Railcar weighing system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system, comprising:
- a railcar including a car body and a truck arrangement,a car-body weight sensor mounted on said railcar,a transmitter coupled to said sensor for transmitting a signal representing of the output of said sensor,a communications link coupled to the transmitter for communicating the signal from said transmitter to a central office;
a support pad between said car body and said truck arrangement;
said car body resting on said support pad and being horizontally swivelable about an axis through a center of the support pad;
at least one of said car body and said truck arrangement having a flexible load bearing member that is subject to and repeatably deforms under stress and strain due to the load borne by the member;
said sensor being a stress/strain gauge mounted on one of said flexible members outside of said support pad that measures stress/strain based on the deformation of the flexible member upon which it is mounted;
wherein said sensor is mounted on one of said members at one end of the railcar for measuring the entire weight of the car.
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Abstract
One or more sensors mounted on a railcar sense the effect of weight of the railcar and transmit the data, for example via a communication link, to a user for storage and feedback where needed. In one embodiment the sensors are mounted on one or more rail trucks that carry the car body.
25 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A system, comprising:
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a railcar including a car body and a truck arrangement, a car-body weight sensor mounted on said railcar, a transmitter coupled to said sensor for transmitting a signal representing of the output of said sensor, a communications link coupled to the transmitter for communicating the signal from said transmitter to a central office; a support pad between said car body and said truck arrangement; said car body resting on said support pad and being horizontally swivelable about an axis through a center of the support pad; at least one of said car body and said truck arrangement having a flexible load bearing member that is subject to and repeatably deforms under stress and strain due to the load borne by the member; said sensor being a stress/strain gauge mounted on one of said flexible members outside of said support pad that measures stress/strain based on the deformation of the flexible member upon which it is mounted; wherein said sensor is mounted on one of said members at one end of the railcar for measuring the entire weight of the car. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification