System, apparatus, and method for automatically controlling a locomotive

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9469310-B2
Application number	US-201213654974-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 18, 2012
Priority date	Oct 18, 2012
Publication date	Oct 18, 2016
Grant date	Oct 18, 2016

Abstract

A system, method, and apparatus for automatically controlling a locomotive include a control interface unit configured to receive input from at least one manual control, receive input from an automatic control system, and transmit commands to a locomotive control system, wherein the commands are based at least partially on the input received from the automatic control system. A bypass relay may also be provided to enable and disable communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A manual control interface for automatically controlling a locomotive, comprising:
a control interface unit configured to receive input from at least one manual control, receive input from an automatic control system, and transmit commands to a locomotive control system, wherein the commands are based at least partially on the input received from the automatic control system, and wherein the input received from the automatic control system comprises at least one control command for controlling at least one locomotive function of the locomotive control system; and
a bypass relay configured to enable or disable communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system,
wherein the at least one manual control comprises at least one of a throttle handle and a brake handle, wherein the control interface unit is configured to determine at least one of the following: i) if a position of the throttle handle matches a current throttle setting of the automatic control system when the communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system is disabled, ii) if a setting of the brake handle matches a current brake setting of the automatic control system when the communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system is disabled, or any combination thereof; and
wherein the control interface unit is connected to the bypass relay, and wherein the control interface unit controls the bypass relay to prevent enablement of the communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system in response to at least one of the following: a) a determination that the position of the throttle handle does not match the current throttle setting of the automatic control system, b) a determination that the setting of the brake handle does not match the current brake setting of the automatic control system, or any combination thereof.

2. The manual control interface of claim 1 , wherein the at least one manual control further comprises at least one of a dynamic brake manual control and an air brake manual control, and wherein the control interface unit is configured to receive input from at least one of the following: the throttle handle, the dynamic brake manual control, the air brake manual control, a distributed power system, a positive train control system, or any combination thereof.

3. The manual control interface of claim 1 , wherein the automatic control system comprises an energy management system.

4. The manual control interface of claim 1 , wherein the bypass relay disables communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system when the automatic control system is engaged.

5. The manual control interface system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one manual control comprises the throttle handle, and wherein the control interface unit transmits data indicating a position of the throttle handle to the automatic control system when the communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system is disabled.

6. The manual control interface system of claim 1 , wherein the bypass relay enables communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system when at least one of the following occurs: the automatic control system is disengaged, the automatic control system is powered off, a fault occurs, or any combination thereof.

7. The manual control interface of claim 1 , wherein the manual control interface system is configurable to locomotives independent of manufacturer and/or model.

8. The manual control interface of claim 1 , further comprising a locomotive system integration router configured to communicate with the control interface unit and at least one of the following: a distributed power system, an air brake system, or any combination thereof.

9. A method for automatically controlling a locomotive, comprising:
receiving, by a processor of a manual control interface system, automatic control data from an automatic control system;
controlling, by the processor, a bypass relay connected to the processor to disable communication between at least one manual control and a locomotive control system;
detecting, by the processor, a state of the at least one manual control;
transmitting, by the processor, the state of the at least one manual control to the automatic control system; and
transmitting, by the processor, to the locomotive control system, control data based at least partially on the automatic control data, wherein the automatic control data comprises at least one control command for controlling at least one locomotive function of the locomotive control system, wherein the at least one manual control comprises at least one of a throttle handle and a brake handle, the method further comprising:
determining at least one of the following: i) if a position of the throttle handle matches a current throttle setting of the automatic control system when the communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system is disabled, ii) if a setting of the brake handle matches a current brake setting of the automatic control system when the communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system is disabled, or any combination thereof; and
controlling, by the processor, the bypass relay to prevent enablement of the communication between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system in response to at least one of the following: a) a determination that the position of the throttle handle does not match the current throttle setting of the automatic control system, b) a determination that the setting of the brake handle does not match the current brake setting of the automatic control system, or any combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving, by the processor, a request to disengage the automatic control system; and
enabling, by the processor, the connection between the at least one manual control and the locomotive control system.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
releasing, by the processor, control of the locomotive control system; and
transmitting, by the processor, a message indicating that the automatic control system has been disengaged.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the at least one manual control comprises a throttle handle, the method further comprising:
receiving, by the processor, a command to engage the automatic control system; and
engaging, by the processor, the automatic control system only if the throttle handle is in a specified position.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein transmitting the control data comprises transmitting signals to a train line of the locomotive, such that the signals are substantially similar to manual control signals.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the automatic control system comprises an energy management system.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the automatic control system is configured to transition to automatic control based at least partially on the state of the at least one manual control.

16. A control interface unit for automatically controlling a locomotive, the control interface unit adapted to communicate with a throttle handle, a cruise control system, and a locomotive computer, the control interface unit comprising at least one processor, wherein the control interface unit is configured to:
control a bypass relay connected to the control interface unit to disable communication between the throttle h

Assignees

• Wabtec Holding Corp

Inventors

• Kernwein Jeffrey D
• Gillen Donald J
• Klemanski Richard S
• Rouse Shawn D
• Sollars Scott A

Classifications

• Y02T30/10

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• B61C17/12 Primary

  Control gear; Arrangements for controlling locomotives from remote points in the train or when operating in multiple units (control from points outside the train B61L3/00; fluid-actuated telemotors, servomotors F15B; control devices in general G05) · CPC title

• B60L9/22

  polyphase motors · CPC title

• B60L9/28

  polyphase motors · CPC title

• B60L2240/12

  Speed · CPC title