Method and apparatus for controlling the speed of a vehicle
AssigneeGeneral Signal Corporation
InventorThomas H. Engle
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus is provided for controlling the speed of a vehicle, especially vehicles of a railway train, wherein acceleration-imparting mechanisms associated with the wheels are adjusted on an individual basis by comparison of tangential speed and desired speed by the use of sensors to maintain the tangential speeds of the wheels equal to each other, and equal to a predetermined value. The technique may be employed in either the braking or the propulsion mode of operation, or in both modes, and allows commanded rates of vehicle acceleration to be realized to the greatest possible extent.
Claims5
A vehicle control system having a motor and brakes for providing tractive power and braking selectively for at least one wheel of a vehicle and apparatus governing the motor and brakes in accordance with sensing desired and actual vehicle speeds wherein the improvement comprises;
- a. adhesion control valve means having an input fluid supply port, a first output fluid pressure port for governing brakes of the wheel and a second output fluid pressure port for governing tractive power of the motor,
- b. the adhesion control valve means having coaxial input shafts at opposite ends thereof rotated in the same direction in accordance with sensed actual and desired speeds respectively for the wheel of the vehicle,
- c. the adhesion control valve means comprising differential sensing means for sensing whether rotation of the desired speed shaft is lagging or leading the actual speed shaft and in accordance therewith for selecting output fluid pressure to be applied to the first or second output ports respectively, and
- d. the differential sensing means being operable to deliver an output fluid pressure proportional to the angular velocity difference in rotation of the two input shafts.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.