System and method for automatic wheel diameter measurement and calibration
AssigneeSiemens Mobility GmbH
InventorsJames R. Krietemeyer, Ervin Vakufac
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for automatic wheel diameter measurement and calibration comprises one or more sensing device(s) configured to sense rotation of a wheel and provide rotation data of the wheel, a positioning system configured to provide positioning data of a vehicle, a database including milepost and distance data, and a controller configured to automatically calculate a wheel diameter and a wheel diameter inaccuracy based on the rotation data, the positioning data, and a distance between a start point and an end point extracted from the database, during operation of the vehicle. Further, an associated method and non-transitory computer readable medium are described.
Claims18
A method for automatic wheel diameter measurement and calibration, the method comprising:
- measuring rotation of a wheel of a train when the train is travelling along a path,
- determining positions of the train when the train is travelling along the path, wherein the positions are determined by a positioning system located on the train,
- receiving, by a controller on the train, rotation data of the wheel and positioning data of the train, wherein the rotation data include number of wheel revolutions, and wherein the positioning data include a start point and an end point along the path travelled by the train,
- extracting, by the controller, a distance between the start point and the end point from a database, and
- automatically calculating, by the controller, a wheel diameter and a wheel diameter inaccuracy, wherein the wheel diameter is calculated on the number of wheel revolutions and distance traversed by the train,
- adjusting, by the controller, a wheel diameter value in an onboard unit (OBU) of the train using a calculated wheel diameter, and
- logging an event, by the controller or the OBU, each time the wheel diameter value is adjusted, recording the calculated wheel diameter and the wheel diameter inaccuracy along with a time stamp, and reporting the event which results in an update to set wheel diameter values to an event recorder (ER) onboard the train,
- wherein the OBU of the train is configured to allow a user to access wheel diameter data via a diagnostic screen, and
- wherein extracting the distance between the start point and the end point from the database comprises
- matching the start point and the end point to points in the database, and
- calculating the distance by summing lengths between the points in the database.
An onboard train system for automatic wheel diameter measurement and calibration, the system comprising:
- at least one revolution counter device configured to sense rotation of a wheel of a train and provide rotation data of the wheel, wherein the rotation data include a number of wheel revolutions,
- a positioning system comprising a global positioning system (GPS) receiver and configured to provide positioning data of the train, the positioning data including a start point and an end point along a path travelled by the train, and
- a controller configured to receive the rotation data and the positioning data and to automatically calculate a wheel diameter and a wheel diameter inaccuracy based on the number of wheel revolutions and distance traversed by the train,
- wherein the distance traversed by the train is extracted from a database utilizing the start point and the end point provided by the positioning system,
- wherein the controller is configured to adjust a wheel diameter value in an onboard unit (OBU) of the train using a calculated wheel diameter, and
- wherein the controller or the OBU of the train is configured to log an event each time the wheel diameter is adjusted, record the calculated wheel diameter and the wheel diameter inaccuracy along with a time stamp in the OBU internal log files, and to report the event which results in an update to set wheel diameter values to an event recorder (ER) onboard the train, and
- wherein the OBU of the train is configured to allow a user to access wheel diameter data via a diagnostic screen,
- wherein the controller is configured to detect wheel wear when multiple calculations of wheel diameters fall below a minimum of a current wheel diameter inaccuracy band of a current wheel diameter measurement stored in the train.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.