System for detection of defects in railroad car wheels

A system for detection of railroad wheel defects comprising remote railroad wheels defect monitors installed in rails over which the wheels travel, said remote railroad wheels defect monitors comprising:

• first and second succeeding acoustically isolated rail sections each of a length about one half the distance over which a full rotation of the railroad wheel travels, each equipped with an acoustical/vibration sensor, two for each rail, to define successive remote monitoring locations, said sensors being operative respond to sounds/vibrations generated when train wheels are rolling on said rail segments;
• said sensors being operative to generate specific electrical signals over the entire acoustical range of said sounds/vibrations thereby representing the nature and extent of said defects said specific electrical signals differing in their parameters from the electrical signals generated when said wheels roll over said rail sections are free from any defects;
• and
• means to amplify said electrical signals generated by said sensors over said entire acoustical range in response to sounds and vibrations made train wheels rolling over said rails;
• and means for obtaining wheel identification and defect information from the monitors comprising first computing means to analyze said amplified electrical signals by transforming said signals from time into frequency domain and generating a signal intensity vs. frequency spectra;
• second computing means to accept said spectra and compare said spectra to first reference spectra stored in said computing means to indicate the absence/presence of the wheel defects;
• and
• means to determine the location of any detected defect in said wheels.