fail video next week, I'll post it here as well :)

[AlmightyArjen]

On 7-1-2017 at 10:25 PM, dr_spock said:

P.S. I think it is more fun to watch if the trains do collide at the crossing after several prevention stops. 

And the fails video is online :D