Railways – Track layers – Sluer
Patent
1995-06-08
1997-03-25
Le, Mark T.
Railways
Track layers
Sluer
104 2, 33287, E01B 3300
Patent
active
056134428
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to an arrangement for measuring and correcting the line of a track, said arrangement comprising an emitter bogie mounted on the track and provided with an emitter emitting substantially unidirectional optical radiation, a correcting car mounted on the track at a distance from the emitter bogie and provided with shifting elements for changing the line of the track, a measuring carriage provided in the correcting car and supported on the track, an optical position-sensitive receiver which is mounted on the measuring carriage and which substantially continuously measures the position of the optical beam on the measuring surface thereof and converts the measurement data into electric signals, a device provided in the correcting car for measuring lateral inclination of the track, a control unit connected to the position-sensitive receiver and the device which measures lateral inclination of the track for controlling the shifting elements, which change the line of the track.
The invention also relates to a method for measuring and correcting the line of a track, said method comprising forming an optical reference beam between an emitter on an emitter bogie and a position-sensitive receiver on a measuring and correcting car, moving the measuring and correcting car for a measurement interval in sequences of a desired length towards the emitter bogie, monitoring the movement of the hitting point of the optical beam by the position-sensitive receiver, measuring lateral inclination of the track, positioning the position-sensitive receiver in relation to the track between the sequences of moving, and subsequently measuring the instantaneous values of the position of the hitting point of the optical beam and the inclination of the track, and using the measurement data for the shifting operations directed to the track.
The arrangement which utilizes an optical beam, such as a laser beam, is a measuring and control system developed particularly for measuring and correcting the line of a track. The system controls lining, i.e. horizontal shifting, levelling, and also lateral inclination on the basis of given set values and measurement data. According to the system, a reference line is set between the laser emitter and the receiver; the current position of the measuring carriage in relation to the reference line is measured, and the control operations are then performed on the basis of the measurement results.
In known track measuring and correcting arrangements, the receivers of optical radiation merely detect the hit and are not so-called position-sensitive detectors (PSD) as in the present invention. The receivers which are used in known solutions and which detect only a hit or a miss are thus so-called zero point detectors, which detect whether a laser beam hits the receiver or not. In these known solutions the optical receiver mounted on a measuring carriage comprises, for example, several detectors which are not separately capable of measuring position but act as a receiver of an optical beam only when a plurality of them are positioned geometrically. Position data is thus obtained by geometrical positioning of a plurality of detectors, and there are separate zero point detectors for horizontal and vertical measuring. These solutions involve inevitably moving of the receiver and/or the emitter in order for the beam to be aligned with the detector. The purpose of the moving is to align and focus the optical axes of the emitter and the receiver with respect to each other. Mechanical moving retards the measuring. Individual detectors serve as so-called zero point detectors, i.e. they detect whether a laser beam hits them or not. Movable receivers that are mechanically aligned with the beam are slow, which renders it more difficult to automate the arrangement. By zero point detectors it is also difficult to compensate for the effects of environmental conditions, as the beam often does not hit the receiving area of the detector. An example of the solutions described above is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No
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Ahola Raimo
Tervaskanto Matti
Le Mark T.
Noptel Oy
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