Railway locomotive ECP train line control
First Claim
1. An interface adapter for operatively connecting a standard locomotive MU cable to a freight car ECP trainline wherein said MU cable has a battery line and at least one other line, said interface adapter comprising:
- a. a first transceiver communicating with said at least one other line; and
b. a second transceiver communicating with said first transceiver and said ECP trainline for communicating data between said MU cable and said ECP trainline via said at least one other line.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An interface adaptor is provided between the locomotive MU cable and the ECP trainline permitting ECP data from the lead locomotive to be transmitted via the MU cable on trailing locomotives to a train of ECP cars. On the lead locomotive, the HEU Echelon interface is on a suitable line in the MU cable instead of the separate ECP trainline such the trailing locomotives do not require a separate ECP trainline. The adapter generally employs two transceivers configured as back-to-back repeaters to bridge ECP data between the locomotive MU cable and the ECP trainline. A DC--DC converter can be used to provide the ECP trainline voltage, either as 230 VDC or as a lower voltage. In lower voltage systems the converter may be replaced by a voltage regulator, or may be eliminated. In any case, an inductor is employed on the output to provide a high impedance to the overlay transceiver.
65 Citations
16 Claims
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1. An interface adapter for operatively connecting a standard locomotive MU cable to a freight car ECP trainline wherein said MU cable has a battery line and at least one other line, said interface adapter comprising:
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a. a first transceiver communicating with said at least one other line; and b. a second transceiver communicating with said first transceiver and said ECP trainline for communicating data between said MU cable and said ECP trainline via said at least one other line. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of interfacing an ECP equipped locomotive with an ECP trainline through at least one non-ECP equipped locomotive to ECP equipped freight cars, said ECP equipped locomotive and said at least one non-ECP equipped locomotive each having a locomotive MU cable, said method comprising:
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a. communicating ECP data between ECP equipment on said ECP equipped locomotive and said MU cable; b. communicating said ECP data through said at least one non-ECP equipped locomotive via said MU cable; and c. communicating said ECP data between said MU cable to said at least one ECP trainline on said ECP freight car. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification