Railroad wheel temperature sensor with infrared array
AssigneeServo Corporation of America
InventorAlan P. Doctor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A temperature sensor assembly for monitoring railroad car wheels includes an array of temperature detectors arranged to generate a temperature profile of the wheel. The array may be formed integrally with imaging elements and signal conditioning elements on a single IC chip. The assembly may be arranged to monitor the wheel either transversely or in parallel to the direction of wheel movement.
Claims17
A wheel temperature sensor assembly for railroad systems for monitoring the temperature of the wheels of railroad cards, said assembly comprising:
- projecting means for projecting an image of an railroad wheel portion;
- a detector array consisting of a plurality of infrared temperature detectors, each detector generating a temperature indicative signal, said detector array receiving said image from said projecting means and generating a two-dimensional profile of said wheel portion;
- and
- processing means for processing said temperature indicative signals and for generating an alarm signal when said temperature indicative signals exceed a preselected limit characterizing an abnormal condition for said wheel.
A temperature sensor assembly for monitoring the temperatures of the wheels of a railroad train moving in a direction, said sensor assembly comprising:
- a stationary detector array consisting of a plurality of infrared temperature detector;
- projecting means for projecting images of several wheel zones from a railroad wheel on said array, each detector generating a temperature indicative signal indicative of the temperature of one of said wheel zones to define a two-dimensional temperature profile of said wheel;
- and
- signal processing means for processing said temperature indicative signals, said signal processing means generating an alarm signal indicative of a high temperature associated with said wheel.
A temperature sensor assembly for monitoring the temperatures of the wheels of a railroad train moving in a direction on a track, said sensor assembly comprising:
- a wheel detector disposed adjacent to said track for detecting said wheel and for generating a wheel present signal when said wheel is detected;
- a stationary housing associated with said track;
- a detector array disposed in said housing and including a plurality of infrared detectors;
- projecting means disposed in said housing and arranged to project an image of said wheel moving on said track on said detector array, said infrared detectors generating temperature indicative signals defining a two dimensional temperature profile of said wheel;
- and
- processing means arranged to receive said temperature indicative signals and said wheel present signal and to generate an alarm indicative of a high temperature condition of said wheel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.