FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a device for indicating the operating performance of Locomotive and like vehicles and method thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It has been seen that there are many proposals in the past regarding the improvement of the efficiency of the internal combustion engines. The engines are interfaced with sensors and after monitoring its various operating states  alarms are issued to the driver such that the vehicle is operated in efficient manner. The inventors in the past had also developed systems for informing the efficiency of the engines to the operators by employing different means. It has been seen that these systems are unable to address the operating performance of the diesel electric locomotives because of its complex design and involvement of electrical elements.
In the diesel electric Locomotive  the operator is required to change the throttle also known as notches of the locomotive into eight discrete steps  which results in the engine acceleration to the new speed levels. The engine speed is also controlled by its electronic fuel injection controller that adjusts the quantity of pressurized diesel fuel injected into each of the engine cylinders  so that  the actual RPM of the crankshaft corresponds to the desired speed  these pulses can be computed to know the amount of fuel used in generating the power. The crank shaft is further coupled to a traction alternator to provide current to the traction motors  as per the notch settings and an auxiliary alternator which provides current to the auxiliary electrical circuits.

The Locomotives are tested periodically to see if they need repairs or overhauls. This process requires various testing procedures  with one common test employing a Load Box Test for measuring the output power of the engine in kilowatts and at its each notch. Another method is to check its fuel consumption over its duty cycle because the Locomotive runs in the field at different notch as per the requirement of speed / load. The approximate notch wise percentage running of locomotive over duty cycle for passenger and freight operations is pre known and fuel consumption (in kg/hr) over duty cycle is calculated by taking weighted average of fuel consumption at its all the notches over the duty cycle. This is done to check if Locomotive is operating efficiently or is consuming more than required fuel.

It can be seen that these methods require a testing of engine at fixed time intervals which may be few months to a year through Load Box Test and in its due turn. The said method which checks its fuel consumption over its duty cycle through pre-known percentages of its notch wise running over duty cycle for passenger and freight operations  do not provide realistic picture as locomotives have to work different varying conditions because of which the said percentages do not hold. These methods do not allow the monitoring of the locomotive during its running operations because of the test procedures involved. A Locomotive being a complex electro mechanical device can become inefficient at any point in its working and thereafter it leads to excessive fuel usage.

US4113046  Vehicle fuel economy indicator  teaches a method and apparatus for indicating the fuel economy of a vehicle during acceleration. By measuring throttle rate signal having a magnitude proportional to the rate of change of the position of the throttle is combined with an acceleration signal having a magnitude proportional to the rate of change of vehicle speed to generate an operating performance signal. The magnitude of the operating performance signal is proportional to the difference of the throttle rate signal and the acceleration signal. The operating performance signal is used to drive an indicator device such as a meter which indicates whether or not the vehicle is accelerating efficiently…. However the system wouldn’t be reliable for diesel electric locomotives pulling long trains with varying loads  because of the inflow and outflow of passengers  freight and/ or track gradients. The system will provide different information depending on different circumstances. The diesel electric locomotive is a complex Electro Mechanical device comprising diesel internal combustion engine  traction alternator  auxiliary alternators  traction motors  etc operating with different efficiencies . There might be chances where the internal combustion engine might be operating efficiently but other electrical elements won’t be operating efficiently.

US4223553 Engine operating performance meter   Teaches a method of displaying the operating performance of a motor vehicle by measuring vacuum pressure of the vehicle’s engine and displaying the same suitably. It also tries to measure the operating performance of the vehicle with automatic transmission by showing the operating performance scale corresponding to the vehicles highest gear. However an efficient engine operating in its highest/ most efficient gear could show an inefficient operating reading  if it is over loaded or the engine/vehicle is operated under gradients. The system wouldn’t be reliable for diesel electric locomotives pulling long trains with varying loads  because of the inflow and outflow of passengers  freight and/ or track gradients. The system will provide different information depending on different circumstances. The diesel electric locomotive is a complex Electro Mechanical device comprising diesel internal combustion engine  traction alternator  auxiliary alternators  traction motors  etc operating with different efficiencies . There might be chances where the internal combustion engine might be operating efficiently but other electrical elements won’t be operating efficiently.

US4327577 Operating performance meter for a vehicle engine. Teaches a method of displaying the operating performance of a motor vehicle having an automatic transmission  which includes a pointer movable across an instrument face  and which is operable only when the engine speed is above idle and the transmission is in drive gear. This is done by measuring the negative intake pressure of the engine which represents the fuel consumption and measuring it only after a certain RPM value in automatic transmission mode. However an efficient engine could show an inefficient operating reading under certain circumstances. This type of system wouldn’t be reliable for diesel electric locomotives pulling long trains with varying loads  because of the inflow and outflow of passengers  freight and/ or track gradients. The system will provide different information depending on different circumstances. The diesel electric locomotive is a complex Electro Mechanical device comprising diesel internal combustion engine  traction alternator  auxiliary alternators  traction motors  etc operating with different efficiencies. There might be chances where the internal combustion engine might be operating efficiently but other electrical elements won’t be operating efficiently.

US8095253  Fuel operating performance improvement for locomotive consists. Teaches a method for improving the fuel operating performance of the locomotives operating in a consist by measuring the power and fuel consumption rate information of a lead locomotive and then transmitting these to the other locomotives such that these operate in identical and efficient manner. However the system doesn’t provide any information on the individual locomotive operating states/ operating performance. It only provides a method of operating all the locomotives based on the operating performance state of the lead locomotive which might not be true.

US5578748 Method and system for calculating effective fuel economy. Teaches a method and system for calculating the effective fuel economy of a fuel-consuming engine in a vehicle by taking into consideration the chemical energy contained in the fuel by determining the mass flow rate of fuel and the change in kinetic energy of the vehicle. The kinetic energy is determined by sensing the change in the speed of the vehicle and the mass of the vehicle. The effective fuel economy is calculated by further considering the change in potential energy of the vehicle. The potential energy is determined by sensing the change in elevation of the vehicle. However such a method and system cannot work reliably with diesel electric locomotives pulling long trains as the mass of the train keeps changing due to the inflow and outflow of the passengers and freight loads. There are chances of adulteration in fuels thereby altering its chemical energy.

US4150431 Fuel consumption rate indicating system for a vehicle. Teaches a method for monitoring the fuel operating performance of a vehicle by comparing the amount of fuel consumed and the distance traveled by the vehicle. However such a method and system cannot work reliably with diesel electric locomotives pulling long trains  because the mass/load of the train keeps changing due to the inflow and outflow of the passengers and freight loads. Therefore the system will provide unreliable indication of its operating performance if it is based on distance traveled.

US4413249  Vehicle fuel-operating performance warning device. Teaches a method to monitor vehicle fuel-operating performance of an internal combustion engine  by identifying engine speed(i.e. RPM) exceeding a predetermined upper limit and providing means for adjusting the amount of fuel supplied to an internal combustion engine(i.e. Throttle position)  the upper limit characteristic including a portion having a drop-off tendency in accordance with the increase of the engine speed  elements for producing a second detecting signal when the position of the member exceeds the upper limit of the member as determined by the limit signal; and elements for issuing a warning…. However this patent teaches nothing different from previous inventions. This system only indicates the operating performance condition to the operator when ever the RPM exceeds a set point with respect to the throttle position. Such a system might be of no use to the operator of diesel electric locomotive  because of various unknown operating parameters like inflow and out flow of passengers and freight in the trains and track gradients emergency stopping etc. These conditions might lead to operating a locomotive less efficient zones  even though the engine might be in good operating health. The system doesn’t applies to diesel electric locomotive as it an Electro Mechanical device with internal combustion engine  traction alternator  traction motors etc.

US8037870 Fuel economy improvement assist device and method of fuel economy improvement assist. Teaches a method of improving the fuel economy of a vehicle  by assisting the driver in real time about correct accelerator operation by identifying its deviation value from the detected accelerator operation amount. However this system only indicates the operating performance condition and instructs the operator about improving it  this type of system might be no use to the operator of diesel electric locomotive  because he might not be able to maneuver the locomotive because of its electro mechanical design.

The problem to be addressed is by interfacing a system capable of monitoring the locomotive’s overall operating performance by measuring the power consumed by its traction motors through current and voltage transducers; thereby reflecting the combined efficiency parameters of the engine  traction alternator and traction motors and averaging it over an interval with respect to the time at each notch. The system also comprise of a fuel level sensor interface to the locomotive fuel tank to monitor the amount of fuel consumed during its run. Therefore the total power generated is then correlated with respect to the fuel consumed and provides an operating performance index to the driver which corresponds to the engine health status of a given locomotive for any given period of its run. The system is  therefore  able to alert the driver at the time when the operating performance parameter falls outside the known normal operating performance zone. This enables to provide an early diagnostics/ overhauls to the Locomotive operating conditions and consequently saving in fuel.

The invention relates more particularly to a diesel electric locomotive but by not way of limitations to such apparatus and method.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is the object of the invention to interfaced current and voltage transducers  to the electrical inputs of the traction motors and measures the power consumed by it at each notch over a given period of locomotive run. It then computes the average power consumed at each notch with respect to its operating time and further sums it up for all the notches together for the locomotive run. The system also comprise of a fuel level sensor interfaced appropriately on the locomotive fuel tank  to measure the amount of fuel consumed for a given locomotive run. The system then compares the total power generated/consumed with total fuel consumed and provides an Operating Performance index for the Locomotive.

It is another object of the invention to provide a device to measure Fuel consumption and correlate it with each notch operating time and also for all the notches operating time together  to compute the total fuel consumption.

It is another object of the invention to provide a device to measure the power generated by the auxiliary alternators for its auxiliary circuits to compensate for the fuel consumed during its run.

It is another object of the invention to provide a device to measure the power consumed by the traction motors at each notch or the power generated by its traction alternator and compare the generated power with pre known standard notch wise horsepower characteristics of the locomotive to verify the deviation in power delivered at each notch and / or by all its notches together for a given locomotive run.

It is yet another objective of the invention to integrate the total power consumed by the traction motors with respect to their operation at each notch during a locomotive run.

It is yet another objective of the invention to identify a locomotive run by monitoring its notch changing from idle to higher notches and then back to idle or through its speedometer by tracking time between two locomotive halts.

It is yet another objective of the invention to provide an audio visual display  to alert the driver  during the onset of power wastage conditions and also the operating performance index of the locomotive.

It is yet another objective of the invention to provide different notch wise horsepower locomotive characteristics for their different designs and makes  to compute the actual power which that are able to deliver when they operate efficiently.

It is yet another objective of the invention to compute power consumed per unit of fuel and compare it with pre-known efficient data to identify the operating performance of the locomotive.

It is yet another objective of the invention to compute power consumed by the traction motors or the power generated by its traction alternator at its each notch because it represents the combined performance of the engine RPM  traction alternator and traction motors.

It is yet another objective of the invention to provide a device to measure the total operating time period at each notch and/ or by all the notches together and correlating it with the locomotive’s BSFC values  keeping into account the type and make of the locomotive to identify the theoretical fuel consumption of the engine and comparing it with the actual fuel consumption from the fuel sensor  such that any abnormal deviation is identified and reported to the driver.
It is yet another objective of the invention to take into account the fuel consumed during the period of locomotive idling to compensate the operating performance computations.

With the above and other objectives in view  as will hereinafter appear  various embodiments of the present invention are described hereunder.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an embodiment of the invention  a device for indicating the operating performance of Locomotive  is provided  which comprises of a microcomputer  interfaced appropriately to the traction motors through a current and voltage transducers  such that it could measure the voltage and current and computes the power consumed by the traction motors/ power generated by the traction alternator; a locomotive notch interface unit is interfaced with the locomotive throttle to sense the notch position / number and thereafter correlating it with the power consumed  with respect to the time it operates at each notch /number and integrating it over a given locomotive run to provide resultant ‘actual power’ consumption index; a fuel level sensor to monitor the fuel consumption at each notch and/or by all the notches together for a given locomotive run; thereafter comparing the actual power consumed or generated with respect to the total amount of fuel consumption for a given locomotive run to provide an operating performance index after computations and comparisons with pre-known efficient values; The device has an audio visual display to alert the driver through audio visual means; whereby the locomotive driver is timely alerted about the onset of locomotive inefficient operating condition such that the driver is able to take necessary corrective measures to save fuel.

According to another embodiment of the invention  the current and voltage transducers are interfaced to the traction motors to measure the amount of power consumed by the Locomotive at each notch position/number and for all the notches together for a given locomotive run.

According to another embodiment of the invention  a locomotive run is identified by electrically monitoring its notch changing from idle to higher notches and then back to idle or through its speedometer by tracking time between two locomotive halts.

According to yet another embodiment of the invention  a fuel level sensor is provided on the locomotive fuel tank to measure Fuel consumption and correlate it with each notch operating time period and/or for all the notches operating time together to compute the total fuel consumption for each locomotive run.

According to yet another embodiment of the invention  a device is provided to measure the power consumed by its traction motors at each notch and compare the generated power with pre-fed known standard notch wise horsepower characteristics to verify the deviation in power delivered at each notch and / or by all its notches to identify its power operating performance.

According to yet another embodiment of the invention  the onboard microcomputer is pre-fed with known notch wise horsepower locomotive characteristics for their different designs and makes of the locomotives.

According to yet another embodiment of the invention  a device to measure the power generated by the locomotive’s auxiliary alternators is provided to compensate for the fuel consumed in generating auxiliary power during its run.

According to yet another embodiment of the invention  the total power consumed by the traction motors is related to the amount of fuel used and after comparing it with its pre-known efficient parameters a locomotive operating performance index is provided to the driver.

According to yet another embodiment of the invention  the total operating time period at each notch and/ or by all the notches together is measured and correlated with the locomotive’s BSFC values to identify the theoretical fuel consumption of the engine and comparing it with the fuel consumption reading from the fuel sensor to compute and alarm abnormal deviation for a given locomotive run.

According to yet another embodiment of the invention  different BSFC locomotive characteristics are provided keeping into account their different designs and makes.

According to yet another embodiment of the invention  an audio visual display is provided to alert the driver  during the onset of power wastage conditions and also the operating performance index of the locomotive to its driver in timely manner.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 shows a detailed view of various components of device according to an embodiment of the present invention as interfaced to the diesel electric locomotive.

For a better understanding of the embodiments of the invention and to show how it may be performed  it will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Detailed Description of the Invention

The present invention can be better understood by reading the following detailed description of some of the embodiments  with reference made to the accompanying drawings. It will be understood that a particular system embodying the invention is shown by way of illustration only and not as a limitation of invention. The principles and features of this invention may be employed in various numerous embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention. References are made to accompanying drawing in which its novel feature and advantages will be apparent.

As can be seen in Figure 1  it shows the various embodiments of the present invention as interfaced to the Diesel Electric locomotive 1. The Diesel Electric locomotive 1  work by utilizing diesel internal combustion engine also known as prime mover  to power its onboard traction alternator 2  through its crank shaft. The traction alternator 2  produces electric energy in proportion to the RPM of the prime mover’s crank shaft and is related to the notch position as applied by the driver. The traction alternator 2  is further interfaced to onboard rectifier 3  which converts alternating current to direct current in order to operate its plurality traction motors 4  and thus providing motion to the Locomotive. The horse power generated by the locomotive can be known through the engine RPM sensor  or by measuring the voltage and the current consumed by the traction motors 4  by appropriately interfacing a current transducer 5  and a voltage transducer 6  with it. The onboard microcomputer 9  measures the current and voltage and hence computes the power consumed by the traction motors 4. The onboard microcomputer 9  is also interfaced with the locomotive’s throttle with a notch interface unit 8  to identify the notch position/number and the total time period it operates at each notch for a given locomotive run. The power consumed by the traction motors 4  is further correlated with the total time period it operates at each notch or by all the notches together to compute total power consumed by the locomotives traction motors 4  for a given locomotive run. The system has a fuel level sensor 11  interface to the locomotive 1  tank 12  in order to measure the fuel consumed by locomotive’s 1  at each notch and /or by all the notches together with the .The system further compares the total power produced by each notch and/or by all the notches together with the total amount of fuel consumed for a given locomotive run to provide an index which relates to the operating performance of the Locomotive 1. This index is compared with the pre known defined index to compute the deviation and alert the driver for overhaul or repairs  through its audio visual display 7  if the index lies outside acceptable operating region. The locomotive 1  run time for deciding its operational operating performance interval is done by monitoring the notch position advancements from idle to its other high power notch positions/numbers and finally returning to the idle again. The onboard speedometer 13  is also monitored to check the running and halting of the locomotive to further decide its run interval. The fuel level sensor 11  also tracks refueling and fuel bleeding events if any to compensate the calculations of fuel consumption  alternatively fuel injector’s(14) pulses can also be measured to know the amount of fuel consumption.The system also compensates the measurement for its fuel consumption during idling by checking its stationary condition from its speedometer 13  and its notch position set to idle through notch interface unit 8. A voltage and a current sensor (16) is further interfaced with the locomotives auxiliary alternator(15) to measure the power consumed by the locomotive’s auxiliary circuits  such that fuel consumed in generating the said power is compensated in computing its operating performance.

A shutdown monitor 10  is provided which is interfaced with the ignition system or the auxiliary alternator of the locomotive to identify its shutdown state to compensate for any fuel bleeding events.

I Claim:
1. A device for indicating the operating performance of Locomotive,
comprising:
a microcomputer (9), interfaced to Locomotive’s (1), traction
motors (4) , through current transducer (5), and voltage transducer
(6), to acquire and compute the power consumed by its traction
motors (4) or the power generated by its traction alternator(2); and
a locomotive notch interface unit (8), to sense each notch
position / number and its total time period of engagement and
correlating it with the power consumption at each notch and by all the
notches together and integrating it over a given time period of
locomotive run to provide total power consumption index; and
a fuel level sensor (11), appropriately interface to the
locomotives fuel tank (12) to measure the amount of fuel consumed in
generating the said amount of power at each notch and by all the
notches together for a given locomotive run; thereby
computing the amount of fuel consumed in generating the
said amount of power and providing an operating performance index;
wherein
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the operating performance index is further compared with preknown
efficiency index, to timely alarm the locomotive driver through
audio visual display unit (7); wherein
an audio visual display unit (7) is provided to timely alarm the
driver through audio visual means in case the operating performance
tends to fall outside the acceptable standards of operation; thereby
enabling the driver to take corrective measures in order to save fuel.
2. The device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the
power generated by the traction alternator(2) with respect to its each
notch position/number is integrated with respect to its total operating
time at each notch and by all the notches together for a given
locomotive run to present an index called ‘P1’.
3. The device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the
time period of each operating notch is analyzed with locomotive
specific, pre-known ‘notch wise RPM v/s horsepower’ characteristics
keeping into account their designs and makes, to compute specific
power generated by the traction alternator (2) with respect to its each
notch position/number and by all the notches together for a given
locomotive run to present an index called ‘P2’.
4. The device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein a fuel
level sensor (11) is disposed on the locomotive’s fuel tank (12) to
measure the amount of fuel consumed at its each notch and/or by all
its notches together, with respect to its operating time period, in order
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to compute the total fuel consumed for a given locomotive run to
present an index called ‘F1’.
5. According to yet another embodiment of the invention, the total
operating time period at each notch and/ or by all the notches
together is measured and correlated with the locomotive’s BSFC
values keeping into account their designs and makes, to identify its
specific fuel consumption for a given locomotive run to present an
index called ‘F2’.
6. The device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the
indexes ‘P1’ and ‘P2’ are compared to compute deviation index ‘P3’
and alarm the driver through audio visual display (7) if it falls outside
the normal operating parameters.
7. The device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the
indexes ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ are compared to compute deviation index ‘F3’
and alarm the driver through audio visual display (7) if it falls outside
the normal operating parameters.
8. The device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the
index ‘P3’ is divided by ‘F3’ to present an operating performance
index ‘OPI’; and is compared with pre-known specific index such that
the driver is alarmed timely if the ‘OPI’ falls outside the normal
operating parameters through audio visual display (7) .
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9. The device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the
locomotive run is identified by monitoring its notch changing from idle
to higher notches and then back to idle, or through its
speedometer(13) by tracking time between two consecutive
locomotive halts.
10. The device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein
refueling or fuel bleeding events of the locomotive fuel tank (12) is
identified through fuel level sensor (11); and corrections are applied
appropriately in calculating final operating performance index.
11. The device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the
locomotive idling condition is identified through notch interface unit
(8), to compute its total time period of operating at idle condition such
that corrections are applied appropriately in calculating final operating
performance index.
12. The device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein
electronic fuel injector’s pulses (14) or its rack position can be
measured appropriately to compute the amount of fuel consumed at
each notch and/ or by all its notches together with respect to its
operating time period, for a given locomotive run.
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13. The device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein a
voltage and a current sensor (16) is interfaced with the locomotive’s
auxiliary alternator(15) to measure the power consumed by the
locomotive’s auxiliary circuits, such that fuel consumed in generating
the said power is compensated in computing its final operating
performance index.
14. A device for indicating the operating performance of Locomotive and
like vehicles and method thereof, substantially as herein described
and illustrated in the figure 1 of the accompanied drawings.