Video inspection system for inspection of rail components and method thereof

A video inspection system mountable on a railcar and/or a vehicle adapted to travel on a railroad track, said railroad track including individual rails, said video inspection system being adapted to facilitate inspection of predetermined rail components while traveling on the railroad track, said video inspection system comprising:

• a light source adapted to provide illumination to at least one rail of the railroad track to illuminate visible surfaces of the predetermined rail components on upper and/or side surfaces of the rail;
• a distance sensor that is pointed toward the rail of the railroad track, said distance sensor being adapted to provide an output signal indicating the presence of each predetermined rail component upon detection of said predetermined rail components;
• a trigger generator adapted to convert said output signal from said distance sensor to a trigger signal, wherein the trigger generator is activated upon detection of each predetermined rail component;
• a camera adapted to provide an image of each predetermined rail component;
• a computing device adapted to capture and store said image of each predetermined rail component provided by said camera and to compare each predetermined rail component to a pattern indicative of damage or a defect in the rail component, said computing device including a memory device for storing said captured image to allow retrieval of said stored image;
• and
• a position means for determining the position of the railcar or the vehicle, and for providing position data indicative of said determined position;
• wherein said computing device is further adapted to correlate said captured image of each predetermined rail component with said position data to allow determination of the location at which said image was captured.

A method for inspecting predetermined rail components of a railroad track, said railroad track including individual rails, while traveling on the railroad track comprising the steps of:

• illuminating at least one rail of the railroad track to illuminate visible surfaces of the predetermined rail components on upper and/or side surfaces of the rail;
• providing a camera adapted to provide an image of each predetermined rail component;
• detecting the presence of said predetermined rail component using a sensor;
• providing an output signal indicating the presence of each predetermined rail component;
• converting the output signal to a trigger signal with a trigger generator, wherein the trigger generator is activated upon detection of each predetermined rail component;
• and
• capturing and storing said image of each predetermined rail component that is provided by said camera and comparing each predetermined rail component to a pattern indicative of damage or a defect in each predetermined rail component.

A method for inspecting predetermined rail components of a railroad track, said railroad track including individual rails, while traveling on the railroad track comprising the steps of:

• illuminating at least one rail of the railroad track to illuminate visible surfaces of the predetermined rail components on upper and/or side surfaces of the rail;
• detecting the presence of the predetermined rail components based on the signature of the output of a vibration sensor to provide an output signal indicative of the presence of the redetermined rail components;
• providing a camera adapted to provide an image of each predetermined rail component;
• converting the output signal to a trigger signal with a trigger generator, wherein the trigger generator is activated upon detection of each predetermined rail component;
• and
• capturing and storing said image of each predetermined rail component that is provided by said camera and comparing each predetermined rail component to a pattern indicative of damage or a defect based on said trigger signal.

A video inspection system mountable on at least one of a railcar or a vehicle adapted to travel on a railroad track, said railroad track including individual rails, said video inspection system being adapted to facilitate inspection of a predetermined rail components while traveling on the railroad track, said video inspection system comprising:

• a light source adapted to provide illumination to at least one rail of the railroad track to illuminate visible surfaces of the predetermined rail components on upper and/or side surfaces of the rail;
• a vibration sensor that is mounted on the railcar and/or vehicle, said vibration sensor being adapted to provide an output signal indicating the presence of each predetermined rail component upon detection of said predetermined rail component;
• a trigger generator adapted to convert said output signal from said vibration sensor to a trigger signal, wherein the trigger generator is activated upon detection of each predetermined rail component;
• a camera adapted to provide an image of each predetermined rail component based on the trigger signal;
• a computing device adapted to capture and store said image of each predetermined rail component provided by said camera and to compare each predetermined rail component to a pattern indicative of damage or a defect in each predetermined rail component based on said trigger signal from said distance sensor, said computing device including a memory device for storing said captured image to allow retrieval of said stored image;
• and
• a position means for determining the position of the railcar and/or the vehicle, and for providing position data indicative of said determined position;
• wherein said computing device is further adapted to correlate said captured image of each predetermined rail component with said position data to allow determination of the location at which said image was captured.

A video inspection system mountable on a railcar and/or a vehicle adapted to travel on a railroad track, said railroad track including individual rails, said video inspection system being adapted to facilitate inspection of predetermined rail components while traveling on the railroad track, said video inspection system comprising:

• a light source adapted to provide illumination to at least one rail of the railroad track to illuminate visible surfaces of the predetermined rail components on upper and/or side surfaces of the rail;
• a camera sensor that is pointed toward at least one rail of the railroad track, said camera sensor being adapted to provide images to a pattern recognition software for the purpose of indicating the presence of each predetermined rail component upon detection of said predetermined rail component;
• a pattern recognition software which produces a trigger signal, wherein the trigger generator is activated upon detection of each predetermined rail component;
• a camera adapted to provide an image of each predetermined rail component based on the trigger signal;
• a computing device adapted to capture and store said image of each predetermined rail component provided by said camera and to compare each predetermined rail component to a pattern indicative of damage or a defect in each predetermined rail component, said computing device including a memory device for storing said captured image to allow retrieval of said stored image;
• and
• a position means for determining the position of the railcar and/or the vehicle, and for providing position data indicative of said determined position;
• wherein said computing device is further adapted to correlate said captured image of each predetermined rail component with said position data to allow determination of the location at which said image was captured.

A method for inspecting predetermined rail components of a railroad track, said railroad track including individual rails, while traveling on the railroad track comprising the steps of:

• illuminating at least one rail of the railroad track to illuminate visible surfaces of the predetermined rail components on upper and/or side surfaces of the rail;
• detecting the presence of the predetermined rail components based on the signature of the output of a distance sensor to provide an output signal, where said distance sensor is a laser sensor;
• providing a camera adapted to provide an image of each predetermined rail component;
• converting the output signal to a trigger signal with a trigger generator, wherein the trigger generator is activated upon detection of each predetermined rail component;
• and
• capturing and storing said image of each predetermined rail component that is provided by said camera and comparing each predetermined rail component to a pattern indicative of damage or a defect based on said trigger signal.

A method for inspecting predetermined rail components of a railroad track, said railroad track including individual rails, while traveling on the railroad track comprising the steps of:

• illuminating at least one rail of the railroad track to illuminate visible surfaces of the predetermined rail components on upper and/or side surfaces of the rail;
• detecting the presence of the predetermined rail components using pattern recognition software applied to images acquired of the rail from a camera sensor;
• providing a camera adapted to provide an image of each predetermined rail component;
• capturing and storing said image of each predetermined rail component that is provided by said camera and comparing each predetermined rail component to a pattern indicative of damage or a defect based on said trigger signal.