Railway rolling stock – Trucks – Bogie
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-30
2001-04-24
Avila, Stephen (Department: 3617)
Railway rolling stock
Trucks
Bogie
C105S157100, C105S200000, C105S206100, C105S226000, C105S230000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06220177
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bogie for railway vehicle and to a process for manufacturing such a bogie.
2. History of the Related Art
A railway vehicle bogie is intended to support a vehicle, such as a box body or rail car, abutting on a plurality of wheels distributed on axles.
Taking into account the masses of the box bodies or rail cars and their speed of displacement, the forces due to accelerations of this stock, particularly during changes of direction, are considerable, with the result that it is usual to produce bogies in the form of massive parts made of steel or of welded structures. These massive parts and welded structures have a fixed configuration as from design, with the result that they cannot be adapted, during manufacture, to the conditions of use of the bogies.
Now, the wheel base of the bogie, the height of the box body, the track width and the load on the axle are parameters which vary from one bogie to another which must be taken into account during design. In practice, there is a tendency to overdimension the bogies to allow them to withstand the forces undergone in all the configurations, which increases the cost of the bogies and their rigidity, which must be compensated by suspension and damping systems adapted to ensure comfort for passengers or the absorption of the vibrations due to the irregularities of the tracks on which the stock travels.
European Patent Application 0 031 008 discloses a railway vehicle bogie comprising H-shaped webs made of composite material. These webs have a cross-section and length defined from casting, with the result that they cannot be adapted to the conditions of use of each bogie.
It is a particular object of the present invention to overcome these drawbacks by proposing a bogie which may be adapted to its conditions of use, including during manufacture and even at the end of manufacture thereof.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To that end, the invention relates to a bogie for railway vehicle, this bogie being in abutment on wheels mounted on at least two axles, at least one side member being provided to connect these axles to a chassis, characterized in that the chassis forms at least one housing, in the form of a tube opening at its two ends, for receiving the side member.
Thanks to the invention, the chassis, on the one hand, and the side member or members, on the other hand, may be manufactured independently from one another, the side members being manufactured with different geometries adapted to the different conditions of use of the bogie. In particular, the side members may correspond to different wheel bases of the bogie, to a variable load on the axle and to a variable box body height. During manufacture, it is then possible to choose a side member adapted to the final conditions of use of the bogie, to mount it on a chassis which may be common to the different types of side members used. Such versatile manufacture, due to the modularity of the concept of the bogie of the invention, makes it possible easily to adapt the bogies to their real conditions of use. This versatility also enables the side members of a bogie to be replaced during its life, this making it possible to adapt its mechanical properties to possible new conditions of use of the bogie.
According to a first advantageous aspect of the invention, the housing is provided with means for immobilizing the side member with respect to the chassis. These means may be formed by bolted devices or elastomer-coated articulated jaws fixed inside the housings.
According to another advantageous aspect of the invention, the inner cross-section of the housing is adapted to follow the outer shape of the side member. Thanks to this aspect of the invention, the bearing of the side member may be made over the whole length of the housing, which guarantees a good distribution of the mechanical forces between the side member and the chassis and therefore a good stability of the bogie thus formed. It is also possible to provide that the bearing of the side member on the chassis be made with to articulation means distributed over the length of the housing, thus allowing considerable suppleness of the side member.
According to variants of use of the invention, the chassis and the side member may be made of composite material or of steel.
According to another advantageous aspect of the invention, the chassis comprises two hollow beams extending in a direction substantially parallel to the normal direction of movement of the vehicle, a housing for receiving a side member being made in each beam. This aspect of the invention makes it possible to give the chassis a simple geometry, which enables the cost of such stock to be efficiently controlled. The chassis is advantageously of substantially parallelepipedic shape and provided with a central recess bordered by the hollow beams and by two webs provided with means for fixing functional elements of the bogie. In that case, it may be provided that the webs be made of composite material and that the fixing means comprise at least one elongated, rigid support secured to in one of these webs, this support being adapted to removably receive, at several places distributed over its length, means for fastening functional elements of the bogie.
The invention also relates to a process for manufacturing a bogie as described hereinbefore and, more specifically, to a process which consists in:
making a chassis provided with at least one housing for receiving a side member for supporting the chassis in abutment on two wheel axles;
choosing, from several side members of different geometries, a side member adapted to the use envisaged for the bogie;
inserting this side member in the housing, and
securing the side member inside the housing.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3903811 (1975-09-01), Sinclair
patent: 4279202 (1981-07-01), Dieling et al.
patent: 4773334 (1988-09-01), Nowak et al.
patent: 5085151 (1992-02-01), Wako et al.
patent: 565258 (1932-11-01), None
patent: 0050727 (1982-05-01), None
Alstom Holdings
Avila Stephen
Dowell & Dowell , P.C.
Olson Lars A.
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