Failure determination device, brake control device, and failure determination method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12240509-B2
Application number	US-202018041637-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 20, 2020
Priority date	Oct 20, 2020
Publication date	Mar 4, 2025
Grant date	Mar 4, 2025

Abstract

A failure determination device includes an acquirer to acquire pressure values of air springs provided to bogies included in a vehicle to support a vehicle body included in the vehicle, a compensator to perform compensation of the pressure values of the air springs depending on the position of the vehicle, and a determiner to determine, based on the pressure values of the air springs compensated by the compensator, whether any failure occurs in the air springs.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A failure determination device comprising:
acquiring circuitry to acquire pressure values of air springs from pressure sensors, the air springs being provided to a bogie included in a vehicle to support a vehicle body included in the vehicle, the pressure values being values measured by the pressure sensors, the pressure sensors measuring pressures of air inside the air springs;
compensating circuitry to perform, depending on a position of the vehicle, compensation of the pressure values of the air springs acquired by the acquiring circuitry; and
determining circuitry to determine, based on the pressure values of the air springs compensated by the compensating circuitry, whether any failure occurs in the air springs.

2. The failure determination device according to claim 1 , wherein the compensating circuitry performs compensation of the pressure values of the air springs depending on whether the vehicle is located on an inclined ground.

3. The failure determination device according to claim 2 , wherein in a case in which the vehicle is located on the inclined ground, the compensating circuitry performs compensation of the pressure values of the air springs using compensation values of which absolute values have positive correlations with an inclination angle of the inclined ground.

4. The failure determination device according to claim 3 , wherein the compensating circuitry performs compensation of the respective pressure values of the air springs by linearly combining the compensation values and the respective pressure values of the air springs.

5. The failure determination device according to claim 3 , wherein the compensating circuitry performs compensation of the respective pressure values of the air springs using the compensation values defined for the respective air springs in accordance with mutual positional relationships among the air springs.

6. The failure determination device according to claim 4 , wherein the compensating circuitry performs compensation of the respective pressure values of the air springs using the compensation values defined for the respective air springs in accordance with mutual positional relationships among the air springs.

7. The failure determination device according to claim 3 , wherein in a case in which the vehicle is located on the inclined ground, the compensating circuitry performs compensation to decrease a pressure value of one air spring among the air springs and increase a pressure value of another air spring among the air springs, the one air spring being located at a lower position on the inclined ground, the another air spring being located at an upper position on the inclined ground.

8. The failure determination device according to claim 4 , wherein in a case in which the vehicle is located on the inclined ground, the compensating circuitry performs compensation to decrease a pressure value of one air spring among the air springs and increase a pressure value of another air spring among the air springs, the one air spring being located at a lower position on the inclined ground, the another air spring being located at an upper position on the inclined ground.

9. The failure determination device according to claim 5 , wherein in a case in which the vehicle is located on the inclined ground, the compensating circuitry performs compensation to decrease a pressure value of one air spring among the air springs and increase a pressure value of another air spring among the air springs, the one air spring being located at a lower position on the inclined ground, the another air spring being located at an upper position on the inclined ground.

10. The failure determination device according to claim 6 , wherein in a case in which the vehicle is located on the inclined ground, the compensating circuitry performs compensation to decrease a pressure value of one air spring among the air springs and increase a pressure value of another air spring among the air springs, the one air spring being located at a lower position on the inclined ground, the another air spring being located at an upper position on the inclined ground.

11. The failure determination device according to claim 1 , wherein
the air springs include four air springs in each vehicle body for supporting the vehicle body, the four air springs being arranged two-dimensionally in both of a traveling direction and a width direction of the vehicle, and
the determining circuitry determines, based on pressure values of the four air springs compensated by the compensating circuitry, whether any failure occurs in the four air springs, the four air springs supporting the same vehicle body.

12. The failure determination device according to claim 2 , wherein
the air springs include four air springs in each vehicle body for supporting the vehicle body, the four air springs being arranged two-dimensionally in both of a traveling direction and a width direction of the vehicle, and
the determining circuitry determines, based on pressure values of the four air springs compensated by the compensating circuitry, whether any failure occurs in the four air springs, the four air springs supporting the same vehicle body.

13. The failure determination device according to claim 11 , wherein
the determining circuitry
calculates a diagonal imbalance of the vehicle body based on the pressure values of the four air springs compensated by the compensating circuitry, the diagonal imbalance being an absolute value of a difference between a sum of pressure values of a diagonal pair of air springs among the four air springs compensated by the compensating circuitry and a sum of pressure values of the other diagonal pair of air springs among the four air springs compensated by the compensating circuitry, and
determines, based on the calculated diagonal imbalance of the vehicle body, whether any failure occurs in the four air springs.

14. The failure determination device according to claim 12 , wherein
the determining circuitry
calculates a diagonal imbalance of the vehicle body based on the pressure values of the four air springs compensated by the compensating circuitry, the diagonal imbalance being an absolute value of a difference between a sum of pressure values of a diagonal pair of air springs among the four air springs compensated by the compensating circuitry and a sum of pressure values of the other diagonal pair of air springs among the four air springs compensated by the compensating circuitry, and
determines, based on the calculated diagonal imbalance of the vehicle body, whether any failure occurs in the four air springs.

15. The failure determination device according to claim 13 , wherein
the vehicle includes a plurality of the vehicle bodies, and
for each of the plurality of vehicle bodies, the determining circuitry
calculates a diagonal imbalance of the vehicle body based on the pressure values of the four air springs compensated by the compensating circuitry, the four air springs supporting the vehicle body, and
determines, based on the calculated diagonal imbalance of the vehicle body, whether any failure occurs in the four air springs supporting the vehicle body.

16. The failure determination device according to claim 14 , wherein
the vehicle includes a plurality of the vehicle bodies, and
for each of the plurality of vehicle bodies, the determining circuitry
calculates a diagonal imbalance of the vehicle body based on the pressure values of the four air springs compensated by the compensating circuitry, the four air springs supporting the vehicle body, and
determ

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Matsuyama Etsuji

Classifications

• B61F5/44

  Adjustment controlled by movements of vehicle body · CPC title

• B61F5/386

  fluid actuated · CPC title

• B61F5/10 Primary

  incorporating fluid springs · CPC title

• B60T8/1705

  for rail vehicles · CPC title

• B60T8/1893

  especially adapted for railway vehicles · CPC title