U.S. patent application number 11/030959 was filed with the patent office on 2006-07-13 for ac/dc/dcc model train on board sound module with wireless control.
Invention is credited to Zniping Lin, Frank Ritota.
Application Number | 20060151673 11/030959 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36652346 |
Filed Date | 2006-07-13 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060151673 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ritota; Frank ; et
al. |
July 13, 2006 |
AC/DC/DCC model train on board sound module with wireless
control
Abstract
A method, apparatus and system for AC or DC track powered model
trains which increases the number of remote control functions
available to the powered engines via an on-board sound decoder
module. The functions include sound functions, including bell,
whistle, brakes, announcements, and the like, and any other
functions programmed into the on-board sound decoder module. The
invention is compatible with traditional AC, DC, and DCC systems
and allows the hobbyist to use a wireless controller to operate the
engines and associated functions in a remote fashion.
Inventors: |
Ritota; Frank; (Brick,
NJ) ; Lin; Zniping; (Kearney, NJ) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Jonathan E. Grant
2107 HOUNDS RUN PLACE
Sliver Spring
MD
20906
US
|
Family ID: |
36652346 |
Appl. No.: |
11/030959 |
Filed: |
January 10, 2005 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
246/187A |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63H 2019/246 20130101;
A63H 19/14 20130101; A63H 19/24 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
246/187.00A |
International
Class: |
B61L 27/00 20060101
B61L027/00 |
Claims
1. An apparatus for providing a new control capability for DC model
trains and for AC model trains driven by DC motors, said apparatus
comprising: a) a wireless transmitter; b) a wireless receiver; c)
full bridge rectifier; d) pulse width modulator (PWM); e)
two-channel analog-to-digital converter (A/D); and f) a
micro-controller unit (MCU):
2. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said wireless
transmitter comprises: a) a wireless signal generation device which
generates a binary code, b) an antenna, c) and user selection
means.
3. The wireless signal generation device which generates a binary
code in accordance with claim 2, wherein said wireless signal
generation device is a five-function chip and wherein said binary
code is a 5-bit binary code.
4. The apparatus in accordance with claim 2, wherein said user
selection means are pushbuttons.
5. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said model
trains are DCC controlled.
6. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said model
trains are AC powered model trains driven by DC motors:
7. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said model
trains are DC powered model trains:
8. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said MCU
provides automatic detection means wherein said means is selected
from the group consisting of: model trains under DCC control, AC
powered model trains driven by a DC motor, and DC powered model
trains:
9. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said MCU
provides automatic detection means wherein said means is selected
from a group consisting of: model trains under DCC control, AC
powered model trains driven by a DC motor, or DC powered
trains:
10. A method for providing a new control capability for DC model
trains and for AC model trains driven by DC motors; said method
comprising the steps of: a) transmitting wirelessly a digital
control function wherein a transmitter transmits to a function
receiver; b) receiving a control signal via said wireless function
receiver; c) feeding digital signals directly to the I/O port of
the microcontroller of the on-board sound unit; d) detecting and
controlling said model trains using a micro-controller unit (MCU),
wherein said digital control function provides an on-board
function.
11. The method in accordance with claim 10, wherein said model
trains are DCC controlled:
12. The method defined by claim 10, wherein said model trains are
AC powered model trains driven by DC motors:
13. The method in accordance with claim 10, wherein said model
trains are DC powered model trains.
14. The method in accordance with claim 10, wherein said MCU
provides automatic detection means wherein said means is selected
from the group consisting of: model trains under DCC control, AC
powered model trains driven by a DC motor, and DC powered model
trains:
15. The method in accordance with claim 10, wherein said MCU
provides automatic detection means wherein said means is selected
from the group consisting of; model trains under DCC control, AC
powered model trains driven by a DC motor, and DC powered model
trains:
16. A system for providing a new control capability for DC model
trains and for AC model trains driven by DC motors, said system
comprising: a) a wireless transmitter; b) a two-channel
analog-to-digital converter (A/D); c) a micro-controller unit
(MCU); d) a pulse width modulator (PWM); e) a wireless receiver;
and f) a full bridge rectifier with filter which converts track
power to DC to power the PWM circuit and microcontroller (MCU).
17. The system in accordance with claim 16, wherein said model
trains are DCC controlled.
18. The system in accordance with claim 16, wherein said model
trains are AC powered model trains driven by DC motors:
19. The system in accordance with claim 16, wherein said model
trains are DC powered model trains.
20. The system in accordance with claim 16, wherein said MCU
provides automatic detection means wherein said means is selected
from the group consisting of: model trains under DCC control, AC
powered model trains driven by a DC motor, and DC powered model
trains:
21. The system in accordance with claim 16, wherein said MCU
provides automatic detection means wherein said means is selected
from the group consisting of: model trains under DCC control, AC
powered model trains driven by a DC motor, and DC powered model
trains:
22. A program when executed on a computer associated with the
on-board sound module on model trains causes the computer to
perform the steps of: a) receiving a digital control signal; b)
decoding said digital control signal; and c) using said digital
control signal, controlling on-board train functions;
23. The program in accordance with claim 22, wherein said model
trains are DCC controlled.
24. The program in accordance with claim 22, wherein said model
trains are DC powered model trains:
25. The program in accordance with claim 22, wherein said model
trains are AC powered model trains driven by DC motors:
26. The program in accordance with claim 22, wherein said program
provides automatic detection means wherein said means is selected
from the group consisting of: model trains under DCC control, AC
powered model trains driven by a DC motor, and DC powered model
trains:
27. The program in accordance with claim 22, wherein said program
provides automatic detection means wherein said means is selected
from the group consisting of: model trains under DCC control, AC
powered model trains driven by a DC motor, and DC powered model
trains.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0001] This disclosure pertains to the field of control systems for
model trains, and specifically to an improvement which provides an
easy-to-use and affordable system which expands the number of "on
board" features available, including, but not limited to, sounds,
lights, and braking.
[0002] For many years, model railroaders have desired an affordable
and easy-to-use life-like model train. Early Lionel AC model trains
(driven by an AC motor) were powered by an AC power pack or power
supply. The power pack fed AC power to the track and the model
train picked up the power by its wheels and a center feed shoe to
provide the AC power to the motor. The engine speed was controlled
by the amplitude of the AC voltage on the track that was varied by
the user operating the levers associated with the power pack. At a
later time, Lionel introduced an innovative electrical-mechanical
on-board motor control unit that allowed the hobbyist to change the
engine's direction by simply interrupting the AC track power. This
unit was later improved by adding a neutral state to allow the
train to stand idle when the track voltage was applied. This
feature allowed the engine's headlight or sound to stay on while
the engine was stationary. Each time the AC power was interrupted,
this motor control unit had a state sequence that moved from
neutral to forward, forward to neutral, neutral to reverse, and
reverse to neutral. This motor control unit is often referred to as
a reverse unit or "E" unit, and consisted of a solenoid device.
Later, Lionel added DC voltage to the AC track to trigger the
on-board whistle. A further improvement was to use positive DC to
activate the whistle and negative DC to turn on or off the train's
bell.
[0003] Most early trains were powered by AC motors as a cheap,
reliable DC motor was not yet available. With improvements in motor
technology, small DC "can" motors were made available for use in
the model train engines, having such improvements in slow speed and
braking and greatly reduced "lugging" or stuttering when operating
the engines at slow speed. With the addition of the DC "can"
motors, the operative functions of the model trains were made to
appear more realistic. Also, DC power packs were easier to
manufacture for the increase power demands, with better power
regulation. A DC power pack has a variable DC output controlled by
a user-operated lever or the like, with a double-pole double-throw
(DPDT) switch to change the polarity of the DC output. The DC model
train's motor is directly connected to the pickup wheels and center
shoe so the engine's speed is proportional to the DC track voltage.
To change the engine's direction, the user simply flips the DPDT
switch on the power pack to change the track's power polarity. Only
one engine can be operated on the track insofar as the voltage is
the same for the entire track, thus multiple engines on the same
track cannot operate independently. Multiple blocks of track, each
independently powered by individual power packs must be used to
independently operate multiple engines with different directions
and different speeds. This is referred to as "block switching" in
the model train community, and has been a staple of multiple train
operation during the "Golden Era".
[0004] In recent years, a number of electronic control systems have
been developed that attempt to solve the problems of independent
train control and expand remote control ability. One approach is
called digital command control, or DCC. It uses a command station
to send AC pulses onto the track where the train receives the
pulses via the wheels and pickup shoe. A receiver or decoder is
installed in the engine to decode the pulses and provide for the
various operations that the pulses would be indicative of. The
decoder includes a full wave bridge rectifier to convert the AC
pulses to DC to provide the engine's necessary drive power, and
then decodes the pulse width modulation (PWM) signals to provide
the control signals that are used to determine the engine's speed
and direction, as well as any additional commands, such as the
various sounds and the like. Since the motor is no longer directly
connected to the track, the changing polarity of the track will not
change the engine's direction. The engine's speed and direction
command, as well as any additional commands and control, can be be
encoded into the AC pulse packet. By changing the track voltage
polarity and timing the duration of each polarity change, many
states or signals can be encoded to control the engine. The current
NMRA (National Model Railroaders Association) DCC protocol defines
a 56 us (microsecond) AC pulse as a "1" and a 122 us pulse as a
"0". Thus, just as in any serial communication protocol, a
combination of"1"s and "0"s can be used to form any digital command
signal. The command station transmits a series of digital command
packets onto the track which feeds the engine. A DCC packet
contains a header, address field, data field, and error detection
field. By assigning different addresses in the decoders associated
with each individual model train engine, multiple engines can be
controlled on a single track by addressing each engine individually
and setting the speed and direction.
[0005] DCC provides the most realistic model train operation was a
great step forward for modern model railroading. However, the model
train community is made up in large part by hobbyists from the
"Golden Era" who still prefer to use conventional DC power packs to
control their engines, avoiding the use of digital command control
because they either find the digital command control system is too
complicated or because they prefer to operate the model trains with
equipment from their youth. Some digital command control systems
can seem overwhelming to the traditionalist, with a manual having
many pages relating to various control schemes; therefore using a
traditional DC power pack to control the on-board module is still
the first choice of many hobbyists.
[0006] U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,914,431, 5,448,142, and 5,184,048 to
Severson et al, introduce the concept of changing DC track polarity
and timing the duration to generate signals in order to control an
on-board unit. The on-board sound modules based on this concept use
the DPDT switch on the power pack to generate a control signal. The
engine's speed command is in proportion to the amplitude of the
track voltage, with the engine's direction controlled by the
initial track voltage polarity. A fast double change polarity is
used to turn the engine's bell on or off. A single change of the
polarity turns the whistle on, with another change back signal
turns off the whistle. This on-board sound system can control the
engine's direction, speed, and two extra remote functions, mainly
whistle and bell, and is compatible with existing DC power
packs.
[0007] The system disclosed by Severson et al. has the certain
limitations. First, there is a significant delay in the blowing of
the whistle. When the direction switch is toggled, the on-board
sound unit has to wait for a period of time to make sure that it is
not a double change of the DC track voltage polarity before it
activates the whistle. Second, it is very hard to control the
duration of the whistle. When the track polarity is changed to
cease blowing the whistle, the sound unit has to wait for another
period of time to make sure that it is not a double change of the
track polarity. Third, the system only generates two states to
control the on-board sound unit; thus there is no way to generate
more than two states by the toggling of the DPDT switch. Fourth,
the constant need to toggle the DPDT switch is bothersome. The
user's fingers can become sore from the action of operating the
switch. To make the unit more user-friendly, a push button and
relay circuit has been introduced to replace the flipping of the
DPDT switch; however, this adds to the cost of the unit.
[0008] U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,251,856, 5,441,223, and 5,749,547 issued to
Young et al., disclose providing a digital message, which may
include a command, to a model train using various techniques. The
digital message(s) are typically read by a decoder mounted in the
train, which then executes the decoded command. A remote control
unit transmits radio frequency, infrared, or other signals to a
base unit. The base unit combines a frequency shift key (FSK)
signal with the power signal applied to the track to send an
address and data signal to the powered block section of the track.
The addressed train on that power block section will receive and
decode the signal. The Young system does not send the signal
directly to the on-board sound module.
[0009] To overcome the above limitations and reduce the cost, the
present disclosure introduces a low cost, five function wireless
transmitter and receiver chip set to generate control signals to
the on-board sound module. Instead of using a DPDT switch to change
the polarity of the track voltage to generate limited signals, the
receiver chip sends 5-bit digital signals to the I/O port of the
microcontroller of the on-board sound unit. The five-function
wireless chip set can generate 5-bit binary code to input to the
microcontroller on the on-board sound unit. This means that a low
cost wireless solution can be used to activate up to 32 remote
functions to control the on-board sound unit. That is enough to
activate all the necessary on-board sounds and other functions and
make model railroading more life-like.
SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0010] In accordance with the present disclosure a control system
has been developed for and AC or DC powered model train system
which uses an on-board sound module to control the model engine's
sound and other on-board features. On-board means that it is
integrated into a remote object (a minature model locomotive in
this case) that is addressed by the remote control signals. The
object is to increase the number of remote control functions to
meet the ever increasing availability and desireability of
"on-board" features, such as head light, tail light, Mars lights,
whistle, air horn, bell, air release, brake, emergency stop,
announcements, etc. This control system is compatible with
traditional power packs, sending the control signals wirelessly
rather than through the power on the track. Using the wireless
controller, the hobbyist will also be able to walk around his
layout to operate his engines unencumbered.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0011] FIG. 1 is a pictoral view of the system:
[0012] FIG. 2 is a general schematic of the system:
[0013] FIG. 3 is a schematic of the system with a model train under
DCC control:
[0014] FIG. 4 is a schematic of the system with an AC powered model
train driven by a DC motor;
[0015] FIG. 5 is a schematic of the system associated with a DC
powered model train;
[0016] FIG. 6 is a pictoral view of the wireless remote control
device.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0017] The control system can be implemented for DC model trains
and some AC model trains driven by DC motors. FIG. 1 is a pictorial
view of the wireless system.
[0018] FIG. 2 is a schematic of the most general case. Block 205
represents the wireless transmitter. Block 204 represents the
function receiver. Block 202 is a full bridge rectifier with
filter. The rectifier converts the track power to DC to power the
PWM circuit and microcontroller (MCU), as well as provide power to
the model train's motor. Block 203 is a two-channel
analog-to-digital converter, A/D. Block 200 is a MCU. The MCU is
used to measure the voltage of both rails of the track and their
waveform. By monitoring both rails of the track waveform, the MCU
can identify the type of track power. Block 201 represents the PWM.
The DC motor which drives the engine is represented by 206.
[0019] As shown in FIG. 3, if the MCU 300 detects a DCC track
signal, it starts the DCC operation. The on-board sound module will
act as a regular DCC sound decoder. The MCU 300 will receive the
DCC command control packet to decode the command and control the
engine's speed and direction by PWM block 301. It will also receive
accessory commands to control on-board sounds accordingly. Since
some DCC systems on the market do not have enough accessory
functions to control the on-board sound, the MCU 300 will also
activate the wireless function to control those additional
functions and sounds not covered by the DCC system, effectively all
of the sounds and functions that are stored in the flash memory
chip in digital form.
[0020] If the MCU does not detect a DCC track signal, it will try
to determine whether the track is AC powered or DC powered. If it
finds the power track is AC, as shown in FIG.4, the MCU 400 will
automatically compensate the DC offset to get the correct speed
command while the user presses the Bell or Horn button on the AC
pack 407. During AC operation the control unit will automatically
set from neutral to forward, forward to neutral, neutral to
reverse, and reverse to neutral sequentially when it detects an
interruption of track power. The amplitude of the AC voltage on the
track controls the speed of the AC model train. When the AC track
voltage is less than 5 VAC, the MCU 400 will not output the PWM 401
to the DC motor; therefore the engine will not move, but instead
will sit idle with the engine idle sound operating. When the AC
track voltage is greater than 5 VAC, the MCU 400 will output the
PWM 401 to the DC motor and generate the engine sounds associated
with the slow movement, the engine starting to move and make the
sounds associated with a slowly moving train. When the user presses
the whistle or other sound key on the wireless transmitter 406, the
transmitter will transmit a 5-bit binary code to the receiver. The
receiver will pass the code to the MCU and the MCU will activate
the whistle or other sounds. The hobbyist can thus use the AC power
pack to control the model train speed and direction in the
traditional ways and use the wireless transmitter to activate the
on-board sounds and functions.
[0021] If the MCU does not detect a DCC track signal or AC voltage
on the powered track, it determines that the track is powered by a
DC power pack 507. FIG. 5 shows a schematic of this case. When the
DC track voltage is less than 5V, the MCU 500 will not output the
PWM 501 to the DC motor, consequently the engine will not move. It
will sit idle with the idle engine sound. When the track voltage is
greater than 5 V, the MCU 500 will output the PWM 501 to the DC
motor and generate the engine sounds associated with the engine
starting to move and the slow moving sound generated. By detecting
the polarity of the track MCU 500 controls the PWM 501 and
accordingly controls the engine's direction. When the user presses
the whistle or other sound key on the wireless transmitter 505, the
transmitter will transmit a 5-bit binary code to the receiver 504.
The receiver 504 will pass the code to the MCU 500 and the MCU will
activate the whistle or other sounds. The hobbyist can thus use the
DC power pack 507 to control the model train speed and direction in
the traditional ways and uses the wireless transmitter to activate
the on-board sounds and functions.
[0022] A program executed on a computer and associated with the
on-board sound module causes the computer to perform the steps of
receiving and decoding the digital control signal to control the
on-board train functions, such as various sounds and lighting
functions.
[0023] While presently preferred embodiments have been described
above, various other modifications and adaptations of the instant
invention can be made by those persons skilled in the art without
departing from either the spirit of the invention or the scope of
the appended claims.
* * * * *