Wear degree information acquiring device, wear degree information acquiring method, vehicle and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10864825-B2
Application number	US-201716078027-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 8, 2017
Priority date	Feb 22, 2016
Publication date	Dec 15, 2020
Grant date	Dec 15, 2020

Abstract

A wear degree information acquiring device includes a power cable measuring unit which measures a distance from a predetermined position of a vehicle to a wearing part coming into contact with the vehicle among power cables configured to supply power to the vehicle, and a distance from the predetermined position of the vehicle to a non-wearing part not coming into contact with the vehicle among the power cables; and a wear degree information acquiring unit which acquires information indicating a degree of wear of the power cable, on the basis of a difference between the distance from the predetermined position of the vehicle to the wearing part and the distance from the predetermined position of the vehicle to the non-wearing part.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A wear degree information acquiring device configured to detect a degree of wear of a power cable supplying power by being in contact with a vehicle running on a road, wherein the power cable includes a non-contact part and a contact part supplying power to the vehicle, said wear degree information acquiring device comprising:
a power cable measuring unit including
an upper laser sensor which is attached to the vehicle in an obliquely-upper direction to the power cable and configured to measure a first distance of the upper laser sensor with the power cable via laser scanning and
a lower laser sensor which is attached to the vehicle in an obliquely-lower direction to the power cable and configured to measure a second distance of the lower laser sensor with the power cable via laser scanning; and

a wear degree information acquiring unit in which upon measuring a first shape of the contact part of the power cable in advance, a second shape of the contact part of the power cable being worn in contact with the vehicle is detected based on the first distance of the upper laser sensor and the second distance of the lower laser sensor, thus acquiring information indicating the degree of wear of the power cable according to a difference between the first shape and the second shape.

2. The wear degree information acquiring device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a timing detection unit which outputs a sampling timing signal each time the vehicle runs at a constant interval,
wherein the wear degree information acquiring unit acquires information indicating the degree of wear of the power cable, each time the timing detection unit outputs the sampling timing signal.

3. The wear degree information acquiring device according to claim 1 , wherein the power cable measuring unit scans a plurality of positions of the wearing part obliquely with respect to a running direction of the vehicle to measure a distance from the predetermined position of the vehicle to each of the plurality of scanned positions, and
the wear degree information acquiring unit acquires information indicating the degree of wear at each scanned position by the power cable measuring unit in the wearing part.

4. The wear degree information acquiring device according to claim 1 , wherein the power cable measuring unit is disposed oppositely to the power cable in view of the vehicle such that the upper laser sensor and the lower laser sensor are disposed at different heights and different positions with respect to the vehicle.

5. A method of acquiring wear degree information by detecting a degree of wear of a power cable supplying power by being in contact with a vehicle running on a road, wherein the power cable includes a non-contact part and a contact part supplying power to the vehicle, the method comprising:
measuring a first distance with the power cable via laser scanning in an obliquely-upper direction;
measuring a second distance with the power cable via laser scanning in an obliquely-lower direction;
upon measuring a first shape of the contact part of the power cable in advance, detecting a second shape of the contact part of the power cable being worn in contact with the vehicle based on the first distance and the second distance; and
acquiring information indicating the degree of wear of the power cable according to a difference between the first shape and the second shape.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program for acquiring wear degree information by detecting a degree of wear of a power cable supplying power by being in contact with a vehicle running on a road, wherein the power cable includes a non-contact part and a contact part supplying power to the vehicle, the program causing, when executed by a processor, the processor to execute:
measuring a first distance with the power cable via laser scanning in an obliquely-upper direction;
measuring a second distance with the power cable via laser scanning in an obliquely-lower direction;
upon measuring a first shape of the contact part of the power cable in advance, detecting a second shape of the contact part of the power cable being worn in contact with the vehicle based on the first distance and the second distance; and
acquiring information indicating the degree of wear of the power cable according to a difference between the first shape and the second shape.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Heavy Ind Eng Ltd

Inventors

• Morita Katsuaki
• OZAKI Kazuki
• Motoyama Hisashi

Classifications

• B60M1/28 Primary

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