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The Hot Box Detectors are triggered for scanning by an advance start transducer. The transducer is basically a magnet encased in a fiberglass/potting compound box aqnd are clamped to the web of the rail inside of the track gage. When the train wheels are moving in & out of the magnetic field, the HBD system detects this. There is actually no physical contact between the wheel flange and the transducer's magnet. A small voltage, about 2 volts AC, is generated by the wheels passing through this magnetic field (long live Mr. Tesla!!). The HBD scanner's each have an internal heating pad located on their shutters. When the HBD system has "started", meaning, a train is starting to pass through the HBD location, these little heater pads on the shutters gives a "shot" of heat to the internal infra-red sensors. This "test temperature" must pass a pre-set temperature level, which we can adjust, to ensure that the HBD's sensors are operative. If this pre-test fails, then, the HBD system can be set to reject all of the train data about to be received (all of the bearings). Some reasons we have seen for an "integrity failure" are: 1) One or both of the "integrity" heater pads is defective from either burning out, or, maybe a broken internal wire that feeds the 110VAC voltage to the pad. 2) Internal mirrors or lens have become so dirty that the infra-red sensor cannot see. One time, we had the weed sprayer pass through a system and it ended up spraying the internal mirrors and lens! During the fall, we've actually found a large leaf that somehow got sucked into the scanner and blinded the sensor. Coal that fell off of a car that ended up inside the scanner is another one! 3) Sometimes there is a "glitch" in the system that caused the microprocessor not to read the "integrity test".
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