Active broken rail detection system and method
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsDavid Michael Davenport, Ralph Thomas Hoctor, Nick Andrew Van Stralen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system to monitor the integrity of a railway track is provided. The system comprises a mechanical signal source and a correlation detector. The mechanical signal source coupled to the railway track and is configured for generating a mechanical signal pulse train over the railway track. The correlation detector monitors the integrity of the railway track by observing the pulse trains transmitted by the mechanical signal sources. If the railway track is intact, then the pulse train will travel to the correlation detector and afford the opportunity for repeatable detection.
Claims28
A system to monitor the integrity of a railway track, the system comprising:
- (a) a mechanical signal source coupled to the railway track and configured for generating a mechanical signal pulse train over the railway track, the signal pulse train having a predetermined pulse repetition interval;
- and
- (b) a correlation detector comprising:
- (i) a mechanical signal transducer coupled to the railway track and configured for converting mechanical signals on the railway track to electrical signals, and
- (ii) a processor coupled to the transducer and configured for processing the electrical signals to detect a presence of temporally correlated signal components, the correlated signal components being correlated with respect to the predetermined pulse repetition interval, wherein the detection is indicative that the transducer received the signal pulse train.
A method to monitor the integrity of a railway track, the method comprising:
- generating a mechanical signal pulse train over the railway track, the signal pulse train having a predetermined pulse repetition interval;
- and
- converting mechanical signals on the railway track to electrical signals, and
- processing the electrical signals to detect a presence of temporally correlated signal components, the correlated signal components being correlated with respect to the predetermined pulse repetition interval, wherein the detection is indicative of a reception of the signal pulse train.
A system to monitor the integrity of a railway track, the system comprising:
- (a) a plurality of mechanical signal sources coupled to the railway track and configured for generating a plurality of mechanical signal pulse trains over the railway track, the signal pulse trains having respective predetermined pulse repetition intervals;
- and
- (b) a correlation detector comprising:
- (i) a mechanical signal transducer coupled to the railway track and configured for converting mechanical signals on the railway track to electrical signals, and
- (ii) a processor coupled to the transducer and configured for processing the electrical signals to detect a presence of temporally correlated signal components, the correlated signal components being correlated with respect to the predetermined pulse repetition intervals, wherein the detection of a temporally correlated signal component is indicative that the transducer received a respective signal pulse train,
- wherein the processor comprises a plurality of delay blocks, each delay block configured for receiving a first signal set comprising the electrical signals, and using the first signal set to create a respective second signal set, the second signal set comprising a replicate of the first signal set at a respective predetermined delay,
- wherein the processor is configured for using the first signal set and the second signal sets for correlation detection.
A correlation detector for monitoring the integrity of a railway track, the detector comprising:
- (a) a mechanical signal transducer coupled to the railway track and configured for converting mechanical signals on the railway track to electrical signals, and
- (b) a processor coupled to the transducer and configured for processing the electrical signals to detect a presence of temporally correlated signal components, the correlated signal components being correlated with respect to a predetermined pulse repetition interval, wherein the detection is indicative that the transducer received a mechanical signal pulse train having a predetermined pulse repetition interval.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.