The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 23, 1994
Filed:
Jan. 03, 1992
John J Shoenhair, New Hope, MN (US);
Alex Ivachev, Marysville, AU;
Loram Maintenance of Way, Inc., Hamel, MN (US);
Abstract
An ultrasonic rail web centerline detector locates the web centerline (18) of a longitudinal rail (12) having a head (80), a base (82), and a web therebetween. The detector includes an ultrasound sensor (14) acoustically coupled to the head (80) of the rail (12) for transmitting ultrasound energy through the rail (12) and for generating electrical signals corresponding to received reflected ultrasound energy. A controller (16) responsive to the electrical signals generates control signals representative of a lateral and angular displacement of the ultrasound sensor (14) with respect to the web centerline (18) of the rail. The position of the ultrasound sensor is adjusted as a function of the control signals representative of the lateral and angular displacement. The ultrasound sensor includes a center transceiver (30) and side transceivers (32, 34) which are acoustically coupled to the head (80) of the rail (12). The side transceivers (32, 34) are positioned symmetrically on opposite sides of the center transceiver (30 ).