Railway rolling stock – Locomotives – With rack rail engaging drive
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-15
2001-04-24
Avila, Stephen (Department: 3617)
Railway rolling stock
Locomotives
With rack rail engaging drive
C105S030000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06220174
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL AREA
The invention concerns a guidance system with a truck guided on a rail whose drive gear engages into a gearing of the rail in a power application point and whose guidance elements are led in appropriate points of support on laterally arranged guidance surfaces. Furthermore, the invention relates to a rail and to a truck for such a guidance system. State of the art
Conveyance systems, which can move up to specified positions, are needed in automatic manufacturing, for example. The workpieces can be transported with such a conveyance system from one processing station to the next and there be transferred automatically.
Systems in connection with which the individual transport cars run on metal rails with rollers are known in the art. The rollers are typically driven by electric motors. The roller drive indeed makes possible a great freedom in establishing the course of the rails as stretches with varying radii of curvature can be constructed without difficulty. Roller drives are nonetheless not exact as to position (owing to slippage). Correspondingly, the position can only be reached by additional position sensors and associated control circuits. In a facility with a great number of trucks, block control must be provided in addition for safety reasons.
It is known that exactitude of position can be reached with, for example, gear and spindle gear drives. Such drives find use, for example, in connection with machines with processing units movable to exact positions (milling cutter, drill, etc.). A typical area of application is a power bogie or rotary table of an automatic assembly machine. The traverse is exactly determined by the number of rotations of the pinion or driving gear wheel.
The known gear drives, however, are only suited for executing either exclusively linear or exclusively rotary movements.
PRESENTATION OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to indicate a guidance system of the type named at the beginning, which combines positional exactitude and largely free linear guidance.
Accomplishing the object is defined by the features of claim
1
. In accordance with the invention, a rack is constructed on the rail such that the dividing line of the gearing has a predefined constant distance from at least one lateral guide surface. The truck has a guiding element, which is led on the lateral guiding surface in a point of support, and a drive gear, which engages into the rack at a power application point. Drive gear and guiding element are so arranged that the straight line connection defined by the power application point and point of support is always perpendicular to the current direction of travel. The momentary direction of travel is defined by the tangentials of the dividing line.
Owing to the geometrical construction of the gearing according to the invention, a gear wheel-driven guidance system with largely optional rail guidance can be realized. Not only left as well as right curves, in addition to straight segments, but also various curve radii can be integrated into the same facility.
The dividing line preferably runs through a median perpendicular of the cross-section of the guiding rail. Extramedian arrangements are likewise possible. Guide rollers are usually used as guiding elements, but sliding elements are also possible.
A truck of the invention has at least one, preferably two wheel frames. These are so constructed that when direction is changed, the axis of rotation or pivoting of the wheel frame runs through the gearing dividing line. The pivoting axis thus passes through the power application point and is parallel to an axis of rotation of the drive gear. (If the truck has but a single wheel frame then the center of gravity of the truck should lie on the swivelling axis mentioned. This way, it is assured that the driving force (force of acceleration or braking force) generates no reaction moment of rotation on the truck (or its wheel frame).)
In accordance with an especially preferred embodiment, the wheel frame has a three-point guidance. That means that lateral guidance or control of direction is basically assumed by the three rollers. Two rollers run on one guide surface, only one on the other. The three points of lateral guidance form an isosceles triangle with an angular aperture, for example, from 30° to 40°.
Advantageously, two of the three rollers are sprung. It is a matter of those that are arranged on the same side and that consequently run on the same guide surface. More than three guide rollers can also be provided (whereby the number of the spring actions is to be accordingly adapted). If only two guide rollers are provided symmetrically to the swivelling axis of the wheel frame, stabilization can become a problem (vibrations, rolling motions).
The preferred construction of the three-point guidance permits a geometrically exact gear engagement for any desired curve radius.
Preferably the weight of the car is borne by separate track-supporting rollers. These do not need to be sprung. The rail has, for example, a basically flat cross-section whose exterior narrow sides form the guidance surfaces and whose top- and bottom-lying areas in the marginal area form the running surfaces for the track-supporting rollers. According to whether the trucks stand on the rails or are suspended from it, the rack is on the upper or lower broad side of the rail.
The guide rail and the rod must be made with high precision. The two parts can be manufactured individually and then joined with each other (screwed, welded). So that the shape of the gearing in the curves is correct, two identical straight racks can be laid one into the other and then be bent into the desired radius together, but it is also possible for the guide rail and rack to be milled directly from a single workpiece. The guide rail is advantageously fastened with a carrier, which has the necessary static loading capacity so that the precision-manufactured component of the rail system can be held to a minimum, as far as dimensions and weight are concerned. The carrier can be a typical double T carrier without special precision criteria. The rail is preferably fastened basically over its entire length (for example, by fastening elements at regular distances) so that their internal stability is also guaranteed. Finally, a power rail can also be fastened on the carrier.
The guidance system of the invention can have a modular construction. That means, varying rail elements (straight, curved to the left, curved to the right) can be made available, which can be assembled by the user according to his needs into an individual transport system. In combination with switches, crossovers, or even lift stations, there emerges a broad spectrum of possibilities.
Further advantageous embodiments and combinations of features of the invention emerge from the subsequent detailed description and the totality of the patent claims.
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Gudel Rudolf
Kurt Hans-Ulrich
Zulauf Walter
Avila Stephen
Gudel AG
Olson Lars A.
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