PANTOGRAPH DAMAGE AND WEAR MONITORING SYSTEM

• US 20100322465A1
• Filed: 08/05/2008
• Published: 12/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: QR Limited (Future FinTech Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: QR Limited (Future FinTech Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hamey, Leonard George Chardborn, Watkins, Timothy John, Wesche, Darryl
• Granted Patent: US 9,061,594 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/100
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/26 Rail vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 5/24 Pantographs
• CPC Class Codes: B60M 1/28 Manufacturing or repairing trolley lines scaffold cars B60P; B61D15/00; platforms therefor B66F11/04; manufacturing conductors in general H01B13/00; overhead lines in general H02G1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0004 Industrial image inspection

Abstract

A system for evaluating the condition of a pantograph, the system comprising: a track-side pantograph monitoring station that captures one or more images of a pantograph, while a locomotive comprising the pantograph is in normal service; a station management system that analyses one or more images captured at the monitoring site and determines the condition of the pantograph; and a user interface that controls the system and presents the results of the analysis to the user. A user may control the track-side monitoring station and station management system remotely.

Claims

1. A system for evaluating the condition of a pantograph, the system comprising:

a track-side pantograph monitoring station that captures at least one image of a pantograph, while a locomotive comprising the pantograph is in normal service;

a station management system that analyses the at least one image captured at the monitoring station and determines the condition of the pantograph; and

a user interface for controlling the station management system and indicating whether a pantograph is damaged and/or worn.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring station comprises:

a data transfer means;

at least one track-side mounted sensor for detecting a locomotive as it enters the monitoring station (“

locomotive sensor”

);

at least one track-side mounted sensor for detecting the position of the pantograph at the monitoring station(“

pantograph sensor”

);

at least one image capture device that captures at least one image of a pantograph at the monitoring station; and

a sensor interface that receives input from the sensors and commands the at least one image capture device to capture at least one image of the pantograph at the monitoring station.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the data transfer means facilitates communication between the sensors, sensor interface, at least one image capture device and the station management system.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the monitoring station comprises two image capture devices, wherein a first image capture device captures a profile image of a pantograph which comprises at least one carbon current collector and a second image capture device captures an image of a pantograph which comprises at least one pantograph horn.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the first image capture device is positioned below and at an oblique angle relative to a pantograph at the monitoring station (“

side-position”

).

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the second image capture device is positioned above a pantograph at the monitoring station (“

top-position”

).

7. The system of claim 6, wherein an image capture device is a high-definition video camera.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first image capture device further comprises a backing screen.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the backing screen is white.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the backing screen is illuminated.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the backing screen is mounted behind the focal point of the image capture device and within the device'"'"'s field of view, such that when the first image capture device is activated the captured image is a profile of the pantograph against the backing screen.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein a sensor is an infra-red sensor.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the monitoring station comprises two sensors for detecting the position of the pantograph, wherein the first sensor (“

top-position sensor”

) is positioned such that it identifies the point at which the pantograph is within the field of view of the top-position image capture device and wherein the second sensor (“

side-position sensor”

) is positioned such that it identifies the point at which the pantograph is within the field of view of the side-position image capture device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein a sensor is in communication with the at least one image capture device, such that when the pantograph is detected by the sensor the at least one image capture device is activated.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the monitoring station further comprises at least one track-side mounted sensor for capturing locomotive identity details (“

locomotive identity sensor”

).

16. The system of claim 15, wherein a locomotive identity sensor is an Automated Vehicle Identification (AVI) tag decoder.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the AVI tag decoder acquires information relating to any one of:

the vehicle identification number of the locomotive at the monitoring station;

or the locomotive type.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the sensor interface is in the form of a circuit wherein the circuit performs the steps of:

receiving an input from a first track-side sensor indicating that a locomotive is at the monitoring station (“

locomotive sensor”

);

receiving an input from a second track side sensor indicating that a pantograph is within the field of view of an image capture device (“

pantograph sensor”

);

de-bouncing and shaping the inputs received from the track-side sensors; and

providing a command to an image capture device to acquire an image of the pantograph when the inputs from the locomotive sensor and pantograph sensors are received simultaneously.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the sensor interface circuit performs the further step of providing a command to at least one locomotive identity sensor to capture details of the locomotive at the monitoring station when the inputs from the locomotive sensor and pantograph sensors are received simultaneously.

32. The system of claim 19, wherein the user interface comprises a data entry means and an electronic display means.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the data entry means controls a task performed by the station management system or modulates the way in which the end-user views the results of the analysis.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the user interface is a display on a computer that is in communication with the station management system and is located at a remote site.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein a locomotive is traveling at a speed no less than 12 kph and no more than 80 kph when in normal service.

20. A computer system arranged to analyze whether a pantograph is damaged and/or worn, the system comprising:

a computer; and

a program running on the computer, wherein the program performs the following tasks;

receiving at least one command from a sensor and on receipt of the at least one command activating at least one image capture device to capture at least one image of a pantograph at a monitoring station;

analyzing at least one image captured by the at least one image capture device for signs of damage and/or wear; and

providing the results of the analysis to an output means.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the program further performs at least one of the following tasks:

receiving user input;

receiving locomotive details from an AVI tag reader and assigning those details to at least one image of a pantograph;

controlling the illumination of a backing screen, wherein the backing screen is mounted behind the focal point of an image capture device;

calibrating the exposure and gain settings of the at least one image capture device;

receiving input from a user, wherein the input modulates the analysis of a pantograph image; and

automatically adjusting the exposure time and video gain of the at least one image capture device.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the analysis of an image of a pantograph captured by the at least one image capture device comprises the steps of:

receiving an input from the at least one image capture device, wherein the input represents an image of the field of view of the device;

matching an image of a pantograph within the input image to a pre-defined model representing a known pantograph type;

using the matched pre-defined model to calculate the co-ordinates of the pantograph within the input image;

using the co-ordinates calculated in the previous step to extract at least one image of a region of the pantograph from the input image; and

analyzing the at least one image of a pantograph region to determine whether the pantograph is damaged and/or worn.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein a region representing one carbon current collector profile is extracted from the input image.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein a region representing two carbon current collector profile images are extracted from the input image.

25. The system of claim 23 or 24, wherein the analysis of carbon current collector wear comprises the steps of:

determining the distance between a surface outline representing a bottom edge of a carbon current collector and a surface outline representing a top edge of the carbon current collector; and

identifying regions where the distance, as measured in the preceding step, falls below a minimum acceptable distance that is indicative of wear.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the analysis of carbon current collector damage comprises the steps of:

creating a “

rainfall”

pattern in which a region between a bottom of the image and a surface outline representing a top edge of the carbon current collector is filled in with a vertical line;

creating a closed region with a circle having a fixed radius on the surface outline representing the top edge of the carbon current collector; and

subtracting the rainfall pattern from the closed region and identifying regions of damage.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the analysis further comprises the steps of:

receiving an input from the at least one image capture device, wherein the input represents an image of the field of view of the device;

matching an image of a pantograph within the input image to a pre-defined model representing a known pantograph type;

using the matched pre-defined model to calculate the co-ordinates of a pantograph horn within the input image;

identifying a damaged or missing pantograph horn by comparing the co-ordinates identified in the preceding step with a pre-defined model representing a specific horn design.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the predefined model is either a T-bar or Y-bar pantograph configuration.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the computer is connected to one or more computer networks.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the output means comprises one or more of the following:

a visual display such as a computer monitor, a storage device such as a computer hard disk, relational database, networked device or physical output means such as paper.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the output means can further comprise an electronic data transfer means for transferring data to a database run on a computer remote from the station management computer.

36. An automated method for determining the condition of a pantograph, said method comprising the steps of:

detecting the presence of a locomotive at a monitoring station;

detecting the presence of a pantograph at the monitoring station;

activation of an image capture device on simultaneous detection of a locomotive and pantograph at the monitoring station, thereby capturing an image of a pantograph;

analyzing the image of the pantograph to determine whether the pantograph is damaged and/or a constituent carbon current collector is worn; and

reporting the results of the analysis to an end user.