skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: The Potential and Beneficial Use of Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) Systems Integrated with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Systems for Characterizing Disposal of Waste Debris to Optimize the Waste Shipping Process

Conference ·
OSTI ID:983554

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) system provides a portable and/or semi-portable means of accurately weighing vehicles and its cargo as each vehicle crosses the scales (while in motion), and determining (1) axle weights and (2) axle spacing for vehicles (for determination of Bridge Formula compliance), (3) total vehicle/cargo weight and (4) longitudinal center of gravity (for safety considerations). The WIM system can also weigh the above statically. Because of the automated nature of the WIM system, it eliminates the introduction of human errors caused by manual computations and data entry, adverse weather conditions, and stress. Individual vehicles can be weighed continuously at low speeds (approximately 3-10 mph) and at intervals of less than one minute. The ORNL WIM system operates and is integrated into the Bethel Jacobs Company Transportation Management and Information System (TMIS, a Radio-Frequency Identification [RFID] enabled information system). The integrated process is as follows: Truck Identification Number and Tare Weight are programmed into a RFID Tag. Handheld RFID devices interact with the RFID Tag, and Electronic Shipping Document is written to the RFID Tag. The RFID tag read by an RFID tower identifies the vehicle and its associated cargo, the specific manifest of radioactive debris for the uniquely identified vehicle. The weight of the cargo (in this case waste debris) is calculated from total vehicle weight information supplied from WIM to TMIS and is further processed into the Information System and kept for historical and archival purposes. The assembled data is the further process in downstream information systems where waste coordination activities at the Y-12 Environmental Management Waste Management Facility (EMWMF) are written to RFID Tag. All cycle time information is monitored by Transportation Operations and Security personnel.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Work for Others (WFO)
DOE Contract Number:
DE-AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
983554
Resource Relation:
Conference: 36th Annual Waste Management Conference, WM2010, Phoenix, AZ, USA, 20100307, 20100311
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English