Method, apparatus, and system for non-contact manual measurement of a wheel profile
OwnerKambiz NAYEBIinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method, apparatus and system for non-contact measurement of a railway wheel profile are disclosed herein. To measure the wheel profile, a laser having a distance displacement sensor and angular displacement sensor projects a beam of light onto the surface of a railway wheel to measure the wheel profile. In an alternate embodiment, a rail thickness measurement gauge is provided. In another alternate embodiment, a witness groove measurement gauge is provided.
Claims22
A method for measuring the profile for a railway wheel, said method comprising:
- placing a laser having an angular displacement sensing unit and distance displacement sensing unit in a calibrated location proximate to a railway wheel;
- energizing said laser to emanate a laser beam;
- rotating said laser to cause said laser beam to reflect off a plurality of locations on at least a portion of said railway wheel;
- capturing angular displacement and distance displacement data of said plurality of locations;
- and
- calculating a set of wheel parameters based upon said captured distance displacement data and angular displacement data of said reflected beam from said plurality of locations.
An apparatus for optically measuring the profile for a railway wheel, said apparatus comprising:
- a means for placing a laser having angular displacement and distance displacement sensing units in a calibrated location proximate to a railway wheel;
- a means for energizing said laser to emanate a laser beam;
- a means for rotating said laser said to cause said laser beam to reflect off a plurality of points on at least a portion of said railway wheel;
- a means for capturing angular displacement and distance displacement data of said plurality of points;
- and
- a means for calculating a set of wheel parameters based upon said captured distance displacement data and angular displacement data of said reflected beam from said plurality of points.
An apparatus for optically measuring the profile of a railway wheel, said apparatus comprising a laser rotatably attached to a measurement unit.
A system for optically measuring the profile for a railway wheel, said system comprising:
- a laser having an angular displacement sensing unit and distance displacement sensing unit, said angular displacement sensing unit providing the distance measurement of a laser beam travel emanating from said laser and said distance displacement sensing unit providing angular displacement measurement of said laser;
- a mounting device for mounting said laser onto a railway wheel at a calibrated position, said laser rotatably mounted onto said mounting device;
- a computational unit in communication with said distance displacement sensing unit and said angular displacement sensing unit for receiving said distance measurement and said angular displacement measurement.
A method for measuring the profile for a railway wheel, said method comprising:
- rotating a laser beam along a plurality of points on a railway wheel;
- and
- detecting the distance the laser beam travels along said plurality of points and the angular displacement at each detected plurality of points.
A method for measuring a railway wheel diameter, said method comprising the steps of:
- placing a laser having angular displacement and distance displacement sensing units in a calibrated location proximate to a railway wheel;
- energizing said laser to emanate a laser beam;
- rotating said laser said to cause said laser beam to reflect off a plurality of points on a witness groove measurement device and along outer surface of said railway wheel substantially perpendicular to the wheel circumference;
- capturing angular displacement and distance displacement data of said plurality of points;
- and calculating the wheel diameter based upon said captured distance displacement data and angular displacement data of said plurality of points.
An apparatus for measuring a railway wheel witness groove, said apparatus comprising:
- a laser rotatably attached to a measurement unit, said measurement unit comprising a laser displacement sensor to measure distance data of a beam of said laser and a rotary encoder to measure the angular displacement data of said laser when emitting said beam;
- a bracket for mounting said measurement unit on a railway wheel wherein said laser housing is attached to said bracket;
- and
- and a witness groove measurement device, wherein said witness groove measurement device comprises a magnet for removably attaching said witness groove measurement device onto a train wheel, wherein
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.