Railway switches and signals – Cab signal or train control – Speed-control systems
Patent
1996-03-29
1997-03-25
Le, Mark T.
Railway switches and signals
Cab signal or train control
Speed-control systems
36442601, B61L 100
Patent
active
056136544
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention concerns a device for releasing the opening of the doors of rail vehicles reaching given stopping positions on platforms of railway stations.
It is known that a large portion of the operating time of rail vehicles, especially subways and streetcars, is lost in stopping at stations and mainly in the exiting and boarding of passengers, who often interfere with each other, so the amount of time required for this process is greater than the time that should actually be necessary. In order to shorten this time, it is known (from Offenlegungsschrift (OLS) U.S. Pat. No. 2,645,352) that signs marking the points of boarding and exit can be provided on the cars of the trains and along the platforms in the stations. However, the desired channeling of the streams of passengers can be implemented only if the doors of the cars can be positioned in the stations with an accuracy of a few decimeters.
British patent A 2,025,103 discloses a door control for railway cars, where the doors can be opened only when these railway cars have in fact stopped and when the front end of the train as well as the rear end of the train are in the train station. No measures for high-precision spot braking are disclosed in that patent application.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to the problem of providing a device that will make the preferably automatic opening of vehicle doors of vehicles that have entered a station dependent upon very precisely reaching a previously determined stopping position.
The invention solves this problem by a device comprising at least one transmission device for intermittent train control located in an approach area of the railway station for transmitting a synchronization signal to the vehicle; a first position sensing device on the vehicle that is directly synchronized by the synchronization signal from the transmission device for intermittent train control; and a second position sensing device on the vehicle that is indirectly synchronized by the synchronization signal of the transmission device for intermittent train control. The synchronization signal is sent to the second position sensing device via a vehicle device for automatic train protection used to control the vehicle. The release of door controls depends on the direction of travel of the vehicle and on position sensing results obtained from the first position sensing device confirming the position of the vehicle at a desired predetermined stopping point within a narrow tolerance range and on position sensing results of the second position sensing device confirming this position within a broader tolerance range. Very reliable and extremely accurate automatic sensing of the position of the vehicle in the area of the station is possible through synchronization, optionally multiple synchronization, of two position sensing devices on the vehicle provided according to the teaching of the invention. This is a prerequisite for the desired spot braking of the train at very specific stopping positions.
Advantageous embodiments and refinements of this invention include the following:
If the opening of the vehicle doors is made to depend on the presence of a signal indicating that the train has come to a standstill, then this assures that the train will actually come to a stop before the doors open.
The impetus for opening the doors may come from the driver of the vehicle, or the doors may be opened by an automatic system.
Using several transmission devices for intermittent train control permits multiple synchronization of the position sensing devices. This improves the spot braking accuracy accordingly.
There may be several stopping points for stopping different trains, and the proper stopping point for a given train is determined by the length of the train.
By monitoring the distances between the transmission devices, any failure of such a transmission device can be detected.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
This invention and other advantages of this invention are explained a
REFERENCES:
patent: 3731088 (1973-05-01), Grundy et al.
patent: 4005837 (1977-02-01), Grundy
patent: 4005838 (1977-02-01), Grundy
patent: 4017044 (1977-04-01), Anderson et al.
patent: 4269377 (1981-05-01), Rush et al.
patent: 4302811 (1981-11-01), McElhenny
patent: 4384695 (1983-05-01), Nohmi et al.
patent: 4852007 (1989-07-01), Yasunobu et al.
patent: 5018689 (1991-05-01), Yasunobu et al.
Comini Dario
Feuerhake Adolf
Gellermann Wolf-Dieter
Martinelli Guido
Le Mark T.
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
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