Systems and methods for analyzing thermal properties of a railroad

Abstract

A system for analyzing thermal properties of a railroad includes a thermal imaging device configured to generate thermal image data reproducible as a thermal image of a portion of the railroad, the thermal image data being associated with a location of the portion of the railroad, an electronic display device, a memory device configured to receive and store therein the generated thermal image data; and one or more processors configured to: determine a temperature metric of the portion of the railroad based at least in part on the thermal image data; and cause the electronic display device to display (i) a first graph indicative of the temperature metric of the portion of the railroad and (ii) a second graph indicative of a railroad track geometry metric associated with the location of the portion of the railroad.

1 .- 39 . (canceled) 
     
     
         40 . A method for analyzing thermal properties of a railroad, the method comprising:
 obtaining, using a thermal imaging device, (i) first thermal image data reproducible as a first thermal image of a first portion of the railroad and (ii) second thermal image data reproducible as a second thermal image of a second portion of the railroad;   analyzing the first thermal image data to determine a temperature metric of the first section of the railroad;   analyzing the second thermal image data to determine a temperature metric of the second section of the railroad; and   generating a graph indicative of the determined temperature metric of the first section and the second section of the railroad.   
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 40 , further comprising causing an electronic display device to display the graph indicative of the determined temperature metric of the first section and the second section of the railroad. 
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 40 , further comprising associating (i) the determined temperature metric of the first section of the railroad location data for the first section of the railroad and (ii) the determined temperature metric of the second portion of the railroad with location data for the second portion of the railroad. 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 42 , further comprising displaying the graph indicative of the determined temperature metric of the first section and the second section of the railroad and a graph indicative of a railroad track metric associated with the first section and the second section of the railroad. 
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 43 , wherein the railroad track metric associated with the first section and the second section of the railroad includes a plurality of railroad track geometry metrics. 
     
     
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         50 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the railroad includes a first running rail, a second running rail, a third power rail, a crosstie, a fastener, a joint-bar, ballast, an overhead power line, a tunnel wall, a tunnel ceiling, a switch, or any combination thereof. 
     
     
         51 . The method of  claim 50 , further comprising, prior to the analyzing, identifying a region of interest within the thermal image of the first section of railroad. 
     
     
         52 . The method of  claim 51 , wherein the region of interest within the thermal image of the first section of the railroad includes at least a portion of the first running rail, the second running rail, the third power rail, the crosstie, the fastener, the joint-bar, ballast, the overhead power line, or any combination thereof. 
     
     
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         58 . The method of  claim 40 , further comprising comparing the determined temperature metric for the first section of the railroad to a predefined temperature threshold. 
     
     
         59 . The method of  claim 58 , further comprising, responsive to determining that the temperature metric for the first section of the railroad is greater than the predefined temperature threshold, (i) displaying an alert, (ii) transmitting an alert to a third party, or (iii) both (i) and (ii). 
     
     
         60 . The method of  claim 58 , further comprising, responsive to determining that the temperature metric for the first section of the railroad is less than the predefined temperature threshold, (i) displaying an alert, (ii) transmitting an alert to a third party, or (iii) both (i) and (ii). 
     
     
         61 . The method of  claim 59 , wherein the predefined temperature threshold is one or more of indicative of an electrical defect within the first portion of the railroad, indicative of a presence of water on or adjacent to the first portion of the railroad, and an ambient temperature. 
     
     
         62 . (canceled) 
     
     
         63 . (canceled) 
     
     
         64 . A method for analyzing thermal properties of a railroad, the method comprising:
 obtaining, using a thermal imaging device, first thermal image data reproducible as one or more thermal images of a plurality of sections of the railroad;   analyzing the thermal image data to determine a temperature metric in the thermal image of each of the plurality of sections of the railroad; and   displaying a graph indicative of the determined temperature metric for each of the plurality of sections of the railroad.   
     
     
         65 . The method of  claim 64 , wherein the temperature metric includes a maximum temperature, a minimum temperature, an average temperature, a standard deviation of temperature, or any combination thereof. 
     
     
         66 . The method of  claim 65 , wherein the graph indicative of the determined temperature metric for each of the plurality of sections of the railroad includes a plurality of graphs. 
     
     
         67 . The method of  claim 66 , wherein the plurality of graphs includes a first graph indicative of the maximum temperature for each of the plurality of sections of the railroad, a second graph indicative of the minimum temperature for each of the plurality of sections of the railroad, a third graph indicative of the average temperature for each of the plurality of sections of the railroad, and a fourth graph indicative of the temperature standard deviation for each of the plurality of sections of the railroad. 
     
     
         68 . The method of  claim 64 , further comprising displaying a graph indicative of a railroad track geometry metric for each of the plurality of sections of the railroad simultaneously with the graph indicative of the determined temperature metric for each of the plurality of sections of the railroad. 
     
     
         69 . The method of  claim 68 , wherein the railroad track geometry metric includes a rail cross-level, a rail curvature, a rail gauge, a rail cant, or any combination thereof. 
     
     
         70 . (canceled) 
     
     
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         72 . The method of  claim 64 , wherein the graph includes an x-axis indicative of a location of each of the plurality of sections of the railroad and a y-axis indicative of the determined temperature metric. 
     
     
         73 . The method of  claim 72 , wherein the graph includes a plurality of data points. 
     
     
         74 . (canceled) 
     
     
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