System and Method for Compacting Materials in Open Top Transport Conveyance

Abstract

A compacting system compacts particulate matter in open-top railroad gondola cars rolling on rails. The compacting system comprises a compacting station adjacent the rails and a scanning system that scans the gondola cars as they move along the rails toward the compacting station. The scanning system transmits data of the gondola car to an electronic control system. The compacting station has at least one compaction member, e.g., a plate structure or a roller, configured to contact an upper surface of the particulate matter in the gondola cars. The electronic control system controls the compacting station so that the compaction member engages with and applies force to the upper surface of the particulate matter in the gondola car so as to compress the particulate matter in the gondola. A method for compacting particulate matter in a gondola car is also shown.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A compacting station for compacting particulate material in cars moving past the compacting station, the compacting station comprising:
 a compacting member;   a support structure configured to support the compacting member above a set of rails over which the cars with material for compacting are moved past the compacting station;   a sensor configured to sense an indicator of each of the cars; and   a controller configured to control movement of the compacting member relative to each of the cars based on the sensed indicator of each of the cars to move the compacting member into contact with the material for compacting in each of the cars.   
     
     
         2 . The compacting station of  claim 1 , wherein the compacting member includes a vibration system configured to vibrate the compacting member. 
     
     
         3 . The compacting station of  claim 1 , wherein the compacting member is configured to move vertically between an upper position and a lower position, the compacting member being configured in the upper position to allow a locomotive and a front wall and a back wall of each of the cars to pass on the rails under the compacting member and in the lower position the compacting member being configured to engage and apply a downward compacting force to particulate matter in each of the cars; and
 wherein the support structure comprises a pair of pillar structures, each on an opposite side of the rails and a frame supported between the pillar structures above the rails, the compacting member including a plate structure including a center plate and a pair of side extensions each extending obliquely downward and laterally outward from opposite lateral edges of the center plate, the center plate and the side extensions being configured to compact the particulate matter.   
     
     
         4 . The compacting station of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor is configured to sense at least one dimension of each of the cars. 
     
     
         5 . The compacting station of  claim 1 , wherein the indicator includes RFID data from an RFID tag; and 
       wherein the sensor includes an RFID scanner configured to receive the RFID data from the RFID tag. 
     
     
         6 . The compacting station of  claim 1 , further comprising a spray apparatus configured to spray a flying-dust reduction fluid onto the particulate matter after compacting thereof.