Catenary safety monitoring system and method
AssigneeImpulse Inc. LLC
InventorsGrant Welch, Gary Graham
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A safety monitoring system for a catenary system that includes an overhead wire, a support pole and a counterweight attached to the end of the overhead wire and suspended by the support pole. The catenary safety monitoring system includes a temperature sensor for detecting an ambient temperature, a position sensor for detecting a position of the counterweight and an electronic controller. The electronic controller compares a detected position of the counterweight with a predicted position determined by the electronic controller using an ambient temperature from the temperature sensor. A message transmitter provides a warning to a user if the detected position of counterweight is not within a predetermined percentage of the predicted position.
Claims27
A catenary safety monitoring system for a catenary system that includes an overhead wire, a support pole supporting an end of the overhead wire and a counterweight attached to the end of the overhead wire and suspended by the support pole, the catenary safety monitoring system comprising:
- a. a temperature sensor for detecting an ambient temperature of the catenary system;
- b. a position sensor for detecting a position of the counterweight;
- c. an electronic controller in communication with the temperature sensor and the position sensor, said electronic controller programmed to compare a position of the counterweight detected with the position sensor with a predicted position of the counterweight determined by the electronic controller using an ambient temperature detected by the temperature sensor;
- and
- d. a message transmitter in communication with the electronic controller, said electronic controller also programmed to provide a warning message to a user via the message transmitter if the detected position of the counterweight is not within a predetermined percentage of the predicted position.
A catenary system comprising:
- a. an overhead wire;
- b. a support pole supporting an end of the overhead wire;
- c. a counterweight attached to the end of the overhead wire and suspended by the support pole;
- d. a temperature sensor for detecting an ambient temperature of the catenary system;
- e. a position sensor for detecting a position of the counterweight;
- f. an electronic controller in communication with the temperature sensor and the position sensor, said electronic controller programmed to compare a detected position of the counterweight with a predicted position of the counterweight determined using an ambient temperature detected by the temperature sensor;
- and
- g. a message transmitter in communication with the electronic controller, said electronic controller also programmed to provide a warning message to a user via the message transmitter if the detected position of the counterweight is not within a predetermined percentage of the predicted position.
A method of monitoring a catenary system that includes an overhead wire, a support pole supporting an end of the overhead wire and a counterweight attached to the end of the overhead wire and suspended by the support pole, the method comprising the steps of:
- a. providing a temperature sensor, a position sensor and an electronic controller;
- b. detecting an ambient temperature using the temperature sensor;
- c. detecting a position of the counterweight using the position sensor;
- d. calculating a predicted position of the counterweight using the detected ambient temperature and the electronic controller;
- e. comparing the detected position of the counterweight with the predicted position of the counterweight using the electronic controller;
- and
- f. providing a warning if the detected position of the counterweight is not within a predetermined percentage of the predicted position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.