Bolt-like railway vehicle wheel detector
AssigneeWestinghouse Air Brake Company
InventorHeinz Gilcher
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A railway car wheel detection arrangement employing a pair of bolt-like sensor units which are spaced apart a given distance and are fastened to holes formed in the web portion of the track rail. Each of the sensor units includes an oblong aperture having a planar surface to which is secured a strain gage element. The strain gage element is tension stressed under the load of a wheel of a railway car to vary its resistance value which results in the unbalancing of a bridge network to produce a signal signifying the presence of a car wheel.
Claims10
A detecting device for sensing passing wheels of railway vehicles comprising, a bolt-like member having a cavity formed therein, a strain gage member located within said cavity, a track rail for supporting the passing wheels of the railway vehicles, said bolt-like member is tapered and is threaded at one end to be fitted into an aperture formed in said track rail and is secured to said track rail by a nut whereby said strain gage member detects the stress which is imparted to the track rail under the load of the wheels of the railway vehicles.
A railway car wheel sensing arrangement comprising a pair of wheel sensors spaced apart and mounted in respective holes formed in the web of a track rail, each of said pair of wheel sensors including an internally mounted strain gage element for detecting the deflection of the track rail when a wheel of a railway car passes over the respective sensor, a bridge network having a pair of input and output terminals, a source of a.c. signals connectable to said input terminals, each of said strain gage elements forming a respective resistance leg of a bridge network which results in a change in resistance and causes an unbalancing of said bridge network when the strain gage element is placed in tension by the deflection of the track rail so that amplitude modulation of the a.c. signals is developed across said pair of output terminals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.