Railcar hatch cover
AssigneeFreightlucid, LLC
InventorsBharanikumar Ramasundaram, James W. Talley, Jr., Michael D. Rainone, Calvin C. Schlau, Caleb N. Nehls
Life of this patent
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Abstract
According to some embodiments, a hatch cover for an opening in a container comprises a body comprising a plate member for covering the opening in the container, a seal on the underside of the body for sealing the body to the container, and one or more pressure sensors disposed between the seal and the body. The one or more pressure sensors are operable to detect a pressure between the body and the container and are communicably coupled to a hatch status device operable to detect a change in pressure between the body and the container. Some embodiments may include a fill level sensor.
Claims19
A hatch cover for an opening in a container, the hatch cover comprising:
- a body comprising a plate member for covering the opening in the container;
- a seal on an underside of the body for sealing the body to the container;
- and
- one or more pressure sensors directly disposed between the seal and the body, wherein the one or more pressure sensors are operable to detect a pressure between the body and the container, and wherein the one or more pressure sensors are communicably coupled to a hatch status device operable to detect a change in pressure between the body and the container indicating whether the hatch cover is open.
A hatch cover for an opening in a container, the hatch cover comprising:
- a body comprising a plate member for covering the opening in the container;
- and
- a fill level sensor disposed on an underside of the body and operable to detect a fill level of a commodity within the container, wherein the fill level sensor is communicably coupled to a hatch status device operable to detect a change in the fill level of the container, wherein the fill level sensor comprises an ultrasonic transducer.
A method for use with a hatch cover for an opening in a container, the hatch cover comprising one or more sensors, the method comprising:
- detecting a first output value from the one or more sensors of the hatch cover;
- detecting a second output value from the one or more sensors of the hatch cover;
- determining the second output value is different than the first output value;
- and
- transmitting an alert to a remote location based on the determination that the second output value is different than the first output value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.