JP2012171560A - Wheel detector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wheel detector that does not require a power cable and easily performs installing work and maintenance.SOLUTION: This wheel detector includes a proximity sensor 5 for detecting a wheel 3 of a train running on a rail 2, and a piezoelectric element that generates electric power by vibration of the rail 2 and supplies the electric power to the proximity sensor 5. The proximity sensor 5 is operated by the electric power generated by the piezoelectric element. Therefore, the power cable for supplying electric power to the proximity sensor 5 is not required. As a result, the installing work of the wheel detector 1 can be performed extremely easily.

Description

  The present invention relates to a wheel detection device, and more particularly to a wheel detection device that does not require a power cable and can be easily installed and maintained.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a wheel detection device that is installed in a predetermined wheel detection location of a rail on which a train travels and is used for a train control device such as a closing device or a railroad crossing control device has been widely used. As this wheel detection device, conventionally, it is composed of a detector and a detector. Among these detectors, the detector is installed at a predetermined wheel detection point of the rail on which the train runs, and the detector is based on the detector. There is one in which the obtained signal is processed to detect the presence or absence of a wheel.

  However, the location where the detector is installed has a lot of external noise due to the return current flowing through the rail and the on-board device of the train traveling on the rail. It is necessary to enable accurate wheel detection even in the presence of external noise. Therefore, for example, with respect to external noise caused by a return current flowing in the rail, a noise detection coil is disposed at a predetermined distance from the reception coil separately from the reception coil, and is detected by the reception coil at the detection unit. In some cases, the presence or absence of a wheel is detected based on the magnetic field change detected and the magnetic field change detected by a noise detection coil.

  However, as a measure against external noise, it is necessary to provide a noise detection coil at a position apart from the reception coil apart from the original reception coil, so it takes time for installation work on site and maintenance cannot be performed efficiently. There was a problem.

  Therefore, conventionally, a transmission coil is provided on one side sandwiching the rail on which the train travels, and a reception coil is provided on the other side. A transmission signal of a predetermined frequency is supplied to the transmission coil to generate an AC magnetic field. Half of the total number of turns of the receiving coil is the first receiving coil, and the other half is the second receiving coil. The first receiving coil and the second receiving coil have their winding directions opposite to each other and from the transmitting coil. There is a technique in which a wheel is detected based on a change in the signal level by disposing a relationship that causes a difference in the reception signal level of each of the first reception coil and the second reception coil induced by the AC magnetic field. It is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1).

JP 2007-266938 A

  However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to install the receiving coil and the transmitting coil on both sides of the rail and to supply power to each coil. For this reason, installation work such as installing a power cable over a long distance along the rail is troublesome, and if there is a problem with the power cable, it is difficult to identify the faulty part and maintenance is also troublesome. Has the problem of taking.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wheel detection device that does not require a power cable and can be easily installed and maintained.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a wheel detection device according to the invention of claim 1, a proximity sensor for detecting a wheel of a train traveling on a rail,
A piezoelectric element that generates electric power by vibration of the rail and supplies electric power to the proximity sensor;
It is characterized by having.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the electric power generated by the piezoelectric element is further stabilized and supplied to the proximity sensor.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the stabilization circuit further includes a power storage unit for temporarily storing the electric power generated by the piezoelectric element.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to third aspects, the proximity sensor is a metal sensor.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the piezoelectric sensor that generates electric power is provided by the vibration of the train traveling on the rail, and the proximity sensor is operated by the electric power generated by the piezoelectric element. A power cable for supplying power becomes unnecessary, and as a result, the installation work of the wheel detection device can be performed very easily. In addition, since it is not necessary to consider the trouble of the power cable, maintenance can be easily performed.

  According to the invention of claim 2, since the stabilization circuit for stabilizing the electric power generated by the piezoelectric element and supplying the electric power to the proximity sensor is provided, the electric power generated by the piezoelectric device is in a stable state, Proximity sensor can be supplied.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the power storage unit for temporarily storing the power generated by the piezoelectric element is provided in the stabilization circuit, the power can be stably supplied by the proximity sensor. it can.

  According to the invention which concerns on Claim 4, since the proximity sensor is made into the metal sensor, the presence or absence of the wheel of a train can be detected appropriately with a metal sensor.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows the steady state in embodiment of the wheel detection apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a schematic block diagram which shows the wheel detection state in embodiment of the wheel detection apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the control structure in embodiment of the wheel detection apparatus which concerns on this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a steady state in an embodiment of the wheel detection device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a wheel detection state in the embodiment of the wheel detection device according to the present invention. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the wheel detection device 1 of the present embodiment is configured to be installed on one side of a rail 2 on which a train (not shown) travels. It is installed at a position that does not interfere with the wheels 3 of the train traveling on the rail 2.

  The wheel detection device 1 includes a box-shaped casing 4, and a proximity sensor 5 is attached to the upper portion of the casing 4. This proximity sensor 5 is comprised by the metal sensor which can detect a metal, for example, and the detection part of the proximity sensor 5 is attached so that it may point to the wheel 3 part of the train which drive | works the rail 2. FIG. . As shown in FIG. 2, the proximity sensor 5 can detect whether or not a train exists by detecting that the wheel 3 is positioned on the rail 2.

  Next, a control configuration of the wheel detection device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, a piezoelectric element 6 is built in the casing 4, and the piezoelectric element 6 is displaced by vibration generated when the train travels on the rail 2. Thus, a constant voltage can be generated. In general, it has been confirmed that about 100 G of vibration is generated in the rail 2 when the train travels. Therefore, a voltage is generated by the piezoelectric element 6 due to vibration generated when the train travels, thereby generating electric power.

  In addition, a stabilization circuit 7 is connected to the piezoelectric element 6, and a proximity sensor 5 is connected to the stabilization circuit 7. The stabilization circuit 7 is configured to supply the proximity sensor 5 with the voltage generated by the piezoelectric element 6 stabilized to a predetermined voltage value. When electric power is supplied from, the operation is started. Further, in the present embodiment, the stabilization circuit 7 is provided with a power storage unit 8, and the power storage unit 8 is configured to temporarily store the power transmitted by the piezoelectric element 6. Thereby, electric power can be supplied to the proximity sensor 5 more stably.

  The proximity sensor 5 is configured to be connected to a train control device (not shown) such as a closing device or a railroad crossing control device, and configured to send a wheel detection signal from the proximity sensor 5 to the train control device. ing.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

  In the present embodiment, when the train is not traveling on the rail 2, power generation by the piezoelectric element 6 is not performed, and the proximity sensor 5 is in a stopped state.

  When the train travels on the rail 2, the rail 2 is vibrated, and the vibration increases as the train approaches. When the rail 2 is vibrated, vibration is transmitted to the piezoelectric element 6 through the casing 4, and the piezoelectric element 6 is displaced by this vibration to generate a predetermined voltage. This voltage is stabilized by the stabilization circuit 7 and supplied to the proximity sensor 5, and the proximity sensor 5 is driven.

  And if the wheel 3 of a train is located in the upper part of the proximity sensor 5, the wheel 3 will be detected by the proximity sensor 5, and this detection signal will be sent to a train control apparatus.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the piezoelectric element 6 that generates electric power is provided by the vibration of the train traveling on the rail 2, and the proximity sensor 5 is operated by the electric power generated by the piezoelectric element 6. Therefore, a power cable for supplying power to the proximity sensor 5 is not required, and as a result, the installation work of the wheel detection device 1 can be performed very easily. In addition, since it is not necessary to consider the trouble of the power cable, maintenance can be easily performed.

  In the above embodiment, a metal sensor is used as the proximity sensor 5, but any sensor can be used as long as it can detect the wheel 3 of the train traveling on the rail 2. It may be.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made based on the gist of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wheel detection apparatus 2 Rail 3 Wheel 4 Casing 5 Proximity sensor 6 Piezoelectric element 7 Stabilization circuit 8 Power storage part

Claims (4)

A proximity sensor for detecting the wheels of the train traveling on the rail;
A piezoelectric element that generates electric power by vibration of the rail and supplies electric power to the proximity sensor;
A wheel detection device comprising:   The wheel detection device according to claim 1, further comprising a stabilization circuit that stabilizes electric power generated by the piezoelectric element and supplies the electric power to the proximity sensor.   The wheel detection device according to claim 2, wherein the stabilization circuit further includes a power storage unit for temporarily storing power generated by the piezoelectric element.   The wheel detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the proximity sensor is a metal sensor.

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