CA1138636A - Mobile apparatus and method for measuring the profile of a railroad tunnel - Google Patents
Mobile apparatus and method for measuring the profile of a railroad tunnelInfo
- Publication number
- CA1138636A CA1138636A CA000370796A CA370796A CA1138636A CA 1138636 A CA1138636 A CA 1138636A CA 000370796 A CA000370796 A CA 000370796A CA 370796 A CA370796 A CA 370796A CA 1138636 A CA1138636 A CA 1138636A
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- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- instrument
- distance
- carriage
- recording
- track
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
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Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S17/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. lidar systems
- G01S17/88—Lidar systems specially adapted for specific applications
- G01S17/89—Lidar systems specially adapted for specific applications for mapping or imaging
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01C—MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY
- G01C7/00—Tracing profiles
- G01C7/06—Tracing profiles of cavities, e.g. tunnels
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- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
- Remote Sensing (AREA)
- Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
- Electromagnetism (AREA)
- Multimedia (AREA)
- Length Measuring Devices By Optical Means (AREA)
- Machines For Laying And Maintaining Railways (AREA)
- Excavating Of Shafts Or Tunnels (AREA)
Abstract
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A mobile apparatus for measuring the longitudinal profile defining the periphery of a railroad tunnel sur-rounding a track comprises a carriage mounted for non-stop movement on the track, a distance measuring instrument mounted on the carriage, the instrument including a laser beam emitter and receiver, and a common mount for the laser beam emitter and receiver, the emitter and receiver having an optical axis extending in a vertical plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the track and the optical axis intersecting the longitudinal profile to define the distance between the distance measuring instrument and the longitu-dinal profile, and an adjustment mechanism for positioning the distance measuring instrument and for fixing the instru-ment in the adjusted position for selectively measuring a plurality of longitudinal profiles in a selected sector of the periphery. An odometer is mounted on the carriage and emits a control signal upon movement of the carriage and a recording instrument is also mounted on the carriage. A
control circuit interconnects the odometer, the distance measuring instrument and the recording instrument for trans-mitting the control signal to the distance measuring instru-ment for operating the instrument to emit a signal indicating the distance and to the recording instrument for recording the location of the carriage and the distance measuring instrument along the track, and for transmitting the distance indicating signal to the recording instrument.
A mobile apparatus for measuring the longitudinal profile defining the periphery of a railroad tunnel sur-rounding a track comprises a carriage mounted for non-stop movement on the track, a distance measuring instrument mounted on the carriage, the instrument including a laser beam emitter and receiver, and a common mount for the laser beam emitter and receiver, the emitter and receiver having an optical axis extending in a vertical plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the track and the optical axis intersecting the longitudinal profile to define the distance between the distance measuring instrument and the longitu-dinal profile, and an adjustment mechanism for positioning the distance measuring instrument and for fixing the instru-ment in the adjusted position for selectively measuring a plurality of longitudinal profiles in a selected sector of the periphery. An odometer is mounted on the carriage and emits a control signal upon movement of the carriage and a recording instrument is also mounted on the carriage. A
control circuit interconnects the odometer, the distance measuring instrument and the recording instrument for trans-mitting the control signal to the distance measuring instru-ment for operating the instrument to emit a signal indicating the distance and to the recording instrument for recording the location of the carriage and the distance measuring instrument along the track, and for transmitting the distance indicating signal to the recording instrument.
Description
1~3~?636 The present invention relates to a mobile apparatus and a method for measuring the longitudinal profile defin-ing the periphery of a bounded space, such as a railroad tunnel wall, surrounding a track having two rails and a longitudinal axis intermediate and parallel to the track rails.
Our U. S. patent No. 4,179,216, dated December 18, 1979, discloses such an apparatus comprising a carriage mounted for non-stop movement on the track rails and a distance measuring instrument mounted on the carriage.
The instrument includes a laser beam emitter and receiver rotatable synchronously with the movement of the carriage about an axis extending parallel to the longitudinal track axis for scanning the tunnel wall along a spiral path dur-ing the advancement of the carriage. The scanning produces a multiplicity OL successive and individual distance indi-cating signals extending over the entire periphery and these signals are recorded and, if desired, stored on a suitable information carrier. The resultant record indi-cates the course of the periphery extending in successive planes transverse to the track, the relative position of the track to the longitudinal axis of the tunnel and any deformation or narrowings in the tunnel profile.
U. S. patent No. 3,950,096, dated April 13, 1976, dis-closes another type of such an apparatus wherein laser beams are used to scan respective longitudinal profiles along a tunnel wall. The laser beam distance measuring instrument used in this apparatus for scanning the longitudinal profiles consists of a laser beam emitter having a fixed optical axis extending perpendicularly to the tunnel axis, and an image-~' ~636 forming optical system is longitudinally spaced from the laser beam emitter. The laser beam is intercepted by the tunnel wall to form a spot on the wall and the optical system forms an image of the spot on a disc whose axis coincides with the tunnel axis. An interferential filter cuts any interfering light and lets pass only the reflected laser light and the imaged spot produces a measurement of the distance of the longitudinal profile from the instru-ment. The disclosed imaging system is complex and corres-pondingly expensive. Furthermore, the spacing of theimaging system from the laser beam measuring instrument and the resultant divergence of the optical axes of the laser beam emitter and the optical system are the source of potential measuring errors making it impossible to obtain sufficiently accurate profile measurements, as required by railroad administrations.
According to Swiss patent No. 522,204, published June 15, 1972, a tunnel profile measuring carriage has a distance measuring instrument arranged on the carriage for lateral adjustment. The instrument has a laser beam emitter arrange-ment for generating two laser beam converging towards the tunnel wall. -Lateral adjustment of the instrument enables the point of intersection of the two laser beams to be focussed on the tunnel wall so as to produce a single laser light spot on the wall. During the non-stop movement of the carria~e for the measurement of a longitudinal profile line, the instrument must be continuously adjusted laterally or the continuously changing distance ~roduces light spots which are not focussed on the tunnel wall. Profile measure-ments are, therefore, very difficult and require sophisticated `~6 controls often resulting in unacceptable measurementerrors.
In the tunnel profile measuring apparatus disclosed in German Patent No. 1,806,554, the scanning beam emitter and receiver are spaced from each other and their optical axes enclose an angle with each other. A crank drive is arranged for simultaneously pivoting the emitter and re-ceiver.
Swiss Patent No. 313,592, published June 15, 195~, uses ultrasonic scanning for measuring a railroad tunnel profile. A plurality of ultrasonic distance measuring instruments are spacedly arranged on a carriage and fixed-ly staggered from each other along the periphery of the carriage. Ultrasonic beams cannot produce dependable measuring signals and the apparatus suggests none of the adjustments and controls for the repositioning of the distance measuring instrument herein disclosed and claimed.
It is the primary object of this invention to measure the longitudinal profile defining the periphery of a bound-ed space with increased precision and speed while producingmeasurements meeting all practical requirements in a simple manner and with utmost operational safety.
This and other objects are accomplished according to one aspect of the invention with a mobile apparatus which comprises a carriage mounted for non-stop movement on the track rails and a distance measuring instrument mounted on the carriage, the instrument including a laser beam emitter, a laser beam receiver and a common mount for the laser beam emitter and receiver, the laser beam emitter and receiver having an optical axis extending in a vertical plane ~131~636 perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the track and the optical axis intersecting the longitudinal profile to define the distance between the distance measuring instru-ment and the longitudinal profile. Adjustment means is provided for positioning the distance measuring instrument and for fixing the instrument in the adjusted position for selectivel~ measuring a plurality of longitudinal profiles in a selected sector of the periphery. Odometer means is mounted on the carriage and emits a control signal upon movement of the carriage, and a recording instrument is also mounted on the carriage~ A control circuit inter-connects the odometer means, the distance measuring instru-ment and the recording instrument to transmit the control signal to the distance measuring instrument for operating the instrument to emit a signal indicating the distance and to the recording instrument for recording the location of the carriage along the track and the corresponding location of the distance measuring instrument, and to transmit the distance measuring signal to the recording instrument for recording the longitudinal profile~
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the measuring method comprises the steps of moving the distance measuring instrument non-stop on the track rails, generating a distance indicating signal corres-ponding to the measured distance as the instrument is moved along the track, recording the distance indicating signal to obtain a record of the longitudinal profile, then angularly adjusting the optical axis and moving the instrument along the track with the adjusted optical axis to scan another longitudinal profile, generating a distance indicating ~13~Ç36 signal corresponding to the measured distance defined by the adjusted optical axis, recording the latter distance indicating signal to obtain a record thereof, and repeat-ing this distance measuring and recording cylce until a plurality of longitudinal profiles in a selected sector of the periphery have been measured and recorded.
With this apparatus and method, the extraordinary precision of a laser distance measuring instrument com-prised of a laser beam emitter and receiver with a coin-cident optical axis has for the first time been utilizedin an unexpectedly advantageous manner for a substantially continuous measurement and recording of the longitudinal profile of a tunnel and like bounded spaces. The resultant measurements are not only very accurate and obtained with ease but the resultant recorded information can be used for a variety of purposes and may be readily reproduced because the distance measuring instrument is fixed in selectively adjusted angular positions. Subsequent com-parative measurements, therefore, show exactly any changes in the longitudinal profile and the corresponding position of the track relative to the tunl-el axis. Since each ad-justed position of the distance measuring instrument is coordinated with each location along the track due to the control of the instrument operation by the odometer, this invention provides the further advantage of making it pos-sible to measure individual longitudinal profiles during respective passes of the carriage at timed intervals wath-out in any way reducing the accuracy of the total measure-ment produce~l by all the passes. Therefore, measurements may be effected only during time intervals between successive trains passing through the tunnel and the work may be completed with no, or a minimum, interruption of train traffic.
In addition, it is possible to rationalize the measur-ing operation by limiting the longitudinal profile measure-ments to selected sectors of the periphery determined by the angular adjustment of the optical axis of the distance measuring instrument, the scanning of sectors which are of no interest being omitted whereby unnecessary work is avoided and the total time required for ,,the measuring pro-gram is reduced. For example, when it is desired merely to determine whether a particular load to be transported through the tunnel may be outsized, i.e. not fit within the periphery defined by the tunnel wall, it will usually be necessary to measure only the longitudinal profiles within the upper lateral sectors of the periphery in the range of the tunnel arch.
It is always possible to determine from the measure-ments of a plurality of adjacent longitudinal profile lines the total transverse profile in the scanned sector of the periphery. All this is accomplished with standard laser instruments of simple construction and existing carriages used, for example, in other track maintenance operations may be readily equipped with the slmple instrumentation re-quired by the invention.
~ The above and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of n,ow preferred em,bodi-ments thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying schematic drawing wherein 11;~8~i36 FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the mobile apparatus o this invention operating in a railroad tunnel, FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a modified embodiment of the distance measuring instrument and the adjustment means therefor, and FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of an information carrying tape for recording the longitudinal profile measurements.
Referring now to the drawing, FIG. 1 illustrates a mobile apparatus for measuring longitudinal profile 32 through 37 defining periphery 28 of a bounded space, which constitutes a railroad tunnel, surrounding a track having two rails 5 fastened to ties 6 and longitudinal axis 7 intermediate and parallel to the track rails. The longi-tudinal track axis constitutes the track center line.
Measuring carriage 1 is mounted for non-stop movement on the track rails and, in the illustrated embodiment, the carriage is self-propelled by drive 8 arranged to move the carriage in a forward direction indicated by arrow 30 and a reverse direction indicated by arrow 31. ~he carriage has four flanged wheels 4 running on track rails 5 and, in a manner well known in track measuring and work cars, the carriage is guided without play along one of the rails, for example the outer rail in a track curve, by hydraulically operated spreading and blocking mechanism 2 which presses the flanges of two wheels against a selected one of the rails. Carriage 1 has frame 3 supporting drive 8 and the instrumentation of the invention to be described herein-after. Ohviously, if preferred, the carriage may be coupled to another driven car instead of being self-propelled, the 113~36 only requirement being that carriage 1 may be moved at a given, constant speed along the track over a predetermined section in both directions.
Distance measuring instrument 17 is mounted on measur-ing carriage 1 and includes laser beam emitter 19, laser beam receiver 20 and common mount 16 for the laser beam emitter and receiver. The laser beam emitter and receiver have a coincident optical axis 21 extending in vertical plane 41 perpendicular to longitudinal track axis 7 and the optical axis intersects the longitudinal profile to define the distance between instrument 17 and respective longi-tudinal profile 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37. As shown, struts 15 support instrument mount 16 on the measuring carriage.
As applied to optical axis 21 of distance measuring instrument 17, the term "coincident" used throughout the specification and claims includes a single axis ~esulting from a coaxial arrangement of the laser beam emitter and receiver as well as the technically more readily arranged side-by-side mounting of emitter 19 and receiver 20, the emitter and receiver being spaced as closely together as possible that their parallel optical axes for all practical purposes coincide and effectively form a single optical axis.
According to the present invention, adjustment means ~2 or 22' is provided for positioning distance measuring instrument 17 and for fixing the instrument in the adjusted angular position for selectively measuring a plurality of longitudinal profiles 32 through 37 in selected sector 27 of periphery 28. The illustrated adjustment means comprises ~ 9L3~636 an adjustment element shown as a disc bearing the instru-ment, the adjustment element being rotatable about axis 18 extending parallel to longitudinal axis 7. In the embodi-ment of FIG. 1, the adjustment disc cooperates with scale 23 indicating the angular position of optical axis 21 extending radially in relation to the disc. The disc may be blocked in any selected angular position.
In the modified embodiment of FIG. 2, adjustment means 22' is constituted by disc 42 defining a series of circum-ferentially and preferably equidistantly spaced holes 43,each hole defining a respective angular position of optical axis 21 of distance measuring instrument 17. The blocking means for the adjustment disc is a detent element shown as bolt 44 axially movably arranged on common mount 16 for moving into and out of engagement with a respective one of holes 43 for blocking the disc in the selected angular position upon engagement of the detent element with the respective hole. In the illustrat~d embodiment, bolt 44 is mounted in a housing holding a coil spring biasing the bolt towards adjustment disc 42.
If desired, a plurality of concentrically arranged arrays of holes may be defined in the adjustment disc, the spacing of the holes differing from array to array so that longitudinal profiles of different spacings may be scanned, depending on the required accuracy of the measurement.
~ Adjustment means 22 shown in FIG. 1 has a particularly simple structure and enables the angular position of the optical axis of the distance measuring instrument to be manually set with the required accuracy. In addition, where axis of rotation 18 of instrument 17 extends centrally _ g _ through the tunnel and substantially coincides the tunnel axis, any angular adjustment produces the same favorable measuring conditions, i.e. an optical axis of the distance measuring instrument e~tending substantially perpendicularly to the tunnel wall and substantially coinciding distances between the tunnel wall and the instrument.
Adjustment means 22' illustrated in FIG. 2 enables distance measuring instrument 17 to be fixed in a selected angular position at the beginning of each measuring cycle and also provides a dependable and clearly defined basis for comparative measurements with the same measuring carriage or a similarly equipped carriage.
As shown in FIG. 1, the illustrated apparatus comprises drive 24 also mounted on carriage frame 3 on struts 15 and connected to the adjustment means for positioning distance measuring instrument 17 in a manner to be described more fully hereinafter. In the illustrated embodiment, drive 24 is an electromagnetically operable stepping drive for ad-justing the adjustment disc step-by-step into desired angular positions determined by scale 23. Such a drive enables the adjustment means to be remote-controlled from a central operator's cab and the automatic adjustment for the measurement of successive longitudinal profiles.
Electromagnetically controlled stepping switch systems with self-locking latches are particularly useful for this purpose.
The mobile apparatus of the inven~ion furthermore comprises odometer means 9 mounted on measuring carriage 1 and emitting a control signal upon movement of the carriage. The preferred odometer is a signal pulse .
6~6 emitter 11 emitting a respective control signal in response to being in the range of rail fastening element 10, such as a spike or bolt holding the rail on the ties. Such pulse emitters are inductivel~ actuated by a ferrous element to emit signals. In this manner, each control signal induced by a rail fastening element in the range of a respective tie indicates the location of carriage 1 and the corresponding location of instrument 17 along the track, thus establishing a direct relationship between this location and the measured lonqitudinal profile at the point of measurement. If intermediate signal3 are emitted between two control signals induced by rail fastening elements, the number of measurement points per unit of length of the measured track section may be multiplied and the density of the measurement correspondingly increased.
A control circuit interconnects odometer means 9, distance measuring instrument 17 and recording instrument 14 for transmitting`the control signal. Tran~mis~ion line 12 connects signal pulse emitter 11 to control member 13 which is connected to instrument 17 for transmitting the control signal from the odometer means to the distance measuring instrument, the control signal operating the instrument for emitting a signal indicating the distance produced by the laser beam emitter from emitter 19 and echoed from the tunnel wall back to receiver 20 along optical axis 21.
Recording instrument 14 is mounted on the carriage and control mem~er 13 transmits the control signal to the recording instrument for recording the location of car-riage 1 along the track and the corresponding location of ~13E~636 the distance measuring instrument. Additional trans-mission line 26 transmits the distance indicating signal from instrument 17 to recording instrument 14 for record-ing the longitudinal profile. As shown, the transmission to the distance measuring instrument includes transmission line 25 connecting control member 13 to drive 24 for actuating the drive in response to the control signal.
The measuring information ls recorded and preferably stored on recording instrument 1~ in a manner that will become ap-parent from the following description of the operation ofthe apparatus and the method performed thereby, the record-ing of the information being illustrated schematically in FIG. 3. The measuring program preferably proceeds in the following manner:
At the beginning of a first measuring and recording cycle, adjustment means 22 or 22' is manually rotated or automatically rotated by drive 24 about axis 18 until optical axis 21 encloses a predetermined angle oCO with a line extending perpendicularly to axis 18, for example horizontal line 29, this angle of the optical axis with the perpendicular line defining sector 27 of periphery 28 to be scanned. Odometer,means 9, control member 13, record-ing instrument 14 and distance measuring instrument 17 are now placed into operating condition and drive 8 is actuated to move carriage 1 and instrument 17 non-stop on the track rails in the direction of arrow 30 (forward pass of the mobile apparatus). As the carriage passes over the first tie 6 noted in the measuring protocol as the beginning,of the tunnel section to be surveyed, the rail fastening element 10 at this tie will induce odometer means 9 to emit a control signal. To enable the subsequent measuring and recording cycles to be properly performed over the identical tunnel section, it will be useful to provide a marker on this first tie so that the carriage may be re-turned thereto.
Transmission line 12 will transmit the generated signal through control member 13 to recording instrument 14 where it will produce an indication of the location of carriage 1 and distance measuring instrument 17 along the track.
The control signal will be simultaneously transmitted via control member 13 and transmission line 25 to instrument 17 to operate the same in the following alternative manners:
If a continuous distance indicating signal i8 desired during the movement of carriage 1 during the entire measur-ing and recording cycle, the first control signal will set instrument 17 for continuous scanning and the additional transmission means connecting instrument 17 to instrument 14 will record the measuring data in a continuous form.
At the end of the cycle, instrument 17 is switched off manually or automatically upon stopping of carriage 1.
If a point-by-point distance indicating signal is desired during the measuring and recording cycle, each controI signal generated by signal emitter 11 will indi-vidually operate scanning instrument 17 and the measuring data will be recorded in the form of successive points.
~ Whichever of the two alternative procedures is used, the tunnel wall is scanned along a predetermined longi-tudinal profile line determined by angle ~CO which remains fixed during each cycle, a signal indicating the distance between this longitudinal profile of the tunnel wall and `..i,~,,,,~,~6 axis of rotation 18 of the scanning instrument is generated as instrument 17 moves along the track and the distance indicating signal is recorded to obtain a record of the longitudinal profile.
At the end of the cycle, optical axis 21 is angularly adjusted and scanning instrument 17 is moved along the track with the adjusted optical axis to scan another longi-tudinal profile in a subsequent measuring and recording cycle. In other words, after longitudinal profile 32 has been recorded in the first cycle, instrument 17 is rotated about axis 18 until optical axis 21 encloses angle ~Cl with horizontal 29. Drive 8 is reversed to move carriage 1 back in the direction of arrow 31 with the adjusted optical axis to scan longitudinal profile 33 in a subse-quent measuring and recording cycle. The reverse movement of the measuring carriage automatically causes a reversal of the movement of recording tape 46 of instrument 14. A
distance indicating signal corresponding to the measured distance defined by the adjusted optical axis is again generated in the above-indicated manner and the latter is recorded to obtain a record thereof in the same manner until carriage 1 has reached marked tie 6. These distance measuring and recording cycles are repeated by moving carriage 1 back and forth along the track to cover the tunnel section to be surveyed until all the desired longi-tudinal profiles 34, 35, 36 and 37 in selected sector 27 of periphery 28 have been measured and recorded.
As has been indicated in FIG. 1 with respect to longi-tudinal profiles 35, 36 and 37, where a tunnel recess 38 30 is encountered along the surveyed tunnel section, the recorded measuring data will show a sudden change in the distance of the longitudinal profile from axis 1~ of the scanning instrument.
This cyclic surveying operation has the advantage that successive measurements with the incrementally ad-justed angular position of the optical axis of the scanning instrument may be effected by moving the measuring carriage alternately back and forth through the tunnel section to be surveyed, thus cutting the duration of the entire operation in half while leaving the measuring result fully intact, regardless of the direction in which the carriage moves along the track.
The measuring data obtained in sector 27 will not only indicate the scanned longitudinal profiles 32 through 37 in this sector but will also indicate the transverse tunnel profile of periphery 28 in this sector since the variously adjusted optical axis of the scanning instrument will radiate at each track location from axis 18, as can be seen in FIG. 1, and the end points where the angularly adjusted optical axis intersects the tunnel wall can be connected to trace the transverse tunnel profile, as shown by lines 39 and 40 in FIG. 1. The recording tape may be a magnetic tape or a roll of tracing paper may be used for this purpose. It is also possible to record and store the information electronically.
In the cyclical measuring method described herein-above for successively measuring the distances of adjacent longitudinal profiles from axis of rotation 18 of scanning instrument 17, as the angular position of the optical axis of the instrument is successively adjusted during successive passes of carriage 1, it is essential for the accuracy of the measuring data obtained that the scanning instru-ment is blocked firmly in each adjusted angular position so that optical axis 21 extends in plane 41 which is per-pendicular to axis of rotation 18 and longitudinal track axis 7.
To enable the cyclical program to proceed fully auto-matically, it is useful to connect blocking bolt 44 for disc 42 also to the control circuit so that the actuation of drive 24 may be used at the beginning of each cycle to move the bolt into engagement with a respective hole 43 in the disc while the de-activation of the drive at the end of the cycle will cause the bolt to be disengaged.
FIG. 3 illustrates the simplest embodiment of an information carrier for continuously recording and storing the measuring data on recording band 46 of a recording instrument. Arrow 47 indicates the direction of movement of recording band 46 for recording the measuring data during a forward cycle during which measuring carriage 1 moves along the track in the direction of arrow 30 and arrow 48 indicates the reverse direction of movement of the record-ing band during a subsequent reverse cycle when the carriage moves in the direction of arrow 31. The successive control signals emitted by signal pulse emitter 11 as it passes each tie 6 are transmitted to the recording instrument to appear as marks 49 indicating the location of carriage 1 along the track and the corresponding location of distance measuring instrument 17.
To show each longitudinal profile 32 through 37 sepa-rately, rather than superimposed, a base line 50 corresponding 113~
to axis of rotation 18 is provided on recording band 46 for each an~ular position of optical axis 21 and measured distances 51 between the tunnel wall along each longitudinal profile line and the axis of rotation of scanning instrument 17 are recorded on a reduced scale transversely to the di-rection of movement of the recording band. The resultant recorded information produced as the carriage advances from tie to tie (indicated by markers 49) is shown in connection with the recording of longitudinal profile 32 in both modi-fications of the method, i.e. the full l~ne indicates a continuous, uninterrupted operation of scanning inctrument 17 and a transmission of a continuous recording signal while the spaced measuring points 52 indicate respective recording signals corresponding to each location mark 49. In the con-tinuous, uninterrupted operation, the tunnel profile is re-corded for every point along the measured tunnel section.
In the intermittent operation, the tunnel profile is record-ed for each location marker 49. Lines 53 and 54 show the recorded information for two such location markers to indi-cate transverse profile lines 39, 40 seen in FIG. 1.
It is, of course, within the scope of the present invention to record and store, if desired, the measuring data in digital form, as well as to record during each operating cycle any measuring data outside set tolerance limits and to coordinate such information with tbe recorded location along the track.
It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications with respect to the ad-~ustment means, the control circuitry, the scanning instru-ment drive, the odometer means and the recording instrument may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention. Thus, the adjustment means may be arranged for lateral or vertical, instead of angular, adjustment. The adjustment element could be constituted by any suitable detent arrangement and the drive for the scanning instrument could be an intermittently operated worm gear driven by an electro-motor. Also, the odometer means may provide a signal pulse emitter designed to emit a succession of pulses between adjacent ties.
Our U. S. patent No. 4,179,216, dated December 18, 1979, discloses such an apparatus comprising a carriage mounted for non-stop movement on the track rails and a distance measuring instrument mounted on the carriage.
The instrument includes a laser beam emitter and receiver rotatable synchronously with the movement of the carriage about an axis extending parallel to the longitudinal track axis for scanning the tunnel wall along a spiral path dur-ing the advancement of the carriage. The scanning produces a multiplicity OL successive and individual distance indi-cating signals extending over the entire periphery and these signals are recorded and, if desired, stored on a suitable information carrier. The resultant record indi-cates the course of the periphery extending in successive planes transverse to the track, the relative position of the track to the longitudinal axis of the tunnel and any deformation or narrowings in the tunnel profile.
U. S. patent No. 3,950,096, dated April 13, 1976, dis-closes another type of such an apparatus wherein laser beams are used to scan respective longitudinal profiles along a tunnel wall. The laser beam distance measuring instrument used in this apparatus for scanning the longitudinal profiles consists of a laser beam emitter having a fixed optical axis extending perpendicularly to the tunnel axis, and an image-~' ~636 forming optical system is longitudinally spaced from the laser beam emitter. The laser beam is intercepted by the tunnel wall to form a spot on the wall and the optical system forms an image of the spot on a disc whose axis coincides with the tunnel axis. An interferential filter cuts any interfering light and lets pass only the reflected laser light and the imaged spot produces a measurement of the distance of the longitudinal profile from the instru-ment. The disclosed imaging system is complex and corres-pondingly expensive. Furthermore, the spacing of theimaging system from the laser beam measuring instrument and the resultant divergence of the optical axes of the laser beam emitter and the optical system are the source of potential measuring errors making it impossible to obtain sufficiently accurate profile measurements, as required by railroad administrations.
According to Swiss patent No. 522,204, published June 15, 1972, a tunnel profile measuring carriage has a distance measuring instrument arranged on the carriage for lateral adjustment. The instrument has a laser beam emitter arrange-ment for generating two laser beam converging towards the tunnel wall. -Lateral adjustment of the instrument enables the point of intersection of the two laser beams to be focussed on the tunnel wall so as to produce a single laser light spot on the wall. During the non-stop movement of the carria~e for the measurement of a longitudinal profile line, the instrument must be continuously adjusted laterally or the continuously changing distance ~roduces light spots which are not focussed on the tunnel wall. Profile measure-ments are, therefore, very difficult and require sophisticated `~6 controls often resulting in unacceptable measurementerrors.
In the tunnel profile measuring apparatus disclosed in German Patent No. 1,806,554, the scanning beam emitter and receiver are spaced from each other and their optical axes enclose an angle with each other. A crank drive is arranged for simultaneously pivoting the emitter and re-ceiver.
Swiss Patent No. 313,592, published June 15, 195~, uses ultrasonic scanning for measuring a railroad tunnel profile. A plurality of ultrasonic distance measuring instruments are spacedly arranged on a carriage and fixed-ly staggered from each other along the periphery of the carriage. Ultrasonic beams cannot produce dependable measuring signals and the apparatus suggests none of the adjustments and controls for the repositioning of the distance measuring instrument herein disclosed and claimed.
It is the primary object of this invention to measure the longitudinal profile defining the periphery of a bound-ed space with increased precision and speed while producingmeasurements meeting all practical requirements in a simple manner and with utmost operational safety.
This and other objects are accomplished according to one aspect of the invention with a mobile apparatus which comprises a carriage mounted for non-stop movement on the track rails and a distance measuring instrument mounted on the carriage, the instrument including a laser beam emitter, a laser beam receiver and a common mount for the laser beam emitter and receiver, the laser beam emitter and receiver having an optical axis extending in a vertical plane ~131~636 perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the track and the optical axis intersecting the longitudinal profile to define the distance between the distance measuring instru-ment and the longitudinal profile. Adjustment means is provided for positioning the distance measuring instrument and for fixing the instrument in the adjusted position for selectivel~ measuring a plurality of longitudinal profiles in a selected sector of the periphery. Odometer means is mounted on the carriage and emits a control signal upon movement of the carriage, and a recording instrument is also mounted on the carriage~ A control circuit inter-connects the odometer means, the distance measuring instru-ment and the recording instrument to transmit the control signal to the distance measuring instrument for operating the instrument to emit a signal indicating the distance and to the recording instrument for recording the location of the carriage along the track and the corresponding location of the distance measuring instrument, and to transmit the distance measuring signal to the recording instrument for recording the longitudinal profile~
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the measuring method comprises the steps of moving the distance measuring instrument non-stop on the track rails, generating a distance indicating signal corres-ponding to the measured distance as the instrument is moved along the track, recording the distance indicating signal to obtain a record of the longitudinal profile, then angularly adjusting the optical axis and moving the instrument along the track with the adjusted optical axis to scan another longitudinal profile, generating a distance indicating ~13~Ç36 signal corresponding to the measured distance defined by the adjusted optical axis, recording the latter distance indicating signal to obtain a record thereof, and repeat-ing this distance measuring and recording cylce until a plurality of longitudinal profiles in a selected sector of the periphery have been measured and recorded.
With this apparatus and method, the extraordinary precision of a laser distance measuring instrument com-prised of a laser beam emitter and receiver with a coin-cident optical axis has for the first time been utilizedin an unexpectedly advantageous manner for a substantially continuous measurement and recording of the longitudinal profile of a tunnel and like bounded spaces. The resultant measurements are not only very accurate and obtained with ease but the resultant recorded information can be used for a variety of purposes and may be readily reproduced because the distance measuring instrument is fixed in selectively adjusted angular positions. Subsequent com-parative measurements, therefore, show exactly any changes in the longitudinal profile and the corresponding position of the track relative to the tunl-el axis. Since each ad-justed position of the distance measuring instrument is coordinated with each location along the track due to the control of the instrument operation by the odometer, this invention provides the further advantage of making it pos-sible to measure individual longitudinal profiles during respective passes of the carriage at timed intervals wath-out in any way reducing the accuracy of the total measure-ment produce~l by all the passes. Therefore, measurements may be effected only during time intervals between successive trains passing through the tunnel and the work may be completed with no, or a minimum, interruption of train traffic.
In addition, it is possible to rationalize the measur-ing operation by limiting the longitudinal profile measure-ments to selected sectors of the periphery determined by the angular adjustment of the optical axis of the distance measuring instrument, the scanning of sectors which are of no interest being omitted whereby unnecessary work is avoided and the total time required for ,,the measuring pro-gram is reduced. For example, when it is desired merely to determine whether a particular load to be transported through the tunnel may be outsized, i.e. not fit within the periphery defined by the tunnel wall, it will usually be necessary to measure only the longitudinal profiles within the upper lateral sectors of the periphery in the range of the tunnel arch.
It is always possible to determine from the measure-ments of a plurality of adjacent longitudinal profile lines the total transverse profile in the scanned sector of the periphery. All this is accomplished with standard laser instruments of simple construction and existing carriages used, for example, in other track maintenance operations may be readily equipped with the slmple instrumentation re-quired by the invention.
~ The above and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of n,ow preferred em,bodi-ments thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying schematic drawing wherein 11;~8~i36 FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the mobile apparatus o this invention operating in a railroad tunnel, FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a modified embodiment of the distance measuring instrument and the adjustment means therefor, and FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of an information carrying tape for recording the longitudinal profile measurements.
Referring now to the drawing, FIG. 1 illustrates a mobile apparatus for measuring longitudinal profile 32 through 37 defining periphery 28 of a bounded space, which constitutes a railroad tunnel, surrounding a track having two rails 5 fastened to ties 6 and longitudinal axis 7 intermediate and parallel to the track rails. The longi-tudinal track axis constitutes the track center line.
Measuring carriage 1 is mounted for non-stop movement on the track rails and, in the illustrated embodiment, the carriage is self-propelled by drive 8 arranged to move the carriage in a forward direction indicated by arrow 30 and a reverse direction indicated by arrow 31. ~he carriage has four flanged wheels 4 running on track rails 5 and, in a manner well known in track measuring and work cars, the carriage is guided without play along one of the rails, for example the outer rail in a track curve, by hydraulically operated spreading and blocking mechanism 2 which presses the flanges of two wheels against a selected one of the rails. Carriage 1 has frame 3 supporting drive 8 and the instrumentation of the invention to be described herein-after. Ohviously, if preferred, the carriage may be coupled to another driven car instead of being self-propelled, the 113~36 only requirement being that carriage 1 may be moved at a given, constant speed along the track over a predetermined section in both directions.
Distance measuring instrument 17 is mounted on measur-ing carriage 1 and includes laser beam emitter 19, laser beam receiver 20 and common mount 16 for the laser beam emitter and receiver. The laser beam emitter and receiver have a coincident optical axis 21 extending in vertical plane 41 perpendicular to longitudinal track axis 7 and the optical axis intersects the longitudinal profile to define the distance between instrument 17 and respective longi-tudinal profile 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37. As shown, struts 15 support instrument mount 16 on the measuring carriage.
As applied to optical axis 21 of distance measuring instrument 17, the term "coincident" used throughout the specification and claims includes a single axis ~esulting from a coaxial arrangement of the laser beam emitter and receiver as well as the technically more readily arranged side-by-side mounting of emitter 19 and receiver 20, the emitter and receiver being spaced as closely together as possible that their parallel optical axes for all practical purposes coincide and effectively form a single optical axis.
According to the present invention, adjustment means ~2 or 22' is provided for positioning distance measuring instrument 17 and for fixing the instrument in the adjusted angular position for selectively measuring a plurality of longitudinal profiles 32 through 37 in selected sector 27 of periphery 28. The illustrated adjustment means comprises ~ 9L3~636 an adjustment element shown as a disc bearing the instru-ment, the adjustment element being rotatable about axis 18 extending parallel to longitudinal axis 7. In the embodi-ment of FIG. 1, the adjustment disc cooperates with scale 23 indicating the angular position of optical axis 21 extending radially in relation to the disc. The disc may be blocked in any selected angular position.
In the modified embodiment of FIG. 2, adjustment means 22' is constituted by disc 42 defining a series of circum-ferentially and preferably equidistantly spaced holes 43,each hole defining a respective angular position of optical axis 21 of distance measuring instrument 17. The blocking means for the adjustment disc is a detent element shown as bolt 44 axially movably arranged on common mount 16 for moving into and out of engagement with a respective one of holes 43 for blocking the disc in the selected angular position upon engagement of the detent element with the respective hole. In the illustrat~d embodiment, bolt 44 is mounted in a housing holding a coil spring biasing the bolt towards adjustment disc 42.
If desired, a plurality of concentrically arranged arrays of holes may be defined in the adjustment disc, the spacing of the holes differing from array to array so that longitudinal profiles of different spacings may be scanned, depending on the required accuracy of the measurement.
~ Adjustment means 22 shown in FIG. 1 has a particularly simple structure and enables the angular position of the optical axis of the distance measuring instrument to be manually set with the required accuracy. In addition, where axis of rotation 18 of instrument 17 extends centrally _ g _ through the tunnel and substantially coincides the tunnel axis, any angular adjustment produces the same favorable measuring conditions, i.e. an optical axis of the distance measuring instrument e~tending substantially perpendicularly to the tunnel wall and substantially coinciding distances between the tunnel wall and the instrument.
Adjustment means 22' illustrated in FIG. 2 enables distance measuring instrument 17 to be fixed in a selected angular position at the beginning of each measuring cycle and also provides a dependable and clearly defined basis for comparative measurements with the same measuring carriage or a similarly equipped carriage.
As shown in FIG. 1, the illustrated apparatus comprises drive 24 also mounted on carriage frame 3 on struts 15 and connected to the adjustment means for positioning distance measuring instrument 17 in a manner to be described more fully hereinafter. In the illustrated embodiment, drive 24 is an electromagnetically operable stepping drive for ad-justing the adjustment disc step-by-step into desired angular positions determined by scale 23. Such a drive enables the adjustment means to be remote-controlled from a central operator's cab and the automatic adjustment for the measurement of successive longitudinal profiles.
Electromagnetically controlled stepping switch systems with self-locking latches are particularly useful for this purpose.
The mobile apparatus of the inven~ion furthermore comprises odometer means 9 mounted on measuring carriage 1 and emitting a control signal upon movement of the carriage. The preferred odometer is a signal pulse .
6~6 emitter 11 emitting a respective control signal in response to being in the range of rail fastening element 10, such as a spike or bolt holding the rail on the ties. Such pulse emitters are inductivel~ actuated by a ferrous element to emit signals. In this manner, each control signal induced by a rail fastening element in the range of a respective tie indicates the location of carriage 1 and the corresponding location of instrument 17 along the track, thus establishing a direct relationship between this location and the measured lonqitudinal profile at the point of measurement. If intermediate signal3 are emitted between two control signals induced by rail fastening elements, the number of measurement points per unit of length of the measured track section may be multiplied and the density of the measurement correspondingly increased.
A control circuit interconnects odometer means 9, distance measuring instrument 17 and recording instrument 14 for transmitting`the control signal. Tran~mis~ion line 12 connects signal pulse emitter 11 to control member 13 which is connected to instrument 17 for transmitting the control signal from the odometer means to the distance measuring instrument, the control signal operating the instrument for emitting a signal indicating the distance produced by the laser beam emitter from emitter 19 and echoed from the tunnel wall back to receiver 20 along optical axis 21.
Recording instrument 14 is mounted on the carriage and control mem~er 13 transmits the control signal to the recording instrument for recording the location of car-riage 1 along the track and the corresponding location of ~13E~636 the distance measuring instrument. Additional trans-mission line 26 transmits the distance indicating signal from instrument 17 to recording instrument 14 for record-ing the longitudinal profile. As shown, the transmission to the distance measuring instrument includes transmission line 25 connecting control member 13 to drive 24 for actuating the drive in response to the control signal.
The measuring information ls recorded and preferably stored on recording instrument 1~ in a manner that will become ap-parent from the following description of the operation ofthe apparatus and the method performed thereby, the record-ing of the information being illustrated schematically in FIG. 3. The measuring program preferably proceeds in the following manner:
At the beginning of a first measuring and recording cycle, adjustment means 22 or 22' is manually rotated or automatically rotated by drive 24 about axis 18 until optical axis 21 encloses a predetermined angle oCO with a line extending perpendicularly to axis 18, for example horizontal line 29, this angle of the optical axis with the perpendicular line defining sector 27 of periphery 28 to be scanned. Odometer,means 9, control member 13, record-ing instrument 14 and distance measuring instrument 17 are now placed into operating condition and drive 8 is actuated to move carriage 1 and instrument 17 non-stop on the track rails in the direction of arrow 30 (forward pass of the mobile apparatus). As the carriage passes over the first tie 6 noted in the measuring protocol as the beginning,of the tunnel section to be surveyed, the rail fastening element 10 at this tie will induce odometer means 9 to emit a control signal. To enable the subsequent measuring and recording cycles to be properly performed over the identical tunnel section, it will be useful to provide a marker on this first tie so that the carriage may be re-turned thereto.
Transmission line 12 will transmit the generated signal through control member 13 to recording instrument 14 where it will produce an indication of the location of carriage 1 and distance measuring instrument 17 along the track.
The control signal will be simultaneously transmitted via control member 13 and transmission line 25 to instrument 17 to operate the same in the following alternative manners:
If a continuous distance indicating signal i8 desired during the movement of carriage 1 during the entire measur-ing and recording cycle, the first control signal will set instrument 17 for continuous scanning and the additional transmission means connecting instrument 17 to instrument 14 will record the measuring data in a continuous form.
At the end of the cycle, instrument 17 is switched off manually or automatically upon stopping of carriage 1.
If a point-by-point distance indicating signal is desired during the measuring and recording cycle, each controI signal generated by signal emitter 11 will indi-vidually operate scanning instrument 17 and the measuring data will be recorded in the form of successive points.
~ Whichever of the two alternative procedures is used, the tunnel wall is scanned along a predetermined longi-tudinal profile line determined by angle ~CO which remains fixed during each cycle, a signal indicating the distance between this longitudinal profile of the tunnel wall and `..i,~,,,,~,~6 axis of rotation 18 of the scanning instrument is generated as instrument 17 moves along the track and the distance indicating signal is recorded to obtain a record of the longitudinal profile.
At the end of the cycle, optical axis 21 is angularly adjusted and scanning instrument 17 is moved along the track with the adjusted optical axis to scan another longi-tudinal profile in a subsequent measuring and recording cycle. In other words, after longitudinal profile 32 has been recorded in the first cycle, instrument 17 is rotated about axis 18 until optical axis 21 encloses angle ~Cl with horizontal 29. Drive 8 is reversed to move carriage 1 back in the direction of arrow 31 with the adjusted optical axis to scan longitudinal profile 33 in a subse-quent measuring and recording cycle. The reverse movement of the measuring carriage automatically causes a reversal of the movement of recording tape 46 of instrument 14. A
distance indicating signal corresponding to the measured distance defined by the adjusted optical axis is again generated in the above-indicated manner and the latter is recorded to obtain a record thereof in the same manner until carriage 1 has reached marked tie 6. These distance measuring and recording cycles are repeated by moving carriage 1 back and forth along the track to cover the tunnel section to be surveyed until all the desired longi-tudinal profiles 34, 35, 36 and 37 in selected sector 27 of periphery 28 have been measured and recorded.
As has been indicated in FIG. 1 with respect to longi-tudinal profiles 35, 36 and 37, where a tunnel recess 38 30 is encountered along the surveyed tunnel section, the recorded measuring data will show a sudden change in the distance of the longitudinal profile from axis 1~ of the scanning instrument.
This cyclic surveying operation has the advantage that successive measurements with the incrementally ad-justed angular position of the optical axis of the scanning instrument may be effected by moving the measuring carriage alternately back and forth through the tunnel section to be surveyed, thus cutting the duration of the entire operation in half while leaving the measuring result fully intact, regardless of the direction in which the carriage moves along the track.
The measuring data obtained in sector 27 will not only indicate the scanned longitudinal profiles 32 through 37 in this sector but will also indicate the transverse tunnel profile of periphery 28 in this sector since the variously adjusted optical axis of the scanning instrument will radiate at each track location from axis 18, as can be seen in FIG. 1, and the end points where the angularly adjusted optical axis intersects the tunnel wall can be connected to trace the transverse tunnel profile, as shown by lines 39 and 40 in FIG. 1. The recording tape may be a magnetic tape or a roll of tracing paper may be used for this purpose. It is also possible to record and store the information electronically.
In the cyclical measuring method described herein-above for successively measuring the distances of adjacent longitudinal profiles from axis of rotation 18 of scanning instrument 17, as the angular position of the optical axis of the instrument is successively adjusted during successive passes of carriage 1, it is essential for the accuracy of the measuring data obtained that the scanning instru-ment is blocked firmly in each adjusted angular position so that optical axis 21 extends in plane 41 which is per-pendicular to axis of rotation 18 and longitudinal track axis 7.
To enable the cyclical program to proceed fully auto-matically, it is useful to connect blocking bolt 44 for disc 42 also to the control circuit so that the actuation of drive 24 may be used at the beginning of each cycle to move the bolt into engagement with a respective hole 43 in the disc while the de-activation of the drive at the end of the cycle will cause the bolt to be disengaged.
FIG. 3 illustrates the simplest embodiment of an information carrier for continuously recording and storing the measuring data on recording band 46 of a recording instrument. Arrow 47 indicates the direction of movement of recording band 46 for recording the measuring data during a forward cycle during which measuring carriage 1 moves along the track in the direction of arrow 30 and arrow 48 indicates the reverse direction of movement of the record-ing band during a subsequent reverse cycle when the carriage moves in the direction of arrow 31. The successive control signals emitted by signal pulse emitter 11 as it passes each tie 6 are transmitted to the recording instrument to appear as marks 49 indicating the location of carriage 1 along the track and the corresponding location of distance measuring instrument 17.
To show each longitudinal profile 32 through 37 sepa-rately, rather than superimposed, a base line 50 corresponding 113~
to axis of rotation 18 is provided on recording band 46 for each an~ular position of optical axis 21 and measured distances 51 between the tunnel wall along each longitudinal profile line and the axis of rotation of scanning instrument 17 are recorded on a reduced scale transversely to the di-rection of movement of the recording band. The resultant recorded information produced as the carriage advances from tie to tie (indicated by markers 49) is shown in connection with the recording of longitudinal profile 32 in both modi-fications of the method, i.e. the full l~ne indicates a continuous, uninterrupted operation of scanning inctrument 17 and a transmission of a continuous recording signal while the spaced measuring points 52 indicate respective recording signals corresponding to each location mark 49. In the con-tinuous, uninterrupted operation, the tunnel profile is re-corded for every point along the measured tunnel section.
In the intermittent operation, the tunnel profile is record-ed for each location marker 49. Lines 53 and 54 show the recorded information for two such location markers to indi-cate transverse profile lines 39, 40 seen in FIG. 1.
It is, of course, within the scope of the present invention to record and store, if desired, the measuring data in digital form, as well as to record during each operating cycle any measuring data outside set tolerance limits and to coordinate such information with tbe recorded location along the track.
It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications with respect to the ad-~ustment means, the control circuitry, the scanning instru-ment drive, the odometer means and the recording instrument may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention. Thus, the adjustment means may be arranged for lateral or vertical, instead of angular, adjustment. The adjustment element could be constituted by any suitable detent arrangement and the drive for the scanning instrument could be an intermittently operated worm gear driven by an electro-motor. Also, the odometer means may provide a signal pulse emitter designed to emit a succession of pulses between adjacent ties.
Claims (11)
1. A mobile apparatus for measuring the longitudinal profile defining the periphery of a bounded space surround-ing a track having two rails and a longitudinal axis inter-mediate and parallel to the track rails, which comprises (a) a carriage mounted for non-stop movement on the track rails, (b) a distance measuring instrument mounted on the carriage, the instrument including (1) a laser beam emitter, (2) a laser beam receiver and (3) a common mount for the laser beam emitter and receiver, the laser beam emitter and receiver having an optical axis extending in a vertical plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the track and the optical axis intersecting the longitudinal profile to define the distance between the distance measuring instrument and the longitudinal profile, (c) adjustment means for positioning the distance measuring instrument and for fixing the instrument in the adjusted position for selectively measuring a plurality of longi-tudinal profiles in a selected sector of the periphery, (d) an odometer means mounted on the carriage and emitting a control signal upon movement of the carriage, (e) a recording instrument mounted on the carriage, and (f) a control circuit interconnecting the odometer means, the distance measuring instrument and the recording instrument for transmitting the control signal to the distance measuring instrument for operating the instrument to emit a signal indicating the distance and to the recording instrument for recording the location of the carriage along the track and the corresponding location of the distance measuring instrument, and (h) for transmitting the distance indicating signal to the recording instrument for recording the longitudinal profile.
2. The mobile apparatus of claim 1, wherein the carriage is self-propelled.
3. The mobile apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is arranged for continuously operating the distance measuring instrument and transmitting a con-tinuous distance indicating signal during the movement of the carriage.
4. The mobile apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is arranged to operate the distance measuring instrument intermittently and to transmit inter-mittent distance indicating signals during the movement of the carriage.
5. The mobile apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adjustment means comprises an adjustment element bearing the distance measuring instrument, the adjustment element being rotatable about an axis extending parallel to the longitudinal axis, and means for blocking the adjustment element in a selected angular position.
6. The mobile apparatus of claim 5, wherein the adjustment element is a disc cooperating with a scale indicating the angular position of the optical axis extend-ing radially in relation to the disc.
7. The mobile apparatus of claim 5, wherein the adjustment element is a disc defining a series of circum-ferentially spaced holes, each hole defining a respective ones of the angular positions, and the blocking means is a detent element movable into and out of engagement with a respective one of the holes for blocking the disc in the selected angular position upon engagement of the detent element with the respective hole.
8. The mobile apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a drive connected to the adjustment means for positioning the distance measuring instrument.
9. The mobile apparatus of claim 8, wherein the drive is an electromagnetically operable stepping drive.
10. The mobile apparatus of claim 1, wherein the odometer means is a signal pulse emitter emitting a re-spective one of the control signals in response to being in the range of a rail fastening element.
11. A method of measuring the longitudinal profile defining the periphery of a bounded space surrounding a track having two rails and a longitudinal axis intermediate and parallel to the track rails, which comprises the steps of moving a distance measuring instrument non-stop on the track rails in a first measuring and recording cycle, the instrument including a laser beam emitter, a laser beam receiver and a common mount for the laser beam emitter and receiver, the laser beam emitter and receiver having an optical axis extending in a vertical plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the track and the optical axis intersecting the longitudinal profile to define the distance between the distance measuring instrument and the longitudinal profile, generating a distance indicating signal corres-ponding to the measured distance as the instrument is moved along the track, recording the distance indicating signal to obtain a record of the longitudinal profile, then angularly adjusting the optical axis and moving the instru-ment along the track with the adjusted optical axis to scan another longitudinal profile in a subsequent measuring and recording cycle, generating a distance indicating signal corresponding to the measured distance defined by the ad-justed optical axis, recording the latter distance indicating signal to obtain a record thereof, and repeating the distance measuring and recording cycles until a plurality of longi-tudinal profiles in a selected sector of the periphery have been measured and recorded.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| ATA772/80 | 1980-02-13 | ||
| AT0077280A AT370879B (en) | 1980-02-13 | 1980-02-13 | TRACKABLE MEASURING VEHICLE AND METHOD FOR MEASURING THE LENGTH PROFILE OF TUNNEL TUBES |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1138636A true CA1138636A (en) | 1983-01-04 |
Family
ID=3499344
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000370796A Expired CA1138636A (en) | 1980-02-13 | 1981-02-13 | Mobile apparatus and method for measuring the profile of a railroad tunnel |
Country Status (14)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| AR (1) | AR224569A1 (en) |
| AT (1) | AT370879B (en) |
| AU (1) | AU539931B2 (en) |
| BR (1) | BR8100544A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA1138636A (en) |
| CS (1) | CS274586B2 (en) |
| DD (1) | DD160127A5 (en) |
| DE (1) | DE3046611A1 (en) |
| ES (1) | ES8206019A1 (en) |
| FR (1) | FR2475721B1 (en) |
| GB (1) | GB2070880B (en) |
| HU (1) | HU183301B (en) |
| PL (1) | PL128340B1 (en) |
| RO (1) | RO87948A (en) |
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1980
- 1980-02-13 AT AT0077280A patent/AT370879B/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1980-12-11 DE DE19803046611 patent/DE3046611A1/en active Granted
- 1980-12-24 AU AU65863/80A patent/AU539931B2/en not_active Ceased
-
1981
- 1981-01-05 CS CS6581A patent/CS274586B2/en unknown
- 1981-01-27 GB GB8102387A patent/GB2070880B/en not_active Expired
- 1981-01-30 HU HU81216A patent/HU183301B/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1981-01-30 FR FR8101877A patent/FR2475721B1/en not_active Expired
- 1981-01-30 BR BR8100544A patent/BR8100544A/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1981-02-09 RO RO81103364A patent/RO87948A/en unknown
- 1981-02-10 DD DD81227534A patent/DD160127A5/en unknown
- 1981-02-12 PL PL1981229645A patent/PL128340B1/en unknown
- 1981-02-12 ES ES499366A patent/ES8206019A1/en not_active Expired
- 1981-02-13 CA CA000370796A patent/CA1138636A/en not_active Expired
- 1981-03-27 AR AR284778A patent/AR224569A1/en active
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| FR2475721A1 (en) | 1981-08-14 |
| FR2475721B1 (en) | 1985-07-05 |
| GB2070880A (en) | 1981-09-09 |
| BR8100544A (en) | 1981-08-18 |
| AU6586380A (en) | 1981-08-20 |
| AT370879B (en) | 1983-05-10 |
| ES499366A0 (en) | 1982-07-01 |
| ATA77280A (en) | 1982-09-15 |
| RO87948A (en) | 1985-12-20 |
| ES8206019A1 (en) | 1982-07-01 |
| HU183301B (en) | 1984-04-28 |
| AU539931B2 (en) | 1984-10-25 |
| DD160127A5 (en) | 1983-05-04 |
| DE3046611C2 (en) | 1990-04-05 |
| GB2070880B (en) | 1983-12-14 |
| RO87948B (en) | 1985-12-01 |
| DE3046611A1 (en) | 1981-09-10 |
| CS274586B2 (en) | 1991-08-13 |
| PL128340B1 (en) | 1984-01-31 |
| AR224569A1 (en) | 1981-12-15 |
| PL229645A1 (en) | 1981-12-11 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKEX | Expiry |