Apparatus and method for detecting defective conditions in railway vehicle wheels and railtracks

Claim 2

Apparatus for detecting defective conditions associated with a set of railway vehicle wheels and with a railtrack upon which a given railway vehicle travels, said apparatus comprising: rotation measurement means for generating data substantially indicative of rotational rate of the set of wheels; a motion sensor for generating data indicative of motion at least along a generally vertical axis relative to the railtrack, said motion sensor comprising an accelerometer set positioned to measure acceleration along three mutually orthogonal axes wherein one of the three mutually orthogonal axes comprises the generally vertical axis relative to the railtrack; and a data processor coupled to the motion sensor and to the rotation measurement means for receiving the rotational rate and motion data, said data processor being adapted to detect, based on the received rotational rate and motion data, a defective condition associated with at least one wheel of the wheel set, said data processor being further adapted to process the measured acceleration from the accelerometer set to determine loading status of the railway vehicle.

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said data processor is further adapted to detect, based on the received motion data, a defective condition associated with at least a portion of the railtrack.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said motion sensor comprises at least one sensor selected from the group of sensors consisting of accelerometers, vibration sensors and shock sensors.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said data processor comprises a discrete Fourier processor.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said rotation measurement means is adapted to generate the rotational rate data based upon railway vehicle velocity and wheel circumference.

Claim 7

Apparatus for detecting defective conditions associated with a set of railway vehicle wheels and with a railtrack upon which a given railway vehicle travels, said apparatus comprising: a rotation measurement unit for generating data substantially indicative of rotational rate of the set of wheels; a motion sensor for generating data indicative of motion at least along a generally vertical axis relative to the railtrack, said motion sensor comprising an accelerometer set positioned to measure acceleration along three mutually orthogonal axes wherein one of the three mutually orthogonal axes comprises the generally vertical axis relative to the railtrack; and a data processor coupled to the motion sensor and to the rotation measurement unit for receiving the rotational rate and motion data, said data processor being adapted to detect, based on the received rotational rate and motion data, a defective condition associated with at least one wheel of the wheel set, said data processor being further adapted to detect, based on the received motion data, a defective condition associated with at least a portion of the railtrack, and wherein said data processor is further adapted to process the measured acceleration from the accelerometer set to determine loading status of the railway vehicle.

Claim 8

Apparatus for detecting defective conditions associated with a set of railway vehicle wheels and with a railtrack upon which a given railway vehicle travels, said apparatus comprising: a rotation measurement unit for generating data substantially indicative of rotational rate of the set of wheels; a motion sensor for generating data indicative of motion at least along a generally vertical axis relative to the railtrack, said motion sensor comprising an accelerometer set positioned to measure acceleration along three mutually orthogonal axes wherein one of the three mutually orthogonal axes comprises the generally vertical axis relative to the railtrack; and a data processor coupled to the motion sensor and to the rotation measurement unit for receiving the rotational rate and motion data, said data processor being adapted to detect, based on the received rotational rate and motion data, a defective condition associated with at least one wheel of the wheel set, said data processor being further adapted to detect, based on the received motion data, a defective condition associated with at least a portion of the railtrack, and wherein said data processor is further adapted to process the measured acceleration from the accelerometer set to determine loading status of the railway vehicle.

Claim 9

The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said motion sensor comprises at least one sensor selected from the group of sensors consisting of accelerometers, vibration sensors and shock sensors.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said data processor comprises a discrete Fourier processor.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said rotation measurement unit is adapted to generate the rotational rate data based upon railway vehicle velocity and wheel circumference.

Claim 14

The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of processing the motion data for detection of a defective condition associated with at least a portion of the railtrack.

Claim 15

The method of claim 10 wherein the detected defective condition associated with the set of railway vehicle wheels comprises a "flat wheel" condition.

Claim 16

The method of claim 10 wherein the detected defective condition associated with the set of railway vehicle wheels comprises a defective ball beating condition.