Detection of anomalies in rail wheelsets
First Claim
1. A method of detecting an anomaly in a wheelset of a train comprising:
- taking data acquired by a distributed acoustic sensor having a sensing optical fibre deployed along at least part of a rail track as the train moves along that part of the track, wherein the data corresponds to acoustic signals detected by a plurality of longitudinal sensing portions of said sensing optical fibre;
analysing the acoustic signals to determine the train speed comprising identifying at least a first section of track where the train travels with a first speed and a second section of track where the train travels with a second different speed; and
analysing the acoustic signals from the longitudinal sensing portions for a characteristic acoustic signal so as to detect an anomaly in a wheelset comprising analysing the acoustic signals from the longitudinal sensing portions from the first section of track based on the first speed and analysing the acoustic signals from the longitudinal sensing portions from the second section of track based on the second speed to detect a repetitive signal at a frequency that varies proportional to the train speed;
wherein said characteristic acoustic signal is based on the determined train.
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Accused Products
Abstract
This application relates to methods and apparatus for the detection of anomalies in the wheelsets of rail vehicles, for instance for detection of defects such as wheel flats (303) of a wheel (301). The method using a distributed acoustic sensor (106) having a sensing optical fiber (104) deployed along at least part of a rail track (201) as a train (202) moves along that part of the track. The distributed acoustic sensor detects acoustic signals from a plurality of longitudinal sensing portions of the sensing optical fiber. A processor 108 analyzes the acoustic signals to determine the train speed v. Having determined the train speed the processor also analyzes the acoustic signals for a characteristic acoustic signal so as to detect an anomaly in a wheelset where the characteristic acoustic signal is based on the determined train speed. In particular the method may involve at least a first section of track where the train travels with a first speed v1 and a second section of track where the train travels with a second different speed v2 the characteristic acoustic signal may be a repetitive signal at a frequency that varies proportional to the train speed.
27 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of detecting an anomaly in a wheelset of a train comprising:
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taking data acquired by a distributed acoustic sensor having a sensing optical fibre deployed along at least part of a rail track as the train moves along that part of the track, wherein the data corresponds to acoustic signals detected by a plurality of longitudinal sensing portions of said sensing optical fibre; analysing the acoustic signals to determine the train speed comprising identifying at least a first section of track where the train travels with a first speed and a second section of track where the train travels with a second different speed; and analysing the acoustic signals from the longitudinal sensing portions for a characteristic acoustic signal so as to detect an anomaly in a wheelset comprising analysing the acoustic signals from the longitudinal sensing portions from the first section of track based on the first speed and analysing the acoustic signals from the longitudinal sensing portions from the second section of track based on the second speed to detect a repetitive signal at a frequency that varies proportional to the train speed; wherein said characteristic acoustic signal is based on the determined train. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An apparatus for detecting an anomaly in a wheelset of a train comprising:
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a distributed acoustic sensor interrogator unit for interrogating a sensing optical fibre deployed along at least part of a rail track as the train moves along that part of the track to provide data corresponding to acoustic signals detected by a plurality of longitudinal sensing portions of said sensing optical fibre; and a processor configured to; analyse the acoustic signals to determine the train speed comprising identifying at least a first section of track where the train travels with a first speed and a second section of track where the train travels with a second different speed; and analyse the acoustic signals from the longitudinal sensing portions for a characteristic acoustic signal so as to detect an anomaly in a wheelset comprising analysing the acoustic signals from the longitudinal sensing portions from the first section of track based on the first speed and analysing the acoustic signals from the longitudinal sensing portions from the second section of track based on the second speed to detect a repetitive signal at a frequency that varies proportional to the train speed;
wherein said characteristic acoustic signal is based on the determined train speed. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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Specification