Method and device for ascertaining a movement authority for a track-bound vehicle

Abstract

A method and device for ascertaining movement authority for track-bound vehicles allow interference with a driving operation resulting in special operational situations or disturbances to be kept as low as possible. The position of the vehicle is determined and used to check whether the vehicle is located completely in an axle-counting section of an axle-counting system. The number of axles of the vehicle is compared with the number of axles located in the relevant section according to the system. If the vehicle is located completely in the relevant section and the number of axles of the vehicle matches the number of axles located in the section according to the system, a movement authority is ascertained for the vehicle. The part of the relevant section in front of the vehicle in the driving direction is assumed to be free of other vehicles when ascertaining the movement authority.

Claims

1. A method for ascertaining a movement authority for a track-bound vehicle traveling in a travel direction on a route divided into axle-counting sections by an axle-counting system, the method comprising the following steps: determining a position of the track-bound vehicle; using the determined position to check whether the track-bound vehicle is completely located in one of the axle-counting sections; comparing a number of axles of the track-bound vehicle to a number of axles located in a relevant axle-counting section according to the axle-counting system; ascertaining a movement authority for the track-bound vehicle if the track-bound vehicle is completely located in the relevant axle-counting section and the number of the axles of the track-bound vehicle corresponds to the number of the axles located in the axle-counting section according to the axle-counting system; and during the ascertainment of the movement authority, assuming a part of the relevant axle-counting section located in front of the track-bound vehicle in the travel direction to be free of other track-bound vehicles.

2. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises taking at least one further track-bound vehicle located at least partially in the relevant track section into consideration during the ascertainment of the movement authority.

3. The method according to claim 2, which further comprises taking the at least one further track-bound vehicle into consideration by only ascertaining the movement authority for the track-bound vehicle if the at least one further track-bound vehicle is also completely located in the relevant axle-counting section.

4. The method according to claim 2, which further comprises: taking the at least one further track-bound vehicle into consideration by comparing a total of the number of the axles of the track-bound vehicle and the at least one further track-bound vehicle to the number of the axles located in the axle-counting section according to the axle-counting system; and ascertaining the movement authority for the track-bound vehicle if the at least one further track-bound vehicle is located behind the track-bound vehicle in the travel direction.

5. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises taking items of information regarding at least one of a position of other track-bound vehicles on the route or an occupancy of other axle-counting sections of the route into consideration during the ascertainment of the movement authority for the track-bound vehicle.

6. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises using a stationary control device of a train control system to ascertain the movement authority for the track-bound vehicle.

7. The method according to claim 6, which further comprises: determining the position of the track-bound vehicle at the vehicle and transmitting the position of the track-bound vehicle to the stationary control device; and using the stationary control device to ascertain whether the track-bound vehicle is completely located in one of the axle-counting sections based on the transmitted position.

8. The method according to claim 6, which further comprises: transmitting the number of axles of the track-bound vehicle from the track-bound vehicle to the stationary control device; and using the stationary control device to compare the number of the axles of the track-bound vehicle to the number of the axles located in the relevant axle section according to the axle-counting system.

9. The method according to claim 6, which further comprises transmitting the movement authority from the stationary control device to the track-bound vehicle.

10. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises operating the track-bound vehicle in a CBTC system.

11. A device for ascertaining a movement authority for a track-bound vehicle traveling in a travel direction on a route divided into axle-counting sections by an axle-counting system, the device being configured: to determine a position of the track-bound vehicle; to check whether the track-bound vehicle is completely located in one of the axle-counting sections based on the determined position; to compare a number of axles of the track-bound vehicle to a number of axles located in a relevant axle-counting section according to the axle-counting system; to ascertain a movement authority for the track-bound vehicle if the track-bound vehicle is completely located in the relevant axle-counting section and the number of the axles of the track-bound vehicle corresponds to the number of the axles located in the axle-counting section according to the axle-counting system; and to assume a part of the relevant axle-counting section located in front of the track-bound vehicle in the travel direction to be free of other track-bound vehicles during the ascertainment of the movement authority.

12. The device according to claim 11, which further comprises at least one vehicle device disposed on the track-bound vehicle and at least one stationary control device of a train control system.

13. The device according to claim 12, wherein the at least one stationary control device of the train control system ascertains the movement authority for the track-bound vehicle.

14. The device according to claim 11, wherein the device is a component of a CBTC system.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

(1) The invention will be explained in greater detail hereafter on the basis of exemplary embodiments. In the figures

(2) FIG. 1 shows an arrangement having an exemplary embodiment of the device according to the invention in a situation in which a track-bound vehicle is located completely in an axle-counting section to explain an exemplary embodiment of the method according to the invention in a first schematic sketch,

(3) FIG. 2 shows the arrangement having the exemplary embodiment of the device according to the invention in a situation in which the track-bound vehicle and a further track-bound vehicle are located completely in the axle-counting section to further explain the exemplary embodiment of the method according to the invention in a second schematic sketch, and

(4) FIG. 3 shows the arrangement having the exemplary embodiment of the device according to the invention in a situation in which the track-bound vehicle is located completely in the axle-counting section, but the further track-bound vehicle is only incompletely located in this section, to further explain the exemplary embodiment of the method according to the invention in a third schematic sketch.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(5) For reasons of clarity, identical components are identified with identical reference signs in the figures.

(6) FIG. 1 shows an arrangement having an exemplary embodiment of the device according to the invention in a situation in which a track-bound vehicle 10 is located completely in an axle-counting section to explain an exemplary embodiment of the method according to the invention in a first schematic sketch. The track-bound vehicle 10 has a vehicle device 11, which is connected via a communication connection to a vehicle-side transmission device 12. By means of the vehicle-side transmission device 12 it is possible for the track-bound vehicle 10 or its vehicle device 11, respectively, to transmit a position 15 of the track-bound vehicle 10 to a route-side transmission device 30. The route-side transmission device 30 has a communication connection to a route-side device 40, which in turn has a communication connection to a stationary control device 50 of a train control system.

(7) It is to be noted that the route-side transmission device 30, the route-side device 40, and the stationary control device 50, notwithstanding the illustration of FIG. 1, could also be partially or entirely embodied as a common component or multiple common components.

(8) It is assumed in the scope of the described exemplary embodiment that the track-bound vehicle 10 moves in a travel direction D along a route 20, which can be, for example, a railway route for an underground railway or metro. Furthermore, it is assumed that the track-bound vehicle 10 is operated in a train control system in the form of a CBTC (communications-based train control) system. In this case, the track-bound vehicle 10 reports its position by means of the vehicle-side transmission device 12 to the route-side transmission device 30 in a normal operation of the CBTC system, which corresponds to a moving block operation. The corresponding position 15, which is ascertained on the part of the track-bound vehicle 10 and transmitted to the route-side transmission device 30, and which explicitly or implicitly comprises a specification of the position of the front end and a specification of the position of the rear end of the track-bound vehicle 10, is indicated in FIG. 1 by a corresponding position strip, which preferably takes into consideration the accuracy of the vehicle-side position determination and optionally further aspects, for example, buffer surpluses. The position 15 is ascertained by the vehicle device 11 and/or one component connected thereto or multiple components connected thereto. This can be performed, for example, using at least one distance pulse encoder, at least one radar measuring device, at least one GNSS (global navigation satellite system) receiver, and/or other components known per se, optionally with incorporation of route-side components, for example, in the form of beacons.

(9) Based on the position 15 reported by the track-bound vehicle 10 and corresponding positions of other track-bound vehicles possibly traveling on the route 20, a movement authority for the track-bound vehicle 10 is ascertained on the part of the stationary control device 50 and transmitted via the route-side transmission device 30 to the vehicle-side transmission device 12 and from there to the vehicle device 11. In normal operation, it is therefore communicated to the track-bound vehicle 10 where the next hazard point is located, i.e., up to which point of the route 20 it can continue its travel without hazard.

(10) In practice, the situation can now occur that in special situations or in the event of a disturbance of the operation, no reliable statement is possible to the CBTC system as to whether another track-bound vehicle is possibly located on the route 20, which is not emitting position reports and therefore could endanger the operation of the track-bound vehicle 10. A corresponding situation can occur, for example, if the track-bound vehicle 10 begins its driving operation and the CBTC system as a whole does not yet have any items of information which are sufficient to preclude the existence of other non-reporting track-bound vehicles on the route 20. Furthermore, a situation of the mentioned type can also occur, for example, if failures or disturbances occur in the communication between the track-bound vehicles operated in the CBTC system and the route-side device 40 and/or corresponding route-side devices.

(11) CBTC systems frequently have a track vacancy report system as a fallback level, the items of information of which are typically not used in normal operation. A corresponding track vacancy report system in the form of an axle-counting system is indicated in FIG. 1 by means of wheel sensors or axle-counting sensors 61, 62, 63 and axle-counting analysis devices 71 and 72. The axle-counting analysis devices 71 and 72 have communication connections, on the one hand, to the wheel sensors 61, 62, 63 and, on the other hand, to a positioning mechanism 80. Two axle-counting sections are formed by the wheel sensors 61, 62, and 63, wherein the track-bound vehicle 10 is located in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1 in the left axle-counting section, which is to the rear viewed in the travel direction D, and which is formed by the wheel sensors 61 and 62.

(12) In the above-mentioned operational special and/or malfunction situations, the vacancy report information of the axle-counting system also does not permit any statement, however, as to whether another track-bound vehicle is possibly stopped in the axle-counting section delimited by the wheel sensors 61 and 62 in front of the track-bound vehicle 10 viewed in the travel direction D. The relevant axle-counting section is thus already reported as occupied on the part of the axle-counting system because of the fact that the track-bound vehicle 10 is located in this axle-counting section. However, it cannot be concluded therefrom that another vehicle, for example, in the form of a special vehicle or a track-bound vehicle having malfunctioning communication, is not additionally stopped in the relevant axle-counting section, in particular in the region between the front end of the track-bound vehicle 10 and the wheel sensor 62.

(13) To now substantially avoid impairments of the driving operation even in such a situation, the device shown in FIG. 1 can advantageously be operated as follows according to one exemplary embodiment of the method according to the invention:

(14) It is checked on the part of the stationary control device 50, on the basis of the position of the track-bound vehicle 10, which is determined by the track-bound vehicle 10 and/or its vehicle device 11 and transmitted by means of the vehicle-side transmission device 12 and the route-side device 30 and the route device 40 to the stationary control device 50, whether the track-bound vehicle 10 is completely located in one of the axle-counting sections. According to the illustration of FIG. 1, this is the case according to the reported position 15 in the exemplary embodiment shown, i.e., the track-bound vehicle 10 is located completely in the axle-counting section formed and/or delimited by the wheel sensors 61 and 62.

(15) In the scope of the described exemplary embodiment of the method according to the invention, the track-bound vehicle 10 transmits, together with its position 15, the number of its axles to the stationary control device 50. In this way, it is made possible for the stationary control device 50 to compare the received number of the axles of the track-bound vehicle 10 to the number of the axles located in the relevant axle section according to the axle-counting system. For this purpose, the stationary control device 50 furthermore also has a communication connection to the positioning mechanism 80, so that the number of the axles located in the relevant axle-counting section according to the axle-counting system is provided to the stationary control device 50 and/or the stationary control device 50 can access this information.

(16) In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the track-bound vehicle 10 has four axles. It is assumed that four axles are also stopped in the axle-counting section formed by the two wheel sensors 61 and 62 according to the axle-counting system. Because the track-bound vehicle 10 is completely located in the relevant axle-counting section and the number of the axles of the track-bound vehicle 10 also corresponds to the number of the axles located in this axle-counting section according to the axle-counting system, the stationary control device 50 now ascertains a movement authority for the track-bound vehicle 10, wherein during the ascertainment of the movement authority, the part of the relevant axle-counting section located in front of the track-bound vehicle 10 in the travel direction D, i.e., the region between the front end of the track-bound vehicle 10 and the wheel sensor 61, is assumed to be free of other track-bound vehicles.

(17) The movement authority ascertained under the above-mentioned assumption, which has been confirmed by the comparison of the numbers of axles, is thereupon transmitted from the stationary control device 50 via the route-side device 40 and the route-side transmission device 30 to the vehicle-side transmission device 12, which relays the movement authority to the vehicle device 11. It is therefore possible for the track-bound vehicle 10 or the vehicle device 11 thereof, based on the received movement authority, to begin or continue automatic CBTC operation. In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the movement authority ascertained on the part of the stationary control device 50 can additionally take into consideration in this case that according to the axle-counting system, i.e., the vacancy report information provided by the axle-counting analysis device 72, the axle-counting section following in the travel direction D, which is formed by the wheel sensors 62 and 63, is free of any track-bound vehicles. Depending on the embodiment of the respective CBTC system and the vacancy report state of further axle-counting sections and also reported positions of other track-bound vehicles on the route 20, the movement authority for the track-bound vehicle 10 can therefore extend up to the wheel sensor 62, up to the wheel sensor 63, up to a point located between these two, or also a point located still further in the travel direction.

(18) It is to be noted that the embodiment of the device according to the invention shown in FIG. 1, which comprises in particular the vehicle device 11 and the stationary control device 50, will generally have both hardware components, for example, in the form of at least one processor and at least one storage unit, and also software components, for example, in the form of control programs.

(19) FIG. 2 shows the arrangement having the exemplary embodiment of the device according to the invention in a situation in which the track-bound vehicle and a further track-bound vehicle are located completely in the axle-counting section for further explanation of the exemplary embodiment of the method according to the invention in a second schematic sketch.

(20) The illustration in FIG. 2 corresponds in large parts to that of FIG. 1. However, in contrast to FIG. 1, a situation is shown in FIG. 2 in which a further track-bound vehicle 10a is located behind the track-bound vehicle 10 viewed in the travel direction D, which, similarly to the track-bound vehicle 10, has a vehicle device 11a and a vehicle-side transmission device 12a. The position 15a, which is ascertained on the part of the further track-bound vehicle 10a and is transmitted by means of the vehicle-side transmission device 12a via the route-side transmission device 30 and the route-side device 40 to the stationary control device 50, is indicated in FIG. 2 by a corresponding position strip, similarly to the position 15 of the track-bound vehicle 10.

(21) According to the illustration of FIG. 2, the position 15a of the further track-bound vehicle 10a is also located completely in the axle-counting section delimited by the wheel sensors 61 and 62. In this way, it is advantageously made possible for the further track-bound vehicle 10a to be taken into consideration such that the total of the number of the axles of the track-bound vehicle 10 and the further track-bound vehicle 10a is compared to the number of the axles located in the relevant axle-counting section according to the axle-counting system. According to the schematic illustration of FIG. 2, both the track-bound vehicle 10 and also the further track-bound vehicle 10a each have four axles. If the total of the axles, which is eight in the present case, corresponds to the number of the axles located in the axle-counting section according to the axle-counting system, it is in turn proven that no other track-bound vehicle is located in the axle-counting section delimited by the wheel sensors 61 and 62 in front of the track-bound vehicle 10 viewed in the travel direction D. Presuming that the further track-bound vehicle 10a is located behind the track-bound vehicle 10 viewed in the travel direction of the track-bound vehicle 10, it is therefore also possible in the situation shown in FIG. 2 to ascertain a movement authority for the track-bound vehicle 10, wherein during the ascertainment of the movement authority, the part of the relevant axle-counting section located in front of the track-bound vehicle 10 in the travel direction D is again assumed to be free of other track-bound vehicles.

(22) The consideration of the further track-bound vehicle 10a according to the procedure described above is advantageous because in this way, for example, even in the case of comparatively longer axle-counting sections, in which multiple track-bound vehicles 10, 10a are stopped, a movement authority can be ascertained for the track-bound vehicle 10 and transmitted thereto. In a corresponding way, a third or even a fourth track-bound vehicle, which follows the track-bound vehicle 10 and is located in the same axle-counting section, could also be taken into consideration.

(23) FIG. 3 shows the arrangement having the exemplary embodiment of the device according to the invention in a situation in which the track-bound vehicle is located completely in the axle-counting section, but the further track-bound vehicle is only located incompletely, to further explain the exemplary embodiment of the method according to the invention in a third schematic sketch.

(24) The situation shown in FIG. 3 substantially corresponds to that of FIG. 2. In the fundamental contrast thereto, in the situation shown in FIG. 3, however, the further track-bound vehicle 10a is not located completely in the axle-counting section delimited by the wheel sensors 61, 62. This is clear by way of the indicated position strip 15a in relation to the position of the wheel sensor 61. In this situation, it cannot be reliably precluded by a comparison of the total of the number of the axles of the track-bound vehicle 10 and the further track-bound vehicle 10a to the number of the axles located in the relevant axle-counting section according to the axle-counting system that another track-bound vehicle is possibly also still entirely or partially stopped in the relevant axle-counting section in front of the track-bound vehicle 10 viewed in the travel direction D. The further track-bound vehicle 10a is therefore taken into consideration in the situation shown in FIG. 3 such that a movement authority is not ascertained for the track-bound vehicle 10. The cause of this is therefore that the further track-bound vehicle 10a is not completely located in the relevant axle-counting section.

(25) According to the above explanations in conjunction with the described exemplary embodiments of the method according to the invention and the device according to the invention, these enable, by way of a combination of the positions 15, 15a of the vehicles 10, 10a and the number of axles thereof with the number of the axles located in the relevant axle-counting section according to the axle-counting system, moving block operation in a CBTC system even in certain malfunction situations or, in the case of beginning operation by one of the track-bound vehicles or by the overall system, a movement authority to be ascertained for the track-bound vehicle 10. In this way, impairments of the operation of the track-bound vehicle 10 and/or the overall system can advantageously be avoided or at least substantially reduced, so that an increase of the robustness results with respect to the overall system.