Railway rolling stock – Body suspension and springs
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-12
2001-08-28
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Railway rolling stock
Body suspension and springs
C105S199100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06279488
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to railway vehicles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
On railway vehicles of the prior art, it is generally known that a car body can be elastically supported by means of coupling element units on an undercarriage frame of a truck that is located underneath the car body. In that case, the coupling elements that execute the suspension action must be connected with the car body and the undercarriage frame so that they can track the movements that occur between the car body and the undercarriage frame.
The object of the present invention is to provide a coupling element that has a spring action which is relieved of loads that are exerted at right angles to its direction of deflection.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
When a railway vehicle is provided as claimed by the present invention, a sliding adapter that is integrated into the coupling element absorbs the lateral or rotational movements that occur under allowable operating conditions between the car body and the undercarriage frame. This sliding adapter can thereby be provided so that it experiences very little friction, and thus has a low likelihood of failure while requiring little or no maintenance. A non-jamming equalization of the sliding movements that occur is therefore guaranteed. The sliding adapter thereby has a degree of freedom in translation in two non-coincident axes, and is installed so that its displacement plane runs parallel to the plane that contains either the floor of the car body or the undercarriage frame. The element of the coupling unit that has the spring can be a component that needs to be moved in only one direction, as is the case with hydro-pneumatic actuators. The cylinder of this actuator can thereby be fastened to the undercarriage frame or to the floor of the car body so that it does not move, i.e. it can be bolted or welded to it, because movements at a right angle to its displacement direction are absorbed by the sliding adapter. The sliding adapter can be provided, for example, in the form of a ball-mounted platform, to keep the friction between the adapter elements low, and thus to minimize the load on the spring element at a right angle to its direction of deflection. So that running vibrations of the truck are not transmitted undamped via the coupling element units to the car body, at least one of the adapter elements of the sliding adapter that can move with respect to one another are provided with acoustical insulation means. For this purpose, this adapter element can have two plates that are connected with one another only by means of an insulation layer. This insulation layer lies parallel to the plane of displacement of the sliding adapter, and can be provided in the form of a solid disc, in the form of a plurality of discs that are located next to one another, or in particular in the form of an annular disc. To be able to absorb the forces generated by the friction of the sliding adapter without the risk of a displacement between these plates, the insulation layer is held in position by means of its end surfaces facing these plates in corresponding matching locator depressions in these plates.
The sliding adapters that are associated with a railway car can not only compensate for the transverse movements within the coupling element units that act as vertical supports during the travel of the railway vehicle, but they could also be used, for example, to move the car body closer to the edge of the platform when the car stops at a platform, in the sense of reducing the size of the gap between the car body and the edge of the platform. It may also be appropriate to provide an optionally controllable interlock device between the adapter elements to reduce their unrestricted mobility as a function of the operating conditions or to eliminate their mobility altogether.
There are also separate force coupling elements to transmit the force between the car body and the truck. For example, longitudinal forces as well as transverse forces are transmitted by means of a bearing neck that is fastened to the car body to a matching thrust bearing on the truck frame. For the transmission of longitudinal forces, however, there can also be a coupling rod that is provided in the form of a longitudinal force coupling element. Transverse forces, on the other hand, can be absorbed by means of at least one transverse force coupling element that can also be provided in the form of an actively controllable actuator, by means of which the transverse displacement between the car body and the running carriage can be controlled as a function of the operating requirements. The displacement movements between the car bodies and the running carriage caused by the force coupling elements are thereby smaller than the allowable displacement movement of the respective sliding adapter.
The spring element inserted into the respective coupling element unit can be passive, and can be provided, for example, in the form of steel coil springs or solid rubber springs. Preferably, however, the spring element can be actively controlled, and can be provided in particular in the form of a hydro-pneumatically controlled hydraulic cylinder, the length of which can be changed only in one direction. To also be able to equalize the tipping movements between the car body and the truck frame that result from distortions or from the inclination of the car body or of the tracks, the coupling element unit can be equipped with a knuckle joint that is provided in the manner of a ball-and-socket joint. This knuckle joint is preferably installed between the spring element and the sliding adapter and has only one knuckle.
The invention is explained in greater detail below with reference to the exemplary embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3212460 (1965-10-01), Peras
patent: 3957318 (1976-05-01), Wiebe
patent: 4955293 (1990-09-01), Kramer et al.
patent: 5682822 (1997-11-01), Sunderman et al.
patent: 5960719 (1999-10-01), Sunderman et al.
patent: 1063196 (1959-08-01), None
patent: 9304837 (1993-05-01), None
patent: 4243886 (1994-06-01), None
Benker Thomas
Hachmann Ulrich
Schuller Uwe
DaimlerChrysler Rail Systems GmbH
McCarry, Jr. Robert J.
Morano S. Joseph
Webb Ziesenheim & Logsdon Orkin & Hanson, P.C.
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