Rail signal arrangement for a rail signaling system
AssigneeUnipart Rail Limited
InventorKurt Conyngham
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A rail signal arrangement for a rail signaling system comprises a rail signal having a rail signal lamp including a plurality of light emitter sub-arrays each comprising a light emitter, wherein the light emitter sub-arrays are electrically connected in parallel. A control circuit is provided and configured to operate the rail signal lamp in response to operating instructions from a remote operations management system, detect the proportion of light emitter sub-arrays that are in an operable condition with a monitoring system, and provide a condition status signal to the remote operations management system in accordance with whether the proportion of light emitter sub-arrays in an operable condition meets a minimum threshold level.
Claims14
A rail signal arrangement for a rail signaling system comprising:
- a rail signal having a plurality of rail signal lamps each comprising a plurality of light emitter sub-arrays that each comprise a light emitter, wherein the light emitter sub-arrays of each rail signal lamp are electrically connected in parallel;
- an aspect controller having a control circuit configured to:
- (i) operate the rail signal lamps in response to operating instructions from a remote operations management system,
- (ii) detect, with a monitoring system, a proportion of light emitter sub-arrays in each rail signal lamp that are operable to emit light when driven, and
- (iii) provide a condition status signal to the remote operations management system in accordance with whether the proportion of operable light emitter sub-arrays in each rail signal lamp meets a minimum threshold level;
- wherein the control circuit is configured for at least two of the plurality of rail signal lamps to have different respective-minimum threshold levels;
- and
- wherein if operation of a rail signal lamp of said plurality of rail signal lamps meets the minimum threshold level, a positive condition status signal is sent to the remote operations management system, and wherein if operation of the rail signal lamp does not meet the satisfactory minimum threshold level, the aspect controller returns a lamp out signal to the remote operations management system thereby informing an operator of the rail signaling system that it is necessary to replace or repair the rail signal lamp;
- and
- wherein the positive condition status signal or the lamp out signal are sent for each of the at least two of the plurality of rail signal lamps having the different respective minimum threshold levels.
A method of controlling a rail signal comprising:
- operating a rail signal having a plurality of rail signal lamps with a control circuit in response to operating instructions from a remote operations management system, each of the rail signal lamps comprising a plurality of light emitter sub-arrays that each comprise a light emitter, wherein the light emitter sub-arrays of each rail signal lamp are electrically connected in parallel,
- detecting, with a monitoring system, a proportion of light emitter sub-arrays in each rail signal lamp that are operable to emit light when driven, and
- providing a condition status signal to the remote operations management system in accordance with whether the proportion of operable light emitter sub-arrays in each rail signal lamp meets a minimum threshold level,
- wherein the control circuit is configured for at least two of the plurality of rail signal lamps to have different respective minimum threshold levels;
- and
- wherein if operation of a rail signal lamp of said plurality of rail signal lamps meets the corresponding minimum threshold level, a positive condition status signal is sent to the remote operations management system, and wherein if operation of the rail signal lamp does not meet the satisfactory corresponding minimum threshold level, the aspect controller returns a lamp out signal to the remote operations management system thereby informing an operator of the rail signaling system that it is necessary to replace or repair the rail signal lamp;
- and
- wherein the positive condition status signal or the lamp out signal are sent for the at least two of the plurality of rail signal lamps having the different respective minimum threshold levels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.