Electronic weighing system and method for railcars

摘要

A railcar has an on-board system for weighing a load of the railcar. A center plate load cell is attached to the bottom of the railcar body and supports the first end of the railcar body on a truck assembly via the center bowl of the truck assembly. A pair of side bearing load cells are mounted to the bottom of the railcar body so as to flank the center plate load cell. A pair of side bearings are positioned on the top surface of the truck assembly bolster in alignment with the pair of side bearing load cells. Circuitry sums signals from the center plate load cell and the pair of side bearing load cells to provide a summed output corresponding to a weight of the railcar load. The summed output is conditioned and transmitted via a satellite and/or cable system to a remote receiving station.

主权项

1. A system for tracking and detecting a condition of a tank car containing a hazardous commodity comprising:
a) a pressure sensor for measuring a pressure within the tank car; b) a first temperature sensor adapted to measure a temperature outside of a tank of the tank car; c) a second temperature sensor adapted to measure a temperature inside of the tank of the tank car; d) a global positioning system transponder adapted to be positioned on the tank car; e) a microprocessor having a memory, said microprocessor and memory adapted to receive and store hazardous commodity emergency response data; f) a transceiver adapted to communicate with the pressure sensor, the first temperature sensor, the second temperature sensor, the global positioning system transponder, and the microprocessor so as to receive condition data from the pressure sensor, the first temperature sensor, the second temperature sensor, location data from the global positioning system transponder and the hazardous commodity emergency response data from the microprocessor memory; g) said transceiver adapted to transmit the condition data, the location data and the hazardous commodity emergency response data to a receiving station remote from the tank car.