COMPUTING AND TRACKING LOCOMOTIVE HEALTH

• US 20160292931A1
• Filed: 04/03/2015
• Published: 10/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Union Pacific Railroad Company (Union Pacific Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Union Pacific Railroad Company (Union Pacific Corporation)
• Inventors: Fenn, Kathleen Ann, Millar, Glenn Allan, Chundru, Srinivas
• Granted Patent: US 9,836,893 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 27/00 Central railway traffic control systems; Trackside control; Communication systems specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/006 Indicating maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

Herein described is at least a system, method, and/or non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for computing locomotive health based on input parameters such as locomotive defect data and locomotive inspection data. Examples of locomotive health attributes for which values may be computed include an overall health attribute, a power level health attribute, a defect severity health attribute, a trail only health attribute, and a health reason attribute. Furthermore, various events may be defined that may trigger computation of the locomotive health attribute values.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in which a plurality of processor-executable instructions are stored, the instructions being configured, upon execution by the processor, to cause the system to;

receive data about a locomotive, the received data comprising defect data for the locomotive and inspection data for the locomotive,

compute health data for the locomotive based on the defect data and the inspection data, and

communicate a value for the computed locomotive health data to a computer for display of the computed locomotive health data value to a user of the computer; and

wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a database configured to store data about a locomotive pool comprising a plurality locomotives;

a defect data computer system, the defect data computer system configured to generate defect data for a plurality of the locomotives in the pool;

an inspection data computer system, the inspection data computer system configured to generate inspection data for a plurality of the locomotives in the pool; and

wherein the processor and memory are further configured for communication with the database, the defect data computer system, and the inspection data computer system; and

wherein the instructions, upon execution by the processor, are further configured to cause the system to compute and store the locomotive health data for the locomotives in the pool (i) based on a common standard for locomotive health and (ii) on a real-time basis as new defect data and inspection data for the locomotives becomes available within the defect data computer system and the inspection data computer system.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the defect data computer system is further configured to generate, on a real-time basis, a health event message as new defect data becomes available within the defect data computer system that impacts locomotive health;

wherein the inspection data computer system is further configured to generate, on a real-time basis, a health event message as new inspection data becomes available within the inspection data computer system that impacts locomotive health; and

wherein the instructions, upon execution by the processor, are further configured to cause the system to, on a real-time basis, (1) receive the health event messages generated by the defect data computer system and the inspection data computer system, and (2) trigger new locomotive health computations for a plurality of locomotives based on the received health event messages.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein a plurality of the health messages exhibit different formats based on a source for the health message;

and

wherein the instructions, upon execution by the processor, are further configured to cause the system to (1) determine a source for a received health message, and (2) parse each received health message based on its determined source.

5. The system of claim 2 further comprising:

a locomotive management or planning computer system;

wherein the processor and memory are further configured for communication with the locomotive management or planning computer system such that a change in computed locomotive health for a locomotive are communicated to the locomotive management or planning computer system on a real-time basis; and

wherein the locomotive management or planning computer system is configured to (1) assign a plurality of locomotives to a plurality of trains or assign power to a plurality of locomotives for a plurality of trains based on input from a user, and (2) on a real-time basis, automatically adjust a locomotive assignment based on a communicated change in computed locomotive health for a locomotive.

6. The system of claim 2 wherein the instructions, upon execution by the processor, are further configured to cause the system to compute a plurality of different health attribute values for a plurality of the locomotives based on the defect data and the inspection data, the computed health attribute values comprising the computed health data.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the defect data comprises open defect data, and wherein the instructions, upon execution by the processor, are further configured to cause the system to compute an overall health attribute value for a plurality of the locomotives locomotive based on the open defect data and the inspection data.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the instructions, upon execution by the processor, are further configured to cause the system to compute a defect severity health attribute value for a plurality of the locomotives based on the open defect data.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the received locomotive data further comprises power level data for a plurality of the locomotives, and wherein the instructions, upon execution by the processor, are further configured to cause the system to compute a power level health attribute value for a plurality of the locomotives based on the inspection data and the power level data.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein the received locomotive data further comprises power level data for a plurality of the locomotives, and wherein the instructions, upon execution by the processor, are further configured to cause the system to compute a trail only health attribute value for a plurality of the locomotives based on the open defect data, the inspection data, and the power level data.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein the computed health attribute values further comprise at least two members of the group consisting of (1) a defect severity health attribute value, (2) a power level health attribute value, (3) a health reason attribute value, and (4) a trail only health attribute value.

12. The system of claim 6 wherein the instructions, upon execution by the processor, are further configured to cause the system to automatically perform the locomotive health data computation operation in response to an event trigger, the event trigger comprising at least one member of the group consisting of (1) a change in the defect data corresponding to a new open defect or a closing of a formerly open defect, (2) a change in the inspection data, (3) a mileage threshold for the locomotive being reached, and (4) a maintenance threshold for the locomotive being reached.

13. The system of claim 6 wherein the instructions, upon execution by the processor, are further configured to cause the system to execute a locomotive management or planning application, the application configured to access the computed locomotive health data to facilitate a locomotive management or planning operation based on the computed locomotive health data.

14. The system of claim 2 wherein the computed locomotive health data is configured to exhibit any of a plurality of values that are indicative of varying levels of health severity, wherein the received locomotive data comprises power level data for a plurality of the locomotives, and wherein the instructions, upon execution by the processor, are further configured to cause the system to define a health value for a locomotive that is indicative of a high severity in response to the power level data indicating no power for that locomotive.

15. The system of claim 2 wherein the computed locomotive health data is configured to exhibit any of a plurality of values that are indicative of varying levels of health severity, wherein the instructions, upon execution by the processor, are further configured to cause the system to define a health value for a locomotive that is indicative of a high severity in response to the inspection data for that locomotive indicating that an inspection for that locomotive is past due.

16. The system of claim 2 wherein the computed locomotive health data is configured to exhibit any of a plurality of values that are indicative of varying levels of health severity, wherein the defect data comprises open defect data, the open defect data corresponding to an open defect for a locomotive and including a severity indicator for that locomotive'"'"'s open defect, and wherein the instructions, upon execution by the processor, are further configured to cause the system to define a health value for that locomotive that is indicative of a severity that is based on the open defect severity indicator.

17. The system of claim 2 wherein the computed locomotive health data is configured to exhibit any of a plurality of values that are indicative of varying levels of health severity, wherein the received locomotive data further comprises power level data for a plurality of the locomotives, wherein the defect data comprises open defect data, the open defect data corresponding to a plurality of open defects for a plurality of locomotives and including a plurality of severity indicators for same, and wherein the instructions, upon execution by the processor, are further configured to cause the system to:

determine a power level for a locomotive based on the received power level data;

determine whether the power level for the locomotive indicates no power for the locomotive;

in response to a determination that the power level for the locomotive indicates no power for the locomotive, define a health value for the locomotive that is indicative of a high severity;

in response to a determination the power level for the locomotive does not indicate no power for the locomotive, determine based on the inspection data for the locomotive whether an inspection is past due for the locomotive;

in response to a determination that an inspection is past due for the locomotive, define a health value for the locomotive that is indicative of a high severity;

in response to a determination that an inspection is not past due for the locomotive, determine whether there is at least one open defect for the locomotive;

in response to a determination that there is at least one open defect for the locomotive, define a health value for the locomotive that is indicative of a severity that is based on a most severe of the at least one open defect severity indicators for the locomotive; and

in response to a determination that there are no open defects for the locomotive, (1) determine a next inspection date for the locomotive and (2) define a health value for the locomotive that is indicative of a severity based on an imminence of the determined next inspection date such that the defined health value severity increases as a function of increasing next inspection imminence.

18. The system of claim 2 wherein the computed locomotive health data is configured to exhibit any of a plurality of values that are indicative of varying levels of health severity, wherein the instructions, upon execution by the processor, are further configured to cause the system to define a plurality of values for a plurality of the locomotives with respect to a plurality of health attributes based on a plurality of associations in a mapping table, the mapping table configured to associate a plurality of values for inspection data and defect data with a plurality of values for the health attributes.

19. A method comprising:

receiving data about a locomotive, the received data comprising defect data for the locomotive and inspection data for the locomotive;

computing health data for the locomotive based on the defect data and the inspection data; and

communicating a value for the computed locomotive health data to a computer for displaying the computed locomotive health data value to a user of the computer; and

wherein the receiving, computing, and storing are performed by a processor.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

the processor performing the method steps with regard to a plurality of locomotives using a common standard for computing the locomotive health;

assigning a plurality of the locomotives to a plurality of trains based on the computed locomotive health values; and

operating the trains using the assigned locomotives.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon, a computer program having at least one code section for processing data, the at least one code section being executable by a processor of a computer to cause to:

receive data about a locomotive wherein said data comprises defect data and inspection data,

compute health data for the locomotive based on using the defect data and the inspection data,

generate a value for the computed health data; and

communicate the generated value to a computer for display of the generated value to a user of the computer.