Train control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12522266-B2
Application number	US-202017793684-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2020
Priority date	Feb 19, 2020
Publication date	Jan 13, 2026
Grant date	Jan 13, 2026

Abstract

A train control system includes: a sensor unit; a linear feature configured such that sensor information acquired by the sensor unit includes characteristic information and installed on a track where a train travels; a feature recognition unit calculating a difference value between first sensor information and second sensor information by comparison between the first sensor information acquired during forward monitoring by the sensor unit and the second sensor information acquired by the sensor unit when the linear feature is not shielded and recognizing a presence or absence of shielding of the linear feature based on the difference value; an intrusion determination unit determining a presence or absence of an intrusion into the track based on the presence or absence of the shielding and generating an intrusion determination result; and a train control unit controlling the train by generating a train control instruction based on the intrusion determination.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A train control system comprising:
a sensor unit; a linear feature having an identifier enabling detection by the sensor unit and installed on a track where a train travels; a feature recognition unit configured to calculate a difference value between first sensor information and second sensor information by comparison between the first sensor information actually acquired by the sensor unit and the second sensor information acquired by the sensor unit in a case where it is considered that the linear feature is not shielded and recognizing a presence or absence of shielding of the linear feature based on the difference value; an intrusion determination unit configured to determine a presence or absence of an intrusion into the track based on the presence or absence of the shielding and generating an intrusion determination result; and a train control unit configured to control the train by generating a train control instruction based on the intrusion determination result and transmitting the train control instruction to the train, wherein the identifier has at least one of a visual element and a reflectance element configured to capture reflectance with respect to an emitted light ray, electromagnetic wave, or sound wave, wherein the visual element has at least one of a lighting and a figure, wherein the lighting has at least one of a wavelength, a color, illuminance, and a blinking frequency, wherein the figure has at least one of a shape, a drawing pattern, and a two- dimensional barcode, wherein the reflectance element is at least one of laser irradiation, radar irradiation, and an ultrasonic wave, wherein the sensor unit is installed at least one of the train and a periphery of a track where the train travels, and wherein the second sensor information is acquired at a time of no shielding is obtained from the linear feature and registered in advance in a database and the feature recognition unit is configured to read out the second sensor information from the database.

2 . The train control system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor unit is installed at the train.

3 . The train control system according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor unit is installed at the periphery of the track.

4 . The train control system according to claim 1 wherein
the linear feature is installed in at least two places on a front side and a back side in a traveling direction of the train along a track-crossing railroad crossing, and
the linear feature installed on the front side and the linear feature installed on the back side are provided with different identifiers.

5 . The train control system according to claim 1 , wherein
the linear feature is installed in at least two places on a back side in a traveling direction of the train along a track-crossing railroad crossing, and the feature recognition unit is configured to recognize that there is no shielding of the railroad crossing on condition that both a first condition and a second condition are satisfied in a case where at least one linear feature is shielded as the first condition and an unshielded state of at least one other linear feature is confirmed as the second condition.

6 . The train control system according to claim 1 , wherein
the feature recognition unit is configured to register a feature amount of the sensor information acquired by the sensor unit in a state where the linear feature is not shielded, the feature amount has, with regard to the linear feature, at least one of an installation position of the linear feature, a visual element, and a reflectance element capturing reflectance with respect to irradiation.

7 . The train control system according to claim 1 , wherein the linear feature is provided with different identifiers at an end point and another part as identifiers enabling the sensor unit to detect an end point of the linear feature.

8 . The train control system according to claim 1 , wherein the feature recognition unit is configured to recognize a presence or absence of an abnormality of a sensor unit of the linear feature based on the difference value.

9 . The train control system according to claim 1 , wherein
the intrusion determination unit is configured to register abnormality information on the linear feature, the abnormality information has at least one of an installation position of the linear feature, an abnormal state, maintenance information, a train control instruction in a section related to determination of the intrusion determination unit, and complementary means information on forward monitoring in the section, the abnormality information has at least one of total damage, partial damage, malfunction, and surface dirt, the maintenance information has at least one of maintenance date and time and maintenance content, the train control instruction in the section has at least one of manual operation by a driver and degenerate operation, and the complementary means information on the forward monitoring in the section has at least one of direct detection of an obstacle using sensor information and visual attention by a driver.

10 . The train control system according to claim 1 , wherein
the intrusion determination unit is configured to calculate a degree of reliability of the intrusion determination result using at least one of the difference value calculated by the feature recognition unit, an environmental condition including weather or a traveling time slot at a time of traveling of the train, a distance from the train to the linear feature, and a misdetermination history in a section related to determination of the intrusion determination unit, and the train control unit is configured to create a train control instruction with respect to the train based on the degree of reliability of the intrusion determination result.

11 . The train control system according to claim 1 wherein the train control unit is configured to create a brake release instruction on condition that both a first condition and a second condition are satisfied in a case where it is determined that there is no intrusion into the track based on newly obtained sensor information after brake instruction output to the train as the first condition and the newly obtained sensor information has at least one of a train traveling speed, a distance from the train to the linear feature, and a degree of reliability of the intrusion determination result as the second condition.

Assignees

• Hitachi Ltd

Inventors

• Imamoto Kenji
• Koike Jun

Classifications

• B61L2201/00

  Control methods · CPC title

• B61L3/16

  Continuous control along the route · CPC title

• B60L2200/26

  Rail vehicles · CPC title

• B61L15/0072

  On-board train data handling · CPC title

• B61L29/30

  Supervision, e.g. monitoring arrangements · CPC title