Railway brake pressure monitor
First Claim
1. A railway brake pressure monitor comprising:
- a sensor/transmitter unit constructed so as to be mounted on the last vehicle of a railway train and coupled with the brake pipe of the last vehicle, said sensor/transmitter unit including;
means for providing an output signal proportional to the air pressure within the brake pipe;
means for repetitively monitoring said output signal to measure the value of said brake pipe air pressure;
means for storing said brake pipe air pressure value;
means for transmitting a report including said brake pipe air pressure value as currently stored; and
, means for enabling the transmission of said report in response to the occurrence of a predetermined event; and
,a remote display unit constructed so as to be mounted in the locomotive of the railway train, said remote display unit including;
means for receiving each said report from said sensor/transmitter unit;
means for extracting said brake pipe air pressure value from each said report; and
, means for displaying said brake pipe air pressure value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The railway brake pressure monitor includes a sensor/transmitter unit (STU) and a remote display unit (RDU). The sensor/transmitter unit is mounted on the last vehicle of a railway train and coupled with the brake pipe thereof and includes a pressure transducer (80), an electronic circuit board module (82), a radio transmitter (84) and a battery pack (86). The pressure transducer, the electronic circuit board module, and the radio transmitter are powered by the battery pack, and the electronic circuit board module (which includes a programmed microcomputer (96)) functions to repetitively monitor the pressure transducer to measure the brake pipe air pressure, and to cause the radio transmitter to transmit reports including the brake pipe air pressure, the states of a plurality of external status inputs, and a battery status indication. Report transmission is triggered by various events. The remote display unit includes a radio receiver (250), a microcomputer (268), a display (258), an audible beeper (256), and a manually-actuable pushbutton (ACK). The remote display unit functions to receive the report, to display the brake pipe air pressure value therein, and to selectively display the external status input states and the battery status indication therein. Provision is also made to provide various alarms, through the audible beeper and the display, upon the occurrence of certain events, each of which alarms may be reset by the manually-actuable switch.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A railway brake pressure monitor comprising:
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a sensor/transmitter unit constructed so as to be mounted on the last vehicle of a railway train and coupled with the brake pipe of the last vehicle, said sensor/transmitter unit including;
means for providing an output signal proportional to the air pressure within the brake pipe;
means for repetitively monitoring said output signal to measure the value of said brake pipe air pressure;
means for storing said brake pipe air pressure value;
means for transmitting a report including said brake pipe air pressure value as currently stored; and
, means for enabling the transmission of said report in response to the occurrence of a predetermined event; and
,a remote display unit constructed so as to be mounted in the locomotive of the railway train, said remote display unit including;
means for receiving each said report from said sensor/transmitter unit;
means for extracting said brake pipe air pressure value from each said report; and
, means for displaying said brake pipe air pressure value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification