Hot rail wheel bearing detection system and method
First Claim
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1. A method for detecting a moving hot bearing or wheel of a rail car comprising:
- (a) establishing features of sensor signals in a multidimensional decision space;
(b) establishing a multidimensional threshold for discriminating between abnormally hot bearings or wheels and bearings or wheels that are not abnormally hot, wherein the multidimensional threshold is based on an average power of the sensor signals and a normalized fourth moment of the sensor signals;
(c) receiving signals representative of temperature of the moving bearing or wheel; and
(d) determining whether the bearing or wheel is likely hotter than desired based upon the multidimensional threshold and the signals.
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Abstract
Hot rail car bearings or wheels are identified by sensing an infrared radiation from the hot surface and determining whether features of the sensed signals are indicative of hot rail car surfaces. The features may include the signals themselves, with distances or correlations being established between the signals and signals of known hot bearings or wheels. The features may be analyzed in a feature or decision space, with boundaries being established that identify hot bearings or wheels, or that establish false positive features or noise. The identification may also be implemented as a matched filter.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for detecting a moving hot bearing or wheel of a rail car comprising:
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(a) establishing features of sensor signals in a multidimensional decision space; (b) establishing a multidimensional threshold for discriminating between abnormally hot bearings or wheels and bearings or wheels that are not abnormally hot, wherein the multidimensional threshold is based on an average power of the sensor signals and a normalized fourth moment of the sensor signals; (c) receiving signals representative of temperature of the moving bearing or wheel; and (d) determining whether the bearing or wheel is likely hotter than desired based upon the multidimensional threshold and the signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for detecting a moving hot bearing or wheel of a rail car comprising:
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(a) establishing features of sensor signals in a multidimensional decision space; (b) identifying a multidimensional region in the multidimensional decision space in which the features are indicative that a bearing or wheel is hotter than desired, including identifying a multidimensional decision threshold for discriminating between abnormally hot bearings or wheels and bearings or wheels that are not abnormally hot, wherein the multidimensional decision threshold is based on an average power of the sensor signals and a normalized fourth moment of the sensor signals; (c) receiving signals representative of temperature of the moving bearing or wheel; and (d) determining whether the bearing or wheel is likely hotter than desired based upon the multidimensional decision threshold and the signals. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A system for detecting a moving hot bearing or wheel of a rail car comprising:
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a sensor configured to detect radiation from a moving hot bearing or wheel and to generate a signal representative of the radiation; and processing circuitry configured to receive signals from the sensors and to determine whether the bearing or wheel is likely hotter than desired based upon a relationship between the features in a multidimensional decision space and a multidimensional threshold, wherein the multidimensional threshold is based on an average power of the sensor signals and a normalized fourth moment of the sensor signals, and the features permit discriminating between abnormally hot bearings or wheels and bearings or wheels that are not abnormally hot. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification