On-board brake system diagnostic and reporting system

• US 8,781,671 B2
• Filed: 02/21/2006
• Issued: 07/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: New York Air Brake Corporation (Knorr-Bremse GmbH)
• Original Assignee: New York Air Brake Corporation (Knorr-Bremse GmbH)
• Inventors: Beck, Marshall G., McLaughlin, Bryan M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kong, Sze-Hon
• Application Number:
  US11/356,967
• Publication Number:
  US 20060290199A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,066 Days
• Field of Search: 303/22.2, 303/22.6, 303/7, 303/128, 701/19, 701/20, 701/99, 701/29.1, 701/31.4, 701/29.4, 701/32.4, 701/33.2, 701/33.4, 701/34.4, 340/453
• US Class Current: 701/29.1
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/12 Recording operating variables ; Monitoring of operating variables
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 13/665 the systems being specially adapted for transferring two or more command signals, e.g. railway systems B60T13/662 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 17/22 Devices for monitoring or checking brake systems; Signal devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 17/228 for railway vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 8/885 using electrical circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/18 including control of braking systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0205 Diagnosing or detecting failures; Failure detection models
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/04 Monitoring the functioning of the control system
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 15/0081 On-board diagnosis or maintenance

Abstract

A brake valve diagnostic and reporting system for a pneumatic only brake valve on a rail car which includes a brake pipe transducer for measuring brake pipe pressure; and a brake cylinder transducer for measuring brake cylinder pressure. A processor receives measurements from the transducers, compares the measurements against stored brake performance profiles, determines brake status from the comparison and prepares an event report for preselected brake statuses. A wireless transmitter connected to the processor transmits the report. An energy storage device powers the processor and transmitter.

Claims

1. A rail car having a pneumatic brake system, the brake system comprising:

a brake having a brake cylinder on the rail car;

a brake pipe which extends through a train including the rail car, the brake pipe being the air pipe of the train'"'"'s pneumatic braking system;

a pneumatic only brake valve connected to and responsive to pressure in the brake pipe to apply and release the brake;

an empty load device connecting the brake valve to the brake cylinder;

a brake system diagnostic and reporting system, which is both rail car-specific and a separate unit from the pneumatic only brake valve included on the rail car, wherein the rail car-specific brake system diagnostic and reporting system comprises;

a brake pipe transducer configured to measure pressure of the brake pipe;

a plurality of brake cylinder transducers configured to measure pressure of the brake cylinder, a first one of the brake cylinder transducers being connected to an input of the empty load device and a second one of the brake cylinder transducers being connected to an output of the empty load device, wherein either or both of the brake cylinder transducers operates to provide pressure measurements;

a processor receives measurements from both the brake pipe transducer and the plurality of brake cylinder transducers, compares the measurements over a period of time against stored brake performance profiles, determines status of the brake from the comparison and prepare a rail car-specific event report in response to a determination of preselected brake statuses that indicate an out-of-norm event;

a wireless transmitter connected to the processor and configured to automatically transmit the rail car-specific event report to at least one address;

an energy storage device configured to power the processor and transmitter; and

an accelerometer connected to the processor,

wherein, once the out-of-norm event occurs, the processor retains data from the brake pipe transducer and plurality of brake cylinder transducers and the accelerometer for a predetermined time period at least prior to the out-of-norm event, and wherein the processor is further configured to provide measurements from the accelerometer with the rail car-specific event report, wherein the accelerometer measurements are indicative of ride quality at time of the out-of-norm event,

wherein operation of the plurality of brake cylinder transducers produces measurement data analyzed by the processor to determine the operability of the empty load device and to determine status of the brake by determination of whether the brake cylinders have an appropriate end value and determination of a time period for the brake cylinder pressure to be reached after the brake pipe pressure stabilized,

wherein the processor determines if, for a sufficient increase of the brake pipe pressure measured by the brake pipe transducer, that the brake cylinder should be released and, whether a stuck brake is present based on the brake cylinder pressure measured by the plurality of brake cylinder transducers indicating that the brake cylinder still has pneumatic pressure after a brake pipe release pressure has been produced, and

wherein the processor determines, based on comparison of the measurement data to baseline performance characteristics, the status or state of the brake system and determines what diagnostic message to include with the rail car-specific report, and the rail car-specific event report includes a maintenance diagnostic message coupled with a GPS time, speed and location stamp.

2. The brake system of claim 1, further comprising a geographic location system configured to determine a location of the rail car connected to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to provide the GPS time and location for the rail car-specific event report.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the geographic location system is a global positioning system which is configured to provide the location and speed data for the rail car-specific event report.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the processor is configured to determine at least two of the following brake statuses;

good;

degradation requiring notice at maintenance;

degradation requiring notice at destination; and

failure; and

the processor is further configured to determine one or more of the following faults;

brake valve failure;

slow to apply;

slow to release; and

failure to release.

5. A rail car-specific system having a pneumatic only brake valve connected to and responsive to pressure in a brake pipe which extends through a train including the rail car, the brake pipe being the air pipe of the train'"'"'s pneumatic braking system, the pneumatic only brake valve responding to the pressure in the brake pipe to apply and release a brake having a brake cylinder on the rail car, an empty load device connecting the brake valve to the brake cylinder, the pneumatic only brake valve having a brake system diagnostic and reporting system, the rail car-specific system comprising:

a brake pipe transducer configured to measure pressure of the brake pipe;

a plurality of brake cylinder transducers configured to measure pressure of the brake cylinder, a first one of the brake cylinder transducers being connected to an input of the empty load device and a second one of the brake cylinder transducers being connected to an output of the empty load device, wherein either or both of the brake cylinder transducers operates to provide pressure measurements;

a processor configured to automatically receive measurements from the brake pipe transducer and the brake cylinder transducers, to compare the measurements over a period of time, compare the measurements against stored brake performance profiles, determine brake status from the comparison and prepare a rail car-specific event report for preselected brake statuses that indicate an out-of-norm event;

a wireless transmitter connected to the processor and configured to automatically transmit the rail car-specific report to at least one address;

an accelerometer connected to the processor, and

an energy storage device configured to power the processor and transmitter,

wherein the processor is configured to store a moving window of the measurements from the transducers and provide at least a portion of the window before an event with the car-specific event report, and

wherein, once the out-of-norm event occurs, the processor retains data from the brake pipe transducer and plurality of brake cylinder transducers and accelerometer for a predetermined time period at least prior to the out-of-norm event, and wherein the processor is further configured to provide measurements from the accelerometer with the rail car-specific event report, wherein the accelerometer measurements are indicative of ride quality at time of the out-of-norm event,

wherein operation of the plurality of brake cylinder transducers produces measurement data analyzed by the processor to determine the operability of the empty load device and to determine status of the brake by determination of whether the brake cylinders have an appropriate end value and determination of a time period for the brake cylinder pressure to be reached after the brake pipe pressure stabilized,

wherein the processor determines if, for a sufficient increase of the brake pipe pressure measured by the brake pipe transducer, that the brake cylinder should be released and, whether a stuck brake is present based on the brake cylinder pressure measured by the plurality of brake cylinder transducers indicating that the brake cylinder still has pneumatic pressure after a brake pipe release pressure has been produced, and

wherein the processor determines, based on comparison of the measurement data to baseline performance characteristics, the status or state of the brake system and determines what diagnostic message to include with the rail car-specific report, and the rail car-specific event report includes a maintenance diagnostic message coupled with a GPS time, speed and location stamp.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to store a moving window of measurements from the transducers and provides a portion of the window before and after the event with the rail car-specific event report.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to determine one or more of the following faults:

brake valve failure;

slow to apply;

slow to release; and

failure to release.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the brake pipe transducer is connected to one of the following:

the brake pipe and a brake pipe test port on the brake valve, and wherein the brake cylinder transducer is connected to one of the following;

the brake cylinder, a brake cylinder output port of the brake valve, and a brake cylinder test port on the brake valve.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the brake cylinder transducer is connected to one of the following:

the brake cylinder, a brake cylinder output port of the brake valve, a brake cylinder output port of the empty load device and a brake cylinder test port on the brake valve.

10. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to cause an event report to be transmitted automatically via the wireless transmitter to a unit remote from the rail car but specific to the train.

11. A method of diagnostic and reporting of brake system on a rail car which has a pneumatic only brake valve connected to and configured to be responsive to pressure in a brake pipe that extends through a train including the rail car, the brake pipe being the air pipe of the train'"'"'s pneumatic braking system, the brake valve responding to the pressure in the brake pipe to apply and release a brake and having a brake cylinder on the car, an empty load device connecting the brake valve to the brake cylinder, the method comprising:

connecting a brake pipe transducer and a plurality of brake cylinder transducers of the brake system diagnostic and reporting system to the brake system of the rail car and automatically performing the following actions on board the rail car by the brake system diagnostic and reporting system, a first one of the brake cylinder transducers being connected to an input of the empty load device and a second one of the brake cylinder transducers being connected to an output of the empty load device, wherein either or both of the brake cylinder transducers operates to provide pressure measurements;

measuring brake pipe pressure using the brake pipe transducer and measuring the brake cylinder pressure using the plurality of brake cylinder transducers;

comparing the brake pipe pressure and brake cylinder pressure measurements against stored brake performance profiles, determining brake status from the comparison and preparing a rail car-specific event report for preselected brake statuses indicative of an out-of-norm event; and

wirelessly transmitting the rail car-specific event report to at least one address,

wherein, once the out-of-norm event occurs, the processor retains data from the brake pipe transducer and plurality of brake cylinder transducers and accelerometer for a predetermined time period at least prior to the out-of-norm event, and wherein the processor is further configured to provide measurements from the accelerometer with the rail car-specific event report, wherein the accelerometer measurements are indicative of ride quality at time of the out-of-norm event, and

wherein operation of the plurality of brake cylinder transducers produces measurement data analyzed by the processor to determine the operability of the empty load device and to determine status of the brake by determination of whether the brake cylinders have an appropriate end value and determination of a time period for the brake cylinder pressure to be reached after the brake pipe pressure stabilized,

wherein the processor determines if, for a sufficient increase of the brake pipe pressure measured by the brake pipe transducer, that the brake cylinder should be released and, whether a stuck brake is present based on the brake cylinder pressure measured by the plurality of brake cylinder transducers indicating that the brake cylinder still has pneumatic pressure after a brake pipe release pressure has been produced and

wherein the processor determines, based on comparison of the measurement data to baseline performance characteristics, the status or state of the brake system and determines what diagnostic message to include with the rail car-specific report, and the rail car-specific event report includes a maintenance diagnostic message coupled with a GPS time, speed and location stamp.