Control system and method for remotely isolating powered units in a vehicle system
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- controlling a vehicle system having plural powered units that are configured to generate tractive effort to propel the vehicle system along a route according to a first trip plan, the first trip plan designating operational settings of the vehicle system as a function of at least one of time or distance along the route during a trip, the first trip plan directing one or more deactivated powered units of the powered units to remain in an inactive, non-propulsion generating mode during the trip and one or more activated powered units of the powered units to remain in an active, propulsion-generating mode to propel the vehicle system;
at least one of slowing or stopping the vehicle system along the route during the trip in contravention to the first trip plan;
revising the first trip plan into a different, second trip plan responsive to the at least one of slowing or stopping the vehicle system in contravention to the first trip plan, the second trip plan directing the vehicle system to accelerate after the at least one of slowing or stopping in contravention to the first trip plan;
determining that a tractive effort capability of the one or more activated powered units is insufficient to meet a demanded tractive effort of the second trip plan, the demanded tractive effort representing an amount of tractive effort that is demanded by the second trip plan to propel the vehicle system according to the operational settings of the vehicle system that are designated by the second trip plan;
selecting at least one of the one or more deactivated powered units for activation into the active, propulsion-generating mode based at least in part on determining that the tractive effort capability is insufficient to meet the demanded tractive effort of the second trip plan;
activating the at least one of the one or more deactivated powered units that are selected out of the inactive, non-propulsion generating mode into the active, propulsion-generating mode; and
controlling the powered units that are operating in the active, propulsion-generating mode according to the second trip plan.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for controlling a vehicle system includes controlling a vehicle system having powered units that propel the vehicle system. A trip plan directs at least one of the powered units to remain in a non-propulsion generating mode during the trip. The method further includes slowing and/or stopping the vehicle system in contravention to the first trip plan, activating the at least one of the powered units out of the non-propulsion generating mode into an active, propulsion-generating mode when the vehicle system accelerates after the at least one of slowing or stopping in contravention to the first trip plan, and switching the at least one of the powered units back to the non-propulsion generating mode after the vehicle system achieves a designated speed following accelerating after the at least one of the slowing or stopping of the vehicle system in contravention to the first trip plan.
14 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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controlling a vehicle system having plural powered units that are configured to generate tractive effort to propel the vehicle system along a route according to a first trip plan, the first trip plan designating operational settings of the vehicle system as a function of at least one of time or distance along the route during a trip, the first trip plan directing one or more deactivated powered units of the powered units to remain in an inactive, non-propulsion generating mode during the trip and one or more activated powered units of the powered units to remain in an active, propulsion-generating mode to propel the vehicle system; at least one of slowing or stopping the vehicle system along the route during the trip in contravention to the first trip plan; revising the first trip plan into a different, second trip plan responsive to the at least one of slowing or stopping the vehicle system in contravention to the first trip plan, the second trip plan directing the vehicle system to accelerate after the at least one of slowing or stopping in contravention to the first trip plan; determining that a tractive effort capability of the one or more activated powered units is insufficient to meet a demanded tractive effort of the second trip plan, the demanded tractive effort representing an amount of tractive effort that is demanded by the second trip plan to propel the vehicle system according to the operational settings of the vehicle system that are designated by the second trip plan; selecting at least one of the one or more deactivated powered units for activation into the active, propulsion-generating mode based at least in part on determining that the tractive effort capability is insufficient to meet the demanded tractive effort of the second trip plan; activating the at least one of the one or more deactivated powered units that are selected out of the inactive, non-propulsion generating mode into the active, propulsion-generating mode; and controlling the powered units that are operating in the active, propulsion-generating mode according to the second trip plan. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A control system comprising:
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a controller device configured to be disposed onboard a vehicle system having plural powered units that are configured to generate tractive effort to propel the vehicle system along a route, the controller device configured to direct operations of the powered units according to a first trip plan that designates operational settings of the vehicle system as a function of at least one of time or distance along the route during a trip, the first trip plan directing one or more activated powered units of the powered units to remain in an active, propulsion-generating mode and one or more deactivated powered units of the powered units to remain in an inactive, non-propulsion-generating mode during the trip; an energy management system configured to revise the first trip plan into a different, second trip plan responsive to the vehicle system at least one of slowing or stopping in contravention to the first trip plan, the second trip plan directing the vehicle system to accelerate after the at least one of slowing or stopping in contravention to the first trip plan, the energy management system also configured to determine that a tractive effort capability of the one or more activated powered units is insufficient to meet a demanded tractive effort of the second trip plan, the demanded tractive effort representing an amount of tractive effort that is demanded by the second trip plan to propel the vehicle system according to the operational settings of the vehicle system that are designated by the second trip plan, the energy management system also configured to select at least one of the one or more deactivated powered units for activation into the active, propulsion-generating mode based at least in part on determining that the tractive effort capability is insufficient to meet the demanded tractive effort of the second trip plan; and an isolation module configured to be communicatively coupled with the controller device, the isolation module also configured to communicate with the powered units to control which of the powered units are included in the one or more activated powered units and which of the powered units are included in the one or more deactivated powered units during the trip, wherein, responsive to the vehicle system at least one of slowing or stopping along the route during the trip in contravention to the first trip plan and then subsequently accelerating, the isolation module is configured to activate at least one of the deactivated powered units out of the inactive, non-propulsion generating mode into the active, propulsion-generating mode during acceleration of the vehicle system, the isolation module also configured to switch at least one of the activated powered units to the inactive, non-propulsion generating mode after the vehicle system achieves a designated speed following the acceleration of the vehicle system. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A control system comprising:
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an energy management system configured to generate a first trip plan for controlling a vehicle system having plural powered units along a route for a trip; wherein the energy management system is further configured to determine a tractive effort difference between a tractive effort capability of the vehicle system and a first demanded tractive effort of the trip, the tractive effort capability representative of the tractive effort that the powered units are capable of providing to propel the vehicle system, and the first demanded tractive effort representative of the tractive effort that is calculated to be used for actually propelling the vehicle system along the route for the trip according to the first trip plan; wherein the energy management system is further configured to generate the first trip plan such that, according to the first trip plan, at least one of the powered units is to be controlled in a non-propulsion generating mode based on the tractive effort difference; and wherein, following at least one of an unplanned slowing or an unplanned stopping of the vehicle system, the energy management system is configured to modify the first trip plan into a revised trip plan and to determine a second demanded tractive effort of the revised trip plan that is larger than the first demanded tractive effort of the first trip plan and that is larger than a current tractive effort capability of the powered units that are in an active, propulsion-generating mode to generate the tractive effort of the vehicle system according to the first trip plan, the energy management system configured to identify one or more of the powered units controlled in the non-propulsion generating mode in the first trip plan for activation into the propulsion-generating mode in the revised trip plan to accelerate the vehicle system to a designated speed. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification