US-12623650-B2 - System, method and devices for automating inspection of brake system on a railway vehicle or train

US12623650B2US 12623650 B2US12623650 B2US 12623650B2US-12623650-B2

Abstract

A system, methods and devices for automating inspection of a brake system on a railway vehicle, such as a freight car or train of a plurality of cars is provided. According to preferred embodiments, the system may be configured for use in conjunction with existing braking systems currently on railway vehicles, such as those on freight cars and other railway vehicles. The system, methods and devices comprise a wireless brake monitoring sensor that includes a radar unit or circuitry and directs a beam toward a target to monitor a condition or position of a brake or brake component.

Inventors

William LeFebvre
Wayne H. Murphy

Assignees

Pennsy Digital Inc.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20210303

Claims (19)

1 . A wireless brake monitoring system for monitoring a state or condition of a railway vehicle brake having a moveable piston that is secured to a brake with a brake pin, the system comprising: a) a wireless brake monitoring sensor comprising a radar unit contained within a housing and being mountable to a railway vehicle; b) a power supply contained within the housing; c) a communications module providing communications between the radar unit and a remotely situated device that is remote of the sensor location; d) wherein the radar unit is configured to project a radar beam during a brake monitoring event; e) wherein the sensor includes circuitry with one or more processing components to process signals from the radar unit that determine the brake condition; f) wherein the brake condition is measurable to determine whether the brake piston has moved and the distance and direction that the brake piston has moved, and wherein the radar signals from the radar unit are used to provide the indication of whether the brake piston has moved and the distance and direction that the brake piston has moved; g) wherein the radar unit is disposed above the brake pin and faces a fixed target, wherein the fixed target is in a linear direction of the radar unit; h) wherein the signal path of the radar unit is along the line of direction of movement of the piston whose movement is being measured; and i) wherein the signal path comprises a signal path whose length is between the radar unit and the target, and whose length changes in a linear direction between the radar unit and the target based on the brake piston movement and direction of movement in the signal path direction.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the remotely situated device is on the same railway vehicle on which the wireless brake monitoring sensor is installed.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the remotely situated device is remote of the railway vehicle on which the wireless brake monitoring sensor is installed.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein said communications module is configured in the circuitry with said radar unit for communications between the radar unit and a mobile device.
5 . The system of claim 4 , including a target mountable at a location on said railway vehicle or on the brake system of the railway vehicle, wherein one or the other of said target or said brake sensor is stationary and wherein the other of said target or brake sensor is movable with one or more components of said brake system.
6 . The system of claim 1 , including a mounting component comprising a brake pin and wherein said housing is mounted to said pin.
7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein said radar is tuned to detect a range comprising a window that is between several inches to three feet.
8 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the brake pin includes a head, a pin body, a flange and a pair of arms, and wherein the radar unit is carried on the flange and is positioned in a direction along the line or path of travel of the piston.
9 . The system of claim 6 , wherein said radar is tuned to detect a range comprising a window of length of the expected operation of the brake piston being monitored.
10 . A brake monitoring device comprising: a) a wireless brake sensor comprising radar circuitry; b) a brake pin; c) wherein the wireless brake sensor is mounted on the brake pin; d) wherein the wireless brake sensor radar circuitry is configured to determine whether the brake piston has moved and the distance and direction that the brake piston has moved; e) wherein the wireless brake sensor radar circuitry is configured for disposition at a location above the brake pin and facing a fixed target, from which location the wireless brake sensor radar circuitry emits and receives signals comprising radar signals, and wherein the wireless brake sensor radar circuitry processes the radar signals and determines from those processed radar signals whether the brake piston has moved and the distance and direction that the brake piston has moved; and f) wherein the wireless brake sensor emits a radar signal along the line of direction of movement of the brake piston whose movement is being measured; g) wherein the fixed target and the wireless brake sensor are linear to one another; and h) wherein the signal path of the radar signals comprises a signal path having a signal path direction whose length is between the wireless brake sensor and the fixed target, and whose length changes in a linear direction between the wireless brake sensor and the fixed target based on the brake piston movement and direction of movement in the radar signal path direction.
11 . A brake pin comprising: a) a pin body including a pin shaft; b) a head; c) a flange being connected to the pin head and extending upward from and above the pin head; d) the pin shaft being connected to the pin head and extending downward therefrom; and e) a pair of spaced apart arms projecting downwardly from said flange in the direction of the pin shaft, wherein the spaced apart arms are spaced apart from each other and from the pin shaft.
12 . The brake pin of claim 11 , wherein at least a portion of each one of said arms is disposed below the pin head.
13 . A method for determining a condition of a railway vehicle brake on a railway vehicle, comprising: a) determining with a wireless brake position sensor a distance between said wireless brake position sensor and a target; b) wherein at least one or the other of said wireless brake position sensor and said target are installed on a component of the railway vehicle brake system that moves to engage or disengage said brake, the railway vehicle brake system including a piston; c) communicating a signal from said wireless brake position sensor to a remote device; and d) receiving with a remote device the wireless signal and determining from said signal a condition of the brake; e) wherein the wireless brake position sensor comprises a radar unit, and wherein determining a distance between said wireless brake position sensor and a target comprises projecting a beam from the radar unit in a direction parallel to the distance being determined; and f) wherein the target is in a linear direction of the radar unit; and g) wherein the beam is projected along a path between radar unit and the target, and wherein the direction of said path is parallel to the direction of movement of the piston whose movement is being measured.
14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein said brake condition is whether the brake is applied or whether the brake is released.
15 . The method of claim 14 , including communicating a plurality of signals from a plurality of wireless brake position sensors from a respective plurality of brakes of cars comprising a train, and determining whether the brakes of the train have been applied.
16 . The method of claim 14 , including communicating a plurality of signals from a plurality of wireless brake position sensors from a respective plurality of brakes of cars comprising a train, and determining whether the brakes of the train have been released.
17 . The method of claim 13 , wherein said brake condition is a wear condition indicating brake wear.
18 . The method of claim 13 , including installing the wireless brake position sensor on an existing brake of a railway vehicle.
19 . A wireless brake monitoring system for monitoring a state or condition of a railway vehicle brake having a moveable piston that moves along a line or path of movement, the system comprising: a) a wireless brake monitoring sensor comprising a radar unit contained within a housing and being mountable to the brake or brake pin of a railway vehicle to reside above the linear path of the movable piston; and a target located above the linear path of the movable piston, the movable piston having a linear direction of movement; b) a power supply contained within the housing; c) a communications module providing communications between the radar unit and a remotely situated device that is remote of the sensor location; d) wherein the radar unit is configured to project a radar beam during a brake monitoring event, wherein the beam direction is projected along the direction of the line or path of movement of the brake piston and in the direction of the target; and wherein the beam is coincident with the brake status to provide the indication of whether the pneumatic brake is engaged or released and whether the hand brake is engaged or released; e) wherein the sensor includes circuitry with one or more processing components to process signals from the radar unit that determine the brake state or condition, which includes the brake piston travel distance and travel direction; f) wherein the radar unit is disposed above the brake pin and faces the target, wherein the target is in a linear direction of the radar unit; and g) wherein the beam path of the radar unit is between the radar unit and the target, and wherein the beam path has a beam path length between the radar unit and the target that changes in a linear direction between the radar unit and the target based on the brake piston travel distance in the beam path direction.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The benefits under 35 U.S.C. §§ 119 (e) and 120 of the following are hereby claimed: U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/984,748, filed on Mar. 3, 2020, and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/012,829, filed on Apr. 20, 2020, the complete contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to the field of railway vehicles, and more particularly to braking systems of a freight car or train and the inspection of the system and brakes. 2. Brief Description of the Related Art Typically, most freight cars have a braking system that may be applied in one of two ways, via a pneumatic air braking system or through a mechanical hand brake. Typically, air brakes are used in a train and hand brakes are applied on individual freight cars to secure them in yards or sidings. Currently, there are standards and requirements regulating under which circumstances the hand brakes need to be applied. The regulations are largely to promote safety. When freight cars are assembled into a train, a mandatory test of the air brake system must be conducted on each train and each car in the train by a qualified person. The brakes on each car should apply in response to an initiation by a controlling locomotive or yard test device and should remain applied until a release signal has been given. Air brakes use a pneumatic cylinder and a piston to apply or release the brakes. Piston travel must be inspected on each freight car while the brakes are applied to confirm they have been actuated and that they are properly adjusted. Cars that fail the inspection must be repaired or removed from the train. This manual, visual inspection process takes time and is often conducted in difficult circumstances, requiring the diligence of qualified person. The inspector is typically required to walk the length of the train in order to inspect each car. No record of the inspection is generated. In yards where freight cars are disconnected from a train, individual cars must be secured using a mechanical hand brake assembly. Before disconnected freight cars are moved within the yard, the hand brake must be released. Failure to do this causes damage to the wheels on the freight car, damage which may be observed and rectified almost immediately or damage that may take months or years to become evident. Determining whether the hand brake is applied or released when it should be, again relies on visual inspection with no record being maintained. In some circumstances hand brakes are applied on several freight cars in a train when the train needs to be secured in a stationary location for long periods of time. In these circumstances the hand brakes are applied as a back up to the air brake system. The number of hand brakes applied is important to prevent a runaway train in the event the air brakes fail. It is also important to ensure that all hand brakes are released before the train resumes its journey. In both cases, the process for securing and releasing the train is manual, as is recording that it has been done. The ability to automate the manual inspection process currently used benefits railroad train operators and railcar owners alike. Providing an automated, digital method to inspect that the brakes work, are adjusted correctly, are applied and released when they should be will lead to safer and more efficient railroad operation. Previous approaches to fulfilling this need include Electronically Controlled Pneumatic (ECP) brake systems, camera-based image recognition systems and wireless sensor systems using strain gages or distance sensors. While each approach has its own merits, none have been widely adopted. ECP brakes are costly, hard to use with mixed (partially equipped) fleets and are difficult to retrofit on existing cars. Vision-based systems using image recognition are growing but are expensive and require sites to be equipped and maintained so do not work in all the use-cases outlined above. Strain-based wireless sensing solutions require a modified component equipped with a strain gage to be put in the load path and only validates that the component load changed, not that the piston has moved. Displacement sensors such as string-pots are not robust enough for the rail environment as are magnetic sensors, while optical sensors are unable to operate effectively in the dusty and dirty railroad environment. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A system, methods and devices for automating inspection of brake system on a railway vehicle, such as a freight car, passenger car, or train comprised of a plurality of cars, is provided. According to preferred embodiments, the system may be configured for use in conjunction with existing braking systems currently on railway vehicles, such as freight cars and other railway vehicles. The system, methods and devices comprise a sensor which according to preferred embodiments, preferably compri