Model railroad occupancy detection equipment
OwnerAnthony John Irelandinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
New techniques are presented for occupancy detection methods employed in the control, automation and operation of scale Model railroad layouts that permit new types of capabilities to be incorporated into the railroad. The invention allows for a universal occupancy detector that can automatically configure itself to work on common rail or direct home wiring arrangements. This occupancy detector is able to work with large track feeder parasitic or stray capacitances and is also able to determine when any direct home track section is energized.
Claims8
A method of forming an apparatus for detecting track occupancy on a model railroad layout (4), comprising the steps of:
- providing a two terminal current detection arrangement (52,53), an attenuator arrangement (56,57,59,60), a comparison logic device (61), short circuit link (67), and a ground connection (65);
- connecting first and second terminals of said two terminal current detection arrangement to said attenuator arrangement to produce Vtrk and Vref voltages;
- connecting said Vtrk and Vref voltages to said comparison logic device (61) for processing;
- positioning said short circuit link for selective connecting and disconnecting said second terminal to said ground connection so to configure said apparatus to selectively operate in a common rail wiring operating mode, in which said short circuit link electrically connects said second terminal to said ground connection, and in a direct home wiring operating mode, in which said short circuit link disconnects said second terminal from said ground connection.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.