Patent ID: 7853412

Claim:
A method of estimating contact forces between the wheels of a railway wagon and a rail track along which the wagon is moving, including: determining accelerations of the body of the wagon, calculating forces on the side frames of the wagon based on the accelerations of the body and predetermined parameters of the body, the calculating of the forces on the side frames of the wagon being performed by a configured monitoring device, calculating forces on the wheels of the wagon based on the accelerations of the body and predetermined parameters of the body, the calculating of the forces on the wheels of the wagon being performed by the configured monitoring device, and calculating contact forces between the wheels and the rails based on the forces calculated for the side frames and the wheels, the calculating of the contact forces between the wheels and the rails being performed by the configured monitoring device, the contact forces arise from the surfaces of the rails and are averaged over the wheels which are associated with each vehicular suspension unit.