System, apparatus, and method for automatically controlling a locomotive
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A manual control interface for automatically controlling a locomotive, comprising:
- a control interface unit configured to receive input from at least one manual control, receive input from an automatic control system, and transmit commands to a locomotive control system, wherein the commands are based at least partially on the input received from the automatic control system, and wherein the input received from the automatic control system comprises at least one control command for controlling at least one locomotive function of the locomotive control system; and
a bypass relay configured to enable or disable communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system,wherein the at least one manual control comprises at least one of a throttle handle and a brake handle, wherein the control interface unit is configured to determine at least one of the following;
i) if a position of the throttle handle matches a current throttle setting of the automatic control system when the communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system is disabled, ii) if a setting of the brake handle matches a current brake setting of the automatic control system when the communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system is disabled, or any combination thereof; and
wherein the control interface unit is connected to the bypass relay, and wherein the control interface unit controls the bypass relay to prevent enablement of the communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system in response to at least one of the following;
a) a determination that the position of the throttle handle does not match the current throttle setting of the automatic control system, b) a determination that the setting of the brake handle does not match the current brake setting of the automatic control system, or any combination thereof.
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Abstract
A system, method, and apparatus for automatically controlling a locomotive include a control interface unit configured to receive input from at least one manual control, receive input from an automatic control system, and transmit commands to a locomotive control system, wherein the commands are based at least partially on the input received from the automatic control system. A bypass relay may also be provided to enable and disable communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system.
48 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A manual control interface for automatically controlling a locomotive, comprising:
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a control interface unit configured to receive input from at least one manual control, receive input from an automatic control system, and transmit commands to a locomotive control system, wherein the commands are based at least partially on the input received from the automatic control system, and wherein the input received from the automatic control system comprises at least one control command for controlling at least one locomotive function of the locomotive control system; and a bypass relay configured to enable or disable communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system, wherein the at least one manual control comprises at least one of a throttle handle and a brake handle, wherein the control interface unit is configured to determine at least one of the following;
i) if a position of the throttle handle matches a current throttle setting of the automatic control system when the communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system is disabled, ii) if a setting of the brake handle matches a current brake setting of the automatic control system when the communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system is disabled, or any combination thereof; andwherein the control interface unit is connected to the bypass relay, and wherein the control interface unit controls the bypass relay to prevent enablement of the communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system in response to at least one of the following;
a) a determination that the position of the throttle handle does not match the current throttle setting of the automatic control system, b) a determination that the setting of the brake handle does not match the current brake setting of the automatic control system, or any combination thereof. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 27)
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9. A method for automatically controlling a locomotive, comprising:
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receiving, by a processor of a manual control interface system, automatic control data from an automatic control system; controlling, by the processor, a bypass relay connected to the processor to disable communication between at least one manual control and a locomotive control system; detecting, by the processor, a state of the at least one manual control; transmitting, by the processor, the state of the at least one manual control to the automatic control system; and transmitting, by the processor, to the locomotive control system, control data based at least partially on the automatic control data, wherein the automatic control data comprises at least one control command for controlling at least one locomotive function of the locomotive control system, wherein the at least one manual control comprises at least one of a throttle handle and a brake handle, the method further comprising; determining at least one of the following;
i) if a position of the throttle handle matches a current throttle setting of the automatic control system when the communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system is disabled, ii) if a setting of the brake handle matches a current brake setting of the automatic control system when the communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system is disabled, or any combination thereof; andcontrolling, by the processor, the bypass relay to prevent enablement of the communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system in response to at least one of the following;
a) a determination that the position of the throttle handle does not match the current throttle setting of the automatic control system, b) a determination that the setting of the brake handle does not match the current brake setting of the automatic control system, or any combination thereof. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A control interface unit for automatically controlling a locomotive, the control interface unit adapted to communicate with a throttle handle, a cruise control system, and a locomotive computer, the control interface unit comprising at least one processor, wherein the control interface unit is configured to:
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control a bypass relay connected to the control interface unit to disable communication between the throttle handle and the locomotive computer; receive cruise control commands from the cruise control system; and control the locomotive based at least partially on the cruise control commands, wherein the control interface unit is further configured to detect a position of the throttle handle when the communication between the throttle handle and the locomotive computer is disabled, wherein the control interface unit is configured to determine if the position of the throttle handle matches a current throttle setting of the cruise control system when the communication between the throttle handle and the locomotive computer is disabled, and wherein the control interface unit controls the bypass relay to prevent enablement of the communication between the throttle handle and the locomotive control system in response to a determination that the position of the throttle handle does not match the current throttle setting of the cruise control system. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification