GPS controlled multiple source material application

• US 6,526,339 B1
• Filed: 09/08/2000
• Issued: 02/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Herzog Contracting
• Original Assignee: Herzog Contracting
• Inventors: Laughlin, Daniel B., Bedingfield, Stephen L., Harris, Patrick R., Bounds, Ivan Eugene, Herzog, Stanley M., Poggemiller, Randy L., Schmitz, Ronald A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Louis-Jacques, Jacques H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Broadhead, Brian J
• Application Number:
  US09/659,443
• Time in Patent Office: 900 Days
• Field of Search: 701/207, 701/213, 701/214, 701/215, 701/19, 701/50, 246/127, 105/311.1, 221/92, 221/94, 221/124, 222/481, 222/482, 222/129
• US Class Current: 701/19
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 2205/04 Satellite based navigation systems, e.g. global positioning system [GPS]
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 25/025 Absolute localisation, e.g. providing geodetic coordinates
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 25/026 Relative localisation, e.g. using odometer
• CPC Class Codes: E01B 27/02 Placing the ballast; Making ballastway; Redistributing ballasting material; Machines or devices therefor; Levelling means

Abstract

A GPS controlled multiple source material application or ballast spreading system includes tracking the position of a plurality of ballast hopper cars using GPS derived coordinates and controlling the opening of multiple ballast doors to spread ballast on desired sections of track for railroad maintenance. The process involves tracking the current hopper loads, the opened or closed state of the ballast doors, and the concurrent amount of ballast which has been spread on the desired track sections.

Claims

1. A method for selectively applying a bulk material to a surface from a group of interconnected containers moving on said surface in a direction of movement and having a GPS antenna and respective controllable bulk material dispenser positioned one after another along said direction of movement, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing a reference location of said containers and a respective distance from said reference location to each of said material dispensers;

(b) detecting application geographic coordinates of sections of said surface onto which said material is to be applied;

(c) storing the application coordinates in a computer which is interfaced to said material dispensers in such a manner as to control operation of said material dispensers to dispense said bulk material;

(d) transporting said group of interconnected containers on said surface;

(e) detecting current geographic coordinates of said GPS antenna during said transporting and said computer calculating respective geographic coordinates of each of said material dispensers from said reference location; and

(f) upon the current geographic coordinates of at least one of said material dispensers correlating with said application coordinates, said computer controlling said at least one of said material dispensers to activate same to thereby apply said material to said surface.

3. A method as set forth in claim 1 and including the step of:

(a) detecting said application coordinates using a satellite based global positioning system.

4. A method as set forth in claim 1 and including the step of:

(a) detecting said current geographic coordinates of said reference location using a satellite based global positioning system.

5. A method as set forth in claim 1 and including the steps of:

(a) setting in said computer a target unit application quantity equal to a desired quantity of said material applied to a selected unit of area of said surface;

(b) said computer maintaining a stored record of a previous quantity of material applied to each unit of area of said surface;

(c) upon said computer activating one of said material dispensers, said computer calculating a projected quantity of said material which will be applied to an upcoming unit of area of said surface by activating an additional one of said material dispensers; and

(d) upon a sum of said previous quantity and said projected quantity not exceeding said target unit application quantity, said computer activating an additional one of said material dispensers.

2. A method of selectively spreading ballast along a railroad track

(a) providing a railroad car with a load of ballast and a ballast door with a ballast door motor controllable to open said ballast door to enable spreading of said ballast and to close said door to prevent spreading said ballast;

(b) detecting spread geographic coordinates of spread sections of said track on which said ballast is to be spread using a satellite based global positioning system;

(c) detecting no-spread geographic coordinates of no-spread sections of said track on which said ballast is not to be spread using a satellite based global positioning system;

(d) storing the spread coordinates and the no-spread coordinates in a computer interfaced to said door motor;

(e) transporting said railroad car along said track;

(f) periodically detecting current geographic coordinates of said ballast door using a satellite based global positioning system;

(g) upon the current coordinates correlating with said spread coordinates, said computer controlling said door motor to open said ballast door to enable spreading said ballast; and

(h) upon the current coordinates with said no-spread coordinates, said computer controlling said door motor to close said ballast door to disable spreading said ballast.

6. A method of selectively spreading ballast along a railroad track and comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a plurality of railroad cars, each with a load of ballast and having a ballast door with a ballast door motor controllable to open said ballast door to enable spreading of said ballast and to close said door to prevent spreading said ballast;

(b) detecting spread geographic coordinates of spread sections of said track on which said ballast is to be spread using a satellite based global positioning system;

(c) detecting no-spread geographic coordinates of no-spread sections of said track on which said ballast is not be spread using a satellite based global positioning system;

(d) storing the spread coordinates and the no-spread coordinates in a computer interfaced to each of said door motors;

(e) transporting said railroad car along said track;

(f) periodically detecting respective current geographic coordinates of each ballast door using a satellite based global positioning system;

(g) upon the current coordinates correlating with said spread coordinates, said computer controlling opening and closing of the ballast doors of one or more cars to thereby effect spreading of said ballast on said spread sections and inhibiting spreading of said ballast on said no-spread sections;

(h) upon the current coordinates correlating with said no-spread coordinates, said computer controlling said door motor to close said ballast door to disable spreading said ballast;

(i) entering into said computer a target ballast quantity per unit track length of said spread sections of said track;

(j) entering into said computer a ballast flow rate associated with said cars when a respective ballast door thereof is opened;

(k) calculating an applied percentage of said target ballast quantity which is applied to each unit of track length of said spread sections by ballast flowing through an open ballast door as said ballast door travels over each unit of track length of said spread sections;

(l) said computer controlling opening and closing of said ballast doors relative to detected positions of said ballast doors within said spread sections in such a manner as to apply said target ballast quantity per unit track length of said spread sections;

(m) said computer maintaining an updated record of an applied percentage of said target ballast quantity which has been applied to each unit of track length of said spread sections;

(n) periodically detecting a door state of each ballast door as open or closed;

(o) upon detecting a door state, said computer checking an applied percentage record associated with a lookahead unit of track length positioned at a selected distance ahead of the current ballast door which has most recently had its door state detected; and

(p) said computer calculating if a change of door state of said current ballast door is required to increase said percentage said target ballast quantity of said lookahead unit of track length without exceeding said target ballast quantity.

7. A method of selectively spreading ballast along a railroad track and comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a ballast train including a plurality of ballast hopper cars, each car including a pair of ballast hoppers, each hopper having a load of ballast and including a ballast door and a ballast door actuator to position said door to control flow of said ballast therethrough, each car including car control logic circuitry, and said train including a main controller interfaced to each car control circuitry;

(b) entering into said computer, using a satellite based global positioning system, spread geographic coordinates of spread sections of a track on which ballast is to be spread and no-spread geographic coordinates of no-spread sections of said track on which ballast is not to be spread;

(c) said computer dividing said spread sections and no-spread sections into track length units;

(d) entering into said computer a target ballast quantity per track length unit to be applied to said spread sections;

(e) transporting said train along spread sections and said no-spread sections of said track;

(f) said computer maintaining an and updating a record of current percentage of said target ballast quantity associated with each track length unit of said spread sections and said no-spread sections of said track;

(g) periodically detecting geographic coordinates of each ballast door using a satellite based global positioning system and a ballast door state of being open or closed; and

(h) upon detecting a door state of a current ballast door, said computer calculating if a change of said ballast door state is required to increase a percentage of said target ballast quantity for a selected set of said track length units without exceeding said target ballast quantity;

(i) detecting said geographic coordinates of said spread sections and said no-spread sections using a satellite based global positioning system;

(j) periodically detecting said geographic coordinates of each ballast door using a satellite based global positioning system.

8. A railroad ballast spreading system for distributing a selected quantity of ballast along selected sections of a railroad and comprising:

(a) a plurality of ballast hopper cars and a locomotive coupled to said cars to form a ballast train and operable to propel said cars along said railroad;

(b) each hopper car including a ballast hopper to hold quantity of ballast, a ballast chute communicating with said hopper and passing ballast therethrough at a measured flow rate, and a ballast door movable between an open position to enable flow of ballast through said chute to spread same and a closed position to inhibit said flow of ballast;

(c) each ballast door including a ballast door motor engaged therewith and selectively operable to urge said ballast door between said open position and said closed position;

(d) each ballast car including ballast car logic circuitry including address decode circuitry to decode a unique address associated with said ballast car and door motor control circuitry to control operation of said ballast door motor;

(e) position circuitry including a satellite based global positioning system and mounted on said ballast train and detecting current global positioning system geographic coordinates of a reference position on said train and periodically generating an updated location code representing said current geographic coordinates;

(f) a ballast control computer interfaced to each ballast car logic circuitry and said position circuitry and controlling spreading of ballast along said selected sections of said railroad by coordinated opening and closing of said ballast doors in relation to said location code; and

(g) the system establishing a respective distance from said reference position on said train to each of said ballast cars for detecting the opening and closing location for said ballast doors in relation to said location code.

9. A system as set forth in claim 8 and including:

(a) a train speed measuring instrument mounted on said train and interacting with said railroad in such a manner as to generate a train speed code representing a speed of movement of said train along said railroad;

(b) said speed measuring instrument being interfaced to said computer; and

(c) said computer controlling said spreading of ballast in relation to said train speed code.

10. A system as set forth in claim 8 and including:

(a) a train position encoder mounted on said train and interacting with said railroad in such a manner as to generate a train position code representing a relative location of said reference position along said railroad;

(b) said position encoder being interfaced to said computer; and

(c) said computer alternatively controlling said spreading of ballast in relation to said train position code.

11. A method for selectively applying a bulk material to a surface from a group of interconnected containers moving on said surface in a direction of movement and having a GPS antenna and respective controllable bulk material dispensers positioned one after another along said direction of movement and moving on said surface, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing a reference location of said containers and a respective distance from said reference location to each of said material dispensers;

(b) detecting application geographic coordinates of sections of said surface onto which said material is to be applied;

(c) storing the application coordinate in a computer which is interfaced interface to said material dispensers in such a manner as to control operation of said material dispensers said bulk material;

(d) transporting said group of interconnected containers on said surface;

(e) detecting current geographic coordinates of said GPS antenna during said transporting and said computer calculating respective geographic coordinates of each of said material dispensers from said reference location;

(f) upon the current geographic coordinates of at least one of said material dispensers correlating with said application coordinates, said computer controlling said at least one material dispensers to activate same to thereby apply said material to said surface;

(g) dividing said surface into a plurality of surface units of equal area;

(h) setting in said computer a target unit application quantity equal to a desired quantity of said material applied to each surface unit;

(i) said computer maintaining a respective stored record of a previous quantity of material applied to each surface unit;

(j) upon said computer activating one of said material dispensers, said computer calculating a projected quantity of said material which will be applied to an upcoming surface unit by activating an additional one of said material dispensers; and

(k) upon a sum of said previous quantity and said projected quantity not exceeding said target unit application quantity, said computer activating an additional one of said material dispensers.

12. A method of selectively spreading ballast along a railroad track and comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a ballast train including a plurality of ballast hopper cars, each car including a pair of ballast hoppers, each hopper having a load of ballast and including a ballast door and a ballast door actuator to position said door to control flow of said ballast therethrough, each car including car control logic circuitry, and said train including a main controller interfaced to each car control circuitry;

(b) entering into said computer, using a satellite based global positioning system, spread geographic coordinates of spread sections of a track on which ballast is to be spread and no-spread geographic coordinates of no-spread sections of said track on which ballast is not to be spread;

(c) said computer dividing said spread sections and no-spread sections into track length units;

(d) entering into said computer a target ballast quantity per track length unit to be applied to said spread sections;

(e) transporting said train along spread sections and said no-spread sections of said track;

(f) said computer maintaining an and updating a record of current percentage of said target ballast quantity associates with each track length unit of said spread sections and said no-spread sections of said track;

(g) periodically detecting geographic coordinates of each ballast door using a satelite base d global positioning system and a ballast do or state of being open or closed;

(h) upon detecting a door state of a current ballast door state, said computer calculating if a change of said ballast door state is required to increase a percentage of said target ballast quantity for a selected set of said track length units without exceeding said target ballast quantity;

(i) each car including front and rear ballast hoppers, corresponding front and rear ballast doors, and corresponding front and rear door motors, and including the steps of;

(1) providing each car with respective car control logic circuitry interfacing said computer to the front and rear door motors of the associated cars, each car control circuitry having a unique car address code; and

(2) said computer querying each car control circuitry for the associated car address code in such a manner as to determine a sequential order of said cars; and

(j) said computer querying each car to determine a forward or rearward orientation of each car.