System for controling safety apparatuses, in particular in the railway field

Abstract

 The present invention refers to a system for controlling safety apparatuses, in particular in the railway field, characterized in that it comprises a plurality of peripheral units (UP) or interfaces able to be connected to a central unit (UC) and provided with means for connection to a railway apparatus or utility (EN) to be controlled and means for conditioning and processing the relevant acquired signals.

Description

[0001] The present invention refers to a system for controlling safety apparatuses, mostly in the railway field.

[0002] At present, the railway's safety and signalling systems (also called IS plants in the present description) are made up of all those apparatuses that form a signalling system for trains' fail-safe circulation, that is, such a system that in case of any failure of one or more elements making up a plant's single device or assembly of devices, the safety conditions will not fail: for example, a failure by which a device is not able to provide an all-clear way signal to a train, implies the circulation to be stopped.

[0003] The safety and signalling systems include both station and railroad line's plants.

[0004] In the stations, they provide for the circulation, manoeuvring, dwells and composition of trains, etc. The devices are installed, supported by suitable frames, within the relays room and allow carrying out manoeuvres and controls on the so-called "yard's utilities" which consist of signal fittings, grade crossings, switch points, rail circuits, etc.
Along the railroad line, the safety plants are installed within cabins and service sites (also called PDS in the present description).

[0005] The cabins or automatic block sites (also called PBA in the present description) are those buildings wherein, supported by suitable frames, are installed the apparatuses which allow operating and controlling the signal's fittings, present along the line on rail circuits, for the automatic spacing of the trains (line's automatic block), etc.

[0006] Also present along the railway line are special stations, so-called service sites (PDS) which are not used by the passengers but are necessary for carrying out particular manoeuvres on the trains. Included in the service sites are: communication sites (also called PC) which, in case of a rail's failure, allow switching from a rail to another; junction or crossroad sites (also called PJ) which are located near the junction between two lines to allow the passage of trains from a line to another.

[0007] The station's plants IS may be more or less complex depending on the dimensions of the station's yard and, therefore, on the utilities being present; they are just less complex than the PDS and PBA plants.

[0008] Diagnostic systems are generally installed within the relay room of stations and PDS, and within the line's boxes above described.

[0009] In particular, as far as the safety and signalling plants (or IS plants) are concerned, specifications are currently enforced which regulate the application of diagnostic centralized systems for the signals' control (non-intrusiveness) and the general architecture of the system.

[0010] The current railway's provisions require, in fact, that in order to interface electronic diagnostic systems with railway utilities of safety and signalling plants, it is necessary to interpose suitable conditioning units so as to ensure the non-intrusiveness to the utility to be monitored (so-called non-intrusive interfaces).

[0011] The installation of the interfaces takes place, as provided by the railway's management specifications, on frames of the relay room where the apparatuses to be controlled are located and, in some cases, directly on the counter-plates for the attachment of the same apparatuses.

[0012] The diagnostic systems currently used provide for the installation of data-collecting units within containment boxes of the relay room or adjacent premises. The signals on output from the interfaces must be wired to the diagnostic boxes to allow the same signals to be processed, as shown in Fig. 1 wherein EN designates the utilities to be monitored (specifically, EN1 to ENn), UP indicates the interfaces (specifically, UP1 to Upn), CON designates the data-concentrator device of the diagnostic system.

[0013] The traditional non-intrusive interfaces do not carry out any diagnostic processing on the input signals but only a conditioning thereof to make them suited for reading by the cards for the acquisition and measurement of the diagnostic systems.

[0014] The current provisions dictate that the outputs must be within a standard current range of 4 to 20 mA. For example, in case of analog signals in alternating current, the output of the interface has a current value proportional to the amplitude or to the effective value of the measured input. Otherwise, in case of coded signals such as, for example, the coded voltage of the rail's circuits, the interface must reproduce, on output, a current waveform whose amplitude is proportional to the waveform of the input signal.

[0015] The reading of the conditioned signals on output from the interfaces, the conditioning and subsequent processing thereof, are carried out by the diagnostic electronic apparatus installed in the relay room.
It is thus necessary, for each current output of the interfaces, to connect two wires to the diagnostic box, as shown in Fig. 1, wherein the wires exiting from the interfaces are connected to the block of the concentrator CON.
Usually, the interfaces do not pick up binary logic states of the relays, or railway utilities in general, out of the plant. The diagnostic devices must be provided with cards for the acquisition of digital data allowing to acquire the state of relay contacts by applying a nominal maximum voltage of 24 V d.c.

[0016] In order to control a digital input, a common wire must be connected to the plant for all the inputs., said wiring applying the supply voltage and a return pole for the reading.

[0017] In conclusion, therefore, the connections from the traditional interfaces and frames of the relay room to the diagnostic devices must be made via the following:

• n+1 cables for reading n digital data from as many relays;
• 2n cables for the current reading of n signals from non-intrusive interfaces.

By way of example, a typical service site (communication site) for carrying out only the diagnosis of the automatic block, necessitates 200 wires for connection to the diagnostic device, with all the problems relevant to the wiring operation which includes passing the cables and making a high number of connections - which brings about possible errors and, for more complex plants, installation times that can take 200 to 300 hours.

[0018] In case of station diagnostic, the number of cables to be laid and wired from the frames of relay room (where the points for picking up analog and digital signals are located) to the electronic control devices depends, obviously, on the number of utilities being present and, thus, on the station size - which number is, however, surely high, with consequent waste of time and resources for the installation, the verification and activation of the same system.
For the boxes, the time for wiring and installing the present diagnostic systems can possibly require about 70 to 100 hours.

[0019] The main object of the present invention is to overcome the above said drawbacks. Further objects of the present inventions are the following: to provide, in real time, a centralized control site with data relating to the state of the plants located along the railway line and in the stations; to signal failures or operation defects in the apparatuses; to reduce the intervention time for the detection and elimination of failures; to signal any deterioration in the apparatuses or parts of the plant so as to make specific and preventive maintenance interventions allowing the necessary controls to be made only when the same apparatuses appear out of order, as revealed by the monitoring systems, and thereby reducing or, in some cases, eliminating the need for periodic checking procedures.

[0020] This result has been achieved, according to the invention, by adopting the idea of making a system having the characteristics disclosed in the claim 1. Further characteristics being set forth in the dependent claims.

[0021] Further advantages of the present invention include the possibility, by means of the interfaces or peripheral units of the present invention, of joining together the functions of passive interface and diagnosis apparatus, that is, providing the passive interface with an "intelligence" or capacity of its own; the possibility of communicating and exchanging data between different interfaces via a field bus RS formed, for example, by a serial RS485, optical fibre or other standard field bus, so that the wirings for the collection of data be reduce to a few connections (two to four supply and field bus wires); the possibility of communicating or exchanging data with a central supervision site; the possibility of providing locally (for example via a serial connection, for example), processed data to a portable PC; the fact that the system maintains its characteristics unaltered also after prolonged periods of non-use.

[0022] These and other advantages and characteristics of the invention will be best understood by anyone skilled in the art from a reading of the following description in conjunction with the attached drawings given as a practical exemplification of the invention, but not to be considered in a limitative sense, wherein:

• Fig. 1 is a block diagram relating to the known technique so far used;
• Fig. 2 is a block diagram relating to a possible exemplary embodiment of an interface for a peripheral unit according to the present invention; and
• Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram relating to a possible embodiment of connections according to the present invention.

[0023] As above set forth, the system of the present invention can be used for the control and diagnosis of safety apparatuses, in particular, in the railway field.

[0024] The system comprises one or more interfaces or peripheral units UP that can be used either locally, that is, directly by an operator, or remotely by means of a suitable RT transmission means connected with a central unit UC.

[0025] The interfaces UP are non-intrusive and, preferably, so shaped as to allow them to be mounted either directly on terminal blocks being present on the frames of the relay room or, whenever possible, on the counter-plates of the utilities to be monitored, as provided by the enforced railway specifications. In this way, the installation of the interfaces and the connection thereof with the utilities result quite rapid, inasmuch as the connections to the plant are directly ensured by the mechanical connections to the counter-plates and terminal blocks; for example, in case of IS terminal blocks, the types of interfaces will be suited for application thereto.

[0026] The interfaces for controlling the utilities ensure adequate levels of isolation from the utilities, as enforced by the current rules.
Moreover, the interfaces shall ensure the non-intrusiveness. By the term non-intrusiveness it is meant the capacity of the interfaces of non introducing significant disturbances on the normal operation of the utilities to be diagnosticated, so as not to alter the characteristics of the plant.

[0027] In particular, under any operating condition, and in case of failure as well, the following conditions shall not take place: applying an undue voltage to the safety devices; introduction of disturbances of electromagnetic nature; taking a current higher than the established one, or altering the impedence value on coils' supply circuits, or altering the grounding resistance; introducing a short circuit on controlled supplies; applying a current higher than that provided in the relay contacts under control.

[0028] Shown in Fig. 2 is a block diagram as an exemplary embodiment of intelligent interface with bus RS485.

[0029] The interfaces UP make it possible to perform functions typical of the traditional passive, non-intrusive interfaces, and functions typical of the electronic apparatuses which process signals on output from the interfaces.

[0030] In fact, likewise the traditional interfaces, the said UP interfaces allow: interfacing in non-intrusive way the monitored railway utility EN (block B); conditioning the analog electric quantities (voltages and currents) to make them suited for the reading by the microprocessor or microcontroller (block C).

[0031] Besides, as a novel feature, they allow carrying out functions typical of data collection units, that is, of the electronic control and diagnostic apparatuses: reading and sampling of analog signals (block D); analysing the collected analog and digital data, with processing the diagnostic algorithms for evaluating the state of the controlled utility and storing the results in a memory (block E); transmitting on request the acquired and processed data to a supervising central unit UC or to a portable PC for local controls (block G, with outputs G1 and G2). (The block F represents the supply of the peripheral unit via two wires F1 and F2).

[0032] To carry out the above functions it is necessary to provided the UP interface with a suitable microprocessor or microcontroller capable of acquiring information, processing data by implementing the dignostic algorithm, storing the acquired information, generating possible alarm signallings, transmitting on request data and alarms.

[0033] Differently from the traditional systems, the acquisition of digital data is performed by the same interfaces. They are, therefore, a type of "intelligent" interfaces to be applied, if the plant allows to do so, directly on the relay counter-plates or adjacent thereto for the reading of the contacts' state. They also provide for a necessary processing in case of acquisition of digital data relating to the relay' state and for the storage thereof.

[0034] To implement particularly complex algorithms, it is necessary to interrelate the information acquired from different interfaces UP located in different points of the plant. For example, it may be necessary to activate certain controls only in the presence of particular conditions of the plant as determined by the state of some relays.

[0035] To this end, the intelligent interfaces must be able to communicate with each other to share acquired data and/or processed information. This takes place via a serial RS485 (or by a standard or other suitable type of field bus).

[0036] It is thus possible, by using the intelligent interfaces, to construct a distributed intelligence network for the control of utilities which make up the IS plants. Possibly present within such architecture will be a interface of master type more powerful (with higher processing capacity) than those of slave type and which collects, via the field bus, the information processed by different interfaces and implements more complex diagnostic algorithms.

[0037] It thus follows from the above that the wiring to be made when installing the intelligent interfaces consists of:

• two (or four) wires for the serial bus which allows the interfaces to communicate to each other;
• two wires for the supply of the interfaces.

Substantially, from one interface to the other, there are provided only four (or six) wires, two of which for the supply and two (four) for the communication of data, as shown in Fig. 3.

[0038] In Fig. 3, EN1, EN2, ..., ENn indicate the apparatuses or utilities under control, UP1, UP2, ..., Upn indicate the corresponding interfaces of the peripheral units, RS indicates a transmission network between the interfaces, CO indicates a data-concentrator, RT indicates the transmission means for connection to the central unit UC.
The great advantage will then be apparent, in terms of installation and setup of the diagnostic system - mainly due to the special characteristics of the intelligent interfaces - of constructing a distributed-intelligence network.

[0039] In fact, while in the traditional diagnostic systems, the signals on output from the passive interfaces must be wired to a diagnostic apparatus physically positioned at a point of the plant (with time-consuming application of a high number of wirings), the intelligent interfaces allow performing the same function by simply making a connection with a serial bus RS485 or other field bus), in addition to the supply connection.
This allow reducing the times for checking and activating the system, inasmuch as the possibility of wiring error is reduced.

[0040] In the case, for example, of the same typical PDS previously cited, to carry out the diagnostic of automatic block it is sufficient to connect, from an intelligent interface to the other, four (or six) wires instead of the more than 200 wires to be wired and laid with the traditional interfaces.
As already stated, it is reasonable to foresee a time of 200 to 300 hours, approximately, to carry out the traditional installation and wiring of a diagnostic system for a service site (PDS). On the contrary, by using the intelligent interfaces the times are cut down to about one tenth.

[0041] Besides, since in the apparatus under control are introduced a much reduced number of wirings, a further advantage due to the use of intelligent interfaces in the diagnostic systems is a reduction of possible failures and thus of a higher reliability of the whole system consisting of the apparatus to be controlled and the diagnostic apparatus.

[0042] Another appreciable advantage is related to the stop time of the plant, as necessary for the installation, which time, in case of the use of intelligent interfaces, is reduced to a minimum. This is an aspect of remarkable importance, as the utilization of certain typical plants depends on the availability of intervals in which the circulation of trains is stopped, as programmed by the railway manager (for example, in the tunnels of important routes, the available access is of a few hours at night). Besides, such system allows reducing by ten times the fitting out of whole lines.

[0043] The intelligent interfaces can be differentiated from each other according to the railway utilities to which they must be applied.
By way of example, the intelligent interfaces include those for station and line's utilities.
The intelligent interfaces for station's utilities include: interface for CdB with line's coded currents (for B.A. Heads); interface for CdB with fixed currents; interfaces for B.A. reversal control (B.A. Heads); interfaces for screen relay signals; interfaces for optical dioded signals (for lights I and II); interface for electro-mechanical or electronic blinker; interface for switch point; interface for electromagnet control of no heel-capacity of the switch; interfaces for Station PL with single barrier (2 types of interfaces for each PL; interface for A and B case and interface for Sxa and Sxb road signs); interfaces for station's PL with dual semibarrier (2 types of interfaces for each PL; 2 interfaces of type 1 for case supply eA and uA, and case supply eB and uB; 2 interfaces of type 2 for Sxa and Sxb road signs and for Sxc and Sxd road signs); other interfaces suited for new apparatuses to be monitored.
The intelligent interfaces for line's utilities include: interface for CdB with line's coded currents (for B.A. Heads); interface for TD TRansformer; interface for JR Relay; interface for RDS Device; interface for RTU Device; interfaces for B.A. reversal control (B.A. Heads); interfaces for screen relay signals; interface for electro-mechanical or electronic blinker; or other interfaces suited for new apparatuses to be monitored.

Claims

1. System for controlling safety apparatuses, in particular in the railway field, characterized in that it comprises a plurality of peripheral units (UP) or interfaces able to be connected to a central unit (UC) and provided with means for connection to a railway apparatus or utility (EN) to be controlled and means for conditioning and processing the relevant acquired signals.

2. Control system according to claim 1, characterized in that the said peripheral units (UP) are provided with microprocessor or microcontroller means.

3. Control system according to claim 1, characterized in that the said peripheral units (UP) are connected to each other via a data-transmission network (RS).

4. Control system according to claim 3, characterized in that the said data-transmission network (RS) includes a field bus.

5. Control system according to one or more preceding claims, characterized in that the said peripheral units (UP) are connected to said central unit (UC) via a data-transmission network (RT).

6. Control system according to one or more preceding claims, characterized in that the said peripheral units (UP) are connectable with pre-installed non-intrusive interfaces.

7. Control system according to one or more preceding claims, characterized in that the interfaces of said peripheral units (UP) are of non-intrusive type.

8. Control system according to one or more preceding claims, characterized in that the interfaces of said peripheral units (UP) are provided with means for association with the apparatuses to be controlled, which means are apt for direct mounting on pre-installed terminal blocks or counter-plates.

Drawing