System for estimating a load index of a railway vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12516974-B2
Application number	US-202117759909-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 5, 2021
Priority date	Feb 6, 2020
Publication date	Jan 6, 2026
Grant date	Jan 6, 2026

Abstract

A system for estimating a load index of a railway vehicle is described, comprising: an image acquisition means arranged to acquire a real-time image of a predetermined area inside a wagon of such a railway vehicle; anda control means arranged to determine the load index of the railway vehicle as a function of this image acquired by the image acquisition means.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A system for estimating a load index of a railway vehicle, comprising:
an image acquisition means arranged to acquire in real time an image of a predetermined area inside a wagon of said railway vehicle; and a control means arranged to determine an actual value of the load index of the railway vehicle as a function of said image acquired by the image acquisition means, wherein said control means is arranged for:
comparing the image acquired by the image acquisition means with a plurality of predefined sample images; each sample image being assigned a predetermined load index of the railway vehicle;
determining which sample image has the greatest degree of similarity with the image acquired by the image acquisition mean; and
determining that the current load index of the railway vehicle corresponds with the predetermined load index assigned to the sample image determined to have the greatest degree of similarity with the image acquired by the image acquisition means.

2 . The system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the control unit is arranged to determine which sample image has the greatest degree of similarity with the image acquired by the image acquisition means through an image recognition software based on artificial intelligence, wherein the degree of similarity is based on one or more evaluation parameters comprising a chromatic evaluation parameter, a shape parameter, or a brightness parameter.

3 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein said control means is arranged for:
counting the number of passengers within the image acquired by the image acquisition means; determining the actual value of the current load index of the railway vehicle, based on a predetermined average passenger weight value, the counted number of passengers, a full load mass value indicative of the mass of the railway vehicle in a condition in which the maximum acceptable number of passengers is present in the railway vehicle and a tare mass value indicative of the mass of the railway vehicle in a condition in which there are no passengers in the railway vehicle, through the following formula:

Load
⁢

index

=

number
⁢

of
⁢

passengers
⁢

counted
*
average
⁢

passenger
⁢

weight
⁢

value

full
⁢

load
⁢

mass

-

tare
⁢

mass

.

4 . The system according to claim 3 , wherein the control means is arranged to count the number of passengers in the image acquired by the image acquisition means through an image recognition software based on artificial intelligence.

5 . The system according to claim 3 , wherein the control means is further arranged to determine an actual value of a railway vehicle mass value, according to the current determined actual value of the load index, a full load mass value indicative of the mass of the railway vehicle in a condition in which the maximum acceptable number of passengers or freight items is present in the railway vehicle and a tare mass value indicative of the mass of the railway vehicle in a condition in which there are no passengers or freight items in the railway vehicle, through the following formula:
Actual value of the railway vehicle mass=tare mass+determined actual value of the load index*(full load mass-tare mass).

6 . The system according to claim 5 , wherein the control means is further arranged to calculate a braking force to be applied through a braking means of the railway vehicle, as a function of the determined actual value of the railway vehicle mass and of an objective deceleration value that the railway vehicle has to reach, through the following formula:
Braking force=determined actual value of the railway vehicle mass*objective deceleration.

7 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein said control means is arranged for:
counting the number of freight items within the image acquired by the image acquisition means; determining the actual value of the current load index of the railway vehicle, based on a predetermined average freight item weight value, the counted number of freight items, a full load mass value indicative of the mass of the railway vehicle in a condition in which the maximum acceptable number of freight items is present in the railway vehicle and a tare mass value indicative of the mass of the railway vehicle in a condition in which there are no freight items in the railway vehicle, through the following formula:

load
⁢

index

=

counted
⁢

number
⁢

of
⁢

freight
⁢

items
*
average
⁢

freight
⁢

item
⁢

weight

full
⁢

load
⁢

mass

-

tare
⁢

mass

.

8 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein said control means is arranged for:
counting the number of occupied seats in the image acquired by the image acquisition means; determining the actual value of the current load index of the railway vehicle, based on a predetermined average passenger weight value, the counted number of occupied seats, a full load mass value indicative of the mass of the railway vehicle in a condition in which the maximum acceptable number of passengers is present in the railway vehicle and a tare mass value indicative of the mass of the railway vehicle in a condition in which there are no passengers in the railway vehicle, through the following formula:

Assignees

• Faiveley Transport Italia Spa

Inventors

• Frea Matteo

Classifications

• G06T2207/30242

  Counting objects in image · CPC title

• G06V10/761

  Proximity, similarity or dissimilarity measures · CPC title

• G06T7/62

  of area, perimeter, diameter or volume · CPC title

• G06V2201/06

  Recognition of objects for industrial automation · CPC title

• G06T7/11

  Region-based segmentation · CPC title