Automatic brake shoe measuring apparatus for rolling stock

• US 5,327,782 A
• Filed: 12/21/1992
• Issued: 07/12/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/1991
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kawasaki Steel Corporation (JFE Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Kawasaki Steel Corporation (JFE Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Arai, Hiroshi, Sato, Hitoshi, Nishii, Hisao, Miyake, Makoto, Yumoto, Noboru, Tashiro, Osamu, Kanazawa, Sumio, Yazaki, Takehiro, Adachi, Shigetoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Williams, Hezron E.
• Assistant Examiner(s): DOMBROSKE, GEORGE M
• Application Number:
  US07/955,727
• Time in Patent Office: 568 Days
• Field of Search: 73/121, 73/129, 340/454, 340/453, 358/107, 356/379, 356/381, 356/383, 356/384
• US Class Current: 73/129
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 17/22 Devices for monitoring or checking brake systems; Signal devices
• CPC Class Codes: B61H 13/34 Details
• CPC Class Codes: F16D 66/026 indicating different degrees of lining wear
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/06 for measuring thickness ; e.g. of sheet material thickness measurement by thermal means G01B21/085

Abstract

An automatic brake shoe measuring apparatus for rolling stock automatically measures the thickness of brake shoes of a vehicle and automatically detecting the presence or absence of damage during travel. The automatic measuring apparatus includes: a camera unit including a monitor camera for photographing brake shoes of a vehicle during travel and outputting an image signal, an image memory for storing the image signal, and a trigger detector for outputting a trigger signal to thereby store an image signal representing an image of a specific brake shoe of the vehicle; and an image processing unit including an extraction means for extracting the specific brake shoe in accordance with the image signal stored in the image memory and transferred from the camera unit, an arithmetic means for calculating the thickness of the specific brake shoe extracted by the extraction means, and a display means for displaying the thickness of the specific brake shoe calculated out by the arithmetic means.

Claims

1. An automatic brake shoe measuring apparatus for a railway vehicle, comprising:

a camera unit including;

monitor camera means for photographing at least one brake shoe on said railway vehicle during travel and for outputting an image signal of said at least one brake shoe;

image memory means connected to said monitor camera means for storing the image signal;

sensor means for detecting the passage of said vehicle over a position on a track and outputting an output signal upon detecting the passage of said vehicle; and

trigger detector means connected to said monitor camera means for receiving the output signal from said sensor means and outputting a trigger signal to activate said monitor camera means; and

an image processing unit connected to said camera unit including;

an extraction means for extracting an image of said at least one brake shoe from the image signal stored in said image memory;

an arithmetic means for determining the thickness of said at least one brake shoe from the image of said at least one brake shoe; and

a display means for displaying the thickness of said at least one brake shoe.

2. The automatic brake shoe measuring apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said camera unit further includes light source means for receiving said trigger signal and emitting a flashing light towards said at least one brake shoe at an instant that said at least one brake shoe is photographed by said monitor camera means.

3. The automatic brake shoe measuring apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said image processing unit further includes input means for entering information that specifies the vehicle equipped with brake shoes to be photographed by said monitor camera means.

4. The automatic brake shoe measuring apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said image processing unit further includes memory means for storing a history of thickness of said at least one brake shoe to show gradual wear of said at least one brake shoe.

5. The automatic brake shoe measuring apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said image processing unit further includes decision means for determining whether the thickness of said at least one brake shoe determined by said arithmetic means is greater or less than a wear limit value and warning means for giving a warning when the thickness of said at least one brake shoe is less than said wear limit value.

6. An automatic brake shoe measuring apparatus for measuring a thickness of at least one brake shoe on a railway vehicle, comprising:

a camera unit, including;

a sensor that detects passage of said vehicle over a position on a track and generates an output signal indicative of passage of said vehicle;

a trigger detector that receives said output signal from said sensor and outputs a trigger signal in response to said output signal;

a monitor camera that photographs said at least one brake shoe to generate at least one image signal when said trigger signal is received from said trigger detector; and

an image memory connected to said monitor camera that stores said at least one image signal; and

an image processing unit connected to said camera unit, said image processing unit including;

a computer that extracts at least one image of said at least one brake shoe from said at least one image signal;

an image processing device connected to said computer that determines the thickness of said at least one brake shoe from said at least one image; and

a display device connected to said computer that displays the thickness of said at least one brake shoe.

7. The automatic brake shoe measuring apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein said camera unit further includes a light source that receives said trigger signal and emits a flashing light towards said at least one brake shoe at an instant when said at least one brake shoe is photographed by said monitor camera.

8. The automatic brake shoe measuring apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein said computer includes an input device on which information specifying a vehicle equipped with brake shoes to be photographed by said monitor camera is entered.

9. The automatic brake shoe measuring apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein said image processing unit further includes a memory that stores a history of thickness of said at least one brake shoe.

10. The automatic brake shoe measuring apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein said image processing device further includes decision means for determining whether the thickness of said at least one brake shoe is less than a wear limit value and warning means for giving a warning when the thickness of said at least one brake shoe is less than said wear limit value.

11. A method of automatically determining a thickness of at least one brake shoe of a railway vehicle from an image of said at least one brake shoe fed to a computer, comprising the steps of:

detecting with a sensor the passage of said moving railway vehicle over a position on a track;

generating an output signal when the passage of said vehicle is detected by said sensor;

feeding the output signal to a trigger detector to generate a trigger signal;

photographing the at least one brake shoe with a camera in response to the trigger signal to generate at least one image signal;

extracting at least one image of said at least one brake shoe form the at least one image signal;

determining the thickness of said at least one brake shoe form the at least one image; and

displaying the thickness of said at least one brake shoe on a display connected to said computer.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of emitting a flashing light towards said at least one brake shoe in response to said trigger signal when said at least one brake shoe is photographed by said monitor camera.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of inputting information to said computer, said information specifying a vehicle equipped with brake shoes to be photographed by said monitor camera.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of storing a history of thickness of said at least one brake shoe in said computer.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether the thickness of said at least one brake shoe is less than a specific wear limit value; and

generating a warning when the thickness of said at least one brake shoe is less than said wear limit value.