Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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Method and Device for Identifying the Sequence
Of Wheel Sets
The present invention relates to a method and a device for identifying the
sequence of wheel sets within a railroad train that is made up a number of
individual railroad cars that can be coupled to one another in any sequence,
each such car having at least two wheel sets.
In this context, a wheel set is understood to refer to a combination of a
plurality
of wheels to form a module that can have one or several axles. Multiaxle
modules, preferably two-axle modules, are usually integrated into a so-called
bogie and are installed on the car in this so as to be able to pivot. For such
a
case, the expression "wheel set" is used as a synonym for "bogie."
In order to ensure the safety of rail traffic it is essential that damage or
failures
that could result in major disruptions of service or even to accidents
involving
personal endangerment be identified promptly. Such damage can occur on the
train, in the individual wheel sets, or in the bogies that support the wheel
sets in
the cars and the locomotive, as well as in the track, for example the track
itself
or the road bed.
In a known method for identifying damage in railroad traffic, in particular in
high-
speed trains (DE 198 52 220 A1 ), in which the running gear of a car has at
least
two bogies, each of which has a multi-axle wheel set, an acoustic model for
each bogie is generated from the output signals from a plurality of acoustic
pickups that are associated with each bogie; the sound or its frequency
spectrum is plotted as a function of time in each such acoustic model. Each
bogie sound is monitored for changes over time, and the changes over time are
recorded in a number of bogie acoustic patterns that are associated with the
bogies that follow one another in sequence in the train, are compared with
each
other and evaluated. Based on this analysis of the patterns, conclusions are
reached with respect to the type and severity of damage that is occurring to
the
train or the track, and then stored in a fault index, associated with either
the
CA 02461066 2004-03-15
particular stretch of track or the damaged bogie. When this is done, steps are
also taken to identify the wheel of the defective bogie that is damaged.
Use of this method requires that the sequence of the bogies in the train be
known. For all intents and purposes, this poses no problem in the case of
trains
that always have the cars configured in the same sequence and only the
direction in which they move is changed, since the bogies or the wheel sets
are
always arranged in the same sequence and the sequence need be changed
only when the direction of travel changes. In the case of railroad trains that
are
frequently reassembled and in which the individual cars can be coupled to each
other in any order after shunting, the bogies or the wheel sets are placed in
a
completely different arrangement within the train.
It is the objective of the present invention to describe a method and a device
with which the sequence of the wheel sets within a railroad train can be
dependably identified once the cars have been assembled, regardless of the
order in which this has been done.
According to the present invention, this objective has been achieved with the
features set out in Patent Claim 1 and Patent Claim 8.
The method and the device according to the present invention entail the
advantage that its place number in the individually assembled train is
assigned
to each wheel set or bogie, and this place number can be called up when the
bogie acoustic pattern and the train acoustic pattern are being evaluated.
Because of this, it is possible-on the one hand-to identify whether or not
anomalies in the sound pattern can be attributed to damage in the wheel sets
or
to damage to the permanent way and-on the other hand- damage to the
wheel sets can be assigned to the correct wheel sets or bogies and then filed
with the correct assignment in the fault index.
Practical embodiments of the method according to the present invention, with
advantageous developments and configurations of the present invention, are set
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out in Patent Claims 2 to 7. Practical embodiments of the device according to
the present invention, with advantageous developments and configurations of
the present invention, are set out in Claims 9 to 15.
The present invention is described in greater detail below the basis of the
drawings appended hereto. These drawings show the following:
Figure 1: Sections of a railroad train that is made up of cars that are
coupled
to one another;
Figure 2: An exemplary embodiment for the connection point ll shown in
Figure 1;
Figure 3: A further embodiment for the connection point II in Figure 1;
Figure 4: A diagram showing a train with four cars coupled to one another;
Figure 5: The same train with the same four cars coupled together, but out
of order after shunting;
Figure 6: A correspondence table compiled in a central facility, showing the
sequence of the wheel sets in the train.
The railroad train 10 shown in Figure 1, which runs on a track 11, is made up
of
a plurality of cars 12 that are coupled to one another, the foremost car 12
being
coupled to an electric or diesel locomotive 13. The embodiment shown in Figure
1 has two cars 12 and the locomotive 13, the latter shown only in part. The
running gear of each car 12 has two wheel sets 14 and 15. Each wheel set 14,
15 has two wheel axles and thus a total of four wheels. A two-axle wheel set
14
or 15 is usually arranged in a bogie 17. A wheel set 14 can also have a
plurality
of wheel axles or even only one axle. In the latter case, the bogie is
eliminated.
The cars 12 are coupled to each other in the usual way, by mechanical
couplings 18.
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Within a car 12, there is a microcomputer 20 associated with each wheel set 14
or 15, and an identification mark (hereinafter referred to as an
identification
number) that identifies the wheel set 14, 15, is assigned to each
microcomputer.
All of the microcomputers 20 within the train 10 communicate with each other
by
way of data-transfer channels. In the embodiment shown in Figure 1, the data-
transfer channels are in the form of copper or optical fibre data lines 21,
that are
hard wired between the microcomputers 20 arranged within a car 12 and can be
separated at an interface 22 that is located between the cars 12 that are
coupled
to one another. The interface 22 can be in the form of a connecting plug 23,
as
is shown diagrammatically in Figure 3. An identical connector half 231 of each
connecting plug 23 is arranged at the end of the car 12. Once two cars 12 have
been coupled together, the two halves 231, 232 of the connector that are
facing
each other are joined to each other. Before a car is uncoupled, the connector
halves 231, 232 are separated.
In order to avoid the manual coupling and uncoupling of the data lines 21
between the cars at the interfaces 22, the data transfer channels between the
cars 12 are configured as wireless data links. To this end, at each end of a
car
12 there is a transmitter/receiver unit 24, which is shown diagrammatically in
Figure 2; this unit comprises a transmitter 241 and a receiver 242. Each
transmitter/receiver unit 24 is connected by a fixed data line 21 to a
microcomputer 20. In the case of cars that are coupled together, the
transmitter/receiver units 24 of the cars 1 face each other so that data can
be
transmitted between the cars 12.
A central computer is installed in the locomotive 13, and this is connected to
the
car connected to the locomotive by way of a data transmission link that
contains
the interface II. The data transmission link is once again configured as a
wireless data link with transmitter/receiver unit 24 or as a data line 21 with
the
connector 23. By appropriate arrangement of the data lines 2 in the individual
cars 12, the first microcomputer 20 that is associated with the foremost wheel
set 14 of the first car 12 in the train 10 is connected to the central
computer 25,
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each following microcomputer 20 is connected with the preceding
microcomputer 20, and the last microcomputer 20 that is associated with the
last
wheel set 15 in the train 10 is in its turn connected to the central computer
25.
The central computer 25 is a central facility 26 in the train 10 to which all
information is passed and in which all such information is evaluated in the
appropriate manner.
As described heretofore, for a method for identifying damage to the wheel sets
14 and 15 that occurs when the train 10 is moving, or for identifying damage
to
the track that is being travelled over at any particular moment, it is
essential that
the sequence of the wheel sets 14, 15 on the individual cars in a train 10 be
known in the central facility 26, which is to say in the central computer 25,
so
that the damage can be identified, analyzed, associated with the individual
wheel sets 14, 15 or the section of track that is travelled over, and
appropriate
steps taken. For this reason, after the individual cars 12 have been assembled
to form a train, and the first trip started, the sequence of the cars 12 that
are
coupled together in the train is established as follows:
Within the central facility 26, the central computer 25 generates a data
telegram
that is passed to the first wheel set 14 in the following car by way of the
data
transfer channels (over the data lines 21 and/or the transmitter/receiver
units 24.
The microcomputer that is associated with this wheel set 14 receives this data
telegram and on the basis of a control command that is contained in the data
telegram it adds its identification number to the data telegram. The data
telegram, supplemented by the identification number is transmitted to the
following wheel set 15, where the identification number of wheel set 15 is
added
to it by the microcomputer 20 that is associated with wheel set 15. The data
telegram, which now contains two identification numbers in the sequence that
corresponds to the order that corresponds to that of the wheel sets 14, is now
transmitted to the following wheel set 14 in the next car 12 that is coupled
on.
The microcomputer 20 that is associated with this wheel set 14 again adds its
identification number to the data telegram and then transmits the data
telegram
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to the microcomputer 20 of the following wheel set 15. This process is
repeated
until such time as the data telegram has had all the identification numbers of
the
wheel sets 14, 15 in the train added to it. This completely augmented data
telegram is now transmitted from the last wheel set 15 in the train 10, or
more
precisely by the microcomputer 20 that is associated with this wheel set, to
the
central computer 25 in the central facility 26. After the train 10 has been
made,
up, the number of cars 12 and the type of each car have been input into the
central computer 25 so that the total number of wheel sets 14, 15 in the
train.
The central computer now compares the total number of wheel sets 14, 15 with
the number of identification numbers contained in the data telegram. If the
two
number do not agree, an error message is output. If the numbers agree, the
central computer 25 compiles a correspondence table 28 (Figure 6) in which the
identification numbers are arranged in the order of the wheel sets 14, 15 in
the
train 10, as determined by the direction of travel. The central computer
determines the direction of travel with the help of a bidirectional
accelerometer
27 that is installed in the longitudinal direction, e.g., in the locomotive
13.. The
direction of travel that has been identified is verified in that it is
established
whether or not there is any moving-vehicle noise emission. If the presence of
moving-vehicle noise emission is measured over several seconds away, then
the direction of travel-as determined-is fixed.
Figure 4 shows an example of a railroad train 10 made up of four cars 12, the
cars 12 being coupled to one another in order. The cars 12 are identified, for
example, by the letters A, B, C, and D. Each car 12 has a front wheel set 14
and a rear wheel set 15. In the example shown in Figure 4, each wheel set 14,
15 has only one wheel axle. The identification number "v" for the front wheel
set
14 and "h" for the rear wheel set of a car is assigned to each wheel set 14,
15 or
to the microcomputer 20 that is associated with the wheel set. Thus, in the
example shown in Figure 4, the first wheel set 14 in the train has the
identification number Av, the second wheel set 15 has the identification
number
Ah, the third wheel set has the identification number Bv, the fourth wheel set
has
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the identification number Bh, and so on. The last wheel set 15 of car D has
the
identification number Dh.
Figure 5 shows the same railroad train 10 that has been assembled after
shunting has been completed and the cars 12 could not be coupled together in
the order shown in Figure 4. According to the procedure as described, the data
telegram transmitted from the central facility 26 to the first wheel set of
the train
10 has the identification number Av of this wheel set added to it by the
microcomputer 20 that is associated with this wheel set, and is then passed on
to the second wheel set in the sequence, where the identification number Ah is
added to it; it is then passed to the third wheel set, where the
identification
number Cv is added to it. The amended data telegram is then passed to the
fourth wheel set, where the identification number Ch is added to it. It is
them
passed to the fifth wheel set, where the identification number Dh is added to
it,
and then to the sixth wheel set, where the identification number Dv is added
to it.
It is next passed to the seventh wheel set in the train 10, where the
identification
number Bh is added to it. Finally, it is passed on to the last, eighth wheel
set,
where the identification number Bv of this wheel set is added to it. The data
telegram with the total of eight identification numbers that have been added
to it
is then transmitted by way of the data line 21 to the central computer 25 in
the
central facility 26. The central computer compiles the correspondence table 28
that is shown in Figure 6, in which the wheel sets are numbered according to
their sequence in the train 10. The identification numbers are read into this
correspondence table 28 in the same order in which they were appended to the
data telegram, so that the position of any one wheel set within the train 10
is
known in the central facility 26. If the train 10 changes its direction of
travel, all
that needs to be done is to change the sequence of the position numbers, when
the wheel set with the identification number Bv will occupy position No. 1 in
the
train 10, and the wheel set with the identification number Av will be in the
last
position (position No. 8) in the train 10.
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Using the correspondence table 28, the damage identified in the central
facility
26 from the analysis of the wheel set sound pattern can be correctly
associated
with the stretch of track 11 or the wheel sets 14, 15 and, if it belongs to
the
wheel sets 14, 15, to the correct wheel set 14, 15. If, for example, damage is
identified in the bogie acoustic pattern of the wheel set at position 4 in the
train
10, this damage is also correctly associated with the wheel set that bears the
identification number Ch. Since in the central computer 25 the damage on the
individual wheel sets has been identified during previous train operations
with
differently assembled cars 12, printed out, and stored in the fault index, it
can be
ascertained whether this is previously identified damage or new damage to a
previously undamaged wheel set.
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