Wheel profile sensor

Measurement apparatus for measuring the profile of a railway wheel while said railway wheel is in rolling motion on a rail, said railway wheel having a gage side and a field side and a circumferentially defined running surface and flange, comprising:

• first sensor means having an emitter and an associated receiver being disposed on the field side of the railway wheel and being disposed at an included angle with respect to the rail that is less than orthogonal for sensing the profile of the running surface and flange of the railway wheel at a point on circumference thereof;
• second sensor means having at least one emitter and at least an associated receiver being disposed on the gage side of the railway wheel for sensing selected wheel parameters;
• and
• a control means operably communicatively coupled to the first and second means for activating the first sensor means responsive to the detection of the presence of a railway wheel and for applying the selected railway wheel parameters sensed by the second sensor means to the wheel profile sensed by the first sensor means to generate an actual profile measurement of the railway wheel running surface and flange taken along a plane defined by a radial section of the railway wheel, wherein the sensed profile of the railway wheel is corrected for angle attack of the railway wheel existing at the time that the second sensor means senses the railway wheel profile, the correction for angle of attack being a component of the actual profile measurement of the railway wheel.

A method for measuring the profile of a railway wheel while said railway wheel is in rolling motion on a rail, said railway wheel having a gage side and a field side, a gage circumference being defined on the gage side thereof and having a rim having a circumferentially defined running surface and flange, comprising the steps of:

• a. capturing the images including a first two gage points, a second two gage points, and the sensed profile of the running surface and flange substantially simultaneously;
• b. determining the coordinates of end points of the sensed profile image;
• c. determining the coordinates of the first two gage points;
• d. determining the coordinates of the second two gage points;
• e. calculating the wheel center, radius of the gage circumference, and wheel angle of attack in world coordinates using the coordinates of the first and second two gage points;
• f. calculating the profile measurement comprised of a plurality of data points in world coordinates using the sensed profile image;
• h. transforming all calculations into wheel coordinates from world coordinates using the wheel center as the origin of the wheel coordinates;
• i. calculating the actual wheel profile comprising a plurality of data points, the wheel diameter, the angle of attack, the flange height, the flange thickness, and the rim thickness in wheel coordinates;
• and
• j. reporting and saving the calculated data.

Measurement apparatus for measuring the profile of a railway wheel while said railway wheel is in rolling motion on a rail, said railway wheel having a gage side and a field side, a gage circumference being defined on the gage side thereof, and said railway wheel having a circumferentially defined running surface and flange, comprising:

• first sensor means having an emitter and an associated receiver being disposed on the field side of the railway wheel and being disposed at an included angle with respect to the rail that is less than orthogonal for sensing the profile of the running surface and flange of the railway wheel at a point on circumference thereof;
• second sensor means having at least one emitter and at least an associated receiver being disposed on the gage side of the railway wheel for sensing a plurality of gage points on the gage circumference of the railway wheel, said gage points being the end points of two chords of the gage circumference of the railway wheel, the two chords of the gage circumference of the railway wheel being substantially parallel with respect to one another;
• and
• a control means operably communicatively coupled to the first and second means for activating the first sensor means responsive to the detection of the presence of a railway wheel and for applying the plurality of gage points on the gage circumference of the railway wheel sensed by the second sensor means to the wheel profile sensed by the first sensor means to generate an actual profile measurement of the railway wheel running surface and flange taken along a plane defined by a radial section of the railway wheel, wherein the control means determines a railway wheel angle of attack as a function of differences in height of the two end points of at least one of the chords of the gage circumference of the railway wheel with respect to a selected reference height.