System and method for monitoring the health of a damper for a rail vehicle

Gas-hydraulic damper for a rail vehicle, comprising

• a cylindrical housing (1) in which a hollow piston (2) is received axially movable,
• a working chamber (5) of variable volume in the housing (1),
• an overflow chamber (4) of variable volume in the movable piston (2), the hydraulic overflow chamber (4) being connected to the hydraulic working chamber (5) via a throttle (8) in a flow passage between the working chamber (5) and the overflow chamber (4),
• a spring chamber (3) of variable volume in the piston (2), the spring chamber (3) configured to hold a gas volume for acting as a spring, and being separated from the hydraulic overflow chamber (4) by a separator piston (6) that is axially movable within the hollow piston (2) and with respect to the hollow piston (2),
• at least one sensor (7) configured to measure a stroke related parameter of the gas-hydraulic damper (10) and generate signals indicative of the measured stroke related parameter;
• and
• a transmitter configured to receive signals from the at least one sensor (7) and transmit said signals to processing circuitry for determining a first stroke value (SV1) based on a first input signal (S1) and failure of the gas-hydraulic damper (10) if the first stroke value (SV1) of if the stroke fulfills a first criterion.

A rail vehicle damper monitoring system (100) for detecting failure of at least one gas-hydraulic damper (10), comprising

• a gas-hydraulic damper (10) for a rail vehicle;
• and
• processing circuitry (110);
• wherein
• the gas-hydraulic damper (10) comprises at least one sensor (7) configured to measure a stroke related parameter and to send signals indicative of the measured stroke related parameter to the processing circuitry (110);
• the processing circuitry (110) is configured to, for each of the at least one gas-hydraulic damper (10), detect failure of the gas-hydraulic damper (10), by:
• receiving from one or more of the at least one sensor (7) in the gas-hydraulic damper (10), a first input signal (S1) indicative of a stroke related parameter of the gas-hydraulic damper determined at a first time instance (T1),
• determining a first stroke value (SV1), based on the first input signal (S1),
• receiving at least one second input signal (Si) from the at least one sensor (7),
• each subsequent signal (Si) is indicative of a respective stroke related parameter measured at a respective subsequent time instance (Ti),
• determining a respective stroke value (SVi), based on each of the second input signals (Si),
• determining a stroke value over time (SVT), based on the determined stroke values (SV1, SVi), and
• determining failure of the gas-hydraulic damper (10) if the stroke value over time (SVT) fulfills a first criterion;
• additionally comprising
• an ambient temperature sensor for measuring ambient temperature, and the processing circuitry (110) is configured to:
• receive a temperature value from the ambient temperature sensor (130);
• and
• determine the first stroke value (SV1) and/or the stroke value over time (SVT), also based on the ambient temperature.

A rail vehicle damper monitoring system (100) for detecting failure of at least one gas-hydraulic damper (10), comprising

• a gas-hydraulic damper (10) for a rail vehicle;
• and
• processing circuitry (110);
• wherein
• the gas-hydraulic damper (10) comprises at least one sensor (7) configured to measure a stroke related parameter and to send signals indicative of the measured stroke related parameter to the processing circuitry (110);
• the processing circuitry (110) is configured to, for each of the at least one gas-hydraulic damper (10), detect failure of the gas-hydraulic damper (10), by:
• receiving from one or more of the at least one sensor (7) in the gas-hydraulic damper (10), a first input signal (S1) indicative of a stroke related parameter of the gas-hydraulic damper determined at a first time instance (T1),
• determining a first stroke value (SV1), based on the first input signal (S1),
• receiving at least one second input signal (Si) from the at least one sensor (7),
• each subsequent signal (Si) is indicative of a respective stroke related parameter measured at a respective subsequent time instance (Ti),
• determining a respective stroke value (SVi), based on each of the second input signals (Si),
• determining a stroke value over time (SVT), based on the determined stroke values (SV1, SVi),
• determining failure of the gas-hydraulic damper (10) if the stroke value over time (SVT) fulfills a first criterion;
• and
• the processing circuitry (110) is further configured to:
• compare the stroke value over time (SVT), to a preset first coupling threshold;
• and
• determine the rail vehicle is in a coupling mode in which the rail vehicle is currently being coupled to, or uncoupled from, another rail vehicle, based on the comparison of the stroke value over time (SVT), to the preset first coupling threshold.

Computerized method for detecting failure of at least one gas-hydraulic damper (10) for a rail vehicle damper monitoring system (100) including processing circuitry (110);

• wherein
• the gas-hydraulic damper (10) comprises at least one sensor (7) configured to measure a stroke related parameter and to send signals indicative of the measured stroke related parameter to the processing circuitry (110);
• the processing circuitry (110) is configured to, for each of the at least one gas-hydraulic damper (10), detect failure of the gas-hydraulic damper (10), by:
• receiving from the at least one sensor (7) in the gas-hydraulic damper (10), a first input signal (S1) indicative of a stroke related parameter of the gas-hydraulic damper determined at a first time instance (T1),
• determining a first stroke value (SV1), based on the first input signal (S1),
• receiving at least one second input signal (Si) from the at least one sensor (7),
• each subsequent signal (Si) is indicative of a respective stroke related parameter measured at a respective subsequent time instance (Ti),
• determining a respective stroke value (SVi), based on each of the second input signals (Si),
• determining a stroke value over time (SVT), based on the determined stroke values (SV1, SVi), and
• determining failure of the gas-hydraulic damper (10) if the stroke value over time (SVT) fulfills a first criterion;
• additionally comprising
• an ambient temperature sensor for measuring ambient temperature, and the processing circuitry (110) is configured to:
• receive a temperature value from the ambient temperature sensor (130);
• and
• determine the first stroke value (SV1) and/or the stroke value over time (SVT), also based on the ambient temperature,
• said method comprising for each of the at least one gas-hydraulic damper (10), the steps of:
• receiving, in the processing circuitry (110) communicatively connected to the gas-hydraulic damper (10), from the at least one sensor (7) in the gas-hydraulic damper (10), said first input signal (S1) indicative of said stroke related parameter of the gas-hydraulic damper determined at said first time instance (T1),
• determining, using the processing circuitry (110), said a first stroke value (SV1) based on the first input signal (S1),
• receiving, in the processing circuitry (110), said at least one second input signal (Si) from the at least one sensor (7), each said subsequent signal (Si) indicative of said respective stroke related parameter measured at said respective subsequent time instance (Ti),
• determining, using the processing circuitry (110), said respective stroke value (SVi) based on each of the second input signals (Si),
• determining, using the processing circuitry (110), said stroke value over time (SVT) based on the determined stroke values (SV1, SVi), and
• determining, using the processing circuitry (110), failure of the gas-hydraulic damper (10) if the stroke value over time (SVT) fulfills a first criterion.