JP2006101578A - Location information acquirer and rolling stock - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a positional information acquirer, which measures the present position accurately in a rolling stock or the like in running, and a rolling stock. <P>SOLUTION: The positional localizer 150 of a positional information acquirer 100 receives the request for acquisition of positional information of a rolling stock from a pendulum device 200, and gets the coordinate of the present position, based on the data obtained from a GPS 110, a yaw sensor 120, and a revolution integrator 130, and reads out the coordinate closest to the detection results of a geomagnetic sensor 140 in the vicinity of the coordinate, from a track information database 160, and outputs it to the pendulum device 200. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a position information acquisition device and a railway vehicle that measure a current position of a traveling railway vehicle or the like.

  In order to cancel the centrifugal force when a railway vehicle passes through a curve such as a curve, the track may be provided with a cant that is inclined inward of the curve. However, when a railway vehicle is operated at a high speed, the centrifugal force may not be able to be erased with just the cant. In this regard, there is a pendulum type vehicle as a technique for increasing the speed of the railway vehicle and improving the riding comfort.

  This pendulum type vehicle tilts the vehicle body when the railway vehicle passes a curve such as a curve. Furthermore, as a technology to further enhance the effect of this pendulum type vehicle, a pendulum control system in which the railroad vehicle itself detects the position information of the track, gradually tilts the vehicle body before entering the curve, and swings back when leaving the curve Is adopted.

  In order to apply the pendulum control system to a railway vehicle, position information indicating where the railway vehicle is traveling is necessary. In the conventional technology, information obtained from GPS (Global Positioning System), angular acceleration information obtained from a yaw rate sensor, or travel distance information obtained from a rotational speed accumulator is integrated in order to acquire this position information. We are using.

  However, the information used in the prior art is, for example, that GPS cannot be used in the tunnel, and if it is a rotation accumulator, an error occurs when the wheel slips, or the yaw rate sensor also has its own error. There is a problem that accurate position information cannot always be obtained.

In relation to this problem, Patent Document 1 discloses a curve shape data acquisition device for a railroad track, but this technology is a technology for obtaining data such as a track ratio and a cant, and the above-described problem. It does not solve the point.
JP 2002-195818 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a position information acquisition apparatus and a railway vehicle that accurately measure the current position of a traveling railway vehicle or the like.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the invention according to claim 1 is a position information acquisition device for obtaining a current position of a vehicle traveling on a track, the provisional current position information of the vehicle. A position specifying means for obtaining a geomagnetic sensor that detects geomagnetism and outputs azimuth information indicating the traveling direction of the vehicle, a trajectory information database that stores information on the azimuth corresponding to an arbitrary position on the trajectory, A position information acquisition apparatus comprising: correction means for correcting the temporary current position information based on the azimuth information obtained from a geomagnetic sensor and the trajectory information database.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the position information acquisition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the correction means accesses the trajectory information database and is within a predetermined range from the position indicated by the temporary current position information. And a search means for obtaining a position corresponding to the azimuth closest to the azimuth information.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the position information acquisition device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the geomagnetic sensor measures the magnitude of a magnetic field in three axial directions and outputs azimuth information. It is a feature.

  Further, the invention of claim 4 is a railway vehicle including a pendulum device, a position specifying device for obtaining a temporary current position of the railway vehicle, and a magnitude of a magnetic field in a predetermined axial direction installed in the railway vehicle. , A calculation means for obtaining traveling direction information that is information related to the traveling direction of the railway vehicle based on the magnitude of the magnetic field obtained by the geomagnetic sensor, and the position specifying device based on the traveling direction information And the pendulum device tilts the vehicle based on the current position of the railway vehicle corrected by the correction unit. It is.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the current position of a traveling railway vehicle or the like is corrected based on geomagnetic information, the present position can be accurately measured.

  According to the invention of claim 2, since the vicinity of the position indicated by the position information is set as a candidate for the current position, if the original position information has a certain degree of accuracy, this is further increased. There is an effect that can.

  Further, according to the invention of claim 3, there is an effect that the position information can be corrected with higher accuracy.

  According to the invention of claim 4, since the pendulum device inclines the vehicle while obtaining accurate position information, there is an effect that the operation time can be shortened and the riding comfort can be improved.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a position information acquisition device 100 mounted on a railway vehicle according to the present embodiment and a railcar pendulum device 200 that operates based on the processing result of the position information acquisition device 100. The GPS 110 of the position information acquisition apparatus 100 obtains position information of the railway vehicle using a radio signal from an artificial satellite. The yaw rate sensor 120 obtains the magnitude of the inclination of the railway vehicle. The rotational speed integrating device 130 integrates the rotational speeds of the wheels of the railway vehicle to obtain a travel distance. The geomagnetic sensor 140 obtains an angle formed by the traveling direction of the railway vehicle with respect to the direction of geomagnetism (earth's magnetic field).

  FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the geomagnetic sensor 140. The X-axis sensor 145 and the Y-axis sensor 146 detect the magnitude of the magnetic field in each of the predetermined X-axis and Y-axis orthogonal to each other, generate an analog signal, and output it. Here, the X-axis and the Y-axis are in a plane parallel to the vehicle floor.

  The switching means 144 inputs analog signals generated by the X-axis sensor 145 and the Y-axis sensor 146 alternately and sequentially at predetermined time intervals, and outputs the analog signals to the amplifying unit 143 for amplification processing. . An A / D (Analog Digital) 142 converts the analog signal amplified by the amplification unit 143 into a digital signal, and outputs the digital signal to the position specifying device 150 via an I / F (InterFace) 141.

  The trajectory information database 160 is a storage area for storing the geomagnetic table shown in FIG. The "coordinates" in this geomagnetism table are position information that expresses the actual position of the railway vehicle, and the "angle" is the relationship between the traveling direction of the railway vehicle at the actual location indicated by the "coordinates" and the direction of the geomagnetism. It is geomagnetic azimuth information expressing an angle.

  The trajectory information database 160 also stores a cant table shown in FIG. The “coordinate” in the cant table is a coordinate representation of the position of the railway vehicle, and the “cant” is the inclination angle of the track at the location represented by the “coordinate”.

  The position specifying device 150 receives data from the sensors 110 and 140 and the position information of the railway vehicle and outputs the data. The pendulum device 200 receives position information from the position information acquisition device 100, obtains a cant of the position information from the above-described cant table, determines the inclination angle of the railway vehicle, and inclines it.

  Next, a processing flow in the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 shows the flow of processing in the present embodiment. Now, railway vehicles are running on the track. The railcar pendulum apparatus 200 requests the position information acquisition apparatus 100 to acquire current position information indicating the current position in order to obtain the vehicle inclination angle.

  The position specifying device 150 of the position information acquiring device 100 receives an instruction from the pendulum device 200, obtains data from the GPS 110, the yaw rate sensor 120, and the rotation speed integrating device 130 as in the conventional technique, and obtains the current state of the railway vehicle. The coordinates of the position are obtained (step S01 in FIG. 3).

  Next, the position specifying device 150 obtains the magnitude of the magnetic field in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction from the geomagnetic sensor 140 in order to make the accuracy of the coordinates obtained earlier more accurate (step S02 in FIG. 3). . Then, the position specifying device 150 determines the positive angle that the traveling direction of the railway vehicle makes with respect to the geomagnetism as shown in FIG. 4 from the magnitude of the magnetic field in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction obtained earlier. Is calculated (step S03 in FIG. 3). This θ is information representing the traveling direction of the railway vehicle with respect to the direction of geomagnetism.

  Next, the position specifying device 150 accesses the geomagnetic table of the format shown in FIG. 4 in the track information database 160, and the distance between the “coordinates” in the geomagnetic table and the coordinates of the current position of the railway vehicle obtained earlier. Is calculated by the square root of the sum of squares to obtain (X0, Y0) which is the “coordinate” at which this distance is the smallest value (step S04 in FIG. 3).

  Next, as indicated by the broken line in FIG. 6, the position specifying device 150 converts a plurality of “coordinates” existing within a predetermined distance sufficiently close from (X0, Y0) obtained earlier to the geomagnetism of FIG. 4. A search is made from the table, and “angle” corresponding to the obtained “coordinates” is compared with θ. Then, from the result of this comparison, the position specifying device 150 retrieves ρ, which is the “angle” closest to θ, from the geomagnetic table (step S05 in FIG. 3).

  Next, the position specifying device 150 reads “coordinates” corresponding to ρ from the geomagnetic table of the format shown in FIG. 4 (step S06 in FIG. 3), and uses the “coordinates” as current position information indicating the current position. Output to 200. As described above, the position specifying device 150 calculates the coordinates of the current position of the railway vehicle based on the data obtained from the GPS 110, the yaw rate sensor 120, and the rotation speed integrating device 130 as in the existing technology. By reflecting the measurement result of the sensor 140, the accuracy is further improved.

  The pendulum device 200 receives data from the position information acquisition device 100, accesses the cant table in the track information database 160 shown in FIG. 7, reads the cant near the current position, and tilts the railway vehicle appropriately.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and includes design changes and the like within a scope not departing from the gist of the present invention. . For example, in the present embodiment, the geomagnetic sensor 140 detects the magnitude of the magnetic field in the biaxial direction, but may measure the magnitude of the magnetic field in the triaxial direction as shown in FIG. The geomagnetic table shown in FIG. 4 stores the elevation angle in addition to the “angle”, and the position identification device 150 also compares the elevation angle between the direction of geomagnetism and the traveling direction of the vehicle, thereby further improving accuracy. There is an effect that can.

  In the present embodiment, the position specifying device 150 calculates the coordinates of the current position of the railway vehicle based on the data obtained from the GPS 110, the yaw rate sensor 120, and the rotation speed accumulating device 130 as in the prior art. In addition, although the measurement result of the geomagnetic sensor 140 is reflected in the coordinates of the current position obtained, the current position may be calculated based on these four types of data instead of reflecting the geomagnetic information at the end. . Further, the position specifying device 150 may weight these four types of data. For example, since data obtained from the GPS 110 is not always accurate on routes with many tunnels, a large weight may be placed on the data obtained from the rotation speed accumulator 130.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the position specifying device 150 is the coordinates of the current position of the railway vehicle based on data obtained from the GPS 110, the yaw rate sensor 120, and the rotation speed integrating device 130 as in the existing position specifying device. In addition, the measurement result of the geomagnetic sensor 140 is reflected in the coordinates of the current position obtained, but the data obtained from these sensors and devices is recorded for a predetermined time, and the degree of change is recorded. The current position may be specified. Compared with the specification of the current position based on the instantaneous value, there is an effect of further improving the accuracy.

  In the present embodiment, the data that the position specifying device 150 reads from the trajectory information database 160 may be prefetched by a predetermined amount. The data in the track information database 160 is not read at random, but is read sequentially with the passage of time or with the progress of the railway vehicle. For this reason, there is an effect that the processing speed is increased by the prefetch processing.

  Further, the present embodiment may be applied to an automobile traveling on a highway. As a result, the automobile can control the suspension according to the curvature of the curve and the speed of the automobile, so that the safety and the ride comfort can be further improved.

  In the present embodiment, a predetermined sufficiently close distance used as a reference when the position specifying device 150 searches for “coordinates” in step S05 in FIG. 3 may be designated from the outside. Since the degree of use of geomagnetism can be adjusted according to conditions such as the accuracy of GPS 110 and how many places are available, there is an effect that the degree of correction by geomagnetism can be flexibly changed.

It is a block diagram showing the structure of the positional information acquisition apparatus in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure showing the structure of the geomagnetic sensor which the position information acquisition apparatus in embodiment of this invention uses. It is a flowchart showing the flow of a process of the positional information acquisition apparatus in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure showing the data which the positional information acquisition apparatus in embodiment of this invention uses. It is a figure showing the component of the geomagnetism which the geomagnetic sensor which the position information acquisition apparatus in this Embodiment uses uses detects. It is a figure showing the comparison processing with the detection result of a geomagnetic sensor by the positional information acquisition apparatus in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure showing the data which the pendulum apparatus which obtains a process result from the positional information acquisition apparatus in embodiment of this invention uses.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Position information acquisition apparatus, 110 ... GPS, 120 ... Yaw rate sensor, 130 ... Rotational speed integration apparatus, 140 ... Geomagnetic sensor, 141 ... I / F, 142 ... A / D, 143 ... Amplification part, 144 ... Switching means, 145 ... X-axis sensor, 146 ... Y-axis sensor, 150 ... Position specifying device (correction means, calculation means, search means), 160 ... trajectory information database, 200 ... pendulum device

Claims (4)

A position information acquisition device for obtaining a current position of a vehicle traveling on a track,
Position specifying means for obtaining provisional current position information of the vehicle;
A geomagnetic sensor that detects geomagnetism and outputs azimuth information indicating the traveling direction of the vehicle;
A trajectory information database for storing information related to a bearing corresponding to an arbitrary position on the trajectory;
A position information acquisition apparatus comprising: correction means for correcting the temporary current position information based on the azimuth information obtained from the geomagnetic sensor and the trajectory information database.   The correction means includes search means for accessing the trajectory information database and obtaining a position that is within a predetermined range from the position indicated by the temporary current position information and that corresponds to the azimuth closest to the azimuth information. The position information acquisition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the position information acquisition apparatus is a position information acquisition apparatus.   The position information acquisition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the geomagnetic sensor measures the magnitude of a magnetic field in three axial directions and outputs azimuth information. A railway vehicle equipped with a pendulum device,
A position specifying device for obtaining a provisional current position of the railway vehicle;
A geomagnetic sensor installed in the railway vehicle for detecting the magnitude of a magnetic field in a predetermined axial direction;
Based on the magnitude of the magnetic field obtained by the geomagnetic sensor, calculation means for obtaining traveling direction information that is information relating to the traveling direction of the railway vehicle;
Correction means for correcting the temporary current position obtained by the position specifying device based on the traveling direction information,
The railway vehicle characterized in that the pendulum device tilts the vehicle based on the current position of the railway vehicle corrected by the correcting means.

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