Vehicle sensor system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10345196-B2
Application number	US-201615372937-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 8, 2016
Priority date	Feb 12, 2015
Publication date	Jul 9, 2019
Grant date	Jul 9, 2019

Abstract

A vehicle sensor system includes a fluid sensor configured to be disposed onboard a vehicle system and at least partially extend into a gearbox of a traction motor of the vehicle system. The fluid sensor is configured to output data representative of an amount of a lubricating fluid in the gearbox. The system also includes a positioning system configured to output data representative of movement or an absence of movement of the vehicle system, and one or more processors configured to determine the amount of the lubricating fluid in the gearbox based on the data that is output by the fluid sensor responsive to the data output by the positioning system indicating that the vehicle system has not moved or has moved by less than a designated distance for at least a designated, non-instantaneous period of time.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a fluid sensor configured to be disposed onboard a locomotive and at least partially extend into a gearbox of a traction motor of the locomotive, the fluid sensor configured to output data representative of an amount of a lubricating fluid in the gearbox;
a positioning system configured to output data representative of movement or an absence of movement of the locomotive;
one or more processors configured to determine the amount of the lubricating fluid in the gearbox based on the data that is output by the fluid sensor responsive to the data output by the positioning system indicating that the locomotive has not moved or has moved by less than a designated distance for at least a designated, non-instantaneous period of time; and
temperature sensors configured to output data representative of temperatures of plural axles of the locomotive,
wherein the one or more processors are configured to compare the temperatures of the axles with each other and identify at least one of the axles as damaged based on comparing the temperatures of the axles with each other,
wherein the temperature sensors are configured to measure the temperatures of the axles at different moving speeds of the locomotive and to output the data representative of the temperatures of the axles at the different moving speeds of the locomotive to the one or more processors, and
wherein the one or more processors are configured to examine the temperatures to identify the at least one of the axles as damaged responsive to the temperatures of the at least one of the axles increasing between at least two of the different moving speeds of the locomotive while other axles of the axles do not increase between the at least two of the different moving speeds relative to the at least one of the axles.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the positioning system is configured to output the data representative of a geographic location of the locomotive and the one or more processors are configured to determine the amount of the lubricating fluid in the gearbox based on the geographic location that is output by the positioning system indicating that the locomotive has not moved or has moved by less than the designated distance for at least the designated, non-instantaneous period of time.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fluid sensor is configured to output the data representative of the amount of the lubricating fluid in the gearbox to the one or more processors at a sampling frequency, and the one or more processors are configured to disregard the data representative of the amount of the lubricating fluid in the gearbox that is output during a time period that the locomotive has moved by more than the designated distance.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the temperature sensors are configured to measure the temperatures of the axles at different moving speeds of the locomotive and to output the data representative of the temperatures of the axles at the different moving speeds of the locomotive to the one or more processors, and
wherein the one or more processors are configured to examine the temperatures to identify the at least one of the axles as damaged responsive to the temperatures of the at least one of the axles not decreasing between at least two of the different moving speeds of the locomotive while other axles of the axles decrease between the at least two of the different moving speeds relative to the at least one of the axles.

5. A method comprising:
determining temperatures of plural components onboard a locomotive at different moving speeds of the locomotive using temperature sensors;
comparing the temperatures of the components with each other using a controller; and
identifying at least one of the components as damaged using the controller responsive to the temperatures of the at least one of the components increasing between two or more of the different moving speeds while one or more other components of the components do not increase or increase by a smaller difference relative to the at least one of the components between the two or more of the different moving speeds.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the components are axles of the locomotive.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising automatically controlling operation of the axles responsive to identifying the at least one of the axles as damaged.

8. The method of claim 5 , further comprising automatically scheduling one or more of repair, inspection, or replacement of the at least one of the components responsive to identifying the at least one of the components as damaged.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein the temperatures of the components are determined at a first moving speed and a faster, second moving speed of the moving speeds of the locomotive,
wherein the temperatures are compared with each other by determining whether one or more of the components have the temperatures that increase from the first moving speed to the second moving speed and whether one or more other components of the components have the temperatures that do not increase from the first moving speed to the second moving speed, and
wherein the one or more components having the temperatures that increase from the first moving speed to the second moving speed are identified as damaged while the one or more other components having the temperatures that do not increase from the first moving speed to the second moving speed are identified as not damaged.

10. The method of claim 5 , wherein the temperatures of the components are determined at a first moving speed and a slower, second moving speed of the moving speeds of the locomotive,
wherein the temperatures are compared with each other by determining whether one or more of the components having the temperatures that decrease from the first moving speed to the second moving speed and whether one or more other components of the components having the temperatures that do not decrease from the first moving speed to the second moving speed, and
wherein the one or more components having the temperatures that do not decrease from the first moving speed to the second moving speed are identified as damaged while the one or more other components having the temperatures that decrease from the first moving speed to the second moving speed are identified as not damaged.

11. The method of claim 5 , further comprising automatically scheduling one or more of repair, inspection, or replacement of the at least one of the components responsive to identifying the at least one of the components as damaged.

12. The method of claim 5 , further comprising automatically controlling movement of the locomotive responsive to identifying the at least one of the components as damaged.

13. A method comprising:
determining first temperatures of axles of a locomotive while the locomotive is moving at a first speed;
determining second temperatures of the axles of the locomotive while the locomotive is moving at a different, second speed;
determining a temperature difference of each of the axles based on the first temperature and the second temperature for the axle;
comparing the temperature differences of the axles to each other; and
identifying a damaged axle of the axles based on comparing the temperature differences to each other.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising automatically scheduling one or more of repair, inspection, or replacement of the damaged axle responsive to identifying the damaged axle.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising automatically controlling movement of the locomotive responsive to ident

Assignees

• Gen Electric
• Ge Global Sourcing Llc

Inventors

• Worden Bret
• Zhang Jingjun
• Petersen David

Classifications

• F16H57/0449 Primary

  Sensors or indicators for controlling the fluid level · CPC title

• B60B2900/3316

  by indicating wear, failure or loss · CPC title

• G07C5/0808

  Diagnosing performance data (testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005) · CPC title

• G01S19/42

  Determining position · CPC title

• G01M17/10 Primary

  Suspensions, axles or wheels · CPC title