Railroad Train Monitoring System
AssigneeAmsted Rail Company, Inc.
InventorsWilliam LeFebvre, Michel J. McCann
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Railcar monitoring utilizes instrumented, flexible pads supported within the truck pedestal jaws on the bearing adapters. The pads contain sensors for monitoring temperature pressure, shifting loads, truck hunting and the like and have circuitry for processing information received from the sensors and for processing and reporting departures of performance variables to a remote source. The system cyclically activates polling each pad on a car and communicates signals of critical departures and car identity to a remote source.
Claims21
A monitoring system for monitoring performance criteria of a railcar while in transit in a train, wherein the car includes a car body and wheel sets with wheel bearings relatively to a supporting frame of the railcar, the system comprising an elastomeric load bearing pad between each bearing and the frame for transmission of loads between the railcar and the rail, said pad providing for damping of load forces between the bearings and the frame, at least one sensing element carried by each said pad for measuring at least one parameter relevant to operating performance of the railcar, the system further comprising data collection, evaluation and communication means on said railcar for assessing said performance and for transmitting signals indicative of said assessment, said system further comprising a receiver disposed remotely from said railcar for receiving said signals.
A system for monitoring performance of a railcar, wherein the car has plural trucks each having wheel sets spaced apart on axles and bearing assemblies individual to each wheel of a wheel set relatively rotatably mounted on the axles in association with each wheel, the trucks having side frames having spaced pedestal pockets within which the bearing assemblies are received, the combination comprising an elastomeric, load bearing pad located between a pedestal pocket and the bearing assembly, said pad allowing for limited relative movement between the bearing and the pedestal pocket and providing damping of shock and abrasion, the pads further permitting controlled yaw movement of the axles within the pedestal pockets, the pads having at least one sensing device supported thereon, said at least one sensing device being a temperature sensor disposed on the pads adjacent a bearing for sensing bearing temperature, and control circuitry including a first communications circuit mounted on each pad for receiving signals indicative of temperature of the bearing unique to that pad and a second communications circuit mounted on the railcar body, said second communications circuit including logic circuitry for periodically addressing each sensing device on the railcar and for communicating values derived by said sensors to a remote location, said values being communicated only upon a determination by the logic circuitry that the values are indicative of a potential operating failure.
21-30. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.