Route examining system

• US 9,802,631 B2
• Filed: 02/18/2016
• Issued: 10/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Global Sourcing LLC (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Matthews, Brett Alexander, Boverman, Gregory, Plotnikov, Yuri Alexeyevich, Wheeler, Frederick Wilson, Nayeri, Majid, Fries, Jeffrey Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Do, Truc M
• Assistant Examiner(s): WHITTINGTON, JESS G
• Application Number:
  US15/047,083
• Publication Number:
  US 20160194012A1
• Time in Patent Office: 621 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 23/044 Broken rails
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 3/10 using current passing between devices along the route and devices on the vehicle or train

Abstract

Systems for examining a route inject one or more electrical examination signals into a conductive route from onboard a vehicle system traveling along the route, detect one or more electrical characteristics of the route based on the one or more electrical examination signals, and detect a break in conductivity of the route responsive to the one or more electrical characteristics decreasing by more than a designated drop threshold for a time period within a designated drop time period. Feature vectors may be determined for the electrical characteristics and compared to one or more patterns in order to distinguish between breaks in the conductivity of the route and other causes for changes in the electrical characteristics.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a power source coupled to a conditioning circuit, a first conductive body, and a third conductive body, wherein the first conductive body is configured to inject a first electrical examination signal into a first conductive rail of a route from onboard a vehicle system traveling along the route and wherein the third conductive body is configured to inject a second electrical examination signal into a second conductive rail of the route;

a second conductive body configured to detect a first electrical characteristic of the route based on the first electrical examination signal as a first voltage of the first electrical examination signal measured along the first conductive rail, and wherein the second conductive body is configured to measure a second voltage of the second electrical examination signal along the first conductive rail by the second conductive body as a second electrical characteristic of the route;

a fourth conductive body configured to measure a third voltage of the first electrical examination signal along the second conductive rail as a third electrical characteristic of the route, wherein the fourth conductive body also is configured to measure a fourth voltage of the second electrical examination signal along the second conductive rail as a fourth electrical characteristic of the route; and

one or more processors configured to detect a break in conductivity of the route responsive to the first electrical characteristic decreasing by more than a designated drop threshold for a time period within a designated drop time period;

wherein each of the first, second and the third conductive body includes a conductive shoe or a conductive brush that slides along a surface of a track or an outer circumference of a wheel or an inductive circuit.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the break that is detected by the one or more processors includes a break in a conductive rail of the route or an insulated joint in the route.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to detect the break by detecting an opening in a circuit formed by wheels and axles of the vehicle system and segments of conductive rails of the route extending between the wheels of the vehicle system.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first conductive body is configured to inject the first electrical examination signal into the route by injecting the first electrical examination signal having one or more of a first frequency or a first unique identifier into the route, and the third conductive body is configured to inject the second electrical examination signal into the route by injecting the second electrical examination signal having one or more of a different, second frequency or a different, second unique identifier into the route.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine feature vectors representative of different values of each of the first, second, third, and fourth electrical characteristics, and to compare the feature vectors to one or more patterns of feature vectors associated with different conditions of the route, at least one of the patterns of feature vectors associated with the break in the conductivity of the route, the one or more processors are configured to detect the break in the conductivity of the route responsive to the first electrical characteristic decreasing by more than the designated drop threshold for the time period within the designated drop time period and responsive to the feature vectors more closely matching the at least one pattern of feature vectors associated with the break in the conductivity of the route.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the feature vectors for each of the first, second, third, and fourth electrical characteristics as including:

a first statistical measure of values of the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic prior to the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic decreasing by more than the designated drop threshold for the time period that is within the designated drop time period,

a second statistical measure of values of the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic after the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic decreases by more than the designated drop threshold and before the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic increases by at least the designated drop threshold, and

a third statistical measure of values of the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic after the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic increases by at least the designated drop threshold.

7. A system comprising:

a first application unit configured to be disposed onboard a vehicle traveling along a route having plural conductive rails, the first application unit configured to inject, from a power source coupled to a conditioning circuit, a first electrical examination signal having one or more of a first frequency or a first unique identifier into a first rail of the plural conductive rails;

a second application unit configured to be disposed onboard the vehicle and to inject, from the power source coupled to the conditioning circuit, a second electrical examination signal having one or more of a different, second frequency or a different, second unique identifier into a second rail of the plural conductive rails;

a first detection unit configured to be disposed onboard the vehicle and to measure a first electrical characteristic of the first rail based on the first electrical examination signal and to measure a second electrical characteristic of the first rail based on the second electrical examination signal;

a second detection unit configured to be disposed onboard the vehicle and to measure a third electrical characteristic of the second rail based on the first electrical examination signal and to measure a fourth electrical characteristic of the second rail based on the second electrical examination signal; and

one or more processors configured to detect a break in conductivity of one or more of the first rail or the second rail of the route responsive to one or more of the first electrical characteristic, the second electrical characteristic, the third electrical characteristic, or the fourth electrical characteristic decreasing by more than a designated drop threshold for a time period that is within a designated drop time period;

wherein each of the first and the second application unit includes a conductive shoe or a conductive brush that slides along a surface of a track or an outer circumference of a wheel or an inductive circuit.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more processors are configured to detect the break by detecting an opening in a circuit formed by wheels and axles of the vehicle system and segments of the first and second rails of the route extending between the wheels of the vehicle system.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine feature vectors representative of different values of each of the first, second, third, and fourth electrical characteristics and to compare the feature vectors to one or more patterns of feature vectors associated with different conditions of the route, at least one of the patterns of feature vectors associated with the break in the conductivity of the route,

wherein the one or more processors are configured to detect the break in the conductivity of one or more of the first rail or the second rail responsive to the first electrical characteristic decreasing by more than the designated drop threshold for the time period within the designated drop time period and responsive to the feature vectors more closely matching the at least one pattern of feature vectors associated with the break in the conductivity of one or more of the first rail or the second rail.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the feature vectors for each of the first, second, third, and fourth electrical characteristics, the feature vectors including, for each of the first, second, third, and fourth electrical characteristic:

a first statistical measure of values of the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic prior to the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic decreasing by more than the designated drop threshold for the time period that is within the designated drop time period,

a second statistical measure of values of the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic after the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic decreases by more than the designated drop threshold and before the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic increases by at least the designated drop threshold, and

a third statistical measure of values of the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic after the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic increases by at least the designated drop threshold.

11. A method comprising:

injecting a first electrical examination signal from a power source coupled to a conditioning circuit into a first conductive rail of a route from onboard a vehicle system traveling along the route;

injecting a second electrical examination signal from a power source coupled to a conditioning circuit into a second conductive rail of the route from onboard a vehicle system traveling along the route;

detecting a first electrical characteristic of the route based on the first electrical examination signal, wherein the first electrical characteristic of the route includes a first voltage of the first electrical examination signal as measured along the and first conductive rail by a first detection unit of a route examining system onboard the vehicle system;

detecting a second voltage of the second electrical examination signal as measured along the first conductive rail by the first detection unit as a second electrical characteristic of the route;

detecting a third voltage of the first electrical examination signal as measured along the second conductive rail by a second detection unit of the route examining system as a third electrical characteristic of the route;

detecting a fourth voltage of the second electrical examination signal as measured along the second conductive rail by the second detection unit as a fourth electrical characteristic of the route; and

detecting a break in conductivity of the route responsive to the first electrical characteristic decreasing by more than a designated drop threshold for a time period within a designated drop time period.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the break that is detected includes a break in a conductive rail of the route or an insulated joint in the route.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein detecting the break includes detecting an opening in a circuit formed by wheels and axles of the vehicle system and segments of conductive rails of the route extending between the wheels of the vehicle system.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein injecting the first electrical examination signal into the route includes injecting the first electrical examination signal having one or more of a first frequency or a first unique identifier into the route, and injecting the second electrical examination signal into the route includes injecting the second electrical examination signal having one or more of a different, second frequency or a different, second unique identifier into the route.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining feature vectors representative of different values of each of the first, second, third, and fourth electrical characteristics; and

comparing the feature vectors to one or more patterns of feature vectors associated with different conditions of the route, at least one of the patterns of feature vectors associated with the break in the conductivity of the route,

wherein the break in the conductivity of the route is detected responsive to the first electrical characteristic decreasing by more than the designated drop threshold for the time period within the designated drop time period and responsive to the feature vectors more closely matching the at least one pattern of feature vectors associated with the break in the conductivity of the route.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the feature vectors are determined for each of the first, second, third, and fourth electrical characteristics, the feature vectors including, for each of the first, second, third, and fourth electrical characteristic:

a first statistical measure of values of the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic prior to the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic decreasing by more than the designated drop threshold for the time period that is within the designated drop time period,

a second statistical measure of values of the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic after the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic decreases by more than the designated drop threshold and before the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic increases by at least the designated drop threshold, and

a third statistical measure of values of the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic after the respective first, second, third, or fourth electrical characteristic increases by at least the designated drop threshold.