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:
Sep. 15, 1998
Filed:
Apr. 08, 1997
Angel P Bezos, Rockwood, MD (US);
Westinghouse Air Brake Company, Wilmerding, PA (US);
Abstract
A simplified dual connection system electrically interconnects the vehicles of a train. The train features a trainline to be formed through series interconnection of a wire on each vehicle. The simplified dual connection system includes a central computer, a connector control device on each vehicle and a pair of mateable connectors between each pair of vehicles of the train. Each pair of mateable connectors electrically interconnects the wires of each pair of adjacently disposed vehicles to form the trainline. When the mateable connectors are mated, a primary electrical path and a redundant electrical path are formed in that pair of connectors for the trainline. Each connector has a bidirectional circuit that interconnects a main node and a backup node for the wire on the vehicle. When a pair of connectors is mated, the main nodes of that pair interconnect to form the primary electrical path of the trainline and the backup nodes of that pair interconnect to form part of the redundant electrical path of the trainline. The redundant electrical path thus provides an electrical connection redundant to the primary electrical path to which it corresponds. The connector control device in each vehicle determines the integrity of the primary electrical path in the pair of mated connectors. The central computer receives from each connector control device the results of that determination and reports those results to a train operator.