Railroad car coupler gap analyzer
In trains a dragging air hose can snag an object on the tracks and break. A broken air hose can lead to an emergency stop or an accident caused by faulty brakes. The present invention mounts a video camera opposite a lit screen, thereby contrasting the air hose profile against a white screen in all weather and lighting conditions. Machine vision algorithms locate the air hose in a captured image from a moving train, and compute its lowest point. An alarm condition is sent to a remote location. An optional car gap detector is laser based. It helps align the car gap with the data capture for the camera. Another subsystem can include a car coupler height detection algorithm.
1. A method to detect a low or broken air hose between passing cars of a railroad train, the method comprising:
providing a light uniform backgound parallel to a railroad track at a chosen distance away from the railroad track;
mounting a camera on an opposite side of the railroad track;
aiming the camera at the light uniform background;
capturing an image of a gap between two railroad cars; and
using a machine vision algorithm to detect a low or broken air hose.
2. The method of claim 1 including the step of using a laser based gap detector to coordinate the capturing of an image.
3. The method of claim 1 including the step of transmitting an alarm signal when a low or broken air hose is detected.
4. The method of claim 1 including the step of using a searchlight aimed at a front of a screen for lighting the screen as the means for providing a light uniform background.
5. The method of claim 1 including the step of using a searchlight aimed at a back of the screen for lighting a screen as the means for providing a light uniform background.
6. The method of claim 1 including the step of using a light box for a screen as the means for providing a light uniform background.
7. The method of claim 1 including the step of using a control computer to capture the image of a gap, and to execute the machine vision algorithm using a vertical line shape edge finder tool.
8. The method of claim 7 including the step of using a train presence wheel sensor and a wheel counter to determine which car has a low or broken air hose.
9. The method of claim 1 including the step of using an algorithm to detect a height of a car coupler.
10. The method of claim 1 including the step of using pattern recognition techniques on a sequence of voltage pulses corresponding to a wheel position of the railroad cars in the train to detect the gaps.
11. The method of claim 1 using specific image patterns generated by the light uniform background that are recognized by the vision algorithm to identify the gap.
12. The method of claim 7 including the step of using a railroad car radio identification tag reader and a wheel counter to determine which gap has a low or broken air hose.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the light uniform background further comprises a background object of uniform light appearance, including a side of a building or a wall.
14. The method of claim 7 , wherein the vertical line shape edge finder tool includes a step of moving a vertical line shape edge finder tool horizontally and vertically across the gap image to detect an air hose in the image by a predetermined width dimension of the air hose.
15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the algorithm includes a step of moving a vertical line shape edge finder tool horizontally and vertically across the gap image to detect coupler shanks in the image by their predetermined height dimension.
16. A method to detect a low or broken air hose between passing cars of a railroad train, the method comprising:
selecting a planar structure parallel to a railroad track at a chosen distance away from the railroad track;
providing light to the planar structure;
mounting a camera on an opposite side of the railroad track;
aiming the camera at the planar structure;
capturing an image of a gap between two railroad cars; and
using a machine vision algorithm to detect a low or broken air hose.
17. A system to detect a low or broken air hose between passing cars of a railroad train, the system comprising:
means for providing a light uniform background parallel to a railroad track functioning to provide a lighted background to contrast a gap between two railroad cars;
means for mounting a camera on an opposite side of the railroad track and aiming the camera at the light uniform background functioning to capture an image of the gap between two railroad cars; and
means for using a machine vision algorithm functioning to detect a low or broken air hose via an analysis of the image of the gap.
18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the machine vision algorithm further comprises a vertical line shape edge finder tool.
19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the machine vision algorithm further comprises a height algorithm to detect a height of a car coupler.
20. The system of claim 17 further comprising a railroad car radio identification tag reader means functioning to determine which gap has a low or broken air hose.
21. The system of claim 18 , wherein the vertical line shape edge finder tool includes a step of moving a vertical line shape edge finder tool horizontally and vertically across the gap image to detect an air hose in the image by a predetermined width dimension of the air hose.
22. The method of claim 19 , wherein the height algorithm includes a step of moving a vertical line shape edge finder tool horizontally and vertically across the gap image to detect coupler shanks in the image by their predetermined height dimension.