Load measurement method and apparatus, railcar provided with load measurement apparatus, and load management system
AssigneeKawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorYoshi Sato
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A load measurement method, for measuring the load applied to a rail from a wheel of a railcar, calculates the lateral force applied to the rail from each of the left and right wheels, on the basis of the axial force applied to an axle between the left and right wheels and the axial load applied to the axle bearing.
Claims9
A load measurement method for measuring loads applied to rails from a pair of wheels of a railcar which includes the wheels, an axle supporting the wheels, a pair of bearings supporting the axle to be rotatable, and an axle box housing the bearings, the method comprising:
- detecting, by a horizontal displacement detection sensor, a displacement of the axle in the longitudinal direction at the axle box or a displacement of the axle box in the longitudinal direction with respect to a truck frame;
- transforming, by a processor, each of values detected by the horizontal displacement detection sensor into respective axial loads;
- measuring an axial force applied to the axle in a longitudinal direction;
- and
- obtaining, by the processor, lateral forces applied to rails from the respective wheels by using the respective axial loads and the measured axial force.
A load measurement apparatus for measuring loads applied to rails from a pair of wheels of a railcar which includes the wheels, an axle supporting the wheels, a pair of bearings supporting the axle to be rotatable, and an axle box housing the bearings, the apparatus comprising:
- an axial load measurement unit including a horizontal displacement detection sensor configured to detect a displacement of the axle in the longitudinal direction at the axle box or a displacement of the axle box in the longitudinal direction with respect to a truck frame;
- an axial force measurement unit configured to measure an axial force applied to the axle in a longitudinal direction;
- and
- a processor configured to:
- transform each of values detected by the horizontal displacement detection sensor into respective axial loads;
- and
- obtain each of lateral forces applied to the rails from the wheels by using the respective axial loads and the axial force.
A load management system configured to manage loads applied to rails from a pair of wheels of a railcar including the wheels, an axle supporting the wheels, a pair of bearings supporting the axle to be rotatable, and an axle box housing the bearings, the system comprising:
- an axial load measurement unit including a horizontal displacement detection sensor configured to detect a displacement of the axle in the longitudinal direction at the axle box or a displacement of the axle box in the longitudinal direction with respect to a truck frame;
- an axial force measurement unit configured to measure an axial force applied to the axle in a longitudinal direction;
- a first processor configured to:
- transform each of values detected by the horizontal displacement detection sensor into respective axial loads;
- and
- obtain each of lateral forces applied to the rails from the wheels by using the respective axial loads and the axial force;
- and
- a storage unit configured to store lateral force information indicating the lateral forces obtained by the first processor, and at least one of time information, track information and traffic data, which correspond to the obtained lateral force;
- an analyzing unit configured to obtain a change over time of the lateral force information based on each of the information pieces stored in the storage unit;
- and
- a second processor configured to implement the functions performed by the analyzing unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.