SYSTEM FOR MONITORING MOVEMENT OF RAILROAD TRACK
A system for monitoring movement of railroad track includes a plurality of data collection units secured to respective railroad ties in a curved section of railroad track. Each data collection unit includes a GPS receiver. The data collection units collect location data from the GPS receivers and transmit the location data to a base unit. The base unit collects the location data from the data collection units and periodically uploads the location data to a server. Software on the server reviews the data for any changes in location of the data collection units and reports the results to a user or users.
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This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/777,116 filed Mar. 12, 2013.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to railroad track monitoring and maintenance, and in particular to a system for monitoring movement of railroad track using GPS.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sections of railroad track, and in particular curved sections of railroad track, tend to move over time. This is primarily due to temperature changes causing expansion and contraction of the rails and the action of passing trains on the rails, however other factors such as soil erosion, seismic activity and the like may also affect the position of the tracks. Track movement need to be monitored in order to insure that the track remains safe.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is a system for detecting movement of railroad tracks. The system includes a plurality of data collection units, a base unit and a data processing server. The data collection units are spaced along a railroad track and are each attached to a respective railroad tie. Each data collection unit include a GPS receiver, a transmitter, a battery and a solar panel. The base unit is positioned near the section of track and includes a receiver, a battery, a solar panel, and an uplink to the server.
The data collection units each collect GPS data corresponding to the position and elevation of the data collection unit and the railroad tie to which it is mounted, and then transmit the data to the base unit. The base unit collects the data and transmits it to the data processing server. The server processes the data from the base unit to determine the amount of lateral and vertical displacement of the railroad track. Reports on track movement may be generated from the server.
The data collection units and/or the base unit may also include devices for measuring seismic activity, temperature, wind speed, and precipitation. This information would also be uploaded to the server and included in the reports generated.
As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments of the present invention and illustrate various objects and features thereof.
Certain terminology will be used in the following description for convenience in reference only and will not be limiting. For example, the words “upwardly,” “downwardly,” “rightwardly,” and “leftwardly” will refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. The words “inwardly” and “outwardly” will refer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of the embodiment being described and designated parts thereof. Said terminology will include the words specifically mentioned, derivatives thereof and words of a similar import.
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It is to be understood that while certain forms of the present invention have been illustrated and described herein, it is not to be limited to the specific forms or arrangement of parts described and shown. As used in the claims, identification of an element with an indefinite article “a” or “an” or the phrase “at least one” is intended to cover any device assembly including one or more of the elements at issue. Similarly, references to first and second elements, or to a pair of elements, is not intended to limit the claims to such assemblies including only two of the elements, but rather is intended to cover two or more of the elements at issue. Only where limiting language such as “a single” or “only one” with reference to an element, is the language intended to be limited to one of the elements specified, or any other similarly limited number of elements.
Claims
1. A system for monitoring movement of a curved section of railroad track comprising:
- a) a plurality of data collection units, each of said data collection units fixedly connected to a tie in the curved section of railroad track and including a GPS receiver and a data transmitter, said GPS receiver obtaining location data identifying a location of the respective data collection unit and said data transmitter configured to transmit said location data;
- b) a base unit including a collection receiver configured to receive said location data from the data transmitter of each of said data collection units, said location data collected and retained by said base unit for upload; and
- c) a server in communication with said base unit and configured to receive and analyze said location data to identify changes in location of said data collection units and the attached ties.
2. The system as in claim 1 wherein each said data collection unit includes a battery powering the respective GPS receiver and data transmitter and a solar panel connected to said battery and operable to charge said battery.
3. The system as in claim 2 and further including one or more secondary solar panels remotely mounted from said data collection units and connected to said batteries of said data collection units by respective cables.
4. The system as in claim 1 wherein said base unit further includes a base unit GPS receiver operable to collect static location data for comparison to the location data collected from said GPS receivers in said data collection units and transmit said static location data to said server.
5. The system as in claim 1 wherein said base unit is further operable to collect environmental data and transmit said environmental data to said server.
6. The system as in claim 1 wherein said base unit 5 further includes storage media for storing said location data for batch upload to said server.
7. A method of monitoring movement of a curved section of railroad track comprising the steps of:
- a) collecting location data at a plurality of data collection units, each data collection unit secured to a respective railroad tie in a curved section of railroad track and including a GPS receiver operable to acquire the relative location data and a transmitter;
- b) communicating the location data from each of the data collection units to a fixed base unit via the respective transmitter;
- c) collecting the location data from each of the data collection units at the fixed base unit;
- d) uploading the collected location data from the base unit to a server; and
- e) using the server to analyze the collected location data to detect and track movement of the curved section of railroad track.
8. The method as in claim 7 and further including the steps of:
- a) collecting static location data from a static GPS receiver included in the base unit; and
- b) uploading the static location data to the server for comparison to the collected location data.
9. The method as in claim 7 and further including the steps of:
- a) collecting environmental data from sensors associated with the base unit; and
- b) uploading the environmental data from the base unit to the server.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 11, 2014
Publication Date: Sep 18, 2014
Applicant: Herzog Railroad Services, Inc. (St. Joseph, MO)
Inventor: Nathan A. Landes (St. Joseph, MO)
Application Number: 14/204,289