Brake monitoring system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016264120-A1
Application number	US-201514644612-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 11, 2015
Priority date	Mar 11, 2015
Publication date	Sep 15, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A brake monitoring system and method determine one or more characteristics of a conduit in a first air brake system of a first vehicle system, compare the one or more characteristics of the first air brake system with one or more designated waveform signatures, and distinguish between communication of a brake application signal that is propagated along the vehicle system through the conduit as a decrease in pressure in the conduit and a change in the pressure in the conduit that is not representative of the communication of the brake application signal based on comparing the one or more characteristics with the one or more designated waveform signatures.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
determining one or more characteristics of a conduit in a first air brake system of a first vehicle system; comparing the one or more characteristics of the first air brake system with one or more designated waveform signatures; and distinguishing between communication of a brake application signal that is propagated along the vehicle system through the conduit as a decrease in pressure in the conduit and a change in the pressure in the conduit that is not representative of the communication of the brake application signal based on comparing the one or more characteristics with the one or more designated waveform signatures.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the one or more characteristics includes measuring one or more of air pressure or air flow in the conduit.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the one or more characteristics includes measuring changes in air pressure in the conduit as a first characteristic of the conduit and measuring changes in air flow in the conduit as a second characteristic of the conduit, and wherein comparing the one or more characteristics includes comparing the changes in the air pressure with a first waveform signature of the one or more designated waveform signatures and comparing the changes in the air flow with a second waveform signature of the one or more designated waveform signatures.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more designated waveform signatures include plural different waveform signatures associated with one or more of different vehicle conditions of the first vehicle system or different environmental conditions to which the first vehicle system is exposed.

5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising selecting a selected waveform signature from the plural different waveform signatures based at least in part on the one or more of the different vehicle conditions or the different environmental conditions, wherein comparing the one or more characteristics with the one or more designated waveform signatures includes comparing the selected waveform signature with the one or more characteristics.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the one or more characteristics occurs responsive to application of the first air brake system during the movement of the first vehicle system.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein comparing the one or more characteristics of the first air brake system with the one or more designated waveform signatures includes comparing the one or more characteristics with plural different designated waveform signatures representative of different braking effectiveness ratings of the first air brake system, and further comprising determining a braking effectiveness rating of the first air brake system based on comparing the one or more characteristics with the different designated waveform signatures.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the designated waveform signatures represent one or more of air pressures or air flow rates in a second air brake system of a second vehicle system prior to at least one of a previous derailment or a previous mechanical decoupling of the second vehicle system, and further comprising predicting one or more of derailment or mechanical decoupling of the first vehicle system based on comparing the one or more characteristics of the conduit in the first air brake system with the one or more designated waveform signatures.

9 . A system comprising:
one or more processors configured to determine one or more characteristics of a conduit in a first air brake system of a first vehicle system and to compare the one or more characteristics of the first air brake system with one or more designated waveform signatures, the one or more processors also configured to distinguish between communication of a brake application signal that is propagated along the vehicle system through the conduit as a decrease in pressure in the conduit and a change in the pressure in the conduit that is not representative of the communication of the brake application signal based on comparing the one or more characteristics with the one or more designated waveform signatures.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the one or more characteristics based on one or more of air pressure or air flow in the conduit.

11 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the one or more characteristics by determining changes in air pressure in the conduit as a first characteristic of the conduit and determining changes in air flow in the conduit as a second characteristic of the conduit, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to compare the one or more characteristics by comparing the changes in the air pressure with a first waveform signature of the one or more designated waveform signatures and comparing the changes in the air flow with a second waveform signature of the one or more designated waveform signatures.

12 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more designated waveform signatures include plural different waveform signatures associated with one or more of different vehicle conditions of the first vehicle system or different environmental conditions to which the first vehicle system is exposed.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to select a selected waveform signature from the plural different waveform signatures based at least in part on the one or more of the different vehicle conditions or the different environmental conditions, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to compare the one or more characteristics with the one or more designated waveform signatures by comparing the selected waveform signature with the one or more characteristics.

14 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the one or more characteristics responsive to application of the first air brake system during the movement of the first vehicle system.

15 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to compare the one or more characteristics of the first air brake system with the one or more designated waveform signatures by comparing the one or more characteristics with plural different designated waveform signatures representative of different braking effectiveness ratings of the first air brake system, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine a braking effectiveness rating of the first air brake system based on comparing the one or more characteristics with the different designated waveform signatures.

16 . The system of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the designated waveform signatures represent one or more of air pressures or air flow rates in a second air brake system of a second vehicle system prior to at least one of a previous derailment or a previous mechanical decoupling of the second vehicle system, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to predict one or more of derailment or mechanical decoupling of the first vehicle system based on comparing the one or more characteristics of the conduit in the first air brake system with the one or more designated waveform signatures.

17 . A method comprising:
monitoring changes in air pressure and changes in air flow in a conduit of an air brake system of a vehicle system having two or more vehicles coupled with each other; comparing the changes in the air pressure with one or more designa

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Kellner Steven Andrew
• Peltz David Michael
• Smith Eugene

Classifications

• B60T17/22

  Devices for monitoring or checking brake systems; Signal devices · CPC title

• B60T13/665

  the systems being specially adapted for transferring two or more command signals, e.g. railway systems (B60T13/662 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60T17/228 Primary

  for railway vehicles · CPC title

• B60T17/221

  Procedure or apparatus for checking or keeping in a correct functioning condition of brake systems (hydraulic pressure systems in general F15B19/00, F15B21/04; testing structures or apparatus G01M) · CPC title