Rail vehicle mounted rail measurement system
First Claim
1. A rail measurement system for mounting on a rail vehicle for travel over a railway having two spaced apart rails, the system comprising:
- a first collimated light source mounted on a rail vehicle for providing a first reference marker relative to a top of a railhead of a first rail of a railway;
a first camera mounted on the rail vehicle for recording an image of the reference marker relative to the top of the railhead of the first rail; and
an image processor coupled to the camera for analyzing the image of the reference marker relative to the top of the railhead of the first rail to determine a first rail alignment dimension of the top of the railhead with respect to the reference marker.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A rail measurement system (10) for mounting on a rail vehicle (e.g., 12) for travel over a railway (16) having two spaced apart rails (18, 19) includes a first collimated light source (20) mounted on the rail vehicle for providing a first reference marker (22) relative to a first rail of the railway. The system includes a camera (28) mounted on the rail vehicle for recording an image of the reference marker relative to the first rail. The system also includes an image processor (50) coupled to the camera for analyzing the image of the reference marker relative to the first rail to determine a first rail alignment dimension (e.g., 39) with respect to the reference marker.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A rail measurement system for mounting on a rail vehicle for travel over a railway having two spaced apart rails, the system comprising:
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a first collimated light source mounted on a rail vehicle for providing a first reference marker relative to a top of a railhead of a first rail of a railway; a first camera mounted on the rail vehicle for recording an image of the reference marker relative to the top of the railhead of the first rail; and an image processor coupled to the camera for analyzing the image of the reference marker relative to the top of the railhead of the first rail to determine a first rail alignment dimension of the top of the railhead with respect to the reference marker. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A rail measurement system for mounting on a rail vehicle for travel over a railway having spaced apart rails, the system comprising:
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a first collimated light source mounted on a rail vehicle providing a first reference marker relative to a top of a railhead of a first rail of a railway; a second collimated light source mounted on a rail vehicle and spaced apart from the first collimated light source for providing a second reference marker relative to a top of a railhead of a second rail of the railway; and a pair of cameras mounted on the rail vehicle for recording a respective image of the first and second reference markers relative to the respective top of the railhead of the first and second rails; an image processor coupled to the pair of cameras for analyzing the image of the first and second reference markers relative to the respective top of the railhead of the first and second rails to determine a rail alignment dimension corresponding to the first and second reference markers relative to the respective top of the railhead of the first and second rails and a spacing between the markers. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. A method for measuring a rail alignment of spaced apart rails of a railway from a rail vehicle for travel over the railway, the method comprising:
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using a first collimated light source for providing a first reference marker relative to a top of a railhead of a first rail of a railway; capturing an image of the first reference marker relative to the top of the railhead of the first rail of the railway; and processing the image to determine a first rail alignment dimension of the top of the railhead with respect to the first reference marker. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification