Essential for passenger comfort, indispensable for operational stability – sanitary systems play an important role aboard trains. The MLC 2.0 control and connection unit from the Knorr-Bremse subsidiary Evac is setting new standards for real-time connectivity with operators’ cloud services.
Neatly installed between the sanitary system’s paneling and the passenger car’s external shell, the small, spaceefficient gray box with its many inputs and outputs is essentially invisible. The MLC 2.0 control and connection unit – or more accurately, what it does – only becomes visible elsewhere, on the vehicle operator’s monitors, where it displays the relevant sanitary system’s key operating data in real time, including for example the number of operating cycles, voltage in the electrical circuit, underpressure in the vacuum system and reservoir fill level.
Using the knowledge advantage to optimize operational processes
“Our next-generation control system is the perfect match for next-generation train toilets,” says Aiko Püschel, Director Sales & Business Development at Evac. “Until now, technicians had to wait till the train was stationary before carrying out time-consuming, in-person checks. Now all this labor-intensive work has been replaced by a few mouse clicks on a remote terminal – a genuine Data2Action use case.”
Above all, remote condition monitoring helps to keep operational processes flowing. “Sometimes, an entire train is prevented from leaving on time because technicians are still looking for whatever caused a sanitary system’s warning indicator to light up,” explains Püschel. The new, digital approach gives operators a major knowledge advantage.
Contacts
Sanitary Systems for Rail Vehicles Knorr-Bremse Evac GmbH
22880 Wedel
Deutschland - Germany
This advantage can be exploited to optimize the total cost of system ownership. “Previously, the service lives of individual system components were expressed as simple time periods, and their maintenance intervals were calculated accordingly,” continues Püschel. “But now, thanks to real-time data, operators can rethink their whole approach, making much better use of their sanitary systems’ remaining service lives and precisely scheduling maintenance procedures so that potentially critical situations are proactively resolved before they escalate.”
Optimizing use of space in trains
Evac’s compact system cleverly improves the way space is used on trains. Among the features of the “sliding” installation is a single common interface for electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic services, so that technicians can quickly remove and replace the unit during servicing. Other space-saving innovations include the tank assembly – combining intermediate and freshwater tanks for the first time – and the flexible positioning of the discharge outlet.
