MX2013001154A - Thermal inductive electronic system for detecting tires with a lower inflation pressure. - Google Patents

Abstract

Described is a system of electronic technology, for the opportune detection of tires with a lower inflation pressure, used in railroads with a constant transit of vehicles with pressure inflated tires, which is able to be used in a continuous manner for the detection and diagnosis of the operation conditions. The system is free of maintenance and avoids the direct contact with the train, it is an autonomous system in the decision making, also being reliable, providing information in real time. The invention may facilitate the detection of faults in tires with lower inflation pressure. The system includes electronic sensors and a mainboard for detecting the number of axis with the respective reading of the corresponding axis, and displaying the same in a LCD, as well as determining if a tire is low of pressure or not. In case the temperature readings of all the tires of the train are within the predetermined values, the system will be prepared for waiting a new train, on the other hand , if an anomaly is presented, the system will display in the screen the number of axis where the tire with a lower pressure is located.

Description

THERMAL INDUCTIVE ELECTRONIC SYSTEM FOR THE DETECTION OF TIRE WITH BAJA INFLATION PRESSURE.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION.

The present invention relates to electronic systems for detecting low pressure and high temperature in pressurized inflated tires, and in particular with electronic mechanisms for detecting low pressure tires in mass transport vehicles that circulate on steel tracks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The Collective Transportation System of Mexico City faces eventualities of punctured tires and suspend train traffic, a situation that causes damage to the facilities of the tracks and to the cars themselves.

This has a high economic cost composed of: the temporary interruption of the service to the public user, repair of roads and cars, labor and spare parts.

At present, the low tire condition is detected by means of mechanical devices for activating a switch by means of the contact of the safety wheel and a hinged bar of the low tire detecting mechanism.

The original low tire detector installed on tracks, consists of a bar parallel to the ground, at its ends has a switch connected to the bar separated by a pair of springs, this system is direct contact with the safety wheel. When a tire is under pressure, the normal height of the safety wheel decreases with respect to the ground and causes the bar to move down, triggering an alarm, and the staff has to check the 36 tires of the train. Due to the unstable movement of the train, there are repercussions in the bearing system, this causes that the safety wheel tends to fall in height (due to braking, accelerations, traffic in curves, etc.) and a false alarm is activated, which is disadvantageous for the service due to the removal of the car from circulation, the maintenance costs and the difficulty of the adequate diagnosis.

Another disadvantage of the prior art consists in the installation of moving parts in the detection mechanism, which are subject to the wear of their function or to be destroyed due to impacts produced by the safety wheel against the mobile bar that makes contact with the switch.

Another disadvantage of the prior art consists in the presence of accumulated dirt in the hinge or hinge of the moving bar that limits or prevents the function of contacting the safety wheel.

Therefore, the inventor of the present application conducted a multiplicity of investigations, tests and experiments that led him to provide a new low tire detection system, in order to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art and which is of utmost importance in the part of the engineering to which the present invention belongs.

The applicant of the present invention has developed a new low tire detection system with electronic technology, based on the use of electronic sensors and control on the motherboard, capable of being used continuously to monitor and diagnose the conditions of operation of the different trains that move in succession. The system is maintenance-free for long periods, avoids direct contact with the train, uses digital technology, is an autonomous system with the capacity to make its own decisions, is more reliable, and generates information in real time, as well as facilitating the Fault detection.

The tire detection system monitors the temperature and the corresponding axis number, in addition to showing the readings on a liquid crystal display, depending on the temperature readings it is determined, if the inflation pressure of a tire is below normal pressure, indicating the side (left or right) and axis number, and otherwise the system will Restart or prepare to wait for a new train.

Among other advantages of this low tire detection system of the present invention, is that it employs an inductive sensor and an infrared temperature sensor which are fixed on the tracks, and also have no physical contact with the train; The signals from these sensors are treated with a microcontroller and digital technology.

In the low tire detection system of the present invention, the function of the inductive sensor is to detect the moment in which a tire passes in front of the infrared sensor that will take the temperature sample. In the microcontroller the readings of the two sensors are processed, and in case any temperature reading shows any anomaly, the activation of the corresponding alarms is commanded.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION The main objective of the present invention is to provide a low tire detection system in collective transport vehicles that travel on roller tracks, which reduces or eliminates the risk presented by a low tire condition, by means of the installation of a inductive sensor that detects the passage of the tire and an infrared sensor that measures the temperature of the same, and according to the control and evaluation algorithm, indicates if a tire is not able to continue under working conditions and speed up the intervention before it causes havoc in the normal circulation of trains.

Another objective of the present invention is to reduce the false warning shots provided by the current electromechanical system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

For a better understanding of the present invention, this is described based on the modality of illustrated figures that accompany this description and where: Figure 1. Cross-sectional view of the set of tracks and electronic inductive thermal detection system of the low tire of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the low tire detection system showing the distribution along the data acquisition zone of the inductive and infrared temperature sensors.

Figure 3 is a conventional diagram of the working method and the electronic components of the mechanism of transmission and remote data processing of the low tire detection system.

Figure 4 is a conventional diagram of the software of the electronic low tire detection system of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a plan view of the flow diagram and decision making of the low tire detection system of the present invention.

PREFERRED MODALITY OF THE INVENTION With reference to figures 1 and 2, all the elements that make up the low tire detection system are shown. First of all, there is the metal bearing track (1) of the train, the insulator (2) that carries the guide bar (5), and the safety rail (3) coupled to the sleeper (4) by the coach screws (6). . Above the safety rail (3) moves the metal wheel (not shown) that when instructed by the inductive sensor (7) instructs the infrared temperature sensor (8) to start taking readings of the tire that is moves on the metallic bearing track (1). The inductive sensor (7) is fixed on the sleeper (4) which can be made of wood or concrete, the infrared temperature sensor (8) is placed on the side of an insulator (2) with an inclination angle for the intake greater number of readings on the outer face of the tire. This arrangement of the components is installed symmetrically to one and the other side of the axis of symmetry I (not shown) of the track.

In relation to Figure 3, it can be seen that in the place of data acquisition there is a Microcontroller (9), a Radio Frequency unit (10) and a Transmitting antenna (11); while in the Remote Technical Room, there is a Receiving antenna (12), a radio frequency unit (13), a Microcontroller (14) and the Ethernet Communications and Services Network (15).

Still in relation to figure 3, the system essentially consists of an inductive sensor (7) and an infrared temperature sensor (8), on each side of the track, this in order to maximize resources and to have a constant monitoring In one single place. In the first instance the inductive sensor (7) is placed, this allows us to detect that there is an axis (not shown) or a rim (not shown) in the data acquisition area; this is possible because the safety wheel of the trolley (not shown) that is made of metal is monitored. With this, the system takes a count of the axes (36 in total per side) and performs the reading of temperature data of each tire with the infrared temperature sensor (8) and through the microcontroller (9) sends the information collected to a module (10) of radio frequency and by means of an antenna (11) to a remote technical room where the information is received and processed to diagnose the condition of the tires by axis and at the end, the system is restarted to wait for the passage of another train .

Still referring to Figure 3, the system consists of three digital elements, the inductive sensor (7), infrared temperature sensor (8) and the microcontroller (9). The entire process consists of three steps.

The first is when the safety wheel (metal wheel) enters the detection zone, in this zone is the inductive sensor (7) that detects the position of the safety wheel (not shown) and start the temperature readings.

The second step is with the microcontroller (9), which starts to count the axes that go through the detection zone and displays them on a liquid crystal display, also sends the signal to start taking temperature readings . The Micro controller (9) begins to take temperature samples of the tire (not shown) while it is running. find in the detection zone, then the system performs the comparison with reference values, and makes decisions on the pressure condition of the tire corresponding to a given axis.

The third step is when the tire has left the detection zone, then the microcontroller (9) begins to show the information collected by each axis of the train. After the microcontroller (9) has counted a total of 36 axes, it shows the corresponding information on the liquid crystal display and after 30 seconds it restarts the whole system to be able to wait for a new train.

In case there is a low pressure tire, the corresponding alarms will be activated and the number of the axis where the anomaly was found will be shown on the liquid crystal display.

Referring to Figure 4, the basic functions of the low tire detector system are described in block form, consisting of start (1), reading (2) and processing (3) of the information, output to liquid crystal display (4) and sending information (5) to the Ethernet communications network.

With reference to Figure 5, it is described that the system is constantly being started (1), verifying the presence of a tire (2) in front of the inductive sensor, in case there is no tire in front of the inductive sensor, it is asked again ( 3) until there is one, when the above occurs, then the infrared temperature sensor is activated (4) for reading on one side of the tire, then the axis number and temperature reading (4) are stored, it is asked if all the axes of the train (5) have passed, if the option is NO, then it returns to the tire presence detection stage (2), if the option is YES, then the information is processed (6) It is evaluated if there is any anomaly (7) to report, if it is affirmative, then the information is displayed on a liquid crystal screen (9), otherwise, the system is restarted (8) to monitor the next train.

It will become evident to those experts in the art, which can be realized innumerable modifications to the present invention without deviating from the main purpose and scope thereof, so it should be considered in its broadest and non-limiting sense.

NOVELTY OF THE INVENTION Having described the invention, it is considered as a novelty and, therefore, the content of the following is claimed in property:

Claims (1)

1. CLAIMS Inductive - thermal electronic system for the detection of tires with low inflation pressure, for public transport vehicles on confined railways, characterized by being fixed on the elements of the tracks and integrated by a first subsystem of instrumentation, consisting of two inductive sensors that detect the axes of the train on both sides of the track, and by two infrared temperature sensors that acquire at the same time the temperature of each tire on each axis on both sides of the track; this information is sent to a subsystem 'of digital processing, and transmitted by a wireless subsystem, to be received in a remote subsystem and data processing. This information is channeled to a programmable microcontroller that diagnoses the operating conditions of the tires for each axis according to a pattern of predefined values corresponding to a normal inflation pressure. Inductive - thermal electronic system for the detection of tires with low inflation pressure, for collective public transport vehicles on confined railways, characterized by being managed and operated by software capable of detecting and diagnosing in real time the operating conditions of the tires of the trains of the Collective Transport System Metro, carrying out the procedure by means of the following stages: the system remains energized continuously, and starts (1) permanently checking the presence of a tire (2) in front of the inductive sensor and in case there is no tire in front of the inductive sensor, it is asked again (3) ) until there is one, when the above occurs, then the infrared temperature sensor is activated (4) for the readout on one side of the tire, then the axis number and temperature reading (4) are stored, Check if all the axes of the train (5) have passed, if the option is NO, then returns to the tire presence detection stage (2), if the option is YES, then the information is processed (6). It is evaluated if there is any anomaly (7) to report, and if it is affirmative, then the information is displayed on a liquid crystal screen (9), but otherwise, the system is restarted (8) to monitor the next train. Inductive-thermal electronic system for the detection of tires with low inflation pressure, for collective public transport vehicles on confined railways, according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that in the instrumentation subsystem composed of two inductive detectors that detect the presence of tires in front of the infrared sensors on both sides of the train carriage, when they enter the area of detection and data acquisition on both sides of the tracks, a signal is sent that they send through a microcontroller to the infrared temperature sensors to take readings of the temperatures of the tires that pass through the data acquisition zone; This information is processed remotely by a programmable microcontroller, diagnosing the operating conditions of the tires for each axis, according to a predefined temperature pattern corresponding to a normal inflation pressure. Inductive-thermal electronic system for the detection of tires with low inflation pressure, for collective public transport vehicles on confined railways, according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that in the subsystem of signal processing and digitalization, the micro controller takes the count of the axes that go through the detection area and display them on a liquid crystal display, also sends the signal to begin the process of temperature reading, controlling and synchronizing the counting of the axes with the respective temperature readings. Inductive-thermal electronic system for the detection of tires with low inflation pressure, for collective public transport vehicles on confined railways, according to claims 1 and 3, characterized in that the digital signals relating to the axis count and the temperatures of the respective tires, obtained by the subsystem of processing and digitalization of the signals, are sent wirelessly through the transmission subsystem by means of a Radio Frequency module and an antenna, to the receiving system of the technical room. Inductive-thermal electronic system for the detection of tire with low inflation pressure, for collective public transport vehicles on confined railways, according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the reception and processing subsystem receives the signal emitted by the subsystem of transmission by means of an antenna and a Radio Frequency module and channels it to the microcontroller that performs the comparison of the received data of temperature with predefined values, and makes the decision corresponding to the state of the tire with respect to the inflation pressure, generating a database that it sends to the internal network of communications and services of the STC Metro.