This invention refers to devices to shift the stops of rail vehicle bodies or coaches with bogies when they are entering a curve, and to a rail vehicle body with bogies.
Moving equipment in general, when running on a curved track or rail, are naturally subjected to a lateral thrust towards the outside thereof (due to the centrifugal force) which, in the case of railway vehicles, leads to a tendency to tilt towards the outside and for the bodies to swivel in the same direction. The pendular type suspension developed by the applicant for the family of Pendular Talgo trains (which is described, for example, in the applicant's Spanish patent 424615 as “pendular suspension system”) succeeded in reversing the direction of this swivel such that, in these trains, the vehicle bodies, when running along curves, naturally tilt “towards the inside” of the curves. This makes it possible to considerably reduce the lateral force to which people who are traveling inside the vehicle bodies are inevitably subjected when they pass through the curves.
Coaches equipped with bogies have a lateral clearance between the sides of the bogie frame and a lower part of the body that is located in the interior cavity bounded by the frame of that bogie. To prevent the coaches from tilting on undergoing movements due to lateral forces (e.g., when traveling along a curve), lateral stops are placed in the bogie frame that limit the lateral movement of the body, or relative movement of the body with respect to the bogie.
When running along a curve at low speed, especially vehicles equipped with pendular suspension, the centrifugal force is very small and does not offset the natural movement towards the inside of the curve that, for example, is characteristic of this suspension; therefore, in practice, the body shifts towards the inside of the curve. The lateral shift of the body towards the inside of the curve should be accounted for when designing the body dimensions so it can conform with the required outside gauge and thus allow for operation without any interference. This means that, for practical purposes, the width of the coaches can be reduced.
Therefore, the purpose of this invention is to provide devices to shift the stops of the bodies of a rail vehicle on curves that succeed in limiting the lateral shift of the body towards the inside of the curve with respect to the bogie and, consequently, make it possible to design wider bodies. In addition, the corresponding rail vehicle bodies are provided with bogies that incorporate these devices.
The invention provides a device to shift the stops of rail vehicle bodies with bogies on curves, in which the bogie frame bounds an interior cavity whose lateral edges each has a stop and that houses a lower projecting part of the body, such that there are clearances between these lateral edges of the bogie frame and the corresponding lateral edges of this lower projecting part of the body which, on the front edge of the interior cavity of the bogie frame, comprises a pair of joints arranged symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axle of the bogie, from each of which a rod leads backwards and on the other end of these each is joined to a slider by means of two joints, each located on an end of each of these sliders; the sliders are able to move on guides located on the respective lateral surfaces of the lower projecting part of the body, and the sliders are wedge shaped with a guide located on their surface in the form of an inclined plane and on which the stops of the body are coupled, at their respective inside surfaces, to the guides located on the inclined planes corresponding to the outside surfaces of the respective sliders; the inside surfaces of the body stops have the same inclination as the inclined planes of the sliders, and the body stops are joined together by guided transversal connection means so as to prevent the longitudinal movement of these body stops with respect to the lower projecting part of the body.
A device is also provided to shift the stops of rail vehicle bodies with bogies on curves, in which the bogie frame bounds an interior cavity whose lateral edges each has a stop and that houses a lower projecting part of the body, such that there are clearances between these lateral edges of the bogie frame and the corresponding lateral edges of this lower projecting part of the body which, on the rear edge of the interior cavity of the bogie frame, comprises a pair of joints arranged symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axle of the bogie, from each of which a rod leads forwards and on the other end of these each is joined to a slider by means of two joints, each located on an end of each of these sliders; the sliders are able to move on guides located on the respective lateral surfaces of the lower projecting part of the body, and these sliders are wedge shaped with a guide located on their surface in the form of an inclined plane and on which the stops of the body are coupled, at their respective inside surfaces, to the guides located on the inclined planes corresponding to the outside surfaces of the respective sliders; the inside surfaces of the body stops have the same inclination as the inclined planes of the sliders, and the body stops are joined together by guided transversal connection means so as to prevent the longitudinal movement of these body stops with respect to the lower projecting part of the body.
A device is also provided to shift the stops of rail vehicle bodies with bogies on curves, in which the bogie frame bounds an interior cavity whose lateral edges each has a stop and that houses a lower projecting part of the body, such that there are clearances between these lateral edges of the bogie frame and the corresponding lateral edges of this lower projecting part of the body which, on the front edge of the interior cavity of the bogie frame, comprises a pair of joints arranged symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axle of the bogie, from each of which a rod leads backwards and on the other end of these each is joined to a slider by means of two joints, each located on an end of each of these sliders; the sliders are able to move on guides located on the respective lateral surfaces of the lower projecting part of the body, and the sliders are wedge shaped with a guide located on their surface in the form of an inclined plane and on which each stop of the body is coupled, at its respective inside surface, to the guide located on the inclined plane corresponding to the outside surface of the slider; the inside surface of each stop of the body has the same inclination as the inclined plane of the corresponding slider, and these body stops are joined to the respective lateral surface of the lower projecting part of the body by elastic means and they are guided in the transversal direction by appropriate means of stop ends.
A device is also provided to shift the stops of rail vehicle bodies with bogies on curves, in which the bogie frame bounds an interior cavity whose lateral edges each has a stop and that houses a lower projecting part of the body, such that there are clearances between these lateral edges of the bogie frame and the corresponding lateral edges of this lower projecting part of the body which, on the rear edge of the interior cavity of the bogie frame, comprises a pair of joints arranged symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axle of the bogie, from each of which a rod leads forwards and on the other end of these each is joined to a slider by means of two joints, each located on an end of each of these sliders; the sliders are able to move on guides located on the respective lateral surfaces of the lower projecting part of the body, and the sliders are wedge shaped with a guide located on their surface in the form of an inclined plane and on which each stop of the body is coupled, at its respective inside surface, to the guide located on the inclined plane corresponding to the outside surface of the slider; the inside surface of each stop of the body has the same inclination as the inclined plane of the corresponding slider, and these body stops are joined to the respective lateral surface of the lower projecting part of the body by elastic means and they are guided in the transversal directions by appropriate means of stop ends.
The invention also provides a railway vehicle body with bogies which comprises two bogies, one located at the front and another located at the rear, and which includes in the interior cavity of the front bogie frame a device to shift the stops of the bodies as per any of the preceding embodiments, and which includes in the interior cavity of the rear bogie frame a device to shift the stops of the bodies that is symmetrical to the former.
With these configurations, the stops of the body can be shifted towards the inside of the curve when the body is in this curve, thus limiting the lateral movement towards the inside of the curve when this body enters the curve.
Another advantage of the device in the invention is that, by making it possible to design wider bodies, the traveler has more space in the interior compartment.
Other characteristics and advantages of this invention will be explained in the following detailed description of some illustrative embodiments of its object in relation to the accompanying figures.
The solid line schematically represents the position of the outside edge of the body when the body has shifted towards the inside of the curve. If the lateral edge of the coach located on the inside of the curve is similar to a string with a circumference of radius R (that corresponding to the curve of the inside rail), the distance indicated as “a” in the figure would be the distance of the string to the circumference arch, called sagitta. This distance (the sagitta) limits the width of the body on the inside of the curve.
The dashed line represents the position of the body in which the device of this invention has been implemented to shift the stops of the rail bodies or coaches with bogies when they are entering a curve. As we can see, the lateral edge of the coach located on the inside of the curve stays closer to the inside rail and the lateral edge of the coach located on the outside of the curve is somewhat separated form the outside rail. It is seen that, in this case, the new sagitta “b” is less than sagitta “a” of the solid line position, since the distance “a” has been distributed on both sides—inside and outside—of the curve. This thus enables increasing the width of the coach on the inside part of the curve.
Of note is the fact that, in all the figures, the traveling direction is towards the right, i.e., when the term front position is used in this document, it will be understood as the front position in the direction of travel (i.e., on the right in the figures), and when rear or back position is used, it will be understood as the rear position in the direction of travel (i.e., on the left in the figures).
The bogie has a frame 1 with two end axles 2 coupled to those on the respective wheels, located on the respective rails. The location of the suspension elements 3 has also been schematically shown. The frame 1 of the bogie has an interior cavity, bounded by two lateral edges, a front edge and a rear edge. On each of the lateral edges of this interior cavity is a stop 9, centered in
On the front edge of the interior cavity of the bogie frame 1, there is a pair of joints 11, arranged symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axle of the bogie; these can, for example, be ball joints. Coupled to each of these joints 11 is a rod 5, 6 that leads backwards and, on its end opposite to the one located in the joint, each rod is connected to a slider 7 by means of two joints, each located on an end of each of these sliders 7.
The sliders 7 are able to move on some guides located on the lateral surfaces of the lower projecting part 4 of the body, as best seen in
The body stops 8 are joined together by guided transversal connection means 15 so that they prevent the longitudinal movement of these stops 8 with respect to the lower projecting part 4 of the body.
The body stops 8 preferentially have a rounded, curved-convex outside surface, so that they can perform the function of stop elements, with the ability to contact with the corresponding stops 9, 10 located on the lateral edges of the interior cavity of the bogie frame 1.
The lower projecting parts 4 of the body (one per bogie) are built into the body; therefore, their edges remain parallel to the respective outside edges of the body when it enters a curve, as seen in the embodiment of
When the bogies adapt to the curve, the relative position of each bogie changes with respect to the corresponding lower projecting part 4 of the body. The inside edges of the frame 1 of each bogie and the edges of the corresponding lower projecting part 4 are no longer parallel (as occurs when running on a straight track). Therefore, in the area located on the inside of the curve of the device placed on the right (front) of
In the device located on the left (rear) of
Thus we see that, when the body shifts (and accordingly its lower projecting parts 4) towards the inside of the curve, both in the device on the right (front) and in the device on the left (rear) each body stop 8 located on the inside of the curve approaches the corresponding stop 9 of the bogie frame 1, eventually making contact with it and thereby limiting the body's shift towards the inside of the curve.
In another embodiment of the invention, shown in
The device of this second embodiment would thus function similarly to that of the first embodiment. If, in the body shown in
The same would happen with the device symmetrical to that of
The bogie has a frame 1 with 2 coupled end axles which hold the respective wheels, located on the respective rails. The location of the suspension elements 3 has also been schematically illustrated. The bogie frame 1 has an interior cavity bounded by two lateral edges, a front edge and a rear edge. Each lateral edge has a stop 9,10, centered in
On the front edge of the interior cavity of the bogie frame 1, there is a pair of joints 11, arranged symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axle of the bogie. Coupled to each of these joints 11 is a rod 5, 6 that leads backwards and, on its end opposite to the one located in the joint, each rod is connected to a slider 7 by means of two joints, each located on an end of each of these sliders 7.
The sliders 7 are able to move on some guides located on the lateral surfaces of the lower projecting part 4, as best seen in
These body stops 8 are joined to the respective lateral edge of the lower projecting part 4 of the body by elastic means 16, preferentially springs. In the embodiment shown, the springs are secured to small plates built into the stop 8, as shown in
Likewise, these body stops 8 can move in transversal direction, and they are guided by some stop end means 14 that prevent their relative movement forwards or backwards. These stop means 14 can be in the form of angle brackets. In the embodiment shown in
If in
In the area located on the outside of the curve of the device placed on the right (front) of
On returning to a straight line, due to the action of the elastic means 16, the stops 8 of the body would return to their normal position on the sliders 7.
Therefore, when the body (and accordingly its lower projecting parts 4) shifts towards the inside of the curve, in the device on the right (front) the body stop 8 located on the inside of the curve approaches the corresponding stop 9 of the bogie frame 1, eventually making contact with it and thereby limiting the body's shift towards the inside of the curve, similarly to what happens in the previous embodiments.
In the device on the left (rear), symmetrical to the one on the right, the body stop 8 located on the inside of the curve would approach the corresponding stop 9 of the bogie frame 1, eventually making contact with it.
In another embodiment of the invention, shown in
The device of the embodiment of
In the device on the left (rear), symmetrical to the one on the right, the body stop 8 located on the inside of the curve would approach the corresponding stop 9 of the bogie frame 1, eventually making contact with it.
In all the embodiments, the rods 5, 6, 13 can be equipped with an intermediate safety element 12 to protect against blocking which, in the event that the system blocks, would enable the bogie to swivel in relation to the body. This element can, for example, consist of pre-compressed springs (one traction and one compression) or be a hydraulic element that can yield to a high force.
The thrust rods 5, 6, 13 can also be control rods that act on electric or hydraulic servos such that these will control the lateral movement of the stops 8.
In addition, the outside surface of the body stops 8 will preferentially be rounded, with convex curvature.
It should be noted that the body of
Any modifications included within the scope defined by the following claims may be made to the preferential embodiments of the invention that we have just described.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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200803553 | Dec 2008 | ES | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/ES2009/070591 | 12/15/2009 | WO | 00 | 8/30/2011 |