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Showing results for tags 'rail crossing'.
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This rail crossing is automated by two Arduino's. One Arduino will take care of the actual crossing (making the freight trains start/stop and the signals) the other Arduino controls the passenger trains which start/stop from two different stations. Because there's only one priority track for the passenger trains on the crossing, but both stations have two tracks, the latter Arduino also has to control the direction of the passenger trains on the crossing and also flip the switches to make sure the passenger train ends up at an empty track at the station. Both Arduino's have some low level communication between them: as soon as a passenger train is started, the crossing-Arduino is told to put the lights on red and to stop the track. The crossing-Arduino has a setting that tells it for how long the lights should be red. Oh, and there's of course also the Lego Terminator. Enjoy!
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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.
