Method and system for nondestructive testing of railroad crossties
First Claim
1. A system for nondestructively testing and determining the condition and life expectancy of wood and concrete railroad crossties supporting on upper surfaces thereof the rails of a railroad track and the associated tie plates which are affixed to the crossties and are interposed between the upper surfaces of the crossties and the rails for locating the rails on the crossties, comprising:
- a vehicle adapted to ride continuously at a speed of at least 2 miles per hour along a section of said track including a multiplicity of crossties to be tested;
means carried by said vehicle for generating first electrical pulses;
first and second transducer means carried by said vehicle and adapted to contact said upper surface of each of said crossties at first and second spaced locations a known distance apart and straddling a test region of each crosstie where damage and deterioration of the crosstie are likely to occur, said first transducer means being operable for receiving said first electrical pulses from said generating means and for transforming said first electrical pulses into sonic mechanical pulses and, when in contact with each crosstie, for transmitting said sonic mechanical pulses to said crosstie at said first location, and said second transducer means being operable for sensing said sonic mechanical pulses at said second location after said sonic mechanical pulses have passed through said test region and for transforming said sonic mechanical pulses into second electrical pulses;
means for receiving said second electrical pulses from said second transducer means and for analyzing said second electrical pulses and the sensed time of travel of said sonic mechanical pulses along said known distance between said first and second spaced locations, thereby to obtain measurements of the velocity and attenuation of said sonic mechanical pulses over the extent of said test region; and
means responsive to said analyzing means for determining, from said measurements, the condition and life expectancy of each of said crossties and of the track as a whole.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for nondestructively testing in a continuous sequence a multiplicity of railroad track crossties of wood or concrete to determine the condition and life expectancy of each of the crossties and of the track as a whole. The system includes an electric pulse generator and a pair of transmitting and receiving transducers, which transducers are adapted to be brought into moving contact with the crossties at respective locations straddling desired test regions thereof, for example, the regions under a tie plate, for sending sonic mechanical pulses through that region of the crosstie from one transducer to the other. If desired, three pairs of transducers may be provided for simultaneously straddling both tie plates and a medial reference zone on each crosstie. The transducers and the pulse generator are carried by a vehicle riding on the track rails, along with a computer for processing/evaluating/storing/reproducing the test data. Devices for sensing the presence of each crosstie, for sweeping the same clear of ballast and debris at each of the transducer contact locations, and for marking each crosstie determined to be defective are also provided on the vehicle.
29 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A system for nondestructively testing and determining the condition and life expectancy of wood and concrete railroad crossties supporting on upper surfaces thereof the rails of a railroad track and the associated tie plates which are affixed to the crossties and are interposed between the upper surfaces of the crossties and the rails for locating the rails on the crossties, comprising:
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a vehicle adapted to ride continuously at a speed of at least 2 miles per hour along a section of said track including a multiplicity of crossties to be tested; means carried by said vehicle for generating first electrical pulses; first and second transducer means carried by said vehicle and adapted to contact said upper surface of each of said crossties at first and second spaced locations a known distance apart and straddling a test region of each crosstie where damage and deterioration of the crosstie are likely to occur, said first transducer means being operable for receiving said first electrical pulses from said generating means and for transforming said first electrical pulses into sonic mechanical pulses and, when in contact with each crosstie, for transmitting said sonic mechanical pulses to said crosstie at said first location, and said second transducer means being operable for sensing said sonic mechanical pulses at said second location after said sonic mechanical pulses have passed through said test region and for transforming said sonic mechanical pulses into second electrical pulses; means for receiving said second electrical pulses from said second transducer means and for analyzing said second electrical pulses and the sensed time of travel of said sonic mechanical pulses along said known distance between said first and second spaced locations, thereby to obtain measurements of the velocity and attenuation of said sonic mechanical pulses over the extent of said test region; and means responsive to said analyzing means for determining, from said measurements, the condition and life expectancy of each of said crossties and of the track as a whole. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for nondestructively testing and determining the condition and life expectancy of wood and concrete railroad crossties supporting on upper surfaces thereof the rails of a railroad track and the associated tie plates which are affixed to the crossties and are interposed between the crossties and the rails for locating the rails on the crossties, comprising the steps of:
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moving a vehicle, which is equipped with a pulse generator, at least one pair of first and second transducers, a pulse analyzer, and a computer continuously at a speed of at least about 2 miles per hour along a section of a track including a multiplicity of crossties to be tested; generating first electrical pulses, and applying said first electrical pulses to said first transducer; bringing said first and second transducers into contact with said upper surface of each of said crossties at, respectively, first and second spaced locations a known distance apart and straddling a test region of each cross-tie where damage and deterioration of the crosstie are likely to occur; activating said first transducer for transforming said first electrical pulses into sonic mechanical pulses and for transmitting the latter to each of said crossties at the respective first location thereon; activating said second transducer for sensing said sonic mechanical pulses at the respective second location on each crosstie after they have passed through the respective test regions and for transforming said sensed sonic mechanical pulses into second electrical pulses; analyzing said second electrical pulses received from said second transducer and the sensed time of travel of said sonic mechanical pulses along said known distance between said first and second spaced locations on each crosstie, thereby to obtain measurements of the velocity and attenuation of said sonic mechanical pulses over the extent of said test regions, and feeding the results to said computer; and determining by means of said computer, from said measurements, the condition and life expectancy of each of said crossties and of the track as a whole.
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Specification