Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 03056511 2019-09-13
DESCRIPTION
Sleeper fastening system on a ballastless track
OBJECT
The present invention refers to a device that fixes a sleeper, which is used
to seat the tracks of a railway on it, for
ballastless track.
State of the art
Railway sleepers for concrete slab track, which are fastened to the concrete
slab of the railway track and to the track
by means of through bolts are known in the state of the art.
Railway sleepers are transverse or longitudinal components comprising the
means of retaining the track rails on the
body of a reinforced concrete sleeper.
Concrete slab tracks are subjected to increased mechanical stress due to the
increasing pressure of the vehicle axles
and their speeds, which have tended to increase in recent times.
Thus, speeds of over 200kmh are reached for passenger transport and speeds of
120km/h for freight transport. In
addition, in order to guarantee the lifespan of the concrete slab track
infrastructure, there must be some vertical
mobility, i.e. an elastically deformable body must be placed under the track.
The service life of the deformable body must be increased by preventing
concrete sleepers from sliding sideways on
the concrete base plate if an excessively flexible inter-plate is located
under the sleeper.
SUMMARY
The present invention aims to resolve one or more of the drawbacks outlined
above by means of a fixing device for
the sleeper body as defined in the claims.
A fixing device from a sleeper to a base plate of a railway track where an
inter-plate is located between the sleeper
body and the base plate according to a configuration in overlapping layers;
where the sleeper body comprises at
least one through hole; the base plate comprises at least one blind hole in
which an anchor bolt is embedded; the
fixing device can be inserted into the through hole in order to be immobilized
in a detachable way by the anchor bolt
in the installation position of the slab track; without subjecting the inter-
plate to an additional pretension to which the
inter-plate is subjected when the sleeper body is placed on the base plate.
The bolt is firmly locked and prevented from moving into the corresponding
blind hole.
The fixing device includes a guiding rod for positioning the sleeper body on
the base plate in the slab track installation
position; and an immobilizing end that works mechanically with the anchor bolt
to fix the sleeper body in the slab track
installation position. The rod and end of the fixing device pass through the
inter-plate.
The fixing device also includes a head included in the through hole without
protruding from the upper plane of the
sleeper body in the slab track installation position.
The guiding rod can be inserted into a sleeve that internally lines the
through hole in the slab track position. The
immobilizing end is threadable into an internal thread of the anchor bolt such
as a locking nut, in the installation
position of the slab track.
The inside diameter of the through hole sleeve is larger than the diameter of
the fixing device stem, which allows the
through hole to be aligned with the anchor bolt to ensure the fixing device
force is centred on the anchor bolt. In this
way, the fixing device is only applied in the direction of traction and
twisting of the fixing device is avoided.
However, the head of the fixing device has a diameter that is substantially
equal to the diameter of the sleeve of the
through hole, so that the head is locked and immobilized to make small lateral
displacements according to a diameter
of the head inside the sleeve of the through hole, but allows limited vertical
displacements of the sleeve with respect
to the head and stem of the fixing device in the installation position of the
slab track.
The body of the sleeper comprises at least two through holes arranged close to
each free outer side, i.e. the sleepers
are arranged in a row one after another on the inter-plate.
Therefore, the outer right and left side of the sleeper row are free. Through
holes can be arranged in an inclined axis
with respect to an axis parallel to an edge of a free outer side of the
sleeper body; for example, the inclined axis cuts
two non-contiguous vertices of the sleeper body obliquely.
The sleeper body consists of at least two rail track retention devices
designed to retain the rails on the reinforced
1
CA 03056511 2019-09-13
concrete sleeper body. The means of retention are embedded in the
corresponding recesses of the sleeper body
from the upper plane to the lower plane of the sleeper body. The rail
retention media are also aligned in a row.
The inter-plate is made of elastic material such as an elastomer, being
arranged between the sleeper and the base
plate in a layered or sandwich configuration, so that when the sleeper body
exerts an original pre-tension, a function
of the weight of the sleeper, and the fixing arrangement, by fixing the
sleeper body to the base plate in the installation
position of the slab track, it does not increase the original pre-tension of
the sleeper body. That is to say, the sleeper
body exerts an additional pressure to the original pretension when a train
carriage passes over it.
Consequently, the sleeper body describes a sliding vertical movement, limited
elastic travel, from a resting position,
corresponding to the installation position of the slab track, to a working
position, relative to the passage of a train
carriage on the rail tracks, and vice versa. That is to say, the time that the
sleeper body is in working position is a
function of the frequency of passing trains on the railway.
The fixing device provides an elastic, resistant and economic fastening or
retention to the sleeper, which requires a
reduced number of pieces and whose assembly is simple and precise with no
specialization.
The fixing arrangement provides an elastic retention whose elasticity is due
both to the nature of the inter-plate and to
the sliding retention system of the sleeper body in the slab track
installation position. The sleeper is firmly retained
and, at the same time, the retention is elastic.
The slab track comprises at least one portion of base plate, one inter-plate
and at least one sleeper body installed in
a configuration of overlapping layers fixed in the slab track installation
position by means of the fixing device.
The slab track comprises non-moving parts such as the base plate and the
fixing device, and moving parts of
reduced amplitude such as the inter-plate and the sleeper body.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
A more detailed explanation of the device according to the embodiments of the
invention is given in the description
below, based on the attached figures in which:
figure 1 shows an elevated view of a plate track in a layered configuration,
from bottom to top, base plate, inter-plate,
sleeper body, rail track,
figure 2 shows in a profile view a fixing device in the slab track
installation position,
figure 3 shows a perspective view of the slab track where the fixing device
has been disassembled to remove the
sleeper body from the slab track installation position, and
figure 4 shows a plan view of the slab track in the installation position.
DESCRIPTION
In relation to figures 1 and 2, where a slab track is shown that includes, in
a vertical or sandwich layered
arrangement, a base plate 18 or seat plate, lower layer, an elastic inter-
plate 15, intermediate layer, a sleeper 13 in
longitudinal form according to the longitudinal axis of a rail 19 of the rail
track, and a sleeper 13 fixing device 11,
which anchors it to the base plate 18 of the slab track.
The sleeper body 13 comprises at least one through hole 12 lined with a
sleeve. The base plate 18 comprises..at
least one blind hole 16 in which an anchor bolt 17 is embedded, so that the
anchor bolt 17 is firmly locked and
prevented from moving inside the blind hole 16.
The fixing device 11 can be inserted into the sleeve of the through hole 12;
the fixing device 11 being immobilised but
can be detached by the anchor bolt 17 in the installation position of the slab
track.
Therefore, inter-plate 15 is not subject to an additional pretension in the
slab track installation position; i.e. inter-plate
15 is subject to an original pretension depending on the weight of the sleeper
body 13 when it is positioned above
inter-plate 15, which, in turn, is positioned on the base plate 18.
The fixing device 11 comprises a guide rod 22 for positioning the sleeper 13
on the base plate 18 in the slab track
installation position; and an immobilizing end 23 that works mechanically with
the anchor bolt 17 to fix the sleeper 13
in the slab track installation position.
The fixing device 11 also comprises a head 21 in the through-hole 12 which
does not protrude to the upper plane of
the sleeper 13 in the slab track installation position.
The guiding rod 22 can be inserted into the sleeve lining the through hole 12
in the slab track installation position.
The immobilizing end 23 is threadable into the internal thread of the anchor
bolt 17 as is a retaining lock nut, in the
slab track installation position.
2
CA 03056511 2019-09-13
The inside diameter of the through hole sleeve 12 is larger than the diameter
of the guide rod 22, which allows the
through hole sleeve 12 to be aligned with the anchor bolt 17.
However, the head 21 of fixing device 11 has a diameter substantially equal to
the diameter of the sleeve of the
through-hole 12, so that head 21 is held immobilized inside the sleeve of
through hole 12 in the slab track installation
position.
Railway sleeper 13 comprises at least two through holes 12 arranged close to
each free outer side of the sleeper, i.e.
sleepers 13 are arranged in a row one after another on the inter-plate.
Therefore, the outer right and left side of the
row are free.
In connection with figure 4, the through holes 12 can now be arranged in an
inclined axis with respect to an axis
parallel to an edge of a free outer side of the sleeper 13; for example, the
inclined axis cuts to two non-contiguous
vertices of sleeper 13 obliquely.
Railway sleeper 13 comprises at least two rail 19 retention devices designed
to retain rails 19 on the reinforced
concrete sleeper 13. The means of retention are embedded in the corresponding
recesses of sleeper 13 from the
upper plane to the lower plane of the sleeper. The track retention media are
also aligned in a row.
The inter-plate 15 is made of elastic material such as an elastomer, being
arranged between the sleeper 13 and base
plate 18 in a layered or sandwich configuration, in such a way that the
sleeper exerts an original pre-tension, a
function of the weight of the sleeper and the fixing arrangement 11, when
fixing the sleeper 13 on the base plate 18 in
the slab track installation position, and it does not increase the original
pre-tension of the sleeper 13. That is to say,
the sleeper 13 exerts an additional pressure to the original pretension when a
train carriage passes.
Consequently, sleeper 13 describes a vertical sliding movement from a resting
position, corresponding to the slab
track installation position, to a working position, relative to the passage of
a train car on the rails 19, and vice versa.
That is to say, the time that the sleeper 13 is in a working position is a
function of the frequency of trains passing on
the rail track.
Fixing device 11 provides an elastic, resistant and economic fixing or
retention to sleeper 13, which requires a
reduced number of pieces and whose assembly is simple and precise with no
specialization.
The fixing arrangement 11 provides an elastic retention whose elasticity is
due both to the nature of the inter-plate 15
and to the sliding retention system of the sleeper 13 in the slab track
installation position. The sleeper 13 is firmly
retained and, at the same time, the retention is elastic.
The slab track comprises at least one portion of base plate 18, one inter-
plate 15 and at least one sleeper 13 installed
in a configuration in overlapping layers fixed in the slab track installation
position by means of the fixing device 11.
The slab track comprises non-moving parts such as base plate 18 and fixing
device 11, and small moving parts such
as the inter-plate 15 and sleeper 13. The amplitude of the vertical
displacement can be adjusted by increasing the
thickness or width of the inter-plate layer 15.
In connection with figure 3, sleeper 13 is now laterally removable in the
event of failure of the base plate 18 seat, for
example. The longitudinal sleepers are the same, which guarantees their
interchangeability. The fixing device 11
does not transmit pressure to the body of the sleeper 13; it is firmly
anchored to the base plate 18.
3
