US 6,981,419 B1
Portable direct sensor attachment system
D. Robert Hay, 317H Rex Pl., Madeira Beach, Fla. 33708-1938 (US); and Erling O. Nyborg, 1410 Kingsley Avenue, Dorval QC H9S 1G1 (Canada)
Filed on May 15, 2003, as Appl. No. 10/438,571.
Int. Cl. G01N 29/04 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 73—636 6 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A portable direct sensor attachment system for allowing a user to evaluate and detect flaws in railroad tracks comprising, in combination:
a vehicle equipped with monitoring equipment having an undercarriage that adapts the vehicle to ride along a railroad track rail;
an apparatus mount coupled to a first rail wheel on the undercarriage, the apparatus mount having a mounting pin aperture there through;
a downwardly displaced arm having an upper end and a lower end, the upper end having a centrally located mounting pin aperture there through with the lower end having a wheel axle hole there through;
a mounting pin fabricated of rigid material and pivotably coupling the downwardly displaced arm and the apparatus mount;
a pair of railroad vehicle wheels each having an inner side and an outer side and a thickness there between, the inner side of the first wheel having a flange of a first diameter to secure the vehicle on a railroad track rail and the outer side having a round track contact surface of a second diameter, the second wheel having a second diameter, with each of the wheels having a plurality of radially located studs;
a first wheel axle fabricated of rigid material to couple the first railroad wheel to the downwardly displaced arm;
a sensor mounting bracket having an inner side and an outer side and a thickness there between, and an inward end and an outward end with an extent there between, the bracket having a first wheel axle aperture on the inward end to allow coupling the bracket to the vehicle wheel, the bracket having a second wheel axle aperture on the outward end to allow coupling of the bracket to the second rail wheel, the bracket having a plurality of bolt holes centrally located on the extent of the bracket;
a first wheel bracket axle fabricated of rigid material to couple the first railroad wheel to the mounting sensor bracket;
a second wheel bracket axle fabricated of rigid material to couple the second railroad wheel to the mounting sensor bracket;
a sensor being one of the sensors from the class that includes piezoelectric, electromagnetic, electromagnetic-acoustic, air-coupled and laser-ultrasonic phased array sensors, the sensor being coupled to the sensor mounting bracket and being located between the first and second wheel, the sensor being maintained at a fixed height above the top of a railroad track rail with mechanisms for adjusting the fixed height for electromagnetic-acoustic, air coupled and laser transduction sensors; and
an electronic coupling means for coupling the sensor to monitoring equipment.