Colibrys MEMS accelerometers qualified by Siemens Mobility for high speed trains

Neuchatel, Switzerland, 17 September, 2010, Siemens Mobility and Colibrys announced today that Colibrys’ MEMS accelerometers have been successfully qualified for the latest generation of German ICE high speed trains. The Velaro D train is the fourth generation of interoperable high-speed trains made by Siemens using distributed traction and the first integrating innovative bogie monitoring systems.

Future train systems are looking to reduce maintenance costs, facilitate repair planning whilst at the same time improving passenger and driver safety and comfort. Siemens has developed a bogie monitoring system that detects wear within bearings, shafts, brakes or wheels and identifies any potential bogie instability that could provoke an accident.

This is the first bogie monitoring system designed and manufactured ever by Siemens Mobility. This highly innovative bogie monitoring system uses 24 sensors per wagon and some 200 sensors per train. The first three trains will be produced in 2010 for final system qualification in 2011.

The system represents the latest state of the art safety monitoring using a combination of DC low frequency MEMS based vibration sensors coupled with high frequency Piezo sensors. These two types of sensors are mounted on the bogie and axle to measure wheel, axel, bearing condition and wear. The adoption of Colibrys products, confirms that MEMS accelerometers can work in the harshest of environments and that Colibrys continues to be regarded as the world’s leading supplier of accelerometers in such demanding applications.

“This complex monitoring system has been developed by Siemens to detect any unusual driving behaviour, predict potential failures to improve security, comfort and also to optimize maintenance schedules and costs. Considering the demonstrated capabilities of the Colibrys accelerometers under harsh environments and their perfect match for safety critical applications, it became obvious that our products were the best solution for these requirements,” said Philippe Krebs, Business Development Manager for Industrial applications at Colibrys.

These new high tech bogies incorporating Colibrys MEMS accelerometers and exclusively developed and produced by Siemens Mobility, consolidate the position of Siemens as one of the largest manufacturer of bogies worldwide.

About Colibrys
COLIBRYS is a world-leading supplier of standard and semi-custom MEMS based motion sensors to the harsh-environments (Military, Aerospace and Energy) and safety critical (Industrial and Instrumentation) applications. COLIBRYS family of motion sensors includes extremely low noise and shock resistant seismic sensors, high stability high shock inertial accelerometers and DC coupled capacitive vibration sensors. COLIBRYS is based in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Additional information is available at www.colibrys.com

About Siemens Mobility
The Siemens Mobility Division (Berlin) is the internationally leading provider of transportation and logistics solutions. With “Complete mobility”, the Division is focused on networking the various modes of transportation in order to ensure the efficient and environmentally compatible transport of people and goods. “Complete mobility” targets the goal of sustainability and combines the company’s competence in operations control systems for railways and traffic control systems for roadways together with solutions for airport and postal logistics, railway electrification, rolling stock for mass transit, regional and mainline services, as well as turnkey systems and forward-looking service concepts. With around 25,000 employees worldwide Siemens Mobility posted sales of EUR6.4 billion in fiscal year 2009 (ended September 30). Additional information is available at www.siemens.com.

About MEMS Technology
MEMS (Micro-Electrical-Mechanical Systems) are highly miniaturized devices that integrate a number of functions including fluidics, optics, mechanics and electronics on a single silicon chip using techniques similar to traditional integrated circuit process technology. MEMS merge sensing, actuating, and computing into miniature systems that enable enhanced levels of perception, control and performance.