System and method for wheel impact load detection compensation
AssigneeBNSF Railway Company
InventorsHark Braren, Bryan Frank
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wheel impact load detection system for detecting defects in wheel of railroad vehicles is presented. The system can receive data from sensors and/or a weather station to determine a maximum force applied to a rail, and subsequently calibrate the determined maximum force to account to environmental conditions. Additionally, the present disclosure can assign severity levels and generate alerts with the assigned severity levels, and such severity levels can facilitate the proper prioritization of the alerts. It is an object of the invention to provide a system for accounting for variable environmental conditions and/or variable rail tension in assigning severity levels to mitigate unneeded stoppage of railway traffic.
Claims20
A system for generating railroad alerts related to wheel impact load detection sensor data, comprising:
- a memory having a first database with a plurality of sensor data, thresholds, and specifications related to a vehicle and at least a portion of a track;
- and
- a networked computer processor operably coupled to the memory and capable of executing machine-readable instructions to perform program steps, the program steps including:
- detecting the vehicle on the track;
- receiving environmental data;
- receiving sensor data corresponding to a force or forces exerted by the vehicle on the track;
- determining an original max peak force from the sensor data;
- comparing the original max peak force with a first force threshold;
- if the original max peak force exceeds the first force threshold:
- determining if the environmental data satisfies an environmental threshold;
- and
- if the environmental data satisfies the environmental threshold,
- generating, via the processor, a calibrated max peak force;
- utilizing either the original max peak force or the calibrated max peak force in assigning a severity level;
- generating an alert including the severity level;
- and
- if the original max peak force is below the first force threshold, no alert is generated.
A method of compensating for environmental conditions in wheel impact load detection, the method comprising the steps of:
- detecting a vehicle on a track;
- generating, via one or more processors, at least one record including a date, a time, a direction of the vehicle, and an Axle count of the vehicle;
- receiving environmental data;
- receiving sensor data from at least one strain gauge coupled to the track;
- determining an original max force value from the sensor data;
- comparing the original max force value with a first force threshold;
- if the environmental data satisfies an environmental threshold, generating, via the one or more processers, a calibrated max force value by calibrating the original max force value with an operational variable;
- if the original max force value exceeds the first force threshold, and if the calibrated max force value was not generated, utilizing the original max force value to assign a first severity level;
- if the original max force value exceeds the first force threshold, and if the calibrated max force value was generated, utilizing the calibrated max force value to assign a second severity level;
- generating an alert including either the first or second severity level;
- and
- updating the at least one record;
- wherein if the original max force value is below the first force threshold, the at least one record is updated without generating an alert.
A method of compensating for variable rail tension caused by environmental conditions in wheel impact load detection, the method comprising the steps of:
- detecting a vehicle on a track;
- receiving environmental data;
- receiving sensor data from at least one strain gauge coupled to the track;
- determining, via one or more processors, a max force value from the sensor data;
- if the max force value exceeds a first force threshold, determining if the environmental data satisfies an environmental threshold;
- if the max force value exceeds the first force threshold, and if the environmental data satisfies the environmental threshold, assigning a first severity level;
- and
- if the max force value exceeds the first force threshold, and if the environmental data does not satisfy the environmental threshold, assigning a second severity level;
- and
- generating an alert including the first or second severity level;
- wherein if the max force value is below the first force threshold, no alert is generated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.