INTEGRATED RAIL EFFICIENCY AND SAFETY SUPPORT SYSTEM

• US 20090173839A1
• Filed: 12/31/2008
• Published: 07/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Concaten Inc.
• Original Assignee: Iwapi Incorporated
• Inventors: Groeneweg, Kevin K., Rennie, Christopher J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,231,270 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 246/15
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 23/042 Track changes detection
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 27/53 for trackside elements or systems, e.g. trackside supervision of trackside control system conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 13/00 Thermometers specially adapted for specific purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

The present invention is directed to the use of mobile sensors to collect temperature information used to control, inter alia, rail vehicle speed, acceleration, or scheduling.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

at least one rail vehicle, the at least one rail vehicle comprising a sensor to measure a temperature of a rail in proximity to the at least one rail vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor is an infrared sensor mounted to an underbody of at least one rail vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one rail vehicle comprises at least one other sensor selected from the group consisting essentially of:

a location sensor configured to locate the at least one rail vehicle by satellite communications;

a thermometer configured to measure ambient temperature;

a barometer;

an anemometer;

a video imaging device;

a light measuring device;

a hygrometer;

a photodetector;

a rain gauge;

a pyranometer;

a wind vane; and

combinations thereof.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one rail vehicle comprises an on board modem, the modem forwarding, continuously and/or periodically while the at least one rail vehicle is in motion, the sensed rail temperature, a time stamp associated with the sensed rail temperature, and a location signal to a central server, the location signal indicating a geographical location of the at least one rail vehicle at the time of measurement of the reported sensed rail temperature.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least one rail vehicle is a consist, wherein a plurality of sensors are positioned at different points along the consist, and wherein a first sensor is positioned near a head of the consist, and wherein a second sensor is positioned near a rear of the consist.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the modem processes the sensed rail temperature and generates an alarm when at least one of a current rail temperature and an elevated rail temperature caused by passage of the at least one rail vehicle is unacceptable.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the central server receives rail temperatures, timestamps, and geographical location datasets from each of multiple consists and wherein the central server is operable, using the datasets, to generate a predictive rail temperature algorithm for predicting a rail temperature for a selected section of track, for a selected time, and for a selected ambient temperature.

8. The system of claim 4, wherein at least one of the modem and central server determines, based on an actual or predicted rail temperature, a restricted speed for at least one of the at least one rail vehicle and a selected section of track.

9. The system of claim 4, wherein at least one of the modem and central server determines, based on an actual and/or predicted rail temperature an alternate route over a main line for the at least one rail vehicle.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one of the modem and central server determines a route over a main line based on an actual and/or predicted rail temperature and a plurality of a geographical location of a selected consist, a length of the selected consist, a type of the selected consist, a weight of the selected consist, and speed of the selected consist.

11. The system of claim 4, wherein weather information is provided to the central server and, using the weather information, the central server predicts a rail temperature and a speed restriction for a selected length of track and wherein the central server provides the speed restriction to a selected at least one rail vehicle.

12. The system of claim 4, wherein the central server, using data collected by a plurality of at least one rail vehicles while traveling over different sections of track, develops a track profile, the track profile comprising features surrounding selected sections of track that impact a rail temperature of the track.

13. The system of claim 4, wherein the central server, using data collected by a plurality of at least one rail vehicles while traveling over different sections of track, generates a rail temperature model of the different sections of the track, wherein the rail temperature model predicts a rail temperature for a selected section of track based on selected input variable values, and wherein the rail temperature model is used to determine at least one of speed restrictions, consist routes, current of traffic, traffic mode, consist schedules, timetables, number of trains per hour, a type of train, consist length restrictions, and consist weight restrictions.

14. A central control system, comprising:

a server operable to receive, from a plurality of consists at different parts of a rail network, rail temperature measurements and use the rail temperature measurements to determine at least one of speed restrictions, consist routes, current of traffic, traffic mode, consist schedules, timetables, number of trains per hour, consist length restrictions, and consist weight restrictions.

15. The central control system of claim 14, wherein each consist comprises at least one rail temperature sensor, wherein the rail temperature sensor measures rail temperature of a section of track as the respective consist passes over the section of track, and wherein the consist comprises a satellite-based location sensor to associate the section of track with a geographical location.

16. The central control system of claim 15, wherein the central server receives rail temperatures, timestamps, unique identifiers, and geographical location datasets from each of the consists and wherein the central server is operable, using the datasets, to generate a predictive rail temperature algorithm for predicting a rail temperature for a selected section of track, for a selected time, and for a selected ambient temperature.

17. The central control system of claim 14, wherein the central server determines, based on an actual or predicted rail temperature, a restricted speed for a selected consist over a selected section of track.

18. The central control system of claim 14, wherein the central server determines, based on an actual and/or predicted rail temperature an alternate route over a main line for a selected consist.

19. The central control system of claim 14, wherein the central server determines a route over a main line based on an actual and/or predicted rail temperature and a plurality of a geographical location of a selected consist, a length of the selected consist, a weight of the selected consist, and speed of the selected consist.

20. The central control system of claim 14, wherein weather information is provided to the central server and, using the weather information, the central server predicts a rail temperature and a speed restriction for a selected length of track and wherein the central server provides the speed restriction to a selected consist.

21. The central control system of claim 14, wherein the central server, using data collected by a plurality of consists while traveling over different sections of track, develops a track profile, the track profile comprising features surrounding selected sections of track that impact a rail temperature of the track.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the central server, using data collected by a plurality of consists while traveling over different sections of track, generates a rail temperature model of the different sections of the track and wherein the rail temperature model predicts a rail temperature for a selected section of track based on selected input variable values.

23. A method, comprising:

determining, based on sensed data received from at least one mobile sensor, a rail temperature at a selected physical location; and

generating, by a processor, a command to adjust at least one of a velocity, acceleration, and route of a train based on the rail temperature.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the at least one mobile sensor is mounted on the train.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the determining step comprises the sub-steps:

determining an approximate physical location of the train when selected sensed data is received from the at least one mobile sensor;

determining an approximate time when the selected sensed data is received from the at least one mobile sensor; and

transmitting the selected sensed data, approximate physical location, and approximate time to a server.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the determining step comprises the further sub-steps:

determining an ambient weather condition in temporal proximity to the approximate time and in spatial proximity to the approximate physical location; and

based on the selected sensed data and ambient weather condition, estimating, for the approximate physical location, a rail temperature for a different time.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

altering train scheduling information for at least one train based on the estimated rail temperature and an estimated rail temperature increase for potential rail traffic.

28. A computer readable medium comprising processor-executable instructions operable to perform the steps of claim 23.

29. A method, comprising:

receiving, from a plurality of different consists and by a server, a plurality of datasets, each dataset comprising a rail temperature, a timestamp, and a physical location; and

based on the datasets, determining, by the server, at least one of a speed restriction, consist route, current of traffic, traffic mode, consist schedule, timetable, number of trains per hour, consist length restriction, consist type restriction, and consist weight restriction.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the datasets comprise a unique identifier associated with a source of the dataset and further comprising:

using the datasets, at least one of generating and updating, by the server, a predictive rail temperature algorithm for predicting a rail temperature for a selected section of track, for a selected time, and for a selected ambient temperature.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the server determines, based on an actual or predicted rail temperature, a restricted speed for a selected consist over a selected section of track.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein the server determines, based on an actual and/or predicted rail temperature an alternate route over a main line for a selected consist.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein the server determines a route over a main line based on an actual and/or predicted rail temperature and a plurality of a geographical location of a selected consist, a length of the selected consist, a type of consist, a weight of the selected consist, and speed of the selected consist.

34. The method of claim 29, wherein weather information is provided to the server and, using the weather information, the server predicts a rail temperature and a speed restriction for a selected length of track and wherein the server provides the speed restriction to a selected consist.

35. The method of claim 29, wherein the server, using data collected by a plurality of consists while traveling over different sections of track, develops a track profile, the track profile comprising features surrounding selected sections of track that impact a rail temperature of the track.

36. The method of claim 29, wherein the server, using data collected by a plurality of consists while traveling over different sections of track, generates a rail temperature model of the different sections of the track and wherein the rail temperature model predicts a rail temperature for a selected section of track based on selected input variable values.

37. A computer readable medium encoded with processor executable instructions to perform the steps of claim 29.