Sensor system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10749159-B2
Application number	US-201816165716-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 19, 2018
Priority date	Dec 18, 2015
Publication date	Aug 18, 2020
Grant date	Aug 18, 2020

Abstract

A sensor system senses one or more characteristics of vehicles in a vehicle system with sensors disposed onboard the vehicles and communicate data representative of the one or more characteristics from the sensors to one or more of a controller or a control system of the vehicle system. The data communicated from the sensors onboard the same vehicle can be synchronously communicated with respect to the sensors onboard the same vehicle and asynchronously communicated with respect to the sensors disposed onboard one or more other vehicles in the vehicle system. The systems and methods can direct components disposed onboard a vehicle system to change operations, monitor data output by sensors operatively connected with the components, and determine which of the sensors are operatively connected with which of the components based on the operations of the components that are changed and the data that is output by the sensors.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
sensors configured to be disposed onboard locomotives in a rail vehicle system and to sense one or more characteristics of the locomotives; and
one or more of a controller or a control system configured to receive data representative of the one or more characteristics from the sensors,
wherein the sensors are configured to synchronously communicate the data from the sensors disposed onboard the same locomotive with respect to the sensors disposed onboard the same locomotive, and
wherein the sensors are configured to asynchronously communicate the data from the sensors disposed onboard different locomotives of the locomotives in the rail vehicle system.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensors are configured to synchronously communicate the data by the sensors disposed onboard the same locomotive by wirelessly communicating the data at one or more of a common time or during a common time period.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensors are configured to asynchronously communicate the data by the sensors disposed onboard the different locomotives communicating the data at one or more of a different time or during a different time period than the sensors that synchronously communicate the data.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data that is communicated represents one or more of temperatures of the locomotives or environment, movement in one or more directions, pressure, a fluid level, geographic or other locations, speed, sounds, images, or videos.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensors include one or more of a temperature sensor, a vibration sensor, a pressure sensor, a fluid sensor, a location sensor, a speed sensor, an acoustic sensor, an optic sensor, or an electromagnetic sensor.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more of the controller or the control system is configured to change operations of different components of one or more of the locomotives, and the one or more of the controller or the control system is configured to logically pair the sensors with the different components of the one or more of the locomotives based on whether the data that is communicated from the sensors represents the operations that are changed.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the one or more of the controller or the control system is configured to change the operations of the different components by directing traction motors disposed onboard the same locomotive to generate additional torque at different designated frequencies, wherein the frequency at which the additional torque is generated differs for each of the different traction motors.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more of the controller or the control system is configured to logically pair the sensors by determining whether the data provided by one or more of the sensors represents the additional torque at the frequency designated for a first motor of the traction motors, and associating the sensor with the first motor.

9. A method comprising:
sensing one or more characteristics of locomotives in a rail vehicle system with sensors disposed onboard the locomotives;
synchronously communicating data representative of the one or more characteristics from the sensors to one or more of a controller or a control system of the rail vehicle system, the data synchronously communicated by two or more of the sensors disposed onboard a common locomotive of the locomotives in the rail vehicle system; and
asynchronously communicating the data representative of the one or more characteristics from the sensors to the one or more of the controller or the control system of the rail vehicle system, the data asynchronously communicated by two or more of the sensors disposed onboard different locomotives of the rail vehicle system.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the data is synchronously communicated by the sensors disposed onboard the same locomotive wirelessly communicating the data at one or more of a common time or during a common time period.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the data is asynchronously communicated by the sensors disposed onboard a first locomotive communicating the data at one or more of a different time or during a different time period than the sensors disposed onboard a second locomotive.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the data that is communicated represents one or more of temperatures of the locomotives or environment, movement in one or more directions, pressure, a fluid level, geographic or other locations, speed, sounds, images, or videos.

13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
changing operations of different components of one or more of the locomotives; and
pairing the sensors with the different components of the one or more of the locomotives based on whether the data that is communicated from the sensors represents the operations that are changed.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein changing the operations of the different components includes directing traction motors disposed onboard the same locomotive to generate additional torques at different designated frequencies, wherein the frequency at which the additional torque is generated differs for each of the different traction motors.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein pairing the sensors includes determining whether the data provided by one or more of the sensors represents the additional torque at the frequency designated for a first motor of the traction motors, and associating the sensor with the first motor.

16. A system comprising:
sensors disposed onboard locomotives of a rail vehicle system, the sensors configured to measure operations of the rail vehicle system and to output data representative of the operations that are measured, wherein the sensors disposed onboard a common locomotive of the locomotives are configured to synchronously communicate the data during a common time period that differs from a different time period during which the sensors disposed onboard a different locomotive of the locomotives communicate the data; and
a control system configured to direct components disposed onboard the rail vehicle system to change the operations and to monitor the data that is output by the sensors,
wherein the control system is configured to determine which of the sensors are operatively connected with which of the components based on the operations of the components that are changed and the data that is output by the sensors.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the sensors disposed onboard different locomotives of the rail vehicle system asynchronously communicate the data during different time periods.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the control system is configured to direct the components to change the operations by directing traction motors disposed onboard the rail vehicle system to generate additional torque at different designated frequencies.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the control system is configured to determine which of the sensors are operatively connected with which of the components includes determining which of the sensors provide the data representing the additional torque at the designated frequencies of the traction motors, and the control system is configured to logically pair the sensors with the traction motors based on the data and the designated frequencies.

20. The system of claim 16 , wherein the control system is configured to direct the sensors disposed onboard a first locomotive of the rail vehicle system to synchronously communicate the

Assignees

• Gen Electric
• Ge Global Sourcing Llc

Inventors

• Worden Bret
• Zhang Jingjun
• Petersen David

Classifications

• B61L3/16 Primary

  Continuous control along the route · CPC title

• C08J2323/06

  Polyethene · CPC title

• H04Q2209/40

  using a wireless architecture · CPC title

• Y02T10/72

  Electric energy management in electromobility · CPC title

• B60L15/20

  for control of the vehicle or its driving motor to achieve a desired performance, e.g. speed, torque, programmed variation of speed · CPC title