Railroad car coupler gap analyzer

• US 20060231685A1
• Filed: 04/14/2005
• Published: 10/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Progressive Rail Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Progressive Rail Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Handal, Stephen N., Mace, Stephen E., Martin, Robert W. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 7,328,871 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 246/169.R
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 1/16 Devices for counting axles; Devices for counting vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 23/02 for indicating along the route the failure of brakes

Abstract

In trains a dragging air hose can snag an object on the tracks and break. A broken air hose can lead to an emergency stop or an accident caused by faulty brakes. The present invention mounts a video camera opposite a lit screen, thereby contrasting the air hose profile against a white screen in all weather and lighting conditions. Machine vision algorithms locate the air hose in a captured image from a moving train, and compute its lowest point. An alarm condition is sent to a remote location. An optional car gap detector is laser based. It helps align the car gap with the data capture for the camera. Another subsystem can include a car coupler height detection algorithm.

Claims

1. A method to detect a low or broken air hose between passing cars of a railroad train, the method comprising:

mounting a screen parallel to a railroad track at a chosen distance away from the railroad track;

lighting the screen;

mounting a camera on an opposite side of the railroad track;

aiming the camera at the screen;

capturing an image of a gap between two railroad cars; and

using a machine vision algorithm to detect a low or broken air hose.

2. The method of claim 1 including the step of using a laser based gap detector to coordinate the capturing of an image.

3. The method of claim 1 including the step of transmitting an alarm signal when a low or broken air hose is detected.

4. The method of claim 1 including the step of using a searchlight aimed at a front of the screen for lighting the screen.

5. The method of claim 1 including the step of using a searchlight aimed at a back of the screen for lighting the screen.

6. The method of claim 1 including the step of using a light box for the screen.

7. The method of claim 1 including the step of using a control computer to capture the image of a gap, and to execute the machine vision algorithm using a vertical line shape edge finder tool.

8. The method of claim 7 including the step of using a train presence wheel sensor and a wheel counter to determine which car has a low or broken air hose.

9. The method of claim 1 including the step of using an algorithm to detect a height of a car coupler.

10. The method of claim 1 including the step of using pattern recognition techniques on a sequence of voltage pulses corresponding to a wheel position of the railroad cars in the train to detect the gaps.

11. The method of claim 1 using specific image patterns generated by the screen that are recognized by the vision algorithm to identify the gap.

12. The method of claim 7 including the step of using a railroad car radio identification tag reader and a wheel counter to determine which gap has a low or broken air hose.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the screen further comprises a background object of uniform light appearance, including a side of a building or a wall.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the vertical line shape edge finder tool includes a step of moving a vertical line shape edge finder tool horizontally and vertically across the gap image to detect an air hose in the image by a predetermined width dimension of the air hose.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the algorithm includes a step of moving a vertical line shape edge finder tool horizontally and vertically across the gap image to detect coupler shanks in the image by their predetermined height dimension.

16. A method to detect a low or broken air hose between passing cars of a railroad train, the method comprising:

selecting a planar structure parallel to a railroad track at a chosen distance away from the railroad track;

lighting the planar structure;

mounting a camera on an opposite side of the railroad track;

aiming the camera at the planar structure;

capturing an image of a gap between two railroad cars; and

using a machine vision algorithm to detect a low or broken air hose.

17. A system to detect a low or broken air hose between passing cars of a railroad train, the system comprising:

means for mounting a lit screen parallel to a railroad track functioning to provide a lighted background to contrast a gap between two railroad cars;

means for mounting a camera on an opposite side of the railroad track and aiming the camera at the lit screen functioning to capture an image of the gap between two railroad cars; and

means for using a machine vision algorithm functioning to detect a low or broken air hose via an analysis of the image of the gap.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the machine vision algorithm further comprises a vertical line shape edge finder tool.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the machine vision algorithm further comprises a height algorithm to detect a height of a car coupler.

20. The system of claim 17 further comprising a railroad car radio identification tag reader means functioning to determine which gap has a low or broken air hose.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the vertical line shape edge finder tool includes a step of moving a vertical line shape edge finder tool horizontally and vertically across the gap image to detect an air hose in the image by a predetermined width dimension of the air hose.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the height algorithm includes a step of moving a vertical line shape edge finder tool horizontally and vertically across the gap image to detect coupler shanks in the image by their predetermined height dimension.