US 9,834,095 B2Granted

Fluid spraying system and method for a mass transit vehicle

AssigneeBombardier Transportation GmbH

InventorsRichard Jacob, Christian Girard

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Abstract

In an apparatus and method of automatically providing or withholding fluid from a power rail for a mass transit vehicle, during movement of a mass transit vehicle on a pathway in an uncovered (or exposed) area of the pathway, fluid, for example, anti-icing fluid, is caused to be provided to (or dispensed on) the power rail supplying power to the mass transit vehicle. During movement of the mass transit vehicle in a covered area of the pathway, the fluid is withheld from (or not dispensed on) the power rail. The changing from fluid being dispensed on the power rail to the fluid being withheld from the power rail, or vice versa, can be based on movement of the mass transit vehicle from the uncovered area of the pathway to the covered area of the pathway, or vice versa.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A mass transit vehicle comprising:

a first power collecting shoe configured to contact a power rail disposed along a pathway and to deliver electrical power from the power rail to one or more electrical circuits of the mass transit vehicle as the mass transit vehicle moves along the pathway;
a fluid reservoir;
a controller operative for automatically causing a fluid in the fluid reservoir to be provided to or withheld from the power rail based on positions of the mass transit vehicle on the pathway;
a second power collecting shoe, wherein the first and second power collecting shoes are disposed on respective first and second sides of the mass transit vehicle;
and
a sensor operative for detecting the presence or absence of contact between the power rail and the first power collecting shoe or the second power collecting shoe and for providing to the controller an indication of said presence or absence of contact, wherein:
the controller is responsive to said indication for causing the fluid to be provided solely to a side of the vehicle where the power rail is contacted by the first power collecting shoe or the second power collecting shoe and for causing the fluid to be withheld from the other side of the vehicle.

4 more elements

A method of automatically providing or withholding fluid from a power rail for a mass transit vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) during movement of a mass transit vehicle on a pathway in an uncovered (or exposed) area of the pathway, automatically causing fluid to be provided to (or dispensed on) a power rail supplying power to the mass transit vehicle;
and
(b) during movement of the mass transit vehicle in a covered area of the pathway, automatically causing the fluid to be withheld from (or not dispensed on) the power rail, wherein the method further includes:
(c) automatically changing from causing the fluid to be provided to the power rail to causing the fluid to be withheld from the power rail based on movement of the mass transit vehicle from the uncovered area of the pathway to the covered area of the pathway, respectively;
or
(d) automatically changing from causing the fluid to be withheld from the power rail to causing the fluid to be provided to the power rail based on movement of the mass transit vehicle from the covered area of the pathway to the uncovered area of the pathway, respectively,
wherein at least one of step (c) and (d) occurs in response to determining that the mass transit vehicle has traveled a predetermined distance on the pathway from a marker associated with the pathway.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.