Apparatus for measuring the characteristic parameters of an overhead railway or traming line

• US 6,778,284 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2002
• Issued: 08/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Tecnogamma Spa
• Original Assignee: Tecnogamma Spa
• Inventors: Casagrande, Ettore
• Primary Examiner(s): Stafira, Michael P.
• Application Number:
  US10/275,951
• Publication Number:
  US 20030142297A1
• Time in Patent Office: 641 Days
• Field of Search: 356/614, 356/615, 356/622, 356/623, 356/625, 356/629, 356/630, 356/635-637, 356/237.1, 356/237.2, 250/553, 250/202.2
• US Class Current: 356/614
• CPC Class Codes: B60M 1/28 Manufacturing or repairing trolley lines scaffold cars B60P; B61D15/00; platforms therefor B66F11/04; manufacturing conductors in general H01B13/00; overhead lines in general H02G1/00

Abstract

An apparatus for measuring the characteristic parameters of an overhead railway or tramway line, characterized by comprising, on board a railway or tramway vehicle (25):

at least one laser source (2) for generating a laser beam,

optical means for transforming said laser beam, generated by said soruce (2), into a flat beam (4),

means for orientating the axis of said flat beam (4) at an angle other than 90° to the axis of the overhead line wire (6) and defining with this latter a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of said beam (4),

at least one video camera (8) having its optical axis different from the axis of said flat beam but lying in said perpendicular plane and orientated towards the light-emitting line of intersection of said laser beam (4) with said wire (6), the apparatus also comprising a processing unit for the signals generated by said video camera (8) in order to determine the position of said light-emitting line within the optical field of said video camera (8), and to effect reconstruction of the real profile of said wire (6) and its comparison with the theoretical profile of the wire itself.

Claims

1. An apparatus for continuously measuring the characteristic parameters of an overhead railway or tramway line, comprising:

a laser source for generating a laser beam,

optical means for transforming said laser beam, generated by said source, into a flat beam,

means for orientating the axis of said flat beam at an angle other than 90°

to the axis of the overhead line and defining with this latter a plan substantially perpendicular to the plane of said beam,

a first video camera having its optical axis different from the axis of said flat beam but lying in said perpendicular plane and substantially orientated upwardly towards the light-emitting line of intersection of said laser beam with said overhead line, and a processing unit for the signals generated by said first video camera in order to determine the position of said light-emitting line within the optical field of said video camera, and to effect reconstruction of the real profile of said overhead line and its comparison with the theoretical profile of the overhead line itself.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said laser source is a solid state laser source.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said optical means comprise an assembly of lenses for collimating said laser beam.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said optical means comprise a cylindrical lens for flattening the collimated beam.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the axis of the flat beam forms with the axis of said wire an angle between 40°

and 50°

.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first video camera is of high resolution type.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first video camera is of high acquisition frequency type.

8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein said first video camera has sampling frequency of the order of 1000 samplings per second.

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first video camera is provided with an interferential optical filter of pass band corresponding to the frequency of said laser source.

10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein

said first video camera is provided with motorized zoom,

said first video camera is faced by a mirror movable on the basis of the height of said wire in such a manner as to ensure that the image of said light-emitting line always falls within the field of said first video camera,

said laser source is orientated such that the flat laser beam leaving it is substantially parallel to the axis of said wire, and

said laser source is faced by a mirror projecting the laser beam on the wire,

the motorization of the zoom of said first video camera and the movements of said mirror being controlled by said processor unit.

11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that said first video camera is disposed with its axis parallel to the axis of said wire, in a position facing a mirror which reflects onto it the image of said light-emitting line.

12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising:

a plurality of laser sources disposed side by side transverse to the axis of said wire and arranged to emit a plurality of substantially coplanar flat laser beams,

a plurality of first video cameras disposed parallel to said laser sources, the coordinated operation of said first video cameras to measure the displacement of said wire about the longitudinal axis of the track being controlled by said processor unit.

13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 12, comprising a single mirror facing said plurality of side by side laser sources.

14. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a second video camera for the video inspection of the overhead line.

15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein said second video camera for the video inspection of the overhead line is positioned to the side of said first video camera for determining said light-emitting line.

16. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein said first video camera or said second video camera is disposed with the optical axis parallel to the wire, facing a mirror arranged to reflect the image of said wire onto said first or second video camera.

17. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said laser source and said first video camera are mounted in a container applied to the railway or tramway vehicle and provided with windows for the passage of said laser beam and of the image of said light-emitting line.

18. An apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein at least one cleaning brush and at least one detergent liquid sprayer are associated with each window.

19. An apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein in addition to said container, there is applied a triangulation device sighted on the rails to measure the movements of said vehicle relative thereto and to correct said acquired data on the basis of said movements.