Wayside Measurement of Railcar Wheel to Rail Geometry

摘要

Considerable damage to rails, wheels, and trucks can result from geometric anomalies in the wheelsets, rails, and truck hardware. A solution for identifying and quantifying geometric anomalies known to influence the service life of the rolling stock or the ride comfort for the case of passenger service is described. The solution comprises an optical system, which can be configured to accurately perform measurements at mainline speeds (e.g., greater than 100 mph). The optical system includes laser line projectors and imaging cameras and can utilize structured light triangulation.

主权项

1. A system for evaluating a railcar wheelset for rail alignment, the system comprising:
a plurality of structured light measuring devices configured to measure a set of features of opposing wheels on the railcar wheelset as the wheels travel along a rail, a structured light measuring device including:
a set of laser line projectors configured to illuminate a portion of a wheel rim surface of a wheel and a portion of a rail head surface of the rail with a sheet of light having an orientation which is substantially vertical and orthogonal to the rail; anda high speed camera configured to acquire image data of the laser light scattered by the wheel and rail; means for automatically determining when to acquire the image data using at least one of the plurality of structured light measuring devices and automatically activating the at least one of the plurality of structured light measuring devices; and a computer system configured to process the image data by performing a method comprising:
forming Cartesian coordinates of a plurality of image data points on the wheel rim surface and the rail head surface; andconverting the Cartesian coordinates into a plurality of wheel alignment measures, wherein the plurality of wheel alignment measures include an angle of attack and a tracking position.