CA1211529A - Railroad hot box detector - Google Patents
Railroad hot box detectorInfo
- Publication number
- CA1211529A CA1211529A CA000407446A CA407446A CA1211529A CA 1211529 A CA1211529 A CA 1211529A CA 000407446 A CA000407446 A CA 000407446A CA 407446 A CA407446 A CA 407446A CA 1211529 A CA1211529 A CA 1211529A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- bearing
- bearings
- scanner
- housing
- scan
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B61—RAILWAYS
- B61K—AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR RAILWAYS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- B61K9/00—Railway vehicle profile gauges; Detecting or indicating overheating of components; Apparatus on locomotives or cars to indicate bad track sections; General design of track recording vehicles
- B61K9/04—Detectors for indicating the overheating of axle bearings and the like, e.g. associated with the brake system for applying the brakes in case of a fault
- B61K9/06—Detectors for indicating the overheating of axle bearings and the like, e.g. associated with the brake system for applying the brakes in case of a fault by detecting or indicating heat radiation from overheated axles
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- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- Rolling Contact Bearings (AREA)
- Radiation Pyrometers (AREA)
- Investigating Or Analyzing Materials Using Thermal Means (AREA)
- Length Measuring Devices With Unspecified Measuring Means (AREA)
- Testing Of Devices, Machine Parts, Or Other Structures Thereof (AREA)
Abstract
IMPROVED RAILROAD HOT BOX DETECTOR
Abstract of the Disclosure A hot box detector system is provided wherein heat signals from bearings within a housing are analyzed to determine if the scanned surface of the housing is an inner sidewall surface or an outer sidewall surface. The signals are normalized to account for differences in the heat dissipating characteristics of the inner and outer sidewalls and air stream cooling resulting from the trains movement.
Abstract of the Disclosure A hot box detector system is provided wherein heat signals from bearings within a housing are analyzed to determine if the scanned surface of the housing is an inner sidewall surface or an outer sidewall surface. The signals are normalized to account for differences in the heat dissipating characteristics of the inner and outer sidewalls and air stream cooling resulting from the trains movement.
Description
The present invention relates to railroad car hot box detectors and more particularly to a unique system for treating the heat signal generated by such detectors.
In order to protect against railroad car wheel bearing failure, most railroads utilize hot box detectors along their rights of way to view, through infrared scanners, the bearings of railroad cars as they pass through a sensing zone. If an overheated bearing is detected, some type of alarm is triggered to alert the engineer to stop the train and correct the potent tidally dangerous situation which, if allowed to continue, could result in a train derailment. While it is extremely important that no overheated bearings (i.e., hot boxes) be missed by the hot box detector, it is almost equally important that no false alarms be generated since the unscheduled stopping of a train is a costly and -time consuming operation that could result in sub-staunchly disruptions of schedules.
The infrared scanner and associated circuits for detecting overheated bearings are highly developed and avail-able commercially from such sources as the Servo Corporation of America of Hicksville, New York. The I;,. joy, ,,~.,.,.
(: l equipment is disclosed, fur example in Us Patents 3, SHOOS, 3,454,758; 3,B12,343; 3,B72,456 and 4,113,211.
Heretofore, hot box detector systems of the type described in the above patents and whose available commercially have been designed to safely detect hot boxes fur trains passing a scanning site under a wide variety of different conditions without regard to the specific train conditions. Thus, the systems described above are designed so that they operate to process signals the same way whether the signal is generated from a train proceeding along at five miles an hour or from a high speed train moving at speeds that con exceed 100 miles per hour.
As pointed out in the above-mentioned patents, railroad freight cars in the United States usually have one of two types of bearings, plain bearings or roller bearings.
Although plain bearings account for only approximately 16%
of the effective rolling stock in the United States, the problems associated with the accurate analysis of signals from plain beatings are of particular importance to the railroad industry since in lg80 plain bearings accounted for 74% of derailments. Because of different operating characteristics of the different types of bearings, the waveform of the infrared scanner signal must be analyzed to permit proper bearing identification and proper alarm criteria must be set depending on the type of bearing ( ( lulls :
imaged. For purposes ox the present discussion, the principal difference between roller and plain bearings which leads to problems in scanner Saigon analysis is that the portion of the plain bearing exposed to the infrared scanner imaging spot is contained within a housing whereas the roller bearing is viewed directly by the scanner. The plain bearing housing, which protrudes from the car truck frame and is affixed to the frame, serves to siphon off some of the temperature rise of an operating bearing and dissipate it through the truck frame. Since a pair of bearing housings are usually provided on each truck frame, located toward the ends of the frame, the surfaces of the housing facing each other (i.e., the housing inner sidewall surfaces dissipate more heat than the surfaces of the housing facing away from each other it t the housing outer sidewall surcease. Since it it these inner and outer housing sidewall surfaces which are imaged by the hot box detector scanner, resultant signals from the scanner depend on which surface of the housing UP imaged It addition to the above since the housing protrudes from the truck frame, the leading space of the housing it exposed to the cooling effect of the air strew venerated by virtue ox the train movement while the lagging surface is minimally effected by the air stream. The leading and lagging our ices may Jo the i r or outer housing swaddle so surface depending on the direction of movement of the -train.
Roller bearings are not subjected to these problems since roller bearings are directly imaged and they are in rotation during imaging.
As a result of the above,: the accurate early detection of overheated plain bearings has been extremely difficult.
The present invention provides an improved hot box de-Hector system which can more accurately sense an abnormal temper azure rise in a plain bearing than has heretofore been possible.
The present invention also provides such a system which utilizes, to a great extent, conventional components.
The present invention again provides such a system which may readily be retrofitted into existing hot box detector systems and is compatible with such systems.
According to the present invention, there is provided a railroad car hot box detector system comprising radiant energy scanner means positioned along a section of track and adapted to scan surfaces associated with successively passing bearings on different axles on the same side of passing railroad cars in a single direction along said section and to generate a signal in response to each bearing scanned; means for determining if the surfaces of the bearings being scanned dissipate heat generated by said bearings differently from bearing to bearing to disk tinguish between bearings that are housed and bearings that are exposed and if the former, if the surfaces of the bearings being scanned are housing inner ox outer surfaces and if the surfaces of the bearings being scanned are housing leading or housing lagging surfaces as defined by the movement of the railroad cars;
means for processing said scanner signal; and means for adjusting said scanner signal processing means as a function of the heat dissipating qualities of the surface of said bearing being scanned.
Thus in accordance with the present invention there is provided a railroad car ho-t box detector system which utilizes a conventional infrared responsive scanner -to successively scan the bearings of railroad cars passing along a section of track with means for determining if the surfaces being scanned dyes-pate heat differently from bearing -to bearing and for adjusting the means for processing the scanner signal as a function of the heat dissipating qualities of the surfaces.
In a preferred embodiment the system determines if a scanned bearing is within a housing and if so, if the sidewall of the housing imaged by the scanner is an inner sidewall sun-face or an outer sidewall surface. The system also determines if the sidewall surface is a leading surface or lagging surface with respect to the air stream caused by movement of -the train.
In one aspect thereof the present invention provides a railroad car ho-t box detector system comprising radiant energy responsive scanner means positioned along a section of track and adapted to scan the bearings of passing railroad cars in a preselected direction and to generate signals in a response thereto, said signals including portions thereof having an amplitude and waveform indicative of the passing of a wheel bearing, the type of bearing, the temperature of said bearing and whether or not said bearing is enclosed within a bearing housing; an alarm monitor connected to said scanner for genera-tying an alarm in the event the amplitude of said signal exceeds a threshold; means for processing said signals to determine which of said passing bearings are contained within a bearing housing and to distinguish signals responsive to a scan of an inner sidewall of said bearing housing from a signal responsive to a scan of an outer sidewall of said bearing housing; and a scan of a leading sidewall of said beaning housing from a signal responsive to a scan of a lagging sidewall of said bearing housing as defined by -the movement of the railroad cars; and means interconnecting said last mentioned means and said alarm monitor for adjusting said alarm as a function of whether said inner sidewall or outer sidewall is being scanned and whether said leading or lagging sidewall is being scanned.
In another aspect -thereof -the present invention provides a railroad car hot box detector system comprising radiant energy responsive scanner means positioned along a section of track and adapted two scan -the bearings of passing railroad cars in a pro-selected direction and -to generate signals in response thereto, said signals including portions thereof having an amplitude and waveform indicative of the passing of a wheel bearing, the type of bearing, the temperature of said bearing and whether or not said bearing is enclosed within a bearing housing; an alarm monitor connected -to said scanner for generating an alarm in the event the amplitude of said signal exceeds a -threshold; means for processing said signals to determine which of said passing bearing are contained within a bearing housing; means for determining the direction of travel of said train; and means for adjusting said alarm monitor threshold as a function of whether the side wall of a bearing housing being scanned is a leading or a lagging housing.
The present invention will be further illustrated by way of the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a block diagram representation of the overall system of the present invention;
Figure pa is a simplified waveform diagram of the heat sign net generated by the passing of a freight car provided with plain bearings through a sensing zone moving in -the direction indicated in Figure l;
Figure 2b is a simplified waveform similar -to Figure pa for a freight train moving in the direction opposite to that indicated in Figure l; and, - pa to Jo l . I
Figure 3 is a plot Ox tome vs. temperature rise as determined from the ironer and outer housing sidewall surfaces.
. . I
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment , I
Reference is now made to the drawings and to Figure 1 in particular wherein a section of track 10 is depicted along which wheel sensors 12 and 14 are mounted. A radiant energy scanner 16, such as an inlr~-red hot box detector disclosed in So Patent 3,545,005 is positioned 210ng the track to scan each passing railroad Cur as the wheels of the car pass through the sensing zone defined by wheel sensors and 14. The scanner 16 it focused to image on the bearings of each passing wheel. In practice, a pair of scanners is usually provided mounted on opposite sides of the track with each scanner imaging on the bearings on its side Go the track. The wheel sensors 12 and 14 and infrared scanner 16 are all of conventional design and are commercially available prom sources such as the Servo Corporation of America of ~icksville, New York. In operation, the wheel sensors 12 and 14 serve to generate a signal each time a wheel passes which together define pa time interval during which the scanner 16 serves to generate an analog waveform indicative of the heat of the bearing scanned.
12~L~L5~
I¦ Thus, as each of the wheels 18, 20 of each truck 22 of each car of the train pass through the sensing zone, a heat pulse (such us those shown in Figure 2) is generated.
Between trucks the scanner 16 views the under-carriage or bottom of the passing car and between cars the scanner may get a gl~mpse2of the sky.
The problem with which the present application is concerned is peculiar to those bearing which are not exposed i directly to the imaging spot of scanner 16 but which must be imaged indirectly through a bearing housing. In Figure 1, I truck 22 it provided with plain bearings which are located ¦! in housings 24 and 26 mounted at the ends of truck 22. The j housings 24 and 26 protrude from the truck rime and serve ¦ to contain a quantity of oil to lubricate the bearing. The oil is fed through covers 28, 30 in the housings. As the housings pass the scanner 16, scanner 16 images on either the inner sidewalls 32, 34 of housings 2', 26 or the outer sidewalls 36, 38 depending upon the direction of movement of the train and orientation of the scanner.
The inner sidewalls 32, 34 are whose sidewalls which face each other and the spring next of truck. The outer sidewalls 36, 38 are directed away from etch other. As can be seen in Figure 1, the inner sidewalls 32, 34 are Contiguous to the large heat conducting mass comprising the I main portion of the truck frame while the outer surfaces 36, I .
I I
Lo 38 are not. As a Russ., more of the temperature rise of an overheated beaning within a housing 24, 26 would ~,2nifest itself on the outer sidewalls 36, 38 than on the inner sidewalls 32, 34. It should also be note from Figure 1 that regardless of train movement direction or scanner orientation each truck must have one housing imaged on an inner sidewall end the other housing imaged on an outer sidewall. This is show in Figure 2 wherein the pulse I is generated as a result of the bearing Lo wheel 18, pulse 42 is generated as a result of the bearing for wheel 20 and pulses 44 and 46 are generated by the bearings of the next truck when it passes through the sensing zone. Had the train been mowing in the opposite direction, the initial surface imaged by the scanner would have been an outer sidewall surface resulting in the waveform distribution of Figure 2b.
In Fissure 3 a graph of temperature rise vs. time is presented for a deliberately generated hot box in z plain bearing. As may be seen, the inner sidewall temperature vises are approximately 30~ lower than on the outer idyll In accordance with the present system the output of scanner 16 is first fed to a discriminator 48 which dete~nines if the truck under investigation is a freight truck (since plain bearings are only used on freight truck Such discriminators are disclosed, for example, in US
Patent 4,~56,27~. If it is determined that a freight truck Jo is under observation, it must text be deter-mined whither the I freight truck has plain bearings or roller bearings. This is done in discriminator 50 which relies on well known ¦ differences in the characteristic waveforms generated. The Jo leading and lagging axle of each truck is then determined in ¦¦ block 52 by the sequence of wheel sensor signals for each ¦ truck. In this regard additional wheel sensors 53 end 53' are utilized in the wanner disclosed in the aforementioned 0 I potent 4,256,27~. An adjustment of alarm monitor 56 may then be made through block 58 to compensate for the differences in the heat dissipating characteristics of the ¦ sidewalls of the housing.
I Since the housings I and 26 protrude from the truck frame 22 they are subject to exposure to an air stream caused by motion of the train. The air stream cooling effect is particularly noticeable when the train motion is oncoming to the scanner aperture (i.e., if scanner 16 were directed in the opposite direction or train motion were opposite to that shown in Figure 1). The speed of the train 1-and hence the magnitude of the zip stream effect my readily be determined by use of a speed detector 60 which obtains inputs from a pair of sensors spaced a fixed distance apart in accordance with well known procedures. Since the lead _ g _ no lag axle as well as the housing side information are avail-able from the analysis discussed above, normalization for air stream cooling may also be made in block 58.
While tile above description of a preferred embodiment of this invention has been disclosed in connection with plain bearings, it should be appreciated that the invention would have application to any system wherein different surfaces of a bear-in may be scanned and the heat signal generated depends on the surface imaged.
In order to protect against railroad car wheel bearing failure, most railroads utilize hot box detectors along their rights of way to view, through infrared scanners, the bearings of railroad cars as they pass through a sensing zone. If an overheated bearing is detected, some type of alarm is triggered to alert the engineer to stop the train and correct the potent tidally dangerous situation which, if allowed to continue, could result in a train derailment. While it is extremely important that no overheated bearings (i.e., hot boxes) be missed by the hot box detector, it is almost equally important that no false alarms be generated since the unscheduled stopping of a train is a costly and -time consuming operation that could result in sub-staunchly disruptions of schedules.
The infrared scanner and associated circuits for detecting overheated bearings are highly developed and avail-able commercially from such sources as the Servo Corporation of America of Hicksville, New York. The I;,. joy, ,,~.,.,.
(: l equipment is disclosed, fur example in Us Patents 3, SHOOS, 3,454,758; 3,B12,343; 3,B72,456 and 4,113,211.
Heretofore, hot box detector systems of the type described in the above patents and whose available commercially have been designed to safely detect hot boxes fur trains passing a scanning site under a wide variety of different conditions without regard to the specific train conditions. Thus, the systems described above are designed so that they operate to process signals the same way whether the signal is generated from a train proceeding along at five miles an hour or from a high speed train moving at speeds that con exceed 100 miles per hour.
As pointed out in the above-mentioned patents, railroad freight cars in the United States usually have one of two types of bearings, plain bearings or roller bearings.
Although plain bearings account for only approximately 16%
of the effective rolling stock in the United States, the problems associated with the accurate analysis of signals from plain beatings are of particular importance to the railroad industry since in lg80 plain bearings accounted for 74% of derailments. Because of different operating characteristics of the different types of bearings, the waveform of the infrared scanner signal must be analyzed to permit proper bearing identification and proper alarm criteria must be set depending on the type of bearing ( ( lulls :
imaged. For purposes ox the present discussion, the principal difference between roller and plain bearings which leads to problems in scanner Saigon analysis is that the portion of the plain bearing exposed to the infrared scanner imaging spot is contained within a housing whereas the roller bearing is viewed directly by the scanner. The plain bearing housing, which protrudes from the car truck frame and is affixed to the frame, serves to siphon off some of the temperature rise of an operating bearing and dissipate it through the truck frame. Since a pair of bearing housings are usually provided on each truck frame, located toward the ends of the frame, the surfaces of the housing facing each other (i.e., the housing inner sidewall surfaces dissipate more heat than the surfaces of the housing facing away from each other it t the housing outer sidewall surcease. Since it it these inner and outer housing sidewall surfaces which are imaged by the hot box detector scanner, resultant signals from the scanner depend on which surface of the housing UP imaged It addition to the above since the housing protrudes from the truck frame, the leading space of the housing it exposed to the cooling effect of the air strew venerated by virtue ox the train movement while the lagging surface is minimally effected by the air stream. The leading and lagging our ices may Jo the i r or outer housing swaddle so surface depending on the direction of movement of the -train.
Roller bearings are not subjected to these problems since roller bearings are directly imaged and they are in rotation during imaging.
As a result of the above,: the accurate early detection of overheated plain bearings has been extremely difficult.
The present invention provides an improved hot box de-Hector system which can more accurately sense an abnormal temper azure rise in a plain bearing than has heretofore been possible.
The present invention also provides such a system which utilizes, to a great extent, conventional components.
The present invention again provides such a system which may readily be retrofitted into existing hot box detector systems and is compatible with such systems.
According to the present invention, there is provided a railroad car hot box detector system comprising radiant energy scanner means positioned along a section of track and adapted to scan surfaces associated with successively passing bearings on different axles on the same side of passing railroad cars in a single direction along said section and to generate a signal in response to each bearing scanned; means for determining if the surfaces of the bearings being scanned dissipate heat generated by said bearings differently from bearing to bearing to disk tinguish between bearings that are housed and bearings that are exposed and if the former, if the surfaces of the bearings being scanned are housing inner ox outer surfaces and if the surfaces of the bearings being scanned are housing leading or housing lagging surfaces as defined by the movement of the railroad cars;
means for processing said scanner signal; and means for adjusting said scanner signal processing means as a function of the heat dissipating qualities of the surface of said bearing being scanned.
Thus in accordance with the present invention there is provided a railroad car ho-t box detector system which utilizes a conventional infrared responsive scanner -to successively scan the bearings of railroad cars passing along a section of track with means for determining if the surfaces being scanned dyes-pate heat differently from bearing -to bearing and for adjusting the means for processing the scanner signal as a function of the heat dissipating qualities of the surfaces.
In a preferred embodiment the system determines if a scanned bearing is within a housing and if so, if the sidewall of the housing imaged by the scanner is an inner sidewall sun-face or an outer sidewall surface. The system also determines if the sidewall surface is a leading surface or lagging surface with respect to the air stream caused by movement of -the train.
In one aspect thereof the present invention provides a railroad car ho-t box detector system comprising radiant energy responsive scanner means positioned along a section of track and adapted to scan the bearings of passing railroad cars in a preselected direction and to generate signals in a response thereto, said signals including portions thereof having an amplitude and waveform indicative of the passing of a wheel bearing, the type of bearing, the temperature of said bearing and whether or not said bearing is enclosed within a bearing housing; an alarm monitor connected to said scanner for genera-tying an alarm in the event the amplitude of said signal exceeds a threshold; means for processing said signals to determine which of said passing bearings are contained within a bearing housing and to distinguish signals responsive to a scan of an inner sidewall of said bearing housing from a signal responsive to a scan of an outer sidewall of said bearing housing; and a scan of a leading sidewall of said beaning housing from a signal responsive to a scan of a lagging sidewall of said bearing housing as defined by -the movement of the railroad cars; and means interconnecting said last mentioned means and said alarm monitor for adjusting said alarm as a function of whether said inner sidewall or outer sidewall is being scanned and whether said leading or lagging sidewall is being scanned.
In another aspect -thereof -the present invention provides a railroad car hot box detector system comprising radiant energy responsive scanner means positioned along a section of track and adapted two scan -the bearings of passing railroad cars in a pro-selected direction and -to generate signals in response thereto, said signals including portions thereof having an amplitude and waveform indicative of the passing of a wheel bearing, the type of bearing, the temperature of said bearing and whether or not said bearing is enclosed within a bearing housing; an alarm monitor connected -to said scanner for generating an alarm in the event the amplitude of said signal exceeds a -threshold; means for processing said signals to determine which of said passing bearing are contained within a bearing housing; means for determining the direction of travel of said train; and means for adjusting said alarm monitor threshold as a function of whether the side wall of a bearing housing being scanned is a leading or a lagging housing.
The present invention will be further illustrated by way of the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a block diagram representation of the overall system of the present invention;
Figure pa is a simplified waveform diagram of the heat sign net generated by the passing of a freight car provided with plain bearings through a sensing zone moving in -the direction indicated in Figure l;
Figure 2b is a simplified waveform similar -to Figure pa for a freight train moving in the direction opposite to that indicated in Figure l; and, - pa to Jo l . I
Figure 3 is a plot Ox tome vs. temperature rise as determined from the ironer and outer housing sidewall surfaces.
. . I
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment , I
Reference is now made to the drawings and to Figure 1 in particular wherein a section of track 10 is depicted along which wheel sensors 12 and 14 are mounted. A radiant energy scanner 16, such as an inlr~-red hot box detector disclosed in So Patent 3,545,005 is positioned 210ng the track to scan each passing railroad Cur as the wheels of the car pass through the sensing zone defined by wheel sensors and 14. The scanner 16 it focused to image on the bearings of each passing wheel. In practice, a pair of scanners is usually provided mounted on opposite sides of the track with each scanner imaging on the bearings on its side Go the track. The wheel sensors 12 and 14 and infrared scanner 16 are all of conventional design and are commercially available prom sources such as the Servo Corporation of America of ~icksville, New York. In operation, the wheel sensors 12 and 14 serve to generate a signal each time a wheel passes which together define pa time interval during which the scanner 16 serves to generate an analog waveform indicative of the heat of the bearing scanned.
12~L~L5~
I¦ Thus, as each of the wheels 18, 20 of each truck 22 of each car of the train pass through the sensing zone, a heat pulse (such us those shown in Figure 2) is generated.
Between trucks the scanner 16 views the under-carriage or bottom of the passing car and between cars the scanner may get a gl~mpse2of the sky.
The problem with which the present application is concerned is peculiar to those bearing which are not exposed i directly to the imaging spot of scanner 16 but which must be imaged indirectly through a bearing housing. In Figure 1, I truck 22 it provided with plain bearings which are located ¦! in housings 24 and 26 mounted at the ends of truck 22. The j housings 24 and 26 protrude from the truck rime and serve ¦ to contain a quantity of oil to lubricate the bearing. The oil is fed through covers 28, 30 in the housings. As the housings pass the scanner 16, scanner 16 images on either the inner sidewalls 32, 34 of housings 2', 26 or the outer sidewalls 36, 38 depending upon the direction of movement of the train and orientation of the scanner.
The inner sidewalls 32, 34 are whose sidewalls which face each other and the spring next of truck. The outer sidewalls 36, 38 are directed away from etch other. As can be seen in Figure 1, the inner sidewalls 32, 34 are Contiguous to the large heat conducting mass comprising the I main portion of the truck frame while the outer surfaces 36, I .
I I
Lo 38 are not. As a Russ., more of the temperature rise of an overheated beaning within a housing 24, 26 would ~,2nifest itself on the outer sidewalls 36, 38 than on the inner sidewalls 32, 34. It should also be note from Figure 1 that regardless of train movement direction or scanner orientation each truck must have one housing imaged on an inner sidewall end the other housing imaged on an outer sidewall. This is show in Figure 2 wherein the pulse I is generated as a result of the bearing Lo wheel 18, pulse 42 is generated as a result of the bearing for wheel 20 and pulses 44 and 46 are generated by the bearings of the next truck when it passes through the sensing zone. Had the train been mowing in the opposite direction, the initial surface imaged by the scanner would have been an outer sidewall surface resulting in the waveform distribution of Figure 2b.
In Fissure 3 a graph of temperature rise vs. time is presented for a deliberately generated hot box in z plain bearing. As may be seen, the inner sidewall temperature vises are approximately 30~ lower than on the outer idyll In accordance with the present system the output of scanner 16 is first fed to a discriminator 48 which dete~nines if the truck under investigation is a freight truck (since plain bearings are only used on freight truck Such discriminators are disclosed, for example, in US
Patent 4,~56,27~. If it is determined that a freight truck Jo is under observation, it must text be deter-mined whither the I freight truck has plain bearings or roller bearings. This is done in discriminator 50 which relies on well known ¦ differences in the characteristic waveforms generated. The Jo leading and lagging axle of each truck is then determined in ¦¦ block 52 by the sequence of wheel sensor signals for each ¦ truck. In this regard additional wheel sensors 53 end 53' are utilized in the wanner disclosed in the aforementioned 0 I potent 4,256,27~. An adjustment of alarm monitor 56 may then be made through block 58 to compensate for the differences in the heat dissipating characteristics of the ¦ sidewalls of the housing.
I Since the housings I and 26 protrude from the truck frame 22 they are subject to exposure to an air stream caused by motion of the train. The air stream cooling effect is particularly noticeable when the train motion is oncoming to the scanner aperture (i.e., if scanner 16 were directed in the opposite direction or train motion were opposite to that shown in Figure 1). The speed of the train 1-and hence the magnitude of the zip stream effect my readily be determined by use of a speed detector 60 which obtains inputs from a pair of sensors spaced a fixed distance apart in accordance with well known procedures. Since the lead _ g _ no lag axle as well as the housing side information are avail-able from the analysis discussed above, normalization for air stream cooling may also be made in block 58.
While tile above description of a preferred embodiment of this invention has been disclosed in connection with plain bearings, it should be appreciated that the invention would have application to any system wherein different surfaces of a bear-in may be scanned and the heat signal generated depends on the surface imaged.
Claims (9)
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A railroad car hot box detector system comprising radiant energy scanner means positioned along a section of track and adapted to scan surfaces associated with successively passing bearings on different axles on the same side of passing railroad cars in a single direction along said section and to generate a signal in response to each bearing scanned; means for determining if the surfaces of the bearings being scanned dissipate heat gen-erated by said bearings differently from bearing to bearing to distinguish between bearings that are housed and bearings that are exposed and if the former, if the surfaces of the bearings being scanned are housing inner or outer surfaces and if the sur-faces of the bearings being scanned are housing leading or hous-ing lagging surfaces as defined by the movement of the railroad cars; means for processing said scanner signal; and means for adjusting said scanner signal processing means as a function of the heat dissipating qualities of the surface of said bearing being scanned.
2. A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein the deter-mining means comprises means for distinguishing between housed bearings and exposed bearings.
3. A system in accordance with claim 2 wherein the deter-mining means further comprises means for determining whether a scanner housed bearing surface comprises an inner sidewall or an outer sidewall of the bearing housing.
4. A system in accordance with claims 1 wherein said determining means includes means for distinguishing freight trucks.
5. A system in accordance with claim 2 or 3 wherein said determining means further comprises means for determining the speed of said train connected to said adjusting means whereby said processing means may be further adjusted as a function of the speed of the train.
6. A railroad car hot box detector system comprising radiant energy responsive scanner means positioned along a section of track and adapted to scan the bearings of passing railroad cars in a preselected direction and to generate signals in a response thereto, said signals including portions thereof having an amplitude and waveform indicative of the passing of a wheel bearing, the type of bearing, the temperature of said bearing and whether or not said bearing is enclosed within a bearing housing; an alarm monitor connected to said scanner for gener-ating an alarm in the event the amplitude of said signal exceeds a threshold; means for processing said signals to determine which of said passing bearings are contained within a bearing housing and to distinguish signals responsive to a scan of an inner side-wall of said bearing housing from a signal responsive to a scan of an outer sidewall of said bearing housing and a scan of a leading sidewall of said bearing housing from a signal responsive to a scan of a lagging sidewall of said bearing housing as de-fined by the movement of the railroad cars; and means intercon-necting said last mentioned means and said alarm monitor for adjusting said alarm as a function of whether said inner sidewall or outer sidewall is being scanned and whether said leading or ladding widewall is being scanned.
7. A railroad car hot box detector system comprising radiant energy responsive scanner means positioned along a sec-tion of track and adapted to scan the bearings of passing rail-road cars in a preselected direction and to generate signals in response thereto, said signals including portions thereof having an amplitude and waveform indicative of the passing of a wheel bearing, the type of bearing, the temperature of said bearing and whether or not said bearing is enclosed within a bearing housing;
an alarm monitor connected to said scanner for generating an alarm in the event the amplitude of said signal exceeds a thres-hold; means for processing said signals to determine which of said passing bearings are contained within a bearing housing;
means for determining the direction of travel of said train; and means for adjusting said alarm monitor threshold as a function of whether the side wall of a bearing housing being scanned is a leading or a lagging housing.
an alarm monitor connected to said scanner for generating an alarm in the event the amplitude of said signal exceeds a thres-hold; means for processing said signals to determine which of said passing bearings are contained within a bearing housing;
means for determining the direction of travel of said train; and means for adjusting said alarm monitor threshold as a function of whether the side wall of a bearing housing being scanned is a leading or a lagging housing.
8. A system in accordance with claim 7 further com-prising means to distinguish signals responsive to a scan of an inner sidewall of said bearing housing from a signal responsive to a scan of an outer sidewall of said bearing housing.
9. A system in accordance with claim 4 including means for determining the speed of said train connected to said adjust-ing means in controlling relationship whereby the amount of adjustment of said threshold is a function of said train speed.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US30826381A | 1981-10-05 | 1981-10-05 | |
| US308,263 | 1981-10-05 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1211529A true CA1211529A (en) | 1986-09-16 |
Family
ID=23193246
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000407446A Expired CA1211529A (en) | 1981-10-05 | 1982-07-16 | Railroad hot box detector |
Country Status (8)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| JP (1) | JPS5876362A (en) |
| AU (1) | AU563788B2 (en) |
| BR (1) | BR8203508A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA1211529A (en) |
| DE (1) | DE3236275A1 (en) |
| GB (1) | GB2107453B (en) |
| IN (1) | IN156288B (en) |
| SE (1) | SE8204618L (en) |
Families Citing this family (5)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FR2608777B1 (en) * | 1986-12-23 | 1989-03-24 | Trt Telecom Radio Electr | INTRUSION DETECTION AND RECOGNITION DEVICE FOR LAND VEHICLES |
| AT400429B (en) * | 1993-12-10 | 1995-12-27 | Vae Ag | METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE SCANING AREA OF VEHICLE-ACTUATED MEASURING DEVICES AND DEVICE FOR ADJUSTING AND ADJUSTING MEASURING DEVICES ON TRACKWAYS RELATIVE TO WHEEL SENSORS |
| RU2512804C1 (en) * | 2012-11-12 | 2014-04-10 | Общество с ограниченной ответственностью "Инфотэкс Автоматика Телемеханика" - ООО "Инфотэкс АТ" | Floor chamber for rolling stock running gear heat control device |
| CN110208014B (en) * | 2019-06-25 | 2021-02-05 | 大连交通大学 | Method for measuring coverage of underframe of urban rail vehicle body |
| CN110816585B (en) * | 2019-12-04 | 2021-02-26 | 张运刚 | Infrared thermal image shaft temperature detecting device |
-
1982
- 1982-06-16 BR BR8203508A patent/BR8203508A/en unknown
- 1982-07-03 IN IN779/CAL/82A patent/IN156288B/en unknown
- 1982-07-16 CA CA000407446A patent/CA1211529A/en not_active Expired
- 1982-07-29 GB GB08221938A patent/GB2107453B/en not_active Expired
- 1982-08-09 SE SE8204618A patent/SE8204618L/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1982-09-28 AU AU88800/82A patent/AU563788B2/en not_active Ceased
- 1982-09-30 DE DE19823236275 patent/DE3236275A1/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1982-10-05 JP JP57174104A patent/JPS5876362A/en active Pending
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| AU8880082A (en) | 1983-04-14 |
| BR8203508A (en) | 1983-06-07 |
| GB2107453B (en) | 1985-02-06 |
| GB2107453A (en) | 1983-04-27 |
| SE8204618L (en) | 1983-04-06 |
| JPS5876362A (en) | 1983-05-09 |
| IN156288B (en) | 1985-06-15 |
| DE3236275A1 (en) | 1983-04-21 |
| SE8204618D0 (en) | 1982-08-09 |
| AU563788B2 (en) | 1987-07-23 |
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| Date | Code | Title | Description |
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| MKEX | Expiry |