A railroad wheel impact load detection test panel includes a secondary instrumentation rail proximate a field side of a primary or running rail of a section of railroad track, and elevated a prescribed distance so that the wheels of a rail car traverse the instrumentation rail within the test panel. The instrumentation rail includes an optical strain gauge to sense the wheel impact load. The sensed impact data is correlated with wheel damage signatures to identify wheels to be restored or replaced before failure occurs.

A railroad wheel impact load detection test panel includes a secondary instrumentation rail proximate a field side of a primary or running rail of a section of railroad track, and elevated a prescribed distance so that the wheels of a rail car traverse the instrumentation rail within the test panel. The instrumentation rail includes an optical strain gauge to sense the wheel impact load. The sensed impact data is correlated with wheel damage signatures to identify wheels to be restored or replaced before failure occurs.

The systems and methods described herein include monitoring systems and methods that monitor speeds of a motor of a vehicle represented as a pulse signal indicative of a rotational position of the motor. The systems and methods include receive a pulse signal from a speed sensor coupled to a traction motor. The pulse signal is indicative of a rotational position of the traction motor. The systems and methods include analyze the pulse signal to identify per-revolution signal reoccurrences that meet designated criteria, and determine a defect based on the per-revolution signal reoccurrences that are identified. The defect is one or more of a wheel defect, a bearing defect, or a gear defect.

The systems and methods described herein include monitoring systems and methods that monitor speeds of a motor of a vehicle represented as a pulse signal indicative of a rotational position of the motor. The systems and methods include receive a pulse signal from a speed sensor coupled to a traction motor. The pulse signal is indicative of a rotational position of the traction motor. The systems and methods include analyze the pulse signal to identify per-revolution signal reoccurrences that meet designated criteria, and determine a defect based on the per-revolution signal reoccurrences that are identified. The defect is one or more of a wheel defect, a bearing defect, or a gear defect.

In one aspect, a mobile railway asset monitoring apparatus is provided that includes a sensor configured to produce a signal indicative of a rotation of a wheelset of a mobile railway asset. The apparatus further includes a processor to receive data corresponding to a ground speed of the mobile railway asset. The processor is operably coupled to the sensor, the processor configured to estimate a running dimension of the wheelset based at least in part on the rotation of the wheelset and the ground speed of the mobile railway asset. The processor is configured to determine at least one parameter of the mobile railway asset based at least in part on the running dimension of the wheelset.

A method for controlling the deformation of a wheel includes obtaining, for multiple predefined angular positions on the wheel, a parameter characterizing an angular velocity of the wheel when the wheel is in contact with the running surface at each predefined angular position while the wheel is rolling on a running surface, and calculating a radius value of the wheel for each predefined angular position using the parameter characterizing the angular velocity obtained for that angular position.

A method for controlling the deformation of a wheel includes obtaining, for multiple predefined angular positions on the wheel, a parameter characterizing an angular velocity of the wheel when the wheel is in contact with the running surface at each predefined angular position while the wheel is rolling on a running surface, and calculating a radius value of the wheel for each predefined angular position using the parameter characterizing the angular velocity obtained for that angular position.

System (1) for detecting events or situations having associated patterns of acoustic vibrations in a train rail (2), which comprises a vibration detector unit (3) provided with an acoustic sensor (31) and attached to the rail (2) that can sense the acoustic vibrations transmitted through the rail (2) and a main assembly (4) connected to the vibration detector unit (3), wherein the vibration detector unit (3) comprises a processor (32) and the main assembly (4) comprises a control unit (41), the processor (32) comprising stored patterns corresponding to known events, the processor (32) being configured to preprocess the vibrations transmitted to the rail (2), to determine if the vibrations correspond to a stored pattern and, if the vibrations correspond to a stored pattern, send to the control unit (41) a signal associated to the event. The invention also refers to the vibration detector unit (3) itself.

System (1) for detecting events or situations having associated patterns of acoustic vibrations in a train rail (2), which comprises a vibration detector unit (3) provided with an acoustic sensor (31) and attached to the rail (2) that can sense the acoustic vibrations transmitted through the rail (2) and a main assembly (4) connected to the vibration detector unit (3), wherein the vibration detector unit (3) comprises a processor (32) and the main assembly (4) comprises a control unit (41), the processor (32) comprising stored patterns corresponding to known events, the processor (32) being configured to preprocess the vibrations transmitted to the rail (2), to determine if the vibrations correspond to a stored pattern and, if the vibrations correspond to a stored pattern, send to the control unit (41) a signal associated to the event. The invention also refers to the vibration detector unit (3) itself.

A method for recognizing a rail vehicle wheel as well as an arrangement for recognizing a rail vehicle wheel. A specific detection pattern of the rail vehicle wheel to be identified is ascertained using rollover signal of a rail vehicle wheel to be identified, which is ascertained with the aid of a load measuring device arranged on a rail, the rollover signal describing a time characteristic of a rail load induced by the rail vehicle wheel to be identified on the rail equipped with the load measuring device during the rollover, and the specific detection pattern comprising one or multiple identification parameter(s)/characteristic value(s) ascertained using the rollover signal. The ascertained specific detection pattern of the rail vehicle wheel to be identified is compared with one or multiple predefined reference-specific detection pattern(s) of rail vehicle wheels, and the rail vehicle wheel to be identified is identified by the comparison.