EP2808224A1 - Installation for danger area monitoring of a railway machine - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a system for monitoring the danger zone of a railway machine with a detection device for detecting objects located in a surveillance area, in particular for monitoring areas that are indirectly visible, with an evaluation device which activates a collision warning device as a function of the data recorded by the detection device, if at least one object in one Danger zone of the railway machine penetrates. To realize a high security level, it is proposed that the evaluation device detects the position and course of the rails at least in the monitoring area from the data recorded by the detection device, that the evaluation device assigns the rails a clearance profile, in particular the gauge of the railway machine, which surrounds the surveillance area Rail track preferably dynamically limited and that the evaluation detects the location of objects in the surveillance area and sends a message when entering at least one object in the danger area.

Description

The invention relates to a system for monitoring the danger zone of a railway machine with a detection device for detecting objects located in a surveillance area, in particular for monitoring indirectly accessible areas, with an evaluation device which controls a collision warning device as a function of the data recorded by the detection device, if at least one object enters a danger zone of the railway machine.

Railway maintenance machines serve, for example, to plow, level, profile, take up, temporarily store, cram, reload and relocate the ballast of tracks. With such machines of various types in particular a defined gravel profile to be produced. In order to produce the gravel profile, the machines travel up and down the track, with the driver's cab usually not being changed. If the machine travels backwards without the operator changing the driver's cab, its rearward vision is considerably reduced, which can result in fatal injuries to track workers that are overlooked when reversing. For this reason, rear-room monitoring systems are mandatory for railway maintenance machines. However, such systems are also used in two-way rail vehicles and in construction machines of conventional design, such as excavators, push crawlers or trucks, etc.

Known systems for monitoring the rear of rail vehicles use video cameras, which display to the machine operator the rear space, ie the only indirectly visible area, via a monitor. However, the video cameras can only represent a limited shooting angle. In addition, the quality of the presentation depends on the lighting conditions. Of Furthermore, there are video cameras with ultrasound transmitters combining systems, the ultrasonic lobes sweeping the back space to a distance of about 9m. This area can be subdivided into a pre-warning zone and a collision zone. In the monitored area objects of a size> 7cm can be detected. If an obstacle is detected, an acoustic warning is issued. The ultrasound technique is wind-sensitive and prone to failure. So the detection range shifts with strong side winds. Such a system detects all objects in the detection area without differentiation and this also very inaccurate, causing the machine operator gets many error messages (leaves, gravel piles, etc.). False signals are triggered, for example, by sounds transmitted in the range of the ultrasonic frequency from other devices, such as rolling noise or valve noise. The known systems have a rigid monitoring area, with the result that the monitoring area of the system stands in a curve machine on the outside of the curve from the standard clear space profile of the track laterally out, while he no longer reached on the inside of the curve the gauge section edge and Parts of the danger area are not detected. The application of this technique is therefore limited to travel speeds of up to 5 km / h.

As a clearance profile a defined boundary line is designated, which is determined for the vertical transverse plane of a route. With the clearance gauge, in particular that clearance is prescribed, which is to be kept clear of obstacles on the infrastructure or whose boundary may not be penetrated by the vehicle or its attachments. The clearance gauge thus also serves as the default for the design of vehicles, since they must always remain within the clearance profile even in curves.

Also known is the use of radar devices that have a similar problem as ultrasound devices. In addition, they work only to a limited extent at short distances (<0.8 m). State of the art are also stereo vision systems over the image detection obstacles in the surveillance area detect. However, these are only reliable in the vicinity and serve to monitor near areas, especially during machine startup.

Most existing systems are currently not available for increased security requirement levels. In image evaluation systems, achieving a high security requirement level is in principle possible but not feasible for cost reasons because the security considerations also include the reliability and security of the software.

The known systems are designed for maximum travel speeds of 5km / h. The braking distance is at speeds of 5 km / h up to 4m. Therefore, a danger zone of 5m is assumed. At driving speeds of more than 5km / h, the monitoring systems are deactivated. None of the existing systems can currently adapt the monitoring area to the track features, e.g. Dynamically adjust (for example pivot) when working or driving in the track curve.

The object of the invention is to develop a system of the type described above so that with relatively simple means the highest possible safety requirement level (SIL = 1) can be achieved. In addition, the surveillance area should be dynamically changeable, depending on the track layout. The system should optionally have the possibility of object tracking. In addition, it should be possible to extend the surveillance area at higher speeds.

The invention achieves this object by the fact that the evaluation device detects the position and course of the rails at least in the monitoring area from the data recorded by the detection device, that the evaluation device assigns the rails a clearance profile, in particular the clearance profile of the railway machine, which surrounds the monitoring area around the rail track preferably dynamically limited and that the evaluation device, the location of objects in the surveillance area recorded and sends a message when entering at least one object in the danger area.

With the invention, a system can be provided which permits a high safety requirement level of at least SIL = 1 and which, in addition, can dynamically change its monitoring area, depending on the track requirements. In addition, it is possible to equip such a system with an object tracking, which object tracking detects whether the detected object is moving in the direction of the danger zone or not. This is achieved in that the evaluation device detects the position and the course of the rails at least in the surveillance area from the recorded data of the detection device. Thus, a digital rail profile is created, over which the gauge of the railway machine is clamped. However, to extend the monitoring range, the clearance profile can also be extended accordingly. In addition, the clearance profile preferably limits the monitoring area around the rail track dynamically, which means that the extent of the monitoring area in the rail longitudinal direction and optionally also the extent of the clearance profile is dynamically limited depending on, for example, the driving speed. The evaluation unit detects the position of objects in the surveillance area, which have a certain minimum size and sets at a penetration of the object in the danger area, ie that area within which can still be braked safely, a message. This message can be a warning signal or trigger brakes and possibly trigger a control that ensures a secure stop the railway machine.

Simple and reliable construction conditions result if the detection device comprises at least one sensor movable with the railway machine along the path to be monitored, in particular a laser scanner and / or a PMD sensor, for detecting objects located in the monitoring area. Unlike the ones used so far Sensors are laser scanners and / or PMD sensors particularly well suited for this purpose, since they can achieve a high level of safety with you. Laser scanners scan the track areas three-dimensionally. Objects and their distances can be recorded very precisely by these laser scanners. To improve the quality of presentation, in particular for a machine operator on a screen, it may be advantageous to associate the laser scanner data with the data of a PMD sensor, that is to say a photo mixing detector camera, with which the data of the two detection sensors, the laser scanner and the PAD sensor may be superimposed can also be used to capture objects redundantly. The number of these sensors is chosen as required. In particular, one sensor each could offer for a long-range and a short-range.

In order to be able to provide reliable monitoring of the function of the detection device, it is possible to provide a reference mark arranged on the railroad machine at the edge of the monitored danger zone. If this reference mark is no longer recorded by the detection device, the proper function of the detection device is no longer ensured.

In particular, the detection device may comprise at least one additional video camera for the visual display of the surveillance area on a surveillance monitor, wherein the evaluation device preferably filters out and emphasizes the at least one object penetrating into the danger area from the image signal of the video camera. In addition, the detection device may comprise at least one second sensor movable with the railway machine along the path to be monitored, in particular a laser scanner or a PMD sensor, for detecting objects located directly in front of the railroad machine. To increase security, the surveillance area next to the danger area may have at least one prewarning area in between. If necessary, reaction times can be reduced by this measure. Thus, under certain circumstances, the driving speed can already be reduced in advance or a readiness for braking can be established.

As already mentioned, the profile for detecting obstacles in the work area may be extended beyond the standard rail space profile by work equipment associated with the railroad machine. This is particularly important in work machines because the work plows, for example, have a working range that exceeds the distance of the trolley masts or signal controllers. The operator could be warned in this case from these obstacles when the system according to the invention is constructed on the working device. Since the machine can perform kinking, swaying, dipping or looping movements and the like via the suspensions of the drives, this would change the monitored area with fixed installation of the monitoring devices. If the rails are spatially included as a reference, then these factors can be computationally compensated. This is done for example by corresponding known coordinate transformation of the train coordinate system of the machine and the track coordinate system defined by the detected geometric position of the rails.

The evaluation device can store the image data relating to the light space together with position data in a memory for documenting the positions of obstacles and for detecting obstacles for a railway infrastructure plan. The movement direction velocity of objects in the surveillance area is calculated in particular by the evaluation device from a sequence of recorded images.

• Fig. 1 eine schematische Darstellung einer vor einem Gleisbogen stehenden Eisenbahnmaschine in Draufsicht,
• Fig. 2 eine Eisenbahnmaschine aus Fig. 1 mit vergrößerter ausschnittweiser Seitenansicht,
• Fig. 3 eine Draufsicht auf eine alternative Eisenbahnmaschine,
• Fig. 4 eine schematische Eisenbahnmaschine in Schrägansicht vor einem Gleisbogen,
• Fig. 5 ein Schaltbild einer erfindungsgemäßen Anlage und
• Fig. 6 eine weitere Draufsicht auf eine erfindungsgemäße Eisenbahnmaschine.

In the drawing, the invention is illustrated schematically with reference to an embodiment. Show it

• Fig. 1 a schematic representation of a standing in front of a track bend railway machine in plan view,
• Fig. 2 a railway machine Fig. 1 with enlarged fragmentary side view,
• Fig. 3 a top view of an alternative railroad machine,
• Fig. 4 a schematic railway machine in an oblique view in front of a curved track,
• Fig. 5 a diagram of a system according to the invention and
• Fig. 6 a further plan view of a railway machine according to the invention.

It is proposed in Appendix for Hazardous area monitoring a railway machine 1 with a detection device 2 for detecting located in a monitoring area 3 objects. The monitoring area 3 is subdivided into three zones, namely the monitoring area 3 itself with the longest extent, the warning area 4 with shortened extension and the danger area 5 with a further shortened extension. Such a system is used to monitor indirectly visible areas, which means in particular that the railway machine is equipped with two driver's stands and each rear-side area behind the driverless cab can not be viewed directly. The system comprises an evaluation device 6 which activates a collision warning device as a function of the data recorded by the detection device 2 when at least one object enters the danger zone 5 of the railroad machines 1. For this purpose, the evaluation device 6 detects the position and the course of the rails 7 at least in the monitoring area 3 from the data recorded by the detection device 2. Subsequently, the evaluation device 6 assigns the rails a clearance space 8, which preferably limits the monitoring area 3 around the rail track dynamically. In addition, the evaluation device 6 detects the position of objects in the monitoring area 3 and sets at penetration of at least one object in the danger area 5 from a corresponding message. The detection device 2 comprises at least one sensor movable with the railway machine along the path to be monitored, a laser scanner and / or a PMD sensor for detecting objects located in the surveillance area. A reference mark 9 for monitoring the function of the detection device is arranged on the edge of the monitored danger zone on the railway machine 1. In Fig. 1 is indicated that the detection range 10 of the detection device 2 is considerably larger or can be than the actual clearance space 8. The lying outside of the clearance space profile 8 areas are preferably hidden in the further calculation.

Furthermore, can Fig. 1 can be taken that, for example, a laser scanner is attached to a machine side. The reference mark 9 is arranged on the opposite side of the machine. For each measurement cycle of the scanner, the latter also scans via the reference mark 9, which is recorded when the system is put into operation and its position and shape are stored in the system. If the reference mark 9 is not recognized during operation, then an error message is issued, whereby the function of the scanner can be constantly checked in a simple manner. The rails can also be considered as reference marks and used to check the scanner. By means of the position of the rails thus measured, the envelope of the danger zone relative to the vehicle, the respective clearance profile, is determined, calculated and monitored. This has the advantage that even in track arcs there are no blind spots and unmonitored areas. Any obstacles, such as masts and signals, are detected and used to control the monitoring of individual railway machinery attachments, such as plowing equipment or the like. A targeted automatically controlled avoiding these obstacles is thus possible.

In Fig. 2 the railway machine is shown in side view. Below the buffer 11, a laser scanner is shown as part of the detection device, which can also be oscillated up and down via a stepping motor. This laser scanner volumetrically detects the space via a detection cone 12. In addition, another scanner is provided above the buffers 11, monitored in the illustrated embodiment, the near area in front of the machine. But it could be pivoted about a horizontal axis to be used for long-range surveillance. Instead of the scanner or additionally, a static 3D camera, a PMD sensor (for detecting obstacles) can be used.

Fig. 3 schematically shows various danger areas of various attachments of a railway machine, in particular different plowing devices 13, which naturally often protrude beyond the standard clear space profile. In particular, a front plow 13 can be cultivated on railroad machines 1 on the front side, which pushes the ballast out of the track center to the outside or, in terms of height, pulls it off. About the flank plow 13 ', the gravel can be leveled on the flank or pulled up and deposited towards the track center. The flank plow 13 'can be continuously adjusted in its inclination and in its range. Its range is so large that power pylons and other obstacles are within its reach. If the operator is inattentive, the side plow may damage the machine or the equipment in the track. If a laser scanner is located at either end of the machine, then the forward scan may use the scanning device in the direction of travel to detect the obstacles and to warn and control the plow. This results in a significant added benefit of the system. Behind the flank plow 13 'is usually a grading plow 13 "arranged, which can plow laterally upstream gravel in the track center or the other side.Dynamic depending on the danger zone of the plow and the work situation, the clearance profile, which is to be monitored, dynamically selected or changed (ie in its transverse and longitudinal extent relative to the rail track).

In Fig. 4 the railway machine is represented with its local coordinate system xm, ym and zm. Also indicated are possible possible movements of the machine due to the suspension of the drives, for example nodding, Rolling, diving or rotating. In addition, the local coordinate system xs, ys and zs of the track is drawn. The xs coordinate is calculated from the measured longitudinal inclination of the non-inflated rail. The ys coordinate is defined and calculated over the course of the over-elevated rail. The zs coordinate is calculated perpendicular to the xs coordinate and ys coordinate. By referring the coordinate system to the position of the rails, movements of the machine coordinate system are not decisive.

Fig. 5 shows a functional diagram of a system according to the invention. In particular, the evaluation device 6 is shown, to which evaluation device 6 various devices are connected for evaluation and monitoring. These would be in particular a display or a screen 21, at least one scanner or a 3D camera 22, optical external warning displays 23, acoustic goods providers inside 25, acoustic goods outside suppliers 26, a stop signal to the machine 27, encoder 28, input devices 29, a System bus 30, and a visual warning indicator inside 33 and a video camera front 34 and rear 36.

The railway machine 1 off Fig. 6 is equipped with two driver's stands 35 and 36. For example, if the driver's cab 35 is occupied, then that direction of travel in which he has no direct view, the right in the drawing. This is the area in which backspace monitoring is particularly active. At the same time, the monitoring device can also be used to detect obstacles such as masts 37 and signals 38, so that they are not damaged in deflected work tools. If the operator drives in the direct viewing direction, ie in the drawing to the left, then, if the rear space monitoring in the direction of travel is active, the working space can be monitored for obstacles with the scanner. Since the operator in addition to the position of the various plows and the ballast structure and the like. To monitor, it happens in practice again and again, the obstacles are overlooked. Just this should be prevented secured with the invention.

Claims (11)

An installation for monitoring the danger zone of a railway machine (1) with a detection device (2) for detecting objects located in a surveillance area (3), in particular for monitoring indirectly accessible areas, with an evaluation device (6) which detects a collision warning device as a function of the detection device (2 ), if at least one object enters a danger area (5) of the railroad machine, characterized in that the evaluation device (6) determines the position and course of the rails (7) at least in the monitoring area (3) from the detection device (5). 2) records that the evaluation device (6) assigns to the rails a clearance gauge (8), in particular the clearance gauge of the railway machine, which preferably limits the monitoring area (3) around the rail track dynamically and that the evaluation device (6) determines the position of objects in the monitoring rich (3) and sends a message when entering at least one object in the danger area (5). Installation according to claim 1, characterized in that the detection device (2) at least one with the railway machine (1) along the path to be monitored movable sensor, in particular a laser scanner and / or a PMD sensor, for detecting located in the monitoring area (3) Includes objects. Installation according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that for monitoring the function of the detection device (2) a at the edge of the monitored danger area on the railway machine (1) arranged reference mark (9) is provided. Installation according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the detection device (2) at least one video camera (34) for visual representation of the monitoring area on a monitoring monitor (21), wherein the evaluation device (6) the at least one in the danger area ( 5) preferably filters out and emphasizes penetrating object from the image signal of the video camera. Installation according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the detection device (2) at least one second with the railway machine (1) along the path to be monitored movable sensor, in particular a laser scanner or a PMD sensor, for detecting immediately before Railway machine located objects includes. Installation according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the monitoring area (3) next to the danger area (5) comprises at least one prewarning area therebetween. Installation according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the profile for detecting obstacles in the work area of the railroad machine (1) associated with working facilities beyond the standard railway clearance space profile is extended. Installation according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the evaluation device (6) stores the light space (8) image data together with position data in a memory for documenting the positions of obstacles and for detecting obstacles for a railway infrastructure plan. Installation according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the evaluation device (6) determines the monitoring area extent in the direction of travel as a function of the driving speed of the railway machine (1) dynamically. Installation according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the evaluation device (6) calculates the direction of movement and the speed from a sequence of recorded images. Installation according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized by acoustic or optical devices on the railway machine (1) for issuing warning signals at least in the danger area.

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