Design of an ice detector for electric tramways

The article describes design and development of an ice detection device that uses a real 1 m part of an electric copper trolley wire for its operation. The wire part is oriented in the same direction as the trolley wire in the given place and thus a high compliance of the ice sensor with real conditions (spatial dimensions, orientation and heat capacity) is achieved. An ice meter equipped with this sensor can determine the robustness and duration of ice phenomena on trolley wires much more accurately and uses this information to deduce the risk of endangering public transport. The ice detector works on the principle of strain gauge load cell weighing. For its own diagnostics, the device can also measure temperature and relative humidity and is equipped with heating wires so that the movable parts of the device do not freeze.