Apparatus and method for improving the safety of railroad systems

• US 6,373,403 B1
• Filed: 11/05/1999
• Issued: 04/16/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Donovan Boedigheimer, Kelvin Korver, Wesley Hawkinson
• Original Assignee: Donovan Boedigheimer, Kelvin Korver, Wesley Hawkinson
• Inventors: Hawkinson, Wesley, Korver, Kelvin, Boedigheimer, Donovan
• Primary Examiner(s): Hofsass, Jeffery
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHAM, TOAN NGOC
• Application Number:
  US09/434,246
• Time in Patent Office: 893 Days
• Field of Search: 340/988, 340/500, 340/933, 340/825.49, 340/539, 336/51, 33/1.Q, 702/183, 702/184, 702/185, 701/19, 701/205, 701/207, 246/120, 246/121, 246/1.R, 246/1.C, 246/166
• US Class Current: 340/988
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0247 Determining attitude

Abstract

An apparatus and method for improving the safety of railroad systems of the present invention includes a system for navigating a railroad vehicle over railroad tracks. An attitude sensor is used to dynamically sense the attitude of the railroad vehicle as it travels over a set of railroad tracks. By sensing the attitude of the railroad vehicle, a determination of the condition of the railroad tracks can be made. The apparatus also sensed the position of the railroad vehicle in real time to correlate the sensed attitude with a precise position along the railroad tracks. The navigation system is capable of determining a highly accurate position of the vehicle in real time. The position of the vehicle is also used to navigate the railroad vehicle.

Claims

1. A method of determining the location of hazardous spots on a railroad track comprising the steps of:

providing an attitude sensor attachable to a rail car for measuring the attitude of the rail car;

moving the rail car over a length of railroad tracks;

sensing the attitude of the rail car at a plurality of positions on the railroad tracks as the rail car moves over the length of railroad tracks;

comparing the sensed attitude at the plurality of positions with reference attitudes at the plurality of positions; and

determining the location of hazardous spots on the railroad track based on the comparison of the sensed attitudes with the reference attitudes.

2. A method of improving the safety of railroad systems comprising:

providing a rail vehicle placed on a set of railroad tracks;

determining the attitude of the rail vehicle at a plurality of positions on the railroad tracks;

sensing the position of the rail vehicle at the plurality of positions;

storing information based on the sensed attitude and sensed position for each of the plurality of positions; and

forming a database using the stored information to indicate the current and past condition of the railroad tracks.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising the steps of:

predicting the future condition of the railroad tracks using the database.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising the steps of:

determining the rate at which the condition of the railroad tracks deteriorates using information stored in the database; and

determining when the railroad tracks need to be repaired or replaced based upon the rate of deterioration.