BRAKE MONITORING SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20160264120A1
• Filed: 03/11/2015
• Published: 09/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Global Sourcing LLC (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Kellner, Steven Andrew, Peltz, David Michael, Smith, Eugene
• Granted Patent: US 9,718,452 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 13/665 the systems being specially adapted for transferring two or more command signals, e.g. railway systems B60T13/662 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 17/22 Devices for monitoring or checking brake systems; Signal devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 17/228 for railway vehicles

Abstract

A brake monitoring system and method determine one or more characteristics of a conduit in a first air brake system of a first vehicle system, compare the one or more characteristics of the first air brake system with one or more designated waveform signatures, and distinguish between communication of a brake application signal that is propagated along the vehicle system through the conduit as a decrease in pressure in the conduit and a change in the pressure in the conduit that is not representative of the communication of the brake application signal based on comparing the one or more characteristics with the one or more designated waveform signatures.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining one or more characteristics of a conduit in a first air brake system of a first vehicle system;

comparing the one or more characteristics of the first air brake system with one or more designated waveform signatures; and

distinguishing between communication of a brake application signal that is propagated along the vehicle system through the conduit as a decrease in pressure in the conduit and a change in the pressure in the conduit that is not representative of the communication of the brake application signal based on comparing the one or more characteristics with the one or more designated waveform signatures.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more characteristics includes measuring one or more of air pressure or air flow in the conduit.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more characteristics includes measuring changes in air pressure in the conduit as a first characteristic of the conduit and measuring changes in air flow in the conduit as a second characteristic of the conduit, and wherein comparing the one or more characteristics includes comparing the changes in the air pressure with a first waveform signature of the one or more designated waveform signatures and comparing the changes in the air flow with a second waveform signature of the one or more designated waveform signatures.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more designated waveform signatures include plural different waveform signatures associated with one or more of different vehicle conditions of the first vehicle system or different environmental conditions to which the first vehicle system is exposed.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising selecting a selected waveform signature from the plural different waveform signatures based at least in part on the one or more of the different vehicle conditions or the different environmental conditions, wherein comparing the one or more characteristics with the one or more designated waveform signatures includes comparing the selected waveform signature with the one or more characteristics.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more characteristics occurs responsive to application of the first air brake system during the movement of the first vehicle system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the one or more characteristics of the first air brake system with the one or more designated waveform signatures includes comparing the one or more characteristics with plural different designated waveform signatures representative of different braking effectiveness ratings of the first air brake system, and further comprising determining a braking effectiveness rating of the first air brake system based on comparing the one or more characteristics with the different designated waveform signatures.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the designated waveform signatures represent one or more of air pressures or air flow rates in a second air brake system of a second vehicle system prior to at least one of a previous derailment or a previous mechanical decoupling of the second vehicle system, and further comprising predicting one or more of derailment or mechanical decoupling of the first vehicle system based on comparing the one or more characteristics of the conduit in the first air brake system with the one or more designated waveform signatures.

9. A system comprising:

one or more processors configured to determine one or more characteristics of a conduit in a first air brake system of a first vehicle system and to compare the one or more characteristics of the first air brake system with one or more designated waveform signatures, the one or more processors also configured to distinguish between communication of a brake application signal that is propagated along the vehicle system through the conduit as a decrease in pressure in the conduit and a change in the pressure in the conduit that is not representative of the communication of the brake application signal based on comparing the one or more characteristics with the one or more designated waveform signatures.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the one or more characteristics based on one or more of air pressure or air flow in the conduit.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the one or more characteristics by determining changes in air pressure in the conduit as a first characteristic of the conduit and determining changes in air flow in the conduit as a second characteristic of the conduit, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to compare the one or more characteristics by comparing the changes in the air pressure with a first waveform signature of the one or more designated waveform signatures and comparing the changes in the air flow with a second waveform signature of the one or more designated waveform signatures.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more designated waveform signatures include plural different waveform signatures associated with one or more of different vehicle conditions of the first vehicle system or different environmental conditions to which the first vehicle system is exposed.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are configured to select a selected waveform signature from the plural different waveform signatures based at least in part on the one or more of the different vehicle conditions or the different environmental conditions, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to compare the one or more characteristics with the one or more designated waveform signatures by comparing the selected waveform signature with the one or more characteristics.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the one or more characteristics responsive to application of the first air brake system during the movement of the first vehicle system.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are configured to compare the one or more characteristics of the first air brake system with the one or more designated waveform signatures by comparing the one or more characteristics with plural different designated waveform signatures representative of different braking effectiveness ratings of the first air brake system, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine a braking effectiveness rating of the first air brake system based on comparing the one or more characteristics with the different designated waveform signatures.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one of the designated waveform signatures represent one or more of air pressures or air flow rates in a second air brake system of a second vehicle system prior to at least one of a previous derailment or a previous mechanical decoupling of the second vehicle system, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to predict one or more of derailment or mechanical decoupling of the first vehicle system based on comparing the one or more characteristics of the conduit in the first air brake system with the one or more designated waveform signatures.

17. A method comprising:

monitoring changes in air pressure and changes in air flow in a conduit of an air brake system of a vehicle system having two or more vehicles coupled with each other;

comparing the changes in the air pressure with one or more designated pressure waveform signatures and comparing the changes in the air flow with one or more designated air flow waveform signatures;

determining a braking effectiveness of the air brake system based at least in part on comparing the changes in the air pressure with the one or more designated pressure waveform signatures and comparing the changes in the air flow with the one or more designated air flow waveform signatures; and

modifying operation of the vehicle system in response to determining a change in the braking effectiveness of the air brake system.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising selecting the one or more designated pressure waveform signatures from among plural different designated pressure waveform signatures and selecting the one or more designated air flow waveform signatures from among plural different designated air flow waveform signatures based on a comparison between one or more of an actual vehicle condition of the vehicle system or an actual environmental condition to which the vehicle system is exposed with one or more vehicle conditions or environmental conditions associated with the different designated pressure waveform signatures and associated with the different designated air flow waveform signatures.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein modifying the operation of the vehicle system includes directing an operator to increase a pressure drop in the conduit used to generate a brake application signal, directing a controller of the vehicle system to autonomously increase the pressure drop in the conduit used to generate the brake application signal, or changing operational settings designated by a trip plan of the vehicle system, the trip plan designating the operational settings of the vehicle system as a function of one or more of time or distance along a route.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one of the designated pressure waveform signatures or the designated air flow waveform signatures represents one or more of air pressures or air flow rates associated with at least one of a derailment or a mechanical decoupling, and further comprising predicting one or more of derailment or mechanical decoupling of the vehicle system based on comparing the changes in the air pressure with the one or more designated pressure waveform signatures and comparing the changes in the air flow with the one or more designated air flow waveform signatures.