Apparatus and method of the weighing of the rail, 2004.

摘要

An apparatus and method for weighing railroad cars coupled together and in motion is disclosed which eliminates the necessity for special scales and, in particular, can be retrofitted and used in conjunction with most existing weigh bridges regardless of the length of the weight bridge, without any modification of the physical construction thereof, and with most existing weigh mechanisms. Generally, the apparatus provides two types of weighing, summation of axle weights and full draft. In addition, combinations of each are possible. During weighing by the summation of axle weights, as each axle enters the weigh bridge, a weight measurement is made and stored in memory. Cars with up to a maximum of nine axles (this is limited by the requirement rather than the electronics) are weighed by adding the axle weights, when the last car axle has entered the weigh bridge. A printer provides a hard copy record of car weights. Full draft weights can be provided, on weigh bridges longer than cars, to provide a more accurate individual car weight. Each axle on the weigh bridge has its equivalent weight stored in memory and during a full draft weight cycle, all axles other than those of the car in full draft are subtracted from the current weight. The final weight is passed to the printer to provide a hard copy record. The axle sum or full draft weight cycles are automatically carried out by signals generated from the track switch logic. The computing unit accepts trains containing cars which may be weighed on axle sum or full draft, depending on the car axle spacing and the weigh bridge length.