U.S. patent application number 14/389425 was filed with the patent office on 2015-03-05 for stone impact protection arrangement and rail vehicle with a stone impact protection arrangement.
This patent application is currently assigned to Siemens Aktiengesellschaft. The applicant listed for this patent is SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT. Invention is credited to Mihail Calomfirescu.
Application Number | 20150059612 14/389425 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 48190470 |
Filed Date | 2015-03-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150059612 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Calomfirescu; Mihail |
March 5, 2015 |
STONE IMPACT PROTECTION ARRANGEMENT AND RAIL VEHICLE WITH A STONE
IMPACT PROTECTION ARRANGEMENT
Abstract
A stone impact protection configuration for protecting at least
one vehicle component, in particular a wheelset shaft, disposed in
the region of the underbody of a rail vehicle, includes a plurality
of resilient shielding elements in the form of flexurally resilient
strips being supported and held at both end regions thereof by at
least one retention device. A corresponding rail vehicle with a
stone impact protection configuration for operating on track
systems with a ballast bed superstructure, is also provided.
Inventors: |
Calomfirescu; Mihail;
(Essen, DE) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT |
MUENCHEN |
|
DE |
|
|
Assignee: |
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
MUNCHEN
DE
|
Family ID: |
48190470 |
Appl. No.: |
14/389425 |
Filed: |
March 28, 2013 |
PCT Filed: |
March 28, 2013 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP2013/056656 |
371 Date: |
September 30, 2014 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
105/392.5 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B61F 19/00 20130101;
B61D 15/06 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
105/392.5 |
International
Class: |
B61D 15/06 20060101
B61D015/06 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Mar 30, 2012 |
DE |
102012205220.8 |
Claims
1-10. (canceled)
11. A stone impact protection configuration for protecting at least
one vehicle component, including a wheelset shaft, disposed in the
vicinity of an underbody of a rail vehicle, the stone impact
protection configuration comprising: a plurality of resilient
shielding elements constructed as flexurally resilient strips each
having two respective end regions; and at least one retention
device carrying said shielding elements and retaining said
shielding elements at both of said respective end regions.
12. The stone impact protection configuration according to claim
11, wherein said strips have longitudinal axes, and said at least
one retention device orients said longitudinal axes in parallel
with each other.
13. The stone impact protection configuration according to claim
11, wherein said at least one retention device includes two
retention devices each retaining a respective one of said end
regions of each of said strips.
14. The stone impact protection configuration according to claim
13, wherein said retention devices are at least one of resiliently
constructed or resiliently connected to each other to enable
low-tension bending of said strips.
15. The stone impact protection configuration according to claim
11, wherein said at least one retention device is configured to
support said strips at a spacing from the vehicle component to be
protected.
16. The stone impact protection configuration according to claim
11, which further comprises at least one clip configured to secure
said at least one retention device to the vehicle component
constructed as a wheelset shaft.
17. The stone impact protection configuration according to claim
16, wherein said at least one clip is a worm drive hose clip.
18. A rail vehicle for travel on track installations having a
ballasted track, the rail vehicle comprising: a vehicle underbody;
at least one vehicle component; and a stone impact protection
configuration according to claim 1 disposed in the vicinity of said
vehicle underbody.
19. The rail vehicle according to claim 17, wherein said at least
one vehicle component is a wheelset shaft having a covering surface
with a periphery, and said strips of said stone impact protection
configuration surround and are each spaced apart from said
periphery of said covering surface at a radial spacing.
20. The rail vehicle according to claim 18, wherein said at least
one retention device is secured to said at least one vehicle
component to be protected.
21. The rail vehicle according to claim 18, wherein said strips of
said at least one retention device of said stone impact protection
configuration are retained transversely relative to a travel
direction of the rail vehicle.
Description
[0001] The invention is based on a stone impact protection
arrangement for protecting at least one vehicle component which is
arranged in the region of the underbody of a rail vehicle, in
particular a wheelset shaft, having at least one resilient
shielding element and at least one retention device which carries
the shielding element.
[0002] The invention is further based on a rail vehicle which is
for travel on track systems having a ballasted track and which has
at least one vehicle component and one stone impact protection
arrangement in the region of the underbody thereof.
[0003] When such vehicles are travelling, the problem often occurs
that individual ballast stones, for a wide variety of reasons, are
torn from the ballast bed and thrown upward when rail vehicles
travel over them, such ballast stones being able to strike the
underfloor region of the passing rail vehicle with great intensity
and potentially causing damage at that location. It is also
possible that installations of the track infrastructure may be
damaged (for example, track switching means). This occurrence, as a
result of those ballast stones which return to the track bed and
bring about the disturbance of many additional ballast stones, may
lead to a significant ballast slippage which is self-maintaining
for a relatively long period of time. This phenomenon is
appropriately known in technical circles as flying ballast, ballast
projection or ballast impact. The problem of flying ballast occurs
primarily when traveling over rail installations having a
conventional ballasted track at travel speeds of more than 200
km/h.
[0004] In order to protect sensitive vehicle components, they are
shielded against flying ballast with impact plates. Other sensitive
components are accommodated in stable metal cases. Furthermore,
flying ballast is counteracted by means of additional deflector
plates in the region of the bogie. DE 10 2004 041 090 A1 shows such
deflector plates.
[0005] The protection of wheelset shafts comprises, for example,
resilient coatings with various materials or even coverings for the
shafts with additional rubber-like materials. It is disadvantageous
that the thick coating makes the inspection of the surface of the
shaft more difficult and thereby also the maintenance of the rail
vehicle.
[0006] An object of the invention is to provide a stone impact
protection arrangement and a rail vehicle with a stone impact
protection arrangement which prevents the damaging effect of
ballast stones or other foreign bodies which are thrown upward in a
simple and effective manner, but which allows simple
inspection.
[0007] The object is achieved with the features of the independent
claims 1 and 7. Advantageous embodiments are set out in the
dependent claims.
[0008] The stone impact protection arrangement according to the
invention makes provision for a plurality of shielding elements
which are constructed as flexurally resilient strips and which are
retained at both respective end regions thereof by means of the at
least one retention device. Each individual strip of the strips
which are retained at the end regions thereof can resiliently
absorb the energy of a stone impact in a particularly effective
manner with the flexurally resilient central portion thereof. As a
result of the use of a plurality of shielding elements which are
constructed as flexurally resilient strips, a planar shielding
structure can be formed. On the other hand, the redirection and
possible subsequent occurrences of oscillation are limited to the
strip which is affected by the impact of the ballast stone or other
object. The retention of the strips in/on the at least one
retention device is in particular intended to be understood to be a
bearing in the sense of a fixed bearing and/or a movable
bearing.
[0009] Such a stone impact protection arrangement has the advantage
that it can be assembled and disassembled relatively quickly and
therefore enables an inspection of the at least one component to be
protected.
[0010] The flexurally resilient strips are preferably constructed
as sheet metal strips formed from resilient metal sheets or as
pultruded GRP plates (GRP: glass-fiber reinforced plastics
material).
[0011] The stone impact protection arrangement can be used to
protect one or more vehicle component(s) in the region of the
underbody of the rail vehicle. However, the stone impact protection
arrangement is in particular a stone impact protection arrangement
for protecting a wheelset shaft of the rail vehicle. In this
instance, a planar shielding structure formed by the flexurally
resilient strips covers the covering face of the shaft (with the
exception of narrow gaps between the strips) preferably over the
entire surface.
[0012] Advantageously, the longitudinal axes of the strips are
preferably retained so as to be orientated parallel with each
other. The at least one retention device is therefore constructed
to retain the longitudinal axes of the strips in a parallel manner.
It is thereby possible to form in a simple manner a planar
shielding structure which covers/shields the at least one vehicle
component. In a central portion which extends transversely relative
to the orientation of the strips over all these strips, the stone
impact protection arrangement has a relatively homogeneous
rigidity. In particular, there is provision for two retention
devices to be provided, of which one retention device retains one
end region and the other retention device retains the other end
region of each of the strips, respectively.
[0013] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, there
is provision, in order to enable low-tension bending of the strips,
for the retention devices to be constructed in a resilient manner
and/or to be connected to each other in a resilient manner.
[0014] According to another preferred embodiment of the invention,
there is provision for the at least one retention device to be a
retention device for spaced-apart support of the strips with
respect to the vehicle component to be protected. The spacing a
between the strips and the surface of the component to be protected
or the components to be protected is determined in accordance with
the typically occurring kinetic energy of the objects and the
rigidity of the strips. In order to adapt the rigidity, the
geometry of the strip is constructed accordingly, for example, by
means of at least one bead.
[0015] There is further advantageously provision for the at least
one retention device to be able to be secured to the vehicle
component which is constructed as a wheelset shaft by means of at
least one clip, in particular a worm drive hose clip. Such a
securing of the stone impact protection arrangement for the
wheelset shaft has the advantage that it can be assembled and
disassembled in a relatively rapid manner and therefore enables
inspection of the at least one component to be protected.
Retrofitting of existing shafts is also possible without structural
changes to the wheelset.
[0016] In the rail vehicle according to the invention having a
stone impact protection arrangement, there is provision for the
stone impact protection arrangement to be a stone impact protection
arrangement mentioned above.
[0017] The vehicle component to be protected is completely or at
least partially covered by the stone impact protection arrangement.
In this instance, the vehicle component in the region of the
vehicle underbody is in particular a wheelset shaft. The covering
face of the wheelset shaft is surrounded over the periphery by all
of the strips of the stone impact protection arrangement, in each
case with a radial spacing a. To this end, the strips have a
corresponding curvature.
[0018] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, there
is provision for the retention device or the retention devices to
be secured to the at least one vehicle component to be protected.
Alternatively, the retention device or the retention devices may
also be secured to at least one other vehicle component,
preferably, an adjacent vehicle component.
[0019] According to another preferred embodiment of the invention,
the strips of the at least one retention device of the stone impact
protection arrangement are retained transversely relative to the
travel direction of the rail vehicle.
[0020] An embodiment of the invention is explained in greater
detail below with reference to the drawings, in which:
[0021] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of the operating
principle of a stone impact protection arrangement, and
[0022] FIG. 2 shows a stone impact protection arrangement for
protecting a wheelset shaft according to a preferred embodiment of
the invention,
[0023] FIG. 3 is a sectioned illustration through the stone impact
protection arrangement and the wheelset shaft along the line of
section III-III of FIG. 2, and
[0024] FIG. 4 is a detailed illustration of the securing of the
stone impact protection arrangement on the shaft.
[0025] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of the operating
principle of a stone impact protection arrangement or a stone
impact protection device 10 for protecting a vehicle component 12
of a rail vehicle which is not illustrated. The vehicle component
12 of the rail vehicle to be protected is in this example a
wheelset shaft 14 of a wheelset of the rail vehicle.
[0026] The stone impact protection arrangement 10 comprises a
plurality of shielding elements which are constructed as flexurally
resilient strips 16. These strips 16 are supported at the two end
regions 18, 20 thereof which are arranged opposite each other in
the longitudinal extent of the respective strip 16 in such a manner
that the flexurally resilient strips 16 can bend in a central
portion 22 in the direction of the component 12 to be protected,
that is to say, in this instance radially in the direction of the
shaft 14. In this instance, the end regions 18, 20 are retained so
as to be spaced apart with a spacing a with respect to the vehicle
component 12. In the non-deformed state, the strips 16 extend
parallel with the rotation axis 24 of the shaft 14. The strips 16
are, for example, constructed as sheet metal strips or sheet metal
bars of a resilient metal sheet or as pultruded plates of GRP (GRP:
glass-fiber reinforced plastics material).
[0027] A ballast stone 26 which has been thrown up from the
ballasted track of a track installation over which a rail vehicle
has just travelled or another object which moves in the direction
of the component 12 (arrow 28) strikes one of the flexurally
resilient strips 16 of the protection arrangement 10. In the
example shown, this object 26 strikes the central portion 22 of
this one strip 16. Since the flexurally resilient strips 16 are
retained or supported at the end regions 18, 20 thereof which are
opposite each other, the strips can give way in this central
portion in a particularly highly resilient manner. The strip 16 can
thereby absorb the kinetic energy of the object 26 in an effective
manner by the resilient deformation. The resilient (elastic)
deformation of the corresponding strip 16 is indicated by the
dashed lines. A corresponding impact when the object 26 strikes the
respective strip 16 is thus not transmitted or almost not
transmitted at all to the shaft 24. The selection of the spacing a
between the strips 16 and the surface of the component 12 to be
protected or the components 12 to be protected is determined in
accordance with the typically occurring kinetic energies of the
objects 26 and the rigidity of the strips 16.
[0028] FIG. 2 shows a wheelset 30 having the wheelset shaft 14 and
the two wheel discs 32, 34. The wheelset shaft 14 is surrounded
between the wheel discs 32, 34 by the stone impact protection
arrangement 10. This surrounds the strips 16 and two annular
retention devices 36, 38 which each retain or support one of the
end regions 18, 20 of the strips 16.
[0029] FIG. 3 is a sectioned illustration through the vehicle
component 12 which is to be protected and which is constructed as a
wheelset shaft 14 and the stone impact protection arrangement 10
along the line of section III-III shown in FIG. 2.
[0030] The strips 16 are distributed peripherally with uniform
radial spacing about the shaft 14 or the axis 24 thereof. FIG. 3
shows a stone impact protection arrangement 10 having six
plate-like strips 16, but it is also possible to use fewer or more,
for example, four or eight, strips 16. The strips 16 further have a
curvature. This curvature has, on the one hand, an advantageous
influence on the flexural rigidity of the strips 16 and, on the
other hand, a uniform spacing a is produced with respect to the
covering face of the shaft 14.
[0031] Finally, FIG. 4 is a detailed drawing of one of the
retention devices 36 of the stone impact protection arrangement 10
and shows the securing of this retention device 38 to the component
12 to be protected, that is to say, the wheelset shaft 14 (region
IV of FIG. 2). The other retention device 36 and the securing
thereof are constructed accordingly.
[0032] The retention device 36, 38 for retaining/supporting the
strips 16 is constructed in a resilient manner within the
protection arrangement 10 so that free bending of the strips 16 is
possible. The retention device 36, 38 has a base 40 which comprises
two portions (more precisely, two half-shells), a profile-member 42
which also comprises two portions and a clip 44 which is
constructed as a worm drive hose clip. The portions of the base 40
are produced from a resilient material, in particular a rubber-like
material. The base 40 forms, together with the profile-member 42
which peripherally surrounds the base 40, receiving members for the
end regions 18, 20 of the strips 16. The portions of the
profile-member 42 may be produced either from metal materials or
plastics materials. The connection of the retention device 36, 38
to the shaft 14 is carried out in each case by the clip 44 which is
introduced into a shoulder of the profile-member 42 in order
thereby to itself be protected against flying ballast.
* * * * *