Method for determining an actual position of rails of a track

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12017689-B2
Application number	US-201917046501-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 2, 2019
Priority date	Jun 1, 2018
Publication date	Jun 25, 2024
Grant date	Jun 25, 2024

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for determining an actual position of rails of a track by means of an optical sensor device, positioned on a rail vehicle, for recording the position of the track and adjacent installations. In this, it is provided that, by means of the sensor device, a course of the track and a course of the adjacent installations, in particular a catenary installation, are recorded for a track section as preliminary actual data, and that the preliminary actual data are transformed into corrected actual data in an evaluation device in that a recorded course of at least one adjacent installation is transformed into a course with a specified geometric shape. In addition, the invention relates to a system for implementing the method.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for determining an actual position of rails of a track by means of an optical sensor device, positioned on a rail vehicle, for recording the position of the track and adjacent installations, comprising the steps of:
recording for a track section by means of the optical sensor device, a course of the track and a course of the adjacent catenary installations, as preliminary actual data, and
transforming that the preliminary actual data into corrected actual data in an evaluation device wherein a recorded course of at least one adjacent installation is transformed into a course with a specified geometric shape;
wherein the preliminary data is transformed into a polygon course, wherein the points of the point cloud which indicate the course of the at least one adjacent installation form said polygon course, during the data transformation, this polygon course is aligned along the specified straight line in a common reference system, each segment of the polygon course is shifted and rotated mathematically, and all points of the point cloud which lie on a plane perpendicular to the respective segment are correspondingly shifted and rotated along, in this manner, all points of the point cloud are transformed, so that the result are corrected actual data to ensure efficient data processing; so that the computing effort for transforming the preliminary actual data into corrected actual data is reduced;
scanning the track using a scanner to determine an elevation of the track and recording said elevation by a clinometer arranged on the rail vehicle.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a straight line is specified as geometric shape for the recorded course of a contact wire of the catenary installation between two fastening points on mast cantilevers.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the respective fastening point on a mast cantilever is recorded wherein a point with a maximal curvature is determined for the recorded course of the contact wire.

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the course of the contact wire is recorded as a course of a contact wire edge.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a straight line is specified as geometric shape for a recorded platform edge.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a funicular curve is specified as geometric shape for a tip line between two mast tips.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein surface profiles extending approximately transversely to the track axis are recorded by means of the optical sensor device during travel of the rail vehicle along the track, and that from this a point cloud of the track and of the adjacent installations is stored as preliminary actual data.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the surface points of the contact wire and the rails are filtered from the point cloud by means of an algorithm set up in the evaluation device.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein an absolute position for a respective fastening point of the contact wire to the corresponding mast cantilever is prescribed to the evaluation device.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one fixed point marker arranged beside the track is recorded by means of the optical sensor device.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the course of the track is recorded as a course of a rail edge.

12. A system for implementing a method according to claim 1 , wherein the optical sensor device is designed for recording a course of the track and a course of the adjacent installations, that preliminary actual data resulting from a recording process are fed to the evaluation device, and that the evaluation device is designed for calculating corrected actual data by way of a transformation of a recorded course of at least one adjacent installation into a course with a specified geometric shape.

13. The system according to claim 12 , wherein an inertial measuring unit or a clinometer for recording a super-elevation is arranged on an on-track undercarriage on the rail vehicle.

14. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the optical sensor device comprises a laser scanner.

15. The system as in claim 1 , wherein the display of the point cloud comprising the corrected actual data is for the planning and execution of maintenance measures.

Assignees

• Plasser & Theurer Export Von Bahnbaumaschinen Gmbh

Inventors

• Buerger Martin

Classifications

• G01C7/04

  involving a vehicle which moves along the profile to be traced · CPC title

• E01B2203/16

  Guiding or measuring means, e.g. for alignment, canting, stepwise propagation · CPC title

• E01B35/06

  for measuring irregularities in longitudinal direction · CPC title

• B61L23/047

  Track or rail movements · CPC title

• B61L23/041

  Obstacle detection · CPC title