Patent ID: 8073591

Claim:
A method of monitoring a sand supply in a sand tank of a sand-scattering device including serially a sand line and a scattering tube for scattering sand in a region of a wheel for a rail vehicle including the steps of: (a) providing a computational unit including a memory; (b) providing a star wheel for receiving sand from the sand tank and feeding received sand into the sand line; (c) interposing serially an injector and a diagnostic system between the star wheel and the sand line; (d) introducing pressurized air into the injector to drive sand through the sand line and the scattering tube; (e) driving the star wheel in response to sensed operating vehicle speed; (f) continually sensing and providing first sensed output pulses indicative of speed of rotation of the star wheel; (g) transmitting the first sensed output pulses to the computational unit; (h) continually sensing by the diagnostic system and providing second sensed output of sand being passed through the sand line; (i) transmitting the second sensed output to the computational unit; (j) determining based on computation (1) how long current sand supply will continue to be available and when refilling of the sand tank will be necessary based on consumption per unit time, track unit and current operational rail conditions, and (2) when maintenance of the sand-scattering device will be required based on utilization; and (k) displaying at an inspection point at least one determination of step (j).