Electronic air brake control system for railcars
AssigneeWestinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation
InventorsDavid H. Halvorson, Dennis W. Sutherland
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electronic air brake control system which utilizes an inter-car distance measuring sensor for determining the distance between adjacent railcars and thereby determining the coupling slack and also determining the performance and response of railcar brake applications. The system providing the capability of controlling the slack to increase or decrease slack at a controlled rate and further for monitoring and regulating the amount of pneumatic brake signal required to produce a predetermined level of wheel resistance, together with a system and method for applying railcar brakes when predetermined characteristics relating to distance between cars and rate of change of distance between cars meets predetermined characteristics.
Claims35
An electronic air brake control system comprising:
- a distance measuring sensor for measuring inter-car separation distances between adjacent railcars and recording the inter-car separation distances between the adjacent railcars during previous braking applications;
- an electronic air brake controller electrically coupled to said distance measuring sensor, said electronic air brake controller learning variations in available slack between coupled railcars and generating an electronic control signal as a function of the inter-car measured distance and the recorded inter-car separation distances between the adjacent railcars during previous braking;
- and
- a railcar air brake coupled to said electronic air brake controller, said railcar air brake applying a variable resistance to a railcar wheel in response to said electronic control signal received from the electronic air brake controller.
An electronic air brake control system comprising:
- means for measuring inter-car separation distances which vary in response to changes in slack associated with mechanical inter-car couplers;
- means for recording changes in the slack associated with the mechanical inter-car couplers during previous braking applications;
- means for generating a pneumatic signal for controlling an air brake on a railcar in response to electronic brake control signals;
- and
- means for generating said electronic brake control signals in response to the measured distance signal representative of said inter-car distances and the recorded changes in the slack associated with the mechanical inter-car couplers during the previous braking applications.
A method of controlling the braking of a train comprising the steps of:
- measuring inter-car separation distances;
- recording the inter-car separation distances between adjacent railcars during previous braking applications;
- generating a measured separation signal in response to the measured and the recorded inter-car separation distances;
- and
- applying air brakes on a railcar in response to said measured separation signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.