Detector for sensing motion and direction of a railway device
First Claim
1. A motion detector for detecting movements of a vehicle supported on a pair of rails, said detector to be mounted on an end-of-train unit for attachment to said vehicle, said detector comprising:
- a. a single axis accelerometer mounted at an angle from a plane formed by said pair of rails;
b. said single axis accelerometer having a sensitivity to acceleration along an axis generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of said pair of rails;
c. said single axis accelerometer when mounted at said angle also having a sensitivity to acceleration along an axis generally normal to said plane formed by said pair of rails;
d. said single axis accelerometer generating a motion signal having components of acceleration corresponding to said parallel axis and said normal axis; and
e. an analyzer receiving said components and determining therefrom a motion state and a direction, said motion state being one of stopped and moving, said direction being one of forward and reverse.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A motion detector for detecting movement of a rail based vehicle and the direction of that movement is provided. The motion detector can be integral with or attachable to an end-of-train unit and can include a single axis accelerometer mounted at an angle from the rails for detecting acceleration in both the lateral and vertical directions. A systems controller, which can include an analyzer, can be provided to receive and analyze output from the accelerometer to determine a motion state and a direction. A power controller can be provided for supplying power to the accelerometer on an intermittent basis to conserve power. A calibration unit can be provided to both initially calibrate and to subsequently recalibrate the accelerometer after a stopped motion state is detected. Additionally, an input/output port and an output driver for conditioning the signal for output to the end-of-train unit can be provided.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A motion detector for detecting movements of a vehicle supported on a pair of rails, said detector to be mounted on an end-of-train unit for attachment to said vehicle, said detector comprising:
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a. a single axis accelerometer mounted at an angle from a plane formed by said pair of rails; b. said single axis accelerometer having a sensitivity to acceleration along an axis generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of said pair of rails; c. said single axis accelerometer when mounted at said angle also having a sensitivity to acceleration along an axis generally normal to said plane formed by said pair of rails; d. said single axis accelerometer generating a motion signal having components of acceleration corresponding to said parallel axis and said normal axis; and e. an analyzer receiving said components and determining therefrom a motion state and a direction, said motion state being one of stopped and moving, said direction being one of forward and reverse. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of detecting movements of a vehicle supported on a pair of rails, said vehicle having an inertial sensor, said method comprising the steps of:
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a. sensing with said inertial sensor a motion signal indicative of acceleration along a single axis, said single axis angled from a plane formed by the pair of rails, said motion signal having a parallel component and a normal component, said parallel component generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of said pair of rails, said normal component generally normal to the plane formed by said pair of rails; and b. determining a motion state and a direction from said components, said motion state being one of stopped and moving, said direction being one of forward and reverse. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification