Magnetic traction assist for railcar mover
AssigneeTrackmobile LLC
InventorsRobert Evans, Jeffrey Looney, Kevin Grover, Calvin Wagner, Marco Mattioli
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A magnetic traction assembly is disclosed for a railcar mover that provides additional downforce to improve traction for a railcar mover when required. The magnetic traction assembly may comprise a frame, an actuator, and a magnetic element positioned underneath a railcar mover. The magnetic element may be lowered to a deployed position, where the magnetic element is positioned near the railroad rails such that the magnetic field from the magnetic element interacts with the railroad rail creating an attraction force that provides additional downforce to the railcar mover.
Claims17
A traction assist assembly for a railcar mover comprising:
- one or more magnetic elements attached to a bottom side of a railcar mover, the railcar mover having rail wheels for traveling on railroad rails and road wheels for traveling along a road;
- a control system comprising one or more physical processors programmed by one or more computer program instructions that, when executed, configure the one or more physical processors to automatically engage or disengage the one or more magnetic elements, wherein to automatically engage or disengage the one or more magnetic elements, the one or more physical processors are configured to determine a current operational mode of the railcar mover, the current operational mode comprising one of rail mode and road mode, wherein the railcar mover is configured to travel along railroad rails via the rail wheels in rail mode, and wherein the railcar mover is configured to travel along a road via the road wheels in road mode;
- and
- wherein the one or more magnetic elements are configured to be positioned over a railroad rail such that, when engaged, the one or more magnetic elements create an attractive force between the one or more magnetic elements and the railroad rail when the railcar mover is traveling on the railroad rail via the rail wheels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.