Patent Grant
11180170
The present invention relates to the field of railcar operations and safety management, and more particularly to methods and systems for collecting and analyzing operational parameters related to railcar discharge gates to monitor the status of the gates and commodities stored within the railcar, and to improve the security, safety and operating methods and systems related thereto.
Various types of freight railcars, such as hopper cars, are used to carry loose bulk commodities by rail. Such goods are loaded and contained within one or more railcar compartments, e.g. hoppers, and then offloaded at the desired location through discharge gates.
Discharge gates (which may also be referred to herein as a “gate”) are ideal for use with railcars that carry bulk materials that can be off-loaded through the discharge gate via gravity and/or pneumatic means. Examples of materials carried and off-loaded through discharge gates include granular and particulate goods such as plastic pellets used for molding, grains and sugar. The discharge gates are typically located at the bottom of each compartment of the railcar. The discharge gates are operated to be opened and closed. When opened, the material flows out by means of gravity and, in some cases, the discharge gates may also be equipped with pneumatic means as known in the art to accommodate the off-loading.
Preventing theft and ensuring the integrity and cleanliness of the material within the railcar is important. Unauthorized access to the product is undesirable not only from a theft perspective, but also exposes the product remaining within the railcar to contamination and spoliation, rendering the material unsuitable for use.
Current prior art security methods include the use of security seals applied to the discharge gates at the origin where the goods are loaded, and which are then removed when the railcar reaches its intended destination. The status of the seal upon arrival at the destination can indicate whether the discharge gate has been opened during transit from its origin to destination.
Despite the use of seals, however, thieves have developed ways to disassemble sections of the discharge gate assembly in ways allowing a portion of the contents within the railcar hopper to be removed without altering the seal. The discharge gate then is re-assembled to make it appear that nothing was removed with the seal remaining intact. Loss of product or lading resulting from unauthorized opening or accessing of a discharge gate is a significant financial cost to both shippers and railroads.
Security seals and similar security means have other shortcomings. For example, seals cannot provide instantaneous warnings when a discharge gate is opened en route, or continually monitor the status of the discharge gate at any location in the rail network, including in an origin or destination rail yard.
Improvements to current security methods are needed to monitor and report operational uses of the discharge gates of the railcars at each stage of the supply chain cycle. Moreover, new methods for product chain of custody and billing terms may be possible if access to the product inside the railcar can be monitored and confirmed.
The real time monitoring of various functions of railcars, such as wheel bearing temperature, wheel-to-rail interactions, and other operational parameters of a railcar has been previously contemplated. Examples of such systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,663,092, issued May 30, 2017, U.S. Pat. No. 10,137,915 issued Nov. 27, 2018, US patent publication no. 2016/0272228 published Sep. 22, 2016, and U.S. Pat. No. 9,981,673 issued May 29, 2018, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Presently, however, there is no reliable system for continually monitoring in real or near real time the status of discharge gates on railcars. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide methods, systems and assemblies for the real-time, on-board monitoring of the discharge gates, and for analyzing the readings in real time to timely detect anomalous security and operational conditions.
In one form, the invention provides a system for detecting the operational status of a discharge gate on a railcar. The system includes a communication management unit located on the railcar. The system also includes a computer-readable storage medium that includes one or more programming instructions that, when executed, cause the communication management unit to carry out the following: receive, from one or more sensors on the railcar, status information pertaining to the discharge gate, wherein the discharge gate status information includes an indication of whether the discharge gate is open or closed; receive motion information associated with the railcar; and receive location information associated with the railcar. The system can determine, based on the status information, the motion information and the location information, whether a notification event has occurred. In response to determining that a notification event have occurred, the system can communicate a notification of the notification events to a remote receiver.
In another form, the invention provides a system for detecting the operational status of a discharge gate on a railcar as follows. The system includes: (a) a communication management unit (CMU) mounted on the railcar; (b) discharge gate sensors positioned on the discharge gate configured for sensing whether the discharge gate is open or closed, and which sensors are capable of communicating with the CMU; (c) at least one motion sensor positioned on the railcar configured for sensing whether the railcar is moving or not, and which sensor is capable of communicating with the CMU; and (d) at least one location sensor positioned on the railcar configured for sensing whether or not the railcar is within a geofence; and which sensor is capable of communicating with the CMU. The CMU is configured to perform the functions of collecting data from each of the discharge gate sensors, motion sensor, and location sensor; analyzing the collected data for a notification event; and communicating a notification to a remote site when the notification event is detected.
The invention also provides methods. In one form, a method for detecting the operational status of a discharge gate on a railcar includes: (a) sensing whether the discharge gate is open or closed by use of a sensor positioned on the discharge gate; (b) sensing whether the railcar is in motion or not by use of a motion sensor positioned on the railcar; and (c) sensing whether the railcar is within or outside an area where it is acceptable for the discharge gate to be open. Based on the information sensed in steps a, b and c, a determination is made as to whether a notification event exists, and if so a notification of the notification event is transmitted.
The invention further provides assemblies, such as a discharge gate assembly, suitable for the present invention as described below.
The present invention will be more fully and completely understood from a reading of the Detailed Description of the Invention in conjunction with the drawings, in which:
Methods, systems and assemblies are provided for monitoring parameters related to the discharge gates on railcars. The data obtained can be used for determining the status, history and other information related to the discharge gates and the commodity carried within the railcar. The parameters monitored include the status of the discharge gate (open or closed), the railcar motion (moving or not), and the railcar location (is the location a place where the discharge gate is expected to be open or closed).
An illustrated embodiment of the invention is discussed below with reference to the figures appended hereto. A brief overview of a railcar and train consist used in describing the invention is provided first, followed by a more detailed description of the various components, assemblies and systems that carry out the methods of the invention, followed by a detailed description of the inventive methods.
In broad terms, the invention provides sensors on the railcars to monitor and/or collect data on various parameters and conditions related to the discharge gates. These sensors communicate with a communication management unit (CMU) mounted preferably on each railcar. When there is a change in status of any of the parameters monitored, such as when the discharge gate status changes from closed to open, data collected can be analyzed to determine if an event has occurred, identify the event and issues related thereto, and to provide real time information as to the status of the discharge gates and the goods contained within the railcar. This includes determination of the events based on the time and date of the data collected, and if a problem is detected, notifications of the event, including alerts and alarms, can be forwarded for further action.
With initial reference to
With further reference to
Returning to
Any suitable discharge gate can be used. An example of such a discharge gate, which is similar to the one shown in the illustrated embodiment, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,877, issued Jun. 19, 1990, and which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Each of the illustrated discharge gates 106, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,877, has two sets of operating levers 108a, 108b (see
Each operating lever 108a, 108b of a discharge gate 106 is connected to and operates a respective shaft 110a, 110b, which in turn are attached to and operate one of the rotatable valves that release the commodity. When the position of both operating levers 108a, 108b are in the upward position as seen in
It is appreciated that the discharge gate 106 illustrated in the present invention, as well as other suitable discharge gates, include operable components 107 that move or are displaced as part of the operation to open and close the discharge gate. These operable components 107 include the operating levers 108a, 108b operable by a person to open and close the discharge gate 106, the operating shafts 110a, 110b operable by the levers 110a, 110b, and the discharge gate valves operable by the operating shafts 110a, 110b, and can include any other such components that move or change when opening or closing the discharge gate 106. It is further appreciated that various measurable parameters of these operable components 107, such as their displacement and position, is indicative of whether the discharge gate is open or closed.
As seen in
The discharge gate assembly 106 has support plates 120 on opposite ends 122a, 122b of the discharge gate 106, which are on opposite sides of the railcar 100, to support the discharge gate assembly 106 on the underside of the railcar 100 (
With reference to
Various sensor devices 126 are provide for collecting data about the railcars 100 and the discharge gates 106 to carry out the methods of the current invention. As noted previously, the data to be collected in the illustrated embodiment includes the status of each discharge gate 106 (open or closed), whether the railcar 100 is in motion or not, and the location of the railcar 100 (is it within a geofence area where opening of the discharge gate is expected). While particular sensors 126 are described below for the illustrated embodiment, any suitable sensors can be used.
A preferred sensor device 126 for use with the present invention is the wireless sensor node (“WSN”) 128 as shown in
As discussed above, the discharge gate 106 has operable components 107 that move or change as part of the operation to open and close the discharge gate 106. The movement, position and/or other changes of these operable components 107 are indicative of whether the discharge gate 106 is open or closed. Accordingly, one or more of the operable components 107 can be monitored with sensors 126, such as the WSNs 128, to obtain information as to whether the discharge gate is open or closed. In the present embodiment, the rotational position of the operating shafts 110a, 110b are monitored. Any suitable sensors can be used depending on the particular operable components 107 to be monitored and the particular operation of the operable components. Such sensors, by way of example, can include motion sensors, displacement sensors, optical sensors, position sensors, reed switch sensors, magnetic field sensing sensors, etc.
With further reference to
With specific reference to
For example, if operating lever 108a as seen in
With reference to
A sensor 152, e.g., a magnet sensing reed switch for sensing the proximity or position of the magnet 138, is provided within the housing 150. Electrical circuitry 154 includes the components and wiring to operate and/or receive and process the information from the reed switch 152 as is known in the art. This can include, but is not limited to, analog and digital circuitry, CPUs, processors, circuit boards, memory, firmware, controllers, power conditioning circuitry and other electrical items, as required to operate the sensor and process the information as further described below. In the illustrated embodiment, the circuitry 154 is in electrical communication with the reed switch 152 for receiving signals therefrom. The electrical circuitry 154 may also include intelligence sufficient to perform analysis of the data, and may accept parameters from outside sources regarding when alarms should be raised.
The circuitry 154 also includes components for wireless communications such as WiFi. Preferably, each WSN 128 is capable of forming an ad-hoc mesh network with other WSNs on the same railcar and with a communication management unit 170 (“CMU”) preferably mounted on the same railcar 100 as further described below. Circuitry also includes a long-term power source (e.g. a battery, solar cell, energy harvester, or internal power-generating capability), preferably a military grade lithium-thionyl chloride battery 156. The circuitry may also provide power conditioning and management functions and may include a feature to conserve battery life. Here, there is always an active input to the processor tied to the reed switch, and if it changes state then the processor is woken up to process the information, determine decisions based on a logic tree, and either sends a message or goes back to sleep based on the situation.
The WSNs 128 and the complementary magnets 138 are attached at the desired locations using any suitable means, including epoxy adhesives and mechanical fasteners. With reference to
The magnet 138 is attached to the operating shaft 110a via epoxy although mechanical means such as fasteners can be used. The WSN 128 is positioned to sense the position of the magnet 138 in relation to the respective WSN 128, and a change in such position. The mount of the WSN 128 and its associated magnet 138 for operating lever 108b and operating shaft 110b are similar as shown.
The security bar 116 and security cap 112 of the discharge gate 106 are not monitored in this embodiment. The operating levers 108a, 108b are not operable when the cap 112 is in place.
The discharge gate 106 described above is typical of a type of discharge gate 106 used in the industry. Other discharge gate configurations made by different manufacturers are suitable for use with the present invention. Depending on the particular configuration of the discharge gate and its operable components 107, suitable sensors to determine whether it is “open” or “closed” can include proximity and displacement sensors such as reed switches, contact switch sensors, limit switches, optical sensors and any other type of sensor that can work with the particular operable components of the discharge gate to sense a parameter indicative of the status of the discharge gate. For example, for some discharge gate configurations it may be preferable to monitor directly the position and/or displacement of the operating lever or levers rather than the operating shafts as illustrated above.
The number of WSNs 128 used to monitor each discharge gate 106 depends on the particular configuration of the discharge gate 106 and the particular parameter being monitored. Thus, as few as one WSN 128 may be suitable, such as for a discharge gate 106 having a single operating lever or multiple WSNs for more components to be monitored. Regardless of the total number of WSNs 128 for each discharge gate 106, the status of the discharge gate 106 is to be determined.
The WSN 128 discussed above will monitor the status of the discharge gate 106. Sensors 126 are also provided to monitor motion and location of the railcar 100. For monitoring railcar motion (e.g., moving or not), any suitable motion sensor 166 such as an accelerometer or GNSS, is preferred. For monitoring the location of the railcar 100 (in or not in an area where it is expected that the discharge gate 106 could be opened), any suitable location sensor 168 such as a GNSS is preferred.
It is appreciated that the WSNs are versatile and can include different types of sensors 126 for sensing different types of parameters, including railcar motion and railcar location. Additionally, the WSNs 128 described above for use with the discharge gates 106 can also include multiple sensors, including sensors for detecting motion of the railcar 100 and the location of the railcar 100 depending on the configuration desired.
With reference to
Although the railcar based network 172 in the illustrated embodiment is a wireless mesh network, other types of networks 172 may be used such as any suitable wired and wireless type networks.
In the present application, the CMU 170 preferably includes sensors that complement the WSNs 128 monitoring the discharge gates 106, these include a motion sensor 166 for monitoring railcar motion, such as an accelerometer, and a sensor 168 for monitoring railcar 100 location, such as a GNSS, e.g., a GPS. Although these sensors could be provided in separate WSNs located on the railcar 100 or included in the WSNs 128 for the discharge gate 106 as discussed above, in the illustrated embodiment they are preferably provided in the CMU 170 as discussed below. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that GPS is just one form of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Other types of GNSS may be used which include GLONASS and BeiDou.
CMU 170 supports one or more WSNs 128 in a mesh network configuration using open standard protocols, such as the IEEE 2.4 GHz 802.15.4 radio standard. Additionally, see
In the illustrated embodiment, the CMU 170 preferably supports at least four functions: 1) manages a low-power railcar based mesh network 172 overlaid on a railcar 100; 2) consolidates data from the WSNs 128 in the railcar based mesh network 170 and applies logic to the data gathered to generate and communicate information such as warning alerts to a host such as a locomotive 104 or remote railroad operations center 178; 3) supports built-in sensors, such as an accelerometer to monitor railcar motion and a GPS to monitor location, and which can provide an analysis of this data to determine the facts and generate alerts; and 4) supports bi-directional communication upstream to the host or control point, such as the locomotive 104 and/or an off-train monitoring and remote railroad operations center 178 or remote server 192, and downstream to one or more WSNs 128 located on the railcar 100.
CMUs 170 may communicate wirelessly to the PWG 176 as defined below in the network configuration, or may be configured to communicate through a wired connection, for example, through the ECP (electronically controlled pneumatic) brake system.
The CMU 170 is capable of performing advanced data analysis using data collected from one or more WSNs 128 and may apply heuristics to draw inferences and conclusions from this data or alarms regarding the status of the discharge gates 128, and of transmitting data and notifications to a remote receiver such as that of the PWG 176 or off train operations center 178. The thresholds for each of WSNs 128 may be dynamically programmed by commands generated internally or received externally from the CMU 170. It is appreciated the CMU could be combined with one or more of the WSNs, particularly as components are miniaturized. Such a WSN with the CMU could be provided on the discharge gate 106 as indicated above.
With reference to
The components and configuration of the PWG 176 are similar to that of the CMU 170, with the exception that the PWG 176 typically draws power from an external source, while the CMU 170 is self-powered. Additionally, the PWG 176 collects data and draws inferences regarding the performance of the train consist 102, and train-based mesh networks 174, as opposed to the CMUs 170, which draw inferences regarding the performance of individual railcars 100, railcar based mesh network 172 and in this case the discharge gates 106.
In summary, WSNs 128 with sensors configured to determine the status of the discharge gates 106, i.e., open or closed, was described. The WSNs 128 include a magnetic reed switch sensor and are positioned on the discharge gate 106 to sense the position of the operating shafts 110a, 110b, which are indicative of whether or not the discharge gate 106 is open or closed. A motion sensor 166 for determining whether the railcar is in motion is provided, preferably via an accelerometer incorporated in the CMU 170. A location sensor 168 for determining the location of the railcar 100 is provided, preferably via a GNSS device, e.g. GPS, incorporated in the CMU 170. The CMU 170 can receive data from the various sensors and determine if an event related to one or more of the discharge gates 106 has occurred, determine if a notification of an event such as an alarm or alert or other communication is to be sent to a remote receiver such as the PWG 176 and, if warranted, sent off train via the PWG 176 to a remote site such as the remote railroad operation center 178. Having described various components, assemblies and systems for use in the present invention, preferred methods using the data collected about the status of the discharge gates, motion of the railcar 100, and location of the railcar 100, are described below in further detail.
System Operation
With further reference to
With reference to
Each WSN 128 is in two-way communication with its respective CMU 170 mounted on the railcar 100, which collects the data from each WSN 128 and can send instructions to the WSN 128. As previously discussed, the CMU 170 and each WSN 128 on the same railcar 100 preferably form the local area ad-hoc railcar based mesh network 172 to facilitate communications between them. Message packet exchanges are preferably synchronized so that no packets collide on the railcar based network 172, and every packet is scheduled and synchronized for energy efficiency. Communication traffic on railcar based network 172 can be protected by encryption, message integrity checking, and device authentication.
The train-based mesh network 174 is overlaid on the train consist 102 and includes the PWG 176 installed on a host or control point such as the locomotive 104, or on another asset with access to a power source, and one or more CMU's 170, each belonging to the train-based mesh network 174 and to the respective railcar based mesh networks 172. It is seen that the CMU's 170 can belong to two networks, the respective railcar based network 172 and the train-based network 174, but is only required to belong to the railcar based network 172 such as when the individual railcar 100 is separated from the remainder of the train consist 102. The CMU 170 and multiple WSNs 128 installed on railcars 100 form a railcar based mesh network 172 and communicate with the PWG 176 on a host or control point, such as a locomotive 104 or other asset, forming the train-based mesh network 174.
The train-based mesh network 174 uses the preferred overlay mesh network to support low-power bi-directional communication throughout train consist 102 and with the PWG 176 installed on the locomotive 104. The overlaid train-based mesh network 172 is composed of wireless transceivers embedded in the CMU 170 on each railcar 100. Each CMU 170 is capable of initiating a message on the train-based mesh network 174 or relaying a message from or to another CMU 170. The overlay train-based mesh network 172 is created independently of, and operates independently of the railcar based mesh networks 172 created by each railcar 100 in the train consist 102.
The bi-directional PWG 176 manages the train-based mesh network 174 and communicates notifications of events, alarms and alerts from the CMUs 170 installed on individual railcars 100 to the host or control point, such as the locomotive 104, wherein the alerts or event reports may be acted upon via human intervention, or by an automated system. Locomotive 104 may include a user interface for receiving and displaying alert messages generated by train-based mesh network 174 or any of the individual railcar based mesh networks 172. The PWG 176 is capable of receiving communications such as notifications of events and alerts from the CMUs 170 on individual railcars 100 and can draw inferences about specific aspects of the performance of train consist 102.
Preferably, a distributed complex event processing (DCEP) engine is used, which is a hierarchical system for collecting and analyzing the data and for communicating data, events and alerts to a final destination where they can be acted upon. The DCEP is responsible for implementing the intelligence used to draw conclusions based on the data collected from WSNs 128, CMUs 170 and PWGs 176. Preferably, the data processing platform is distributed among all WSNs 128, CMUs 170 and the PWG 176 on the locomotive 104, as well as utilizing a cloud-based infrastructure optimized to work closely with train-based mesh networks 172, in conjunction with a variety of data streams from third-party providers or external sources.
If an alert or event condition is detected by a WSN 128 or other sensor, such as when the status of the discharge gate 106 changes from open to close or close to open, or the train moves outside the geofence where it is safe to open the discharge gate, as described in more detail below, the WSN 128 forwards a message to the CMU 170 within its network 172 for further analysis and action, for example, to confirm or coordinate alerts or event conditions reported by one WSN 128 with other WSNs 128 in the railcar based network 172. If an event requiring notification is confirmed by CMU 170, a notification of the event is sent to the PWG 176 installed on an asset such as the locomotive 104, and/or off train to a monitoring and remote railroad operations center 178.
As noted, the CMU 170 on each railcar 100 supports the motion detector sensor 166, such as an accelerometer, and the location sensor 168, such as a GNSS. These sensors are preferably internal (built in) to the CMU 170, but optionally could be external such as in a WSN. Information from these sensors 166, 168 can be used to determine whether WSNs 128 should be looking for certain types of events.
Additionally, the CMU 128 can receive instructions, e.g., from an off train site such as operations center 178 through the PWG 176, to start or stop looking for certain types of events or provide a status update. Additionally, CMU 170 on each railcar 100 is capable of using built-in sensors and/or managing a railcar based mesh network 172 on the railcar 100 to generate messages that need to be sent to a host or control point, such as a locomotive 104. Coordinates for geofence areas for use by the CMUs 170 can be programmed into the CMUs 170 and/or obtained via communications and updates from the remote railroad operations center 178 or other sources.
The bi-directional PWG 176 is capable of exchanging information with an external remote railroad operations center 178, data system 192 or other train management systems. This communication path 190 is shown in
It is appreciated that a railcar 100 can be decoupled from the train consist 102, for example, at a rail yard where commodity may be loaded or discharged. When decoupled, the railcar 100 is no longer part of the train-based network 174. In such situations, the CMU 170 and its associated WSNs 128 can become part of a rail yard-based mesh network 180 having one or more land-based PWGs 182. The land-based PWGs 182 would interface with the CMU 170 and its WSNs 128 via bi-directional communications network 180 in a similar manner as would the train-based PWG 176 as described above, and provide bi-directional communications between the CMU 170 and off train sources such as the remote railroad operations center 178 via communication path 190 in a similar manner as would the train based PWG 176 as described above, and as illustrated in
Event Detection and Notification
In this preferred embodiment, an operational status of the discharge gate on the railcar is based upon the criteria of 1) discharge gate 106 (open or closed), 2) railcar movement (stationary or moving), and 3) location (inside or outside an acceptable area to open the discharge gate 106). When any of the criteria change state, an event takes place that may trigger an action such as the notification of an alert or the cancellation of an alert.
A notification can provide information for inter alia, operational, security and customer billing purposes. The notification may include location of the event, time of the event, status of the discharge gate 106, and duration of the open event and alerts.
The CMU 170 may receive 202 motion information associated with the railcar 100. As described throughout this disclosure, motion information may be measured by a motion sensor 166 such as, for example, an accelerometer, a GNSS device and/or other types of devices or sensors. Motion information may include data about the acceleration and/or vibration of a railcar 100 at a particular point in time. For instance, if a motion sensor 166 measures any acceleration of a railcar or acceleration that exceeds a threshold value, it may indicate that the railcar 100 is moving. Alternatively, if a motion sensor 166 does not measure acceleration of railcar 100, or an acceleration value that does not exceed a threshold value, it may indicate that a railcar is stationary. The CMU 170 may record time and date information of any status changes or when the information was received.
The CMU 170 may receive 204 location information associated with the railcar 100. The location information may include an indication of whether the railcar is located inside or outside a geofence where it is acceptable or not for the discharge gate to be open. As described throughout this disclosure, location information may be received 204 from a location sensor 168 such as a GNSS. The geofence information may be programmed into the CMU 170 or uploaded and updated from a remote railroad operations center 178 through the networks discussed above. The CMU 170 may record time and date information of any status changes or when the information was received.
As illustrated in
In various embodiments, in response to determining that one or more events have occurred, the CMU 170 may communicate 208 a notification of the event(s), such as an alert, to a remote receiver off the railcar 100 such as, for example a PWG 176 located on a locomotive 104 of the consist 102 or a PWG 182 in a rail yard. This communication may be forwarded further off train or out of the rail yard such as to a remote railroad operations center 178. The term notification can include any information such as alarms, alerts, event details, and data communicated by the CMU for the purpose of notifying persons or other systems of the information.
In summary and as part of the receive discharge gate 106 information step 200, each WSN 128 is capable of analyzing the data collected from its sensors in determining if an event or alert message, as well as the data, should be uploaded to the next higher level in the hierarchy, in this case the CMU 170. Each WSN 128 can be programmed with multiple thresholds for position change readings associated with the discharge gate 106 operating levers 108a, 108b received from one or more of its sensors. When the discharge gate status changes and readings are recorded, it is an indication of a possible notification event or alert condition, and a message is generated and sent to the CMU 170 in the same railcar based mesh network 172.
The WSNs 128 are programmed with thresholds that indicate specific types of alerts or events. For the WSNs 128 mounted on the discharge gate 106, these units may generate a possible open message or a close message depending upon the status change observed. Examples of messages generated are gate “open” and gate “closed”. The WSNs 128 may not determine if each of the possible conditions actually exists. This determination is made preferably at the next level up of the hierarchy, at CMU 170, which utilizes the readings from other type of sensors such as railcar location 168 and motion sensors 166 to make a determination that an actual event has occurred. As one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize, different thresholds suggesting the occurrence of other types of events may be programmed into the various sensors.
In regard to the receive information steps 202 and 204 of
The logic carried out by the CMU 170 for determining whether an event has occurred 206, is capable of analyzing both open and close events received from each of the WSNs 128 under its control and determining if an event condition or alarm actually exists. In the illustrated embodiment, the open and close events are independent for each WSN 128 installed near an operating shaft, and the CMU 170 may be configured to either analyze only open or close events, to analyze only other types of events or to analyze open or close events and other types of events. Thus the CMU 170, and WSNs 128 under its control, form a distributed event processing engine that is capable of determining various types of events.
When the CMU 170 determines that an event has occurred which necessitates a notification such as an alert/alarm or other information, a notification (e.g., message) is sent 208 to the next level in the hierarchy such as the PWG 176 located elsewhere on train consist 102, and possibly further up the hierarchy to a remote railroad operation center 178, depending upon the severity of the event and the need to immediately address it, perhaps by altering the operating condition of the train consist 102. The term “notification event” as used herein refers to an event for which a notification, such as an alarm, alert or other information about the event is to be communicated. The notification event is communicated immediately or at some future time depending on the urgency and/or criticalness of the event.
A logic table showing a preferred set of operational status event determinations based on the data collected is provided below. Again, in the illustrated embodiment, the operational status events are determined based on the three criteria of 1) discharge gate status (open or closed), 2) railcar motion (moving or not) and 3) railcar location (in or not in an area where an open discharge gate is acceptable).
For this table, the status of all discharge gates 106 are sampled prior to railcar 100 departure from where it was loaded with commodity. In addition, alerts or alarms are assigned a priority, such as high, medium and low.
Terminology as used in the table and charts:
The events, alarms and other indication in the above table are based on data collected preferably by individual sensors and may not require any analysis other than the exceeding of a predetermined threshold (e.g., proximity of the magnet 138 to the WSNs 128). For example, a WSN 128 indicates a discharge gate open or closed event, which is transmitted to the CMU 170. The CMU 170 will complete an analysis using the railcar motion and location data.
For example, in the table above and in
For example,
For example, in
For example, in
It is appreciated that the operational status and the associated event to be determined may be different depending on the change in the particular parameters being sensed. For example, with reference to
The proceeding events are all events that are detected by the sensors on the discharge gate 106 indicating if the discharge gate is open or closed (e.g., WSNs 128), the motion detector 166 (e.g., accelerometer), and location sensor 168 (e.g., GPS). A change in the status of any one of these causes the CMU 170 to determine the event and if an alarm/alert is warranted. Similarly, a status inquiry can be requested from off train through the communication network 190 and the PWG as to the current status, for which the data is collected and the event determined as indicated above and then communicated back.
The alarm/alert algorithms include rules to include, but are not limited to, common operating practices related to discharge gate 106 operation inside a factory rail yard, when transiting between origin and destination and the operation of hopper cars 100.
CMU 170 preferably detects long term trends and keeps data regarding trends in the analysis of the gate activity. The total number of valid open and close reading statistics can be collected for every operating shaft being monitored by a WSN 128 in the railcar based mesh network 172.
The collected statistics may be used to calculate information that indicates discharge gate 106 activity trends. In a preferred embodiment, a CMU 170 provides a report upon request of the following quantities for every operating lever 108a, 108b:
Average, minimum, maximum, standard deviation for times an operating lever 108a, 108b was moved over a period of time.
Average, minimum, maximum, standard deviation for distance an operating lever 108a, 108b was moved over a period of time.
Average, minimum, maximum, standard deviation for amount of time an operating lever 108a, 108b was in an open position over a period of time.
Average, minimum, maximum, standard deviation for amount of time an operating lever 108a, 108b was in a close position over a period of time.
Statistics can be used to improve the operations and cycle times of the commodities and railcars. Identifying time spent at each stage in the supply chain can help identify areas of improvement for decreasing unneeded time at each stage. Examples of stages include: duration of loaded railcar in transit, duration of loaded railcar storage at destination, time of product sampling, duration of unloading event, duration of unloaded railcar at destination, duration of unloaded railcar in transit, duration of railcar at inbound inspection, duration of unloaded railcar at origin, duration of loading event, duration of loaded railcar at origin.
With further reference to
To summarize, systems, assemblies, and methods have been described for monitoring and detecting events related to the discharge gates 106 of a railcar 100 and the commodity carried by the railcar. The illustrated embodiment carries this out by monitoring 1) the status of the discharge gate 106, which is open or closed, 2) railcar movement, which is stationary or moving, and 3) railcar location—is the railcar in an area, such as a programmed geofence, where it is acceptable for the discharge gate 106 to be open. The CMU 170 collects the data and can make determinations as to whether or not an event has occurred and whether or not such event merits an alarm or other action. Such events are illustrated in the table above and in
The train consist 102 has a train-based mesh network 174 overlaid thereon, and includes the PWG 176 that manages the train-based mesh network 174 and receives alerts from the CMUs 170 on the individual railcars 100.
The PWG 176 is capable of forwarding alarms and other information from the CMUs 170 concerning the discharge gates 106 off train to external remote railroad operations center 178, data systems 192 or other train management systems. Alternatively, the PWG 176 can forward the information to the host or control point, such as the locomotive 104, where the alerts or event reports may be acted upon via human intervention, or by an automated system. Locomotive 104 may include a user interface for receiving and displaying alert messages.
Read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory, hard drives, and other devices capable of storing electronic data constitute examples of a computer-readable storage medium device 214. The terms “memory,” “memory device,” “data store,” “data storage facility” and the like each refer to a non-transitory device or storage medium on which computer-readable data, programming instructions or both are stored. Except where specifically stated otherwise, the terms “memory,” “memory device,” “data store,” “data storage facility” and the like are intended to include single device embodiments, embodiments in which multiple memory devices together or collectively store a set of data or instructions, as well as individual sectors within such devices. Various embodiments of the invention may include a computer-readable storage medium containing programming instructions that are configured to cause one or more processors, or other devices to perform the functions described in the context of the previous figures.
An optional display interface 216 may permit information from the bus 210 to be displayed on a display device 218 in visual, graphic or alphanumeric format. An audio interface and audio output (such as a speaker) also may be provided. Communication with external devices may occur using various communication devices 220 such as a wireless antenna, an RFID tag and/or short-range or near-field communication transceiver, each of which may optionally communicatively connect with other components of the device via one or more communication system. The communication device(s) 220 may be configured to be communicatively connected to a communications network, such as the Internet, a local area network, radio network, satellite or a cellular telephone data network.
The hardware may also include an interface sensor 222 that allows for receipt of data from one or more input ports and/or input devices 224 such as a keyboard, a mouse, a joystick, a touchscreen, a touch pad, a remote control, a pointing device and/or microphone. The interface sensor 222 may allow for provision of data via one or more output ports and/or output devices 224.
The hardware may include a power source 228, such as for example, a battery. The hardware may also include a clock 226 such as, for example, a system clock, a CPU clock and/or the like. The hardware may include a motion sensor 166, such as, for example, an accelerometer. In various embodiments, the hardware may include a location sensor 168, such as, for example, a GPS-enabled device.
It is appreciated that described above are novel systems, devices and methods. It is also understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments and illustrations described above, and includes the full scope provided by the claims appended hereto. For example, the methods, systems and assemblies discussed above could be applied to the railcar hatches 124 for determining events, alarms, and other information.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/621,212, filed Jan. 24, 2018, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
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