Train Cab Display Luminance Control via Location Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing motorman's cab display systems face challenges in automatically adjusting display luminance without an illuminance sensor, due to the difficulty in sensing forward illuminance with sensors placed inside the cab and the limitations of cable wiring in noisy train environments.
Innovation Solution
A motorman's cab display system that includes information control terminal and central apparatuses connected via inter-car transmission paths, with a luminance determining unit calculating the train's location and adjusting the display screen's luminance based on pre-set values for inside and outside tunnel conditions, eliminating the need for an illuminance sensor.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If an illuminance sensor is provided inside the motorman's cab display apparatus to automatically adjust luminance, then automatic luminance adjustment is enabled, but the sensor cannot appropriately sense illuminance in the forward direction since the screen faces the crew member side
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the train's location information (obtained from GPS or other positioning systems) as an intermediary to indirectly determine the external lighting conditions. Instead of directly measuring illuminance with a sensor, the system mediates through location data to infer whether the train is in a tunnel or outside, and adjusts luminance accordingly. This resolves the contradiction by enabling automatic adjustment without requiring a forward-facing illuminance sensor inside the cab.
2Measurement precision
If an illuminance sensor is separately set in the motorman's car and connected using a cable, then forward illuminance can be sensed, but the cable wiring is weak in anti-noise properties in the noisy train environment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical cable-based sensing system with an electronic/information-based system. Instead of using a physical cable to transmit sensor signals, the system uses the existing train communication network to transmit location information digitally. This substitution eliminates the noise susceptibility of cable wiring while maintaining the ability to sense and respond to external lighting conditions.
3Illumination intensity
If display luminance is kept high for daytime visibility, then visibility in the motorman's cab during daytime is improved, but the display becomes too bright at night or during tunnel traveling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic luminance adjustment based on the train's operational context. The display luminance is not fixed but changes dynamically according to whether the train is detected to be in a tunnel or outside. This dynamic adaptation allows the display to maintain high luminance for daytime visibility while automatically reducing luminance during tunnel travel or nighttime operations, eliminating the harmful effect of excessive brightness in appropriate conditions.
Data Source
AI summary
A motorman's cab display system includes a motorman's cab display apparatus that can automatically adjust display luminance of a display device without using an illuminance sensor. The motorman's cab display apparatus determines, based on location information of a train transmitted from a train information control system, whether the train is traveling in a tunnel, sets, when determining that the train is traveling in the tunnel, as the luminance of a display screen, luminance for inside of tunnel set in advance, and sets, when determining that the train is traveling outside the tunnel, as luminance of the display screen, luminance information for outside of tunnel set in advance. A display control method for motorman's cab display apparatuses includes: calculating a traveling location of the train; and adjusting the luminance of the display screen according to the luminance information output from a luminance determining unit.