Broken rail detector
AssigneeAthena Industrial Technologies Inc.
InventorPaul D. Gies
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus to detect breaks in tracks and/or detect the presence of a vehicle, such as a train, in a monitored section of the track or rail. Embodiments of the present invention measure the change in track inductance associated with a track or rail break. Electrical shunts are connected between the rails at spaced-apart intervals (for example a shunt can be placed every mile). At least two different frequencies of alternating current are generated and fed into the segments of rail (for example at or near a mid-point between the shunts). If a rail break occurs, the total inductance of the rail at that segment will change. Using two or more frequencies allows a rail break to be differentiated from environmental rail-to-rail and rail-to-earth leakage.
Claims24
A detector comprising:
- a circuit configured to apply at least two frequencies of alternating electrical current to a shunted segment of a track;
- said circuit configured to measure an amplitude change and a phase angle change of the at least two frequencies of alternating electrical current and identify a break in at least a portion of the track based on the measured amplitude change and the phase angle change for each of the at least two frequencies;
- and
- said circuit configured to measure an amplitude and phase of each of the at least two frequencies of alternating electrical current to cancel out common parasitic resistance that is in parallel with rail inductance of the shunted segment of the track normalizing the amplitudes of the at least two frequencies if the amplitudes of the at least two frequencies are not equal.
A method for detecting a break in at least a portion of a track comprising:
- forming a track segment by establishing or otherwise using an electrical shunt at each end of the track segment;
- applying at least two frequencies of alternating electrical current to the track segment, such that each of the at least two frequencies of alternating electrical current flow through two loops within the track segment;
- monitoring a phase angle of each of the at least two frequencies of alternating electrical current;
- transmitting data indicative of a break in the track;
- and
- canceling out parasitic resistance of a first loop of the two loops that is in parallel with rail inductance of the first loop and canceling out parasitic resistance of a second loop of the two loops that is in parallel with rail inductance of the second loop by:
- normalizing amplitudes of the two frequencies if the amplitudes of the two frequencies are not equal;
- and
- monitoring a voltage and a phase of the at least two frequencies of alternating electrical current and using data from the monitored voltage and phase to cancel out the parasitic resistance of at the first loop and the second loop.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.