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US 11,866,077 B2Granted
Collision protection and safety system for rail vehicles
AssigneeHarsco Technologies LLC
InventorShannon Bailey
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A railway collision protection and safety system has a vehicle device located on rail vehicles at a work zone, a personal protection unit located with rail workers at the work zone, and a dispatcher processor at a control center. An authority limit within the work zone may be determined by the dispatcher processor, and an authority exceeded signal is sent to the rail vehicle when the rail vehicle is determined to exceed the authority limit.
Claims24
A method for providing rail worker safety, the method comprising:
- defining at least one geographical boundary within a work zone;
- receiving, at a dispatcher processor of a control center, a location of a rail vehicle;
- determining whether a first distance between the location of the rail vehicle and the at least one geographical boundary is less than a threshold;
- and
- transmitting a first warning signal to the rail vehicle based on a determination that the first distance is less than the threshold, the first warning signal configured to initiate a first alarm of a first alarm system;
- wherein the at least one geographical boundary is defined independent of a speed of the rail vehicle.
3 more elements
A railway safety system, comprising:
- a first electrical communication device configured to be in communication with a control center;
- a second electrical communication device configured to be carried by a rail worker;
- and
- a vehicle unit configured to be coupled to a rail vehicle, the vehicle unit including:
- a location determination unit configured to determine a location of the rail vehicle,
- a transceiver configured to:
- transmit the location of the rail vehicle to the first electrical communication device;
- receive an alarm signal indicating that a first distance between the rail vehicle and a geographical boundary is less than a first threshold distance;
- an alarm unit configured to generate at least one of an audio or visual alarm in response to the alarm signal;
- wherein:
- the geographical boundary is defined independent of a speed of the rail vehicle;
- and
- the second electrical communication device is configured to receive an alert indicating that a second distance between the rail worker and the geographical boundary is less than a second threshold distance.
10 more elements
A railway safety system, comprising:
- a first electrical communication device configured to be in communication with a processor of a control center and to define a geographical boundary;
- and
- a vehicle unit configured to be coupled to a first rail vehicle, the vehicle unit including:
- a location determination unit configured to determine a location of the first rail vehicle,
- a transceiver configured to transmit the location of the first rail vehicle to the first electrical communication device;
- an alarm configured to generate at least one of an audio or visual alarm;
- wherein, while the location of the first rail vehicle is determined to be within the geographical boundary, the first electrical communication device is configured to transmit a warning signal based on a first distance between the first rail vehicle and the geographical boundary being less than a first threshold distance.
4 more elements
A railway safety system, comprising:
- a track protection and warning system having:
- a first electrical communication device disposed at a control center, the first electrical communication device configured to define one or more boundaries of a work zone;
- a second electrical communication device configured to be disposed within the work zone and in electronic communication with the first electrical communication device;
- a plurality of third electrical communication devices configured to be carried by rail workers within the work zone, each of the third electrical communication devices configured to be in electronic communication with the second electrical communication device;
- wherein:
- the second electrical communication device is configured to determine a location of:
- a first rail vehicle operating outside the work zone;
- and
- a second rail vehicle operating within the work zone;
- and
- the warning system is configured to generate:
- a first warning signal based on a determination that a distance between the first rail vehicle and the boundaries of the work zone is less than a first threshold distance, the first warning signal configured to initiate an alarm of the plurality of third electrical communication devices;
- and
- a second warning signal based on a determination that a distance between the second rail vehicle and the boundaries of the work zone is less than a second threshold distance, the second warning signal configured to initiate an alarm of vehicle unit of the second rail vehicle.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.