Railroad train monitoring system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A monitoring system for monitoring performance criteria of a railcar, said railcar including a car body and a plurality of trucks each carrying one or more wheel sets mounted on said railcar, comprising:
- one or more pads disposed between each wheel set and its corresponding truck;
one or more sensors disposed on said pads, said sensors measuring parameters relevant to the operating performance of the railcar;
a computational element disposed on said pads programmed to control the periodicity and sampling frequency of readings from said one or more sensors and for performing an analysis of data gathered via said readings;
a communication element disposed on said pads for transmitting data selected as a result of said analysis; and
a data control unit, mounted on said railcar, for uniquely addressing each pad, for receiving data transmitted from said one or more pads, for analyzing said data, and for selectively communicating said data to a receiver located at a location remote from said railcar.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Railcar monitoring utilizes instrumented, flexible pads supported within the truck pedestal jaws on the bearing adapters. The pads contain sensors for monitoring temperature pressure, shifting loads, truck hunting and the like and have circuitry for processing information received from the sensors and for processing and reporting departures of performance variables to a remote source. The system cyclically activates polling each pad on a car and communicates signals of critical departures and car identity to a remote source.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. A monitoring system for monitoring performance criteria of a railcar, said railcar including a car body and a plurality of trucks each carrying one or more wheel sets mounted on said railcar, comprising:
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one or more pads disposed between each wheel set and its corresponding truck; one or more sensors disposed on said pads, said sensors measuring parameters relevant to the operating performance of the railcar; a computational element disposed on said pads programmed to control the periodicity and sampling frequency of readings from said one or more sensors and for performing an analysis of data gathered via said readings; a communication element disposed on said pads for transmitting data selected as a result of said analysis; and a data control unit, mounted on said railcar, for uniquely addressing each pad, for receiving data transmitted from said one or more pads, for analyzing said data, and for selectively communicating said data to a receiver located at a location remote from said railcar. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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- 12. A system for monitoring performance of a railcar, wherein the railcar has plural trucks each having wheel sets spaced apart on axles and bearing assemblies individual to each wheel of a wheel set relatively rotatably mounted on the axles in association with each wheel, the trucks having side frames having spaced pedestal pockets within which the bearing assemblies are received, the combination comprising an elastomeric, load bearing pad located between a pedestal pocket and a bearing assembly, said pad allowing for limited relative movement between the bearing assembly and the pedestal pocket and providing damping of shock and abrasion, the pads further permitting controlled yaw movement of the axles within the pedestal pockets, the pads having at least one sensing device supported thereon, said at least one sensing device being a temperature sensor disposed on the pads adjacent a bearing for sensing bearing temperature, and control circuitry including a first communications circuit mounted on each pad for receiving signals indicative of temperature of the bearing unique to that pad and a second communications circuit mounted on a railcar body, said second communications circuit including logic circuitry for periodically addressing each sensing device on the railcar and for communicating values derived by said sensors to a remote location, said values being communicated only upon a determination by the logic circuitry that the values are indicative of a potential operating failure.
- 22. A monitoring system for monitoring performance of railcars in a train including an operating locomotive wherein each railcar comprises a railcar body and supporting trucks with side frames having pedestal openings, wheel sets including an axle and spaced wheels retained by the pedestal openings, the axles carrying wheel bearings retained in said openings and elastomeric pads within each of the openings for attenuation of loads communicated between the bearings and the pedestal jaws, the pads being instrumented with sensing devices for sensing operating parameters selected from the group comprised of vibration, dynamic and static vertical loading, shear forces and temperature, each pad having an associated microprocessor, each microprocessor being programmed to a periodically active state to scan the sensed data for indications of potential failure, each pad further having a transmitter, the system further comprising a data gathering unit mounted on the railcar body including means for receiving signals indicating potential failure and transmitting said signals to a remote location.
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28. A method of monitoring performance of wheeled, interconnected mobile units having bodies supported by wheels, wherein one of said mobile units is a controllable prime mover and the remainder of said mobile units are interconnected to the said one of said mobile units, said method comprising:
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providing interfacing pads between the wheels and the bodies of the wheeled mobile units, said pads having embedded sensors for measuring operational parameters of said wheeled mobile units, said pads being programmable to control the sampling frequency for each sensor and the periodicity of sampling for each of said sensors; and providing, on said pads, a computational capability for evaluating said measured operational parameters, and for identifying performance behavior derived from said measured operational parameters considered to be sufficient to cause alarm; and communicating to the prime mover messages identifying only the performance behavior sufficient to cause alarm. - View Dependent Claims (29)
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30. A method of monitoring a load bearing structure comprising the following steps:
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disposing a plurality of elastic, compressible pads between relatively rigid elements in the load bearing structure providing the pads with embedded sensors for sensing parameters selected from the group consisting of temperature, displacement, velocity, acceleration, stress, strain pressure, force and combinations thereof, a microprocessor for processing data received from said sensors and a low power transmitter/receiver and an energy scavenging and energy storage device periodically activated to power said microprocessor; programming the pads with an identifying address unique to each pad, said address including a number to distinguish the pad application from other applications using the same broadcasting frequency; locating a data control unit on the structure in proximity to the pads, said unit having receiver and transmitting abilities and a data processing unit with storage; programming the data processing unit with the unique address of each pad; programming the data processing unit to activate the power source for the pads in timed sequence; communicating to the pad contacted the task the pad is to perform and a time for reporting back; processing data signals received from a pad; merging information derived from other pads in communication with the data control unit; drawing inferences from the data received from the pads to determine whether alarm conditions exist; and communicating any such alarm condition to a location remote from the data control unit.
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31. A monitoring system for monitoring the behavior of a railcar, said railcar including a car body and a plurality of trucks each carrying one or more wheel sets mounted on said railcar, comprising:
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one or more pads disposed between each wheel set and its corresponding truck; one or more sensors disposed on said pads, said sensors measuring parameters relevant to the operating performance of the railcar; one or more first computational elements disposed on said one or more pads for gathering data from said one or more sensors; a second computational element, for receiving data from said one or more pads; and a logical inference engine distributed over said one or more first computational elements and said second computational element, said logical inference engine deriving inferences regarding the behavior of said railcar based upon all available data. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33)
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Specification