Railways – Truck in conduit
Patent
1997-12-18
1999-10-05
Morano, S. Joseph
Railways
Truck in conduit
191 25, 191 6, B61F 1300, B60M 134
Patent
active
059607173
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to an electrical power supply and guidance assembly along a ground rail for a wheeled vehicle, especially an urban passenger vehicle.
Such guidance assemblies for controlling the drive train are already known, for example, on cars with independent wheels, such as a public transportation vehicles.
Electrically propelled road vehicles are conventionally supplied with electricity through overhead conductor cables or contact wires above the tracks.
For esthetic reasons, it has become desirable to eliminate the electrified aerial lines, replacing them with a combined guidance assembly and electrical supply unit for vehicles such as trolley buses using a conductive track such as a rail, either attached to the ground or submerged below ground level.
Nevertheless, this solution can pose obvious safety problems. It is imperative that passengers and all persons be protected from any accidental or intentional contact with the electrical supply conductor or conductors.
A system is already known for guiding a road vehicle along a ground rail using a lifting device with a V-shaped wheel arrangement. This guidance system must fulfill several conditions relating to its operation, the environment, and passengers.
First, the pivoting guide device should be permanently lowered to the ground, forcing the guide wheels or wheels to contact the track, and thus reducing the risk of derailment. This force or pre-charge is conventionally accomplished using a hydraulic cylinder or a spring. The same result is obtained if the guide wheels are locked onto the rail.
Next, as in the situation proposed by the invention, i.e., adding an electrical power source at ground level or, more specifically, through the guide member, there should be a cover or a protective element which the contact pieces must penetrate to block access to the conductor or conductors. This protection is mandated not only by exterior factors such as exposure to weather and pollution, but it is also a deterrent to vandals and others who might come into accidental contact with the conductive elements and effectively expose themselves to the risk of electrocution.
Finally, in order to reduce noise and eliminate wear on the guide wheels, the guide wheels should be of fairly large diameter, even though this seems incompatible, a priori, with vehicles designed low to the ground for easy passenger access.
Protection from exterior elements can be improved by connecting electrically independent, insulated segments of the conductive element to the active terminal of the electrical source as the vehicle advances on its course.
The present invention proposes a method of effectively overcoming this difficulty and others by proposing a power supply and guidance assembly means for a road vehicle which is propelled by electricity or mixed fuels, through a ground rail, consisting of a device installed on the chassis of the vehicle which supports two inclined guide wheels, converging into a "V" at the base, and which have a specialized shape adapted to electrically contact one or the other conductors connected to one of the phases or one of the poles of the source of electrical current propelling the road vehicle.
More specifically, according to one of its variations, the power supply-guidance assembly has on its lower surface an electricity collector with a friction member at its terminal extremity that contacts the conductive bars and conducts electricity from one or the other electrical phases or poles to propel the vehicle electrically.
According to an essential feature of the present invention, all the electrically conductive bars which supply current are located on the lower portion below the level of the core of the rail incorporated into the roadway, with the rail preferably being protected by one or two covers which form a linear closure. The closure elements open locally when the guide head passes through and then close automatically. In this way, all risk of accidental electrocution is eliminated.
According to another advantage of the invention
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patent: 4239094 (1980-12-01), Uchiyama et al.
patent: 4245727 (1981-01-01), Pentith
patent: 5277285 (1994-01-01), Musachio
patent: 5704295 (1998-01-01), Lohr
Lohr Industrie
Morano S. Joseph
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