Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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WHEEL TRANSLATION CONTROL SYSTEM FOR TRACK GAUGE CHANGERS
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention refers to a wheel translation
control system in a track gauge changer, capable of measuring
on the passage of a train, the necessary force to translate
the wheel sets of the carriages from one gauge to another.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Patent EP-A-O 611 847 describes a gauge changer intended
to permit the automatic variation of the separation between
the wheels of the wheel sets, the latter being adapted to
each one of two conventional gauges. This changer comprises
unlocking guides intended to release the wheel fastening
latches in such a way that they may move transversally,
passing from one gauge to another, as well as transverse
translation guides, fitted between the unlocking guides and
pushing and guiding the wheels when changing the gauge.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
As from the above mentioned European patent, which
serves as a preamble for claim 1, the present invention has
developed a control system applicable to the gauge changer of
said patent, by which the resistance offered by the wheel
sets may be measured when translated from one gauge to
another.
Therefore, an object of the present invention consists
of providing a wheel translation control system in a track
gauge changer with the purpose of always knowing if said
translation is made without the necessary force for it
exceeding a predetermined value. This value will vary
according to the type of train (passenger train, goods train,
mixed train), but in general should be less than 300 daN.
Another object of the invention consists in keeping an
updated record of the resistance offered to the translation
by each wheel set of a train, and hence being able to adopt
the repair or reconditioning measures, necessary only for
those wheel sets exceeding the above mentioned predetermined
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value in their translation from one track gauge to another.
These and other objects of the invention are achieved by
means of the mentioned control system, applicable to a track
gauge changer comprising unlocking guides, two for each side
of the wheel set, running parallel to the track axis, and
transverse translation guides, two for each side of the wheel
sets, fitted between the unlocking guides of the correspon-
ding side and each one of them consisting of an elastic part
and a rigid part joined to each other in an articulated way
at one of their ends, said control system being characterised
in that it comprises, for each transverse translation guide,
a plurality of load cells mounted in elastic sensing devices
housed and fixed in the unlocking guides, as well as joined
to the transverse translation guides; summing junction boxes
connected to said load cells and intended to receive the
signals generated by the latter on the passage of the wheel
sets; a signal conditioning unit connected to said junction
boxes and intended to condition the analogical signals trans-
mitted from the latter; and a data collection and storage
digital equipment to process the signals received from the
load cells across the junction boxes and the conditioning
unit, as well as other characteristic data referring to the
vehicle and its wheel sets.
According to the invention, three load cells are used
for each transverse translation guide, one arranged in the
free end of the elastic part of said guide, another situated
in the joining area of the elastic and rigid parts of said
guide, and a third one located in the free end of the rigid
part of said guide.
B~tIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above and other objects of the invention will be
more clearly elucidated upon reading the following descrip-
tion of a preferred embodiment thereof referring to the
attached drawings, wherein:
- Figure 1 shows a schematic plan view of a track gauge
changer to which the invention may be applied,
- Figure 2 is a schematic plan view illustrating the
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control system developed by the invention and
- Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the connections
between the different components of the control system of the
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
As shown in figure 1, a track gauge changer 1 is fitted
between rolling rails 2 of UIC gauge and rolling rails 3 of
RENFE gauge (RENFE is the acronym for the Spanish Railways).
The installation comprises guide rails 4 intended for cen-
tering and sliding the carriages during the track gauge
change operation; internal 5 and external 6 unlocking guides,
intended to release the wheel fastening latches of the wheel
sets and hence leaving the latter free to be transversally
displaced, passing from one track gauge to another; and
transverse translation guides arranged between the two
sliding guides 5, 6 on each side of the track, each one of
them consisting of an elastic part 7 and a rigid part 8.
The operation of the track gauge changer of figure 1,
described in detail in the patent EP-A-O 611 847, consists,
in short, of the following:
When a train enters in the changer 1, its vehicles beco-
me supported by the guide rails 4 and the bogie wheels sub-
jected to the track gauge change operation are separated from
the entrance rolling rails 2 or 3 depending on the train
coming from the track of less gauge or from the track of
greater gauge. The unlocking guides 5, 6 release the wheel
fastening latches and the wheels are then pressed by the
transverse translation guides 7, 8 so that they pass from one
track gauge to another. On reaching the height of the exit
rolling rails 3 or 2, the wheels enter in contact with these
and support the vehicle again, such that the latter is
separated from the guide rails 4 and remains then ready to
circulate along the new track gauge.
In the representation of figure 2, the rolling rails 2
and 3 as well as the guide rails 4 have been omitted, and
only the unlocking guides 5, 6 and the transverse translation
guides 7, 8 have been illustrated, these being the components
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of the changer 1 to which the present invention applies.
As may be observed in figure 2, each transverse trans-
lation guide 7, 8 has three load cells C1, C2, C3, assigned,
respectively corresponding to the free end of the elastic
part 7 of the guide, to the joining area of the elastic and
rigid parts 7, 8 of the guide and to the free end of the
rigid part 8 of the guide. The load cells are installed on
fixed supports of the unlocking guides 5, 6 and each one
connected to an elastic sensing device 9 transmitting to said
cells the forces coming from the wheel sets during their
translation movement from one track gauge to another. The
elastic sensing devices 9 are also joined to the corres-
ponding transverse translation guides 7, 8.
As illustrated in the scheme of figure 3, the forces
measured by the load cells C1, C2, C3 are transmitted to the
summing junction boxes 10 and from these to a signal condi
tioning unit 11. The analogical signals conditioned in unit
11 are sent to a processing equipment 12 for their display
and evaluation.
The operation of the control system of the invention is
developed as follows:
When the wheels of the wheel sets of a railway vehicle
enter in contact with the transverse translation guides 7, 8,
the load cells C1, C2, C3 will start to measure the force
imposed over said guides by the wheels during their movement
of change of track gauge, the force imposed over each point
of the translation guides 7, 8 being the sum of the forces
measured by the load cells located on either side of this
point.
It should be remarked that, for the purposes of the
present invention, the entrance load imposed by the wheels
over the elastic entrance part 7 of the transverse trans-
lation guides is not considered. That is, assuming that the
train comes from the UIC side (left side of figure 2), the
measurements in the load cells C1 and C2 of the external
transverse translation guides will not be taken into account
(the load cell C3 of these external guides would not work in
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this case, since the wheels would never be in contact with
the rigid part 8 thereof). Specifically, the control of the
translation force evolution of the wheel sets in a train
coming from the UIC side will be made by measuring this
5 parameter in the internal transverse translation guides
( nearer to the track axis ) by means of their three respective
load cells C3, C2 and C1, which will measure the horizontal
reaction forces at the end of the rigid part 8 of said guides
remote from its elastic part 7 (load cell C3), at the end of
said rigid part 8 close to its articulation with said elastic
part 7 (load cell C2) and at the end of this elastic part 7
remote from its articulation with the rigid part 8 ( load cell
C1 ) . A similar consideration applies to the case in which the
train arrives to the changer 1 along the RENFE side, except
that then the force measurements would be taken from the load
cells situated on the external transverse translation guides
(further remote from the track axis).
The force measurement signals generated by the cells C1,
C2, C3 are sent to the summing junction boxes 10, where the
signals corresponding to each point of the transverse trans
lation guides 7, 8 are added together to obtain the total
force applied on the corresponding point. These sum signals
are transmitted to the conditioning unit 11, where they are
prepared for their transmission as analogical signals to the
processing equipment 12. In the latter, the analogical
signals are digitized, displayed on a screen and evaluated.
The processing equipment 12 should be capable of sup
plying, among other, the following informations:
- Date on which the vehicle passed by and its identi-
fication.
- Identification of the direction in which the passage
was made and identification of the number assigned to each
one of the wheel sets and the position of their wheels. Also
the time on which the passage of each axle was produced
should be controlled to indirectly determine the passage
speed.
- List of the wheels in which the translation force had
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exceeded a value of 300 daN, indicating the specific value of
said translation force. The software of the processing equip-
ment 12 may modify, without great complications, the level of
the maximum value of 300 daN mentioned above.
- Retention in memory of the evolution in time of the
necessary force to translate those wheels whose maximum had
exceeded the value of 300 daN or that fixed by default.
- Retention in memory of the maximum translation force,
whatever its value, provided that previously the wheel had
exceeded the maximum force of 300 daN, and list of the
evolution of the maximum translation force of one wheel as
from the date on which said maximum value of 300 daN was
exceeded.
- Attainment in a PC of the histogram for the
translation force evaluation when the maximum value had
exceeded 300 daN.
In the light of the information supplied by the pro-
cessing equipment 12, it will be possible to be aware of the
wheels for whose translation a force greater than the pre-
established maximum value was required (300 daN in this embo-
diment example), and to order the transfer of said wheels to
the workshop for their revision and possible repair of the
defect that obliged the translation force required to rise
above the pre-established admissible maximum value.
As a consequence of the use of the control system of the
present invention, it is possible to have an exact knowledge
of the state of each wheel set of a vehicle at all times, and
to subject to revision and/or repair only those wheel sets
really needing it. This means a more economical maintenance
of railway vehicles since it will prevent the need for rou-
tine periodic revisions of all the wheel sets and would
permit action only over those that had shown an inadmissible
resistance to their translation from one track gauge to
another.
The above specification has tried to highlight the
essential features of the control system of the present
invention. Nevertheless, it is obvious that it would be
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possible to introduce shape, detail and arrangement modi-
fications of components in the control system described and
represented, without going beyond the scope of the present
invention. For this reason, it is intended that the scope of
the latter is only limited by the contents of the attached
claims.
