Freight car event recorder
First Claim
1. A fixedly mountable event recorder for a railcar for monitoring performance of a brake system thereof, the event recorder comprising:
- at least one port for receiving air from one or more brake system components;
at least one sensor for determining a pressure of the air received from the one or more brake system components;
a processor operative for analyzing the determined pressure to determine an operational condition of the brake system; and
an indicator configured to visually convey the operational condition of the brake system.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A fixedly mountable event recorder for a railcar for monitoring performance of a brake system thereof includes (a) at least one port for receiving air from one or more brake system components; (b) at least one sensor for determining a pressure of the air received from the one or more brake system components; (c) a processor operative for analyzing the determined pressure to determine an operational condition of the brake system; and (d) an indicator configured to visually convey the operational condition of the brake system. The indicator includes a plurality of activatable visual indicia corresponding to a plurality of predefined operational condition status qualifiers associated with a corresponding plurality of predefined ranges of operational conditions. The predefined ranges of operational conditions are defined as a function of expected pressures associated with the respective one or more brake system components during corresponding operational conditions thereof.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A fixedly mountable event recorder for a railcar for monitoring performance of a brake system thereof, the event recorder comprising:
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at least one port for receiving air from one or more brake system components; at least one sensor for determining a pressure of the air received from the one or more brake system components; a processor operative for analyzing the determined pressure to determine an operational condition of the brake system; and an indicator configured to visually convey the operational condition of the brake system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A fixedly mountable event recorder for a railcar for monitoring performance of a brake system thereof, the event recorder comprising:
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a first, second, third and fourth port for receiving air from an emergency reservoir, an auxiliary reservoir, a brake pipe and a brake cylinder of the brake system, respectively; a first, second, third and fourth transducer each configured to determine the pressure of the respective air received and convert the determined pressure into a corresponding analog signal; an analog-to-digital converter communicatively connected to each of the transducers and configured to convert each of the analog signals into data; a processor communicatively connected to the analog-to-digital converter and operative for analyzing the data to determine an operational condition of the brake system and transmitting a signal representative of the operational condition; and a lighting arrangement connected to the processor, wherein the lighting arrangement corresponds to a plurality of predefined operational condition status qualifiers associated with a corresponding plurality of predefined ranges of operational conditions, wherein the predefined operational condition status qualifiers are equated to normal and abnormal operational conditions of the brake system, wherein the predefined ranges of operational conditions are defined as a function of expected pressures associated with the respective one or more brake system components during corresponding operational conditions thereof. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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20. A system for monitoring performance of a brake system of a railcar, the system comprising a computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by a processor of the system, causes the processor to perform the steps of:
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determining respective pressures of air received from an emergency reservoir, an auxiliary reservoir, a brake pipe and a brake cylinder of the brake system; analyzing the determined respective pressures of air to determine an operational condition of the brake system; and conveying the condition of the brake system by either transmitting a signal to activate; a first visual indicia, wherein the first visual indicia correspond to a normal operational condition of the brake system;
ora second visual indicia, wherein the second visual indicia correspond to an abnormal operational condition of the brake system, wherein the receipt of the respective air, the determination of the pressure, the analysis of the determined pressure and the visual conveyance of the condition of the brake system are performed entirely on board the railcar.
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Specification