Method and system for identifying an erroneous speed of a vehicle

• US 8,874,345 B2
• Filed: 04/04/2012
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Global Sourcing LLC (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Nandedkar, Vishram Vinayak, Kumar, Ajith Kuttannair, Lacy, Patricia Sue, Vempaty, Pavan
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheung, Calvin
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHUDY, ANGELINA M
• Application Number:
  US13/439,682
• Publication Number:
  US 20130268172A1
• Time in Patent Office: 937 Days
• Field of Search: 701/19, 701/20, 701/70, 701/416, 701/123, 701/411, 246/428, 184/3.1, 184/3.2
• US Class Current: 701/70
• CPC Class Codes: B61K 3/00 Wetting or lubricating rails or wheel flanges
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 25/021 Measuring and recording of train speed
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 3/08 controlling electrically
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 21/02 of speedometers
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 3/50 for measuring linear speed G01P3/56 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00

Abstract

A method includes receiving an input size of a wheel of a vehicle, determining a derived speed of the vehicle that is based on the input size of the wheel, determining a reference speed of the vehicle as the vehicle moves, comparing the derived speed with the reference speed of the vehicle, and identifying an error in the input size of the wheel based on a difference between the derived speed and the reference speed. A system includes a control unit configured to determine a derived speed of a vehicle that is based on an input size of the wheel and a reference speed of the vehicle as the vehicle moves. The control unit compares the derived speed with the reference speed of the vehicle in order to identify an error in the input size of the wheel.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by one or more computer processors, an input size of a wheel of a rail vehicle that includes plural wheels;

determining, by the one or more computer processors, a derived vehicle speed of the rail vehicle that is based on the input size of the wheel;

determining, by the one or more computer processors, a reference vehicle speed of the rail vehicle as the rail vehicle moves;

comparing, by the one or more computer processors, the derived vehicle speed with the reference vehicle speed;

identifying, by the one or more computer processors, an error in the input size of the wheel based on a difference between the derived vehicle speed and the reference vehicle speed, wherein movement of the rail vehicle along a designated route is controlled by a trip plan, the trip plan designating operational settings of the rail vehicle as a function of at least one of time or distance along the designated route;

responsive to identifying the error in the input size of the wheel, modifying, by the one or more computer processors, at least one of the trip plan or control signals that are based on the trip plan to modify the movement of the rail vehicle; and

directing, by the one or more computer processors, application of an adhesion-varying material to a surface on which the rail vehicle moves to vary adhesion between the wheels and the surface,

wherein at least one of an amount or type of the adhesion-varying material that is applied is based on comparisons between sizes of one or more of the wheels and a corrected size of the input wheel, the corrected size based on the input size and the error in the input size of the wheel,

wherein the amount of the adhesion-varying material that is applied ahead of at least one of the wheels along the designated route is increased when the at least one of the wheels is smaller than the corrected size of the input wheel relative to an amount of the adhesion-varying material that is applied when the at least one of the wheels is larger than the input wheel, and the amount of the adhesion-varying material that is applied ahead of the at least one of the wheels along the designated route is decreased when the at least one of the wheels is larger than the corrected size of the input wheel relative to an amount of the adhesion-varying material that is applied when the at least one of the wheels is smaller than the input wheel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the input size of the wheel includes receiving a manual measurement of the input size of the wheel from an operator.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the derived vehicle speed includes monitoring a rotation speed of the wheel and calculating the derived vehicle speed based on the input size and the rotation speed of the wheel.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the derived vehicle speed with the reference vehicle speed includes calculating a speed error as the difference between the derived vehicle speed and the reference vehicle speed and identifying the error occurs responsive to the speed error exceeding a designated threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the reference vehicle speed includes determining plural locations of the rail vehicle at different measurement times and calculating the reference vehicle speed based on one or more distances between the plural locations and one or more time periods between the measurement times.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the reference vehicle speed includes identifying a first location of the rail vehicle that is based on a rotation speed of the wheel and a second location of the rail vehicle that is determined by a location determination system that includes a receiver and circuitry, and the error in the input size of the wheel is identified responsive to a deviation between the first location and the second location exceeding a threshold.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the reference vehicle speed is performed responsive to one or more operational enablement conditions of the rail vehicle occurring, the one or more operational enablement conditions including at least one of a dilution of precision (DOP) of a global positioning system (GPS) of the rail vehicle exceeding a non-zero designated threshold or the reference vehicle speed being between a non-zero first speed threshold and an upper second speed threshold.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a vehicle speed to an operator of the rail vehicle that is based on the reference vehicle speed being corrected by the error.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the trip plan designates a speed profile of the rail vehicle,

wherein modifying at least one of the trip plan or the control signals that are based on the trip plan includes modifying the speed profile of the trip plan based on the error in the input size of the wheel.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the trip plan designates a speed profile of the rail vehicle, and further comprising:

automatically controlling operations of the rail vehicle such that the derived speed of the rail vehicle follows the speed profile of the trip plan; and

automatically changing the input size of the wheel in order to correct the derived speed of the rail vehicle responsive to the error in the input size being identified, wherein the rail vehicle continues to be automatically controlled to follow the speed profile of the trip plan with the derived speed that is based on the input size of the wheel that is corrected.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying an operator of the rail vehicle of the error in the input size of the wheel responsive to identifying the error.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically correcting the input size of the wheel responsive to identifying the error in the wheel size.

13. A system comprising:

an input device configured to be disposed onboard a vehicle for receiving an input size of a wheel of the rail vehicle that includes plural wheels; and

one or more computer processors configured to be disposed onboard the rail vehicle for determining a derived vehicle speed of the rail vehicle that is based on the input size of the wheel, and also for determining a reference vehicle speed of the rail vehicle as the rail vehicle moves,

the one or more computer processors also configured to compare the derived vehicle speed with the reference vehicle speed and identify an error in the input size of the wheel, wherein the error is based on a difference between the derived vehicle speed and the reference vehicle speed;

wherein the one or more computer processors are configured to control movement of the rail vehicle along a designated route in accordance with a trip plan, the trip plan designating operational settings of the rail vehicle as a function of at least one of time or distance along the designated route,

wherein the one or more computer processors are configured to, in response to identifying the error in the input size of the wheel, modify at least one of the trip plan or control signals that are based on the trip plan to modify the movement of the rail vehicle, and

wherein the one or more computer processors are configured to determine at least one of an amount or type of an adhesion-varying material that is applied to a surface upon which the rail vehicle moves based on comparisons between sizes of one or more of the wheels and a corrected size of the input wheel, the corrected size based on the input size and the error in the input size of the wheel,

wherein the one or more computer processors are configured to determine the amount of the adhesion-varying material that is applied ahead of at least one of the wheels along the designated route as a larger amount when the at least one of the wheels is smaller than the corrected size of the input wheel relative to an amount of the adhesion-varying material that is applied when the at least one of the wheels is larger than the input wheel, and

the one or more computer processors are configured to determine the amount of the adhesion-varying material that is applied ahead of the at least one of the wheels along the designated route to be a smaller amount when the at least one of the wheels is larger than the corrected size of the input wheel relative to an amount of the adhesion-varying material that is applied when the at least one of the wheels is smaller than the input wheel.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the input device is configured to receive a manual measurement of the input size of the wheel from an operator.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising a speed sensor configured to be disposed onboard the rail vehicle to monitor a rotation speed of the wheel,

wherein the one or more computer processors are configured to calculate the derived vehicle speed based on the input size and the rotation speed of the wheel that is monitored by the speed sensor.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more computer processors are configured to calculate a speed error as the difference between the derived vehicle speed and the reference vehicle speed, and

the one or more computer processors are configured to identify the error in the input size of the wheel responsive to the speed error exceeding a designated threshold.

17. The system of claim 13, further comprising a location determination system that includes a receiver and circuitry configured to be disposed onboard the rail vehicle for determining plural locations of the rail vehicle at different measurement times,

wherein at least one of the location determination system or the one or more computer processors also is configured to calculate the reference vehicle speed based on one or more distances between the plural locations and one or more time periods between the measurement times.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more computer processors are configured to identify a first location of the rail vehicle that is based on a rotation speed of the wheel and a second location of the rail vehicle that is determined by a location determination system that includes a receiver and circuitry,

the one or more computer processors also configured to determine the reference vehicle speed based on the first location and the second location, wherein the error in the input size of the wheel is identified by the one or more computer processors responsive to a deviation between the first location and the second location exceeding a threshold.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more computer processors are configured to modify the reference vehicle speed to a vehicle speed that is based on the error that is identified, and further comprising

an output device configured to be disposed onboard the vehicle for presenting the vehicle speed to an operator of the rail vehicle.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the trip plan designates a speed profile of the rail vehicle, and

the one or more computer processors are configured to modify the speed profile of the trip plan based on the error in the input size of the wheel.