January 25, 2011

Does anyone know if an application of electric hydraulic brakes has been attempted on railroad trains anywhere in the world and if so which railroads are using this technology?

 

I'm sure there have been lots of developments in this area but, without having more specifics to work with, I suggest you do a bit of research... a good place to start for a general overview is http://worldwide.espacenet.com/advancedSearch but being in the US you may prefer http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html. Some simple keyword combinations should be sufficient. The technology is probably very old but there's always room for something new...

 

I have something in mind its practicality is hard to determine for me. If there was an existing application (I can not find any evidence there is) I might be able to glean whether my ideas have merit. I haven't seen any patents in a search that indicates Electric Hydraulic braking is actually being used by anyone for railroad service. I have uncovered evidence that there are Highway Trailers that are using it.

I will further add that after a 100 plus years of continuous use the pneumatic brake is showing its age I can elaborate on this further if desired.

Howard