Patent Application
20180065433
This invention relates to dual-mode vehicles of adjustable wheel spans and a rail freeway system using the same.
As the populations of many big cities in the world grow bigger, their metropolitan areas become larger and the commutes within the cities and transportation between them become more congested.
Traffic congestion has been one of the biggest headaches for both developing and developed countries. Traffic congestion is an economical issue, as it causes more gas burning, car wearing and money loss. In this sense, it is also an environmental issue, as more gas burning leads to more air pollution. On the other hand, as people spending more and more time on the roads, breathing dirty air, traffic congestion becomes a health issue for individuals and a production efficiency issue for companies and countries, since exhausted workers in polluted air are more easily to get sick and have low work efficiency. Further related with these issues is a safety issue, as exhausted drivers are likely to get involved with car accidents. In short, traffic congestion has been one of the main obstacles for the economy growth of many countries.
Complaints on traffic congestion are growing in almost all big cities in the world. Although people have been using many methods to fight with the problem, they are losing the hope to win the battle. Methods like subways, carpools, buses, and metro light rails all have their own limitation and could not be used to solve the problem.
One common method for the problem is road remodeling and widening. However, highway widening may not be the wise solution to traffic congestion problems in big cities. Building new highways in big cities is neither wise nor practical.
There are 3 types of mass inter-city transportation systems besides car driving: trains, buses, and airplanes. All these travel types take the model of “car+mass transit+car.” In other words, people use car to go to the mass transit starting points such as airports or bus/train stations, take the mass transporting vehicles to the mass transit ending points, then take cars to go to their destinations. Another mass transportation system, the high-speed bullet train system, has been quite successful in many countries, such as China, Japan, France, Germany, South Korea, Spain, Russia, and so on. A study conducted by the International Union of Railways indicated that high-speed trains produced five times less CO2 than automobiles and jet aircraft. Many people in the US are calling for building such bullet train systems in the U.S.
Americans may not see a vast construction of bullet train systems. However, the demands for an effective mass transportation system still exist. Some people believe the Hyperloop and self-driving cars will be the American future. Unfortunately, both systems are still at their premature stages and bear doubts for their possibilities and profits.
Several different kinds of dual-mode vehicles and the transportation systems have been proposed in the past, but none of them allows incessant accesses, thus are not practical.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,135 describes an electrically powered vehicle transportation system which utilized a guideway with parallel rails. The dual-mode vehicles used regular tires. These vehicles are called dual-mode simply because the same set of tires can run on the hard-surface rails as well on regular roadways. The wheel spans are extendable to fit the pair of parallel rails. Since this transportation system used the regular tires, the system cannot be used to improve the energy efficiency.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,523,480 describes another dual-mode transportation system. The system has a triangle-shaped monorail. A set of rubber tire wheels was designed to run on the monorail. Another set of rubber tires could be used to run on regular roadways. The railways were sectioned for the vehicles to get on or off the monorail. Because of the sectioned railways and the rubber tires running on them, the system cannot be used to achieve the speeds and energy efficiency as high as the bullet trains.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,037,388 proposes an intelligent public transit system using dual-mode vehicles. The vehicles, although being called dual-mode, were actually using one set of rubber tires for both regular roadways and controlled roadways with raised contact surfaces. No rails were applied. The patent documented a range of complex sensors and controlling mechanisms that were used to guide the vehicles to enter or exit the controlled roadways. Because the vehicle used the regular tires in the controlled roadways, it's hard for the system to reach a speed as high as nowadays bullet trains. Because of the way that entering vehicles merged with the passing vehicles, the control became extremely complex.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,083 discloses a dual-mode semi-trailer which used rubber tired wheels for running on roadways. When attempting to run on rails, the flanged rail wheel bogie can be mounted. The mounting and demounting operations take time and cannot be used for modern transportation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,994 describes a hybrid transit system which includes vehicles with dual-mode wheels with rubber tires and rail rims and alternative sectional roadway and railway. The sections of roadway are for the vehicles to get out of the railways. Obviously, the system with this kind of design cannot be used for high-speed travels.
CN Patent No. 201849271 proposes a system similar to the one described by U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,994. The differences are the newly proposed vehicle has different power transmission system. It also proposed a rail shifting mechanism that can be adjusted to one position for passing vehicles and another position for exiting vehicles. Because of the rail shifting, it is hard for the system to be used for high-speed travels such as the bullet trains.
The above reviews showed that the existing proposals were either using regular tire wheels for guideways or railways or using rail wheels on sectional rail tracks, which limited the system speed. These systems cannot meet the demands of nowadays high-speed transportation. Therefore, there is still a need for a better high-speed transportation system.
Traffic jams have been acting like artery clogs for most modern cities. This problem has led to more and more time waste, energy consuming, and air pollution. All these further increase people's stress, deteriorate people's health, and lower people's work efficiency. Driving to work under high stresses often causes more accidents on the roads. As the bullet train systems have been proven to be a big success in China, calls for a similar system in the U.S. are growing. Due to people's habit of private driving and air traveling in countries like the U.S., Canada, Australia, and so on, it is concerned that the bullet train mass transportation may not be economical in these countries. Three states in the US rejected the bullet train idea and even turned down the fund for initial evaluation.
Embodiments of this invention provide a totally new transportation system that can be built at the spare spaces alongside the freeways. With the stereo (3D) designs of entryways and exits, the new system is expected to significantly ease the freeways' traffic load and drastically reduce the time needed for inner-city commutes and inter-city travels, because it can act like metro freeways for daily commutes and bullet trains for inter-city travels.
Embodiments of the invention relate to a new transportation system, which uses a new kind of dual-mode, adjustable-span vehicles, simplified as DMAS vehicles or DMASV's. These vehicles have the common features of rubber-tire wheels and steel-rail wheels adaptable for roadways and railways, respectively. Their uniqueness, which is one of the core ideas for this invention, is that the spans of part or all their rail-wheels can be controlled to expand or shrink. These actions allow the vehicles to get on or off the railways freely using the suitable rail wheels on the correct rails. Based on the practical needs, at least two pairs of rail wheels have to have adjustable spans. For the sake of strength, some of the wheel pairs can have fixed wheel spans. By changing the type and location of the adjustable rail wheels on the vehicle, many different kinds of DMASV can be designed. However, the core spirit and scope of this invention, that is, the adjustability of rail wheel spans, should not be changed.
The span of a rail wheel pair can be changed using many methods. These methods include, but not limited to, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, magnetic ways. This description will present examples based on a mechanical method. However, these examples are for illustration only and one skilled in the art would appreciate that other suitable methods can be used without departing from the scope of the invention.
One aspect of the invention relates to dual-mode, adjustable wheel-span vehicles. A dual-mode, adjustable wheel-span vehicle, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, includes at least two pairs of rail wheels for use on rails, wherein some or all of the at least two pairs of rail wheels are adjustable in a distance between a pair of the rail wheels such that the at least two pairs of rail wheels can work with different rail gauges; a mechanism for adjusting a span of the at least two pairs of rail wheels; and at least two pairs of tire wheels for regular roadways.
Another aspect of the invention relates to a transportation system for the above vehicles. A transportation system in accordance with one embodiment of the invention includes a rail freeway network having electric power supply lines, sensors to get local information, signals to show system status, and a central computer for system controls; and a plurality of entry and exit ramps for the vehicles to enter or exit the rail freeway network, wherein the entry and exit ramps includes an overhead and/or underneath ramp.
Another innovative feature for this invention is the special design of entry and exit ramps for rail freeways. Rail freeways are railways that allow individual or group vehicles to enter or exit the main railways freely without affecting other vehicles going through the sections of the main railway at the entryways or exits. They function like the regular freeways.
Embodiments of this invention use two types of ramp structures. Both types of structures have two pairs of rail tracks, called inner pair and outer pair, at the entryways and exits. The first type is designed to let the DMFSV enter from and exit to ramps that are attached to a platform above the main rails. The second type of rail structures is designed to allow the DMASV entering and exiting from below the main rails.
To save space on the railways, these DMASV can be chained up like a train. If the traffic becomes heavy, multiple lanes can be built and lane shifting can be done using structures similar to these overhead and underneath ramps.
Two sets of brakes are needed for these DMASV's—one for the rubber tire wheels and the other for the rail wheels. The ones for rail wheels have to meet two functions—to slow down the vehicle and to hold the vehicles on rails, especially at the ramp sections when braking.
Modern technologies of sensing, computing, logic analysis and control are also fundamental to this invention. After entering and before exiting the rail system, the vehicles should be fully controllable by system computers together with the computers on the vehicles. This auto control mode frees the drivers, allowing them to work, to sleep, to entertain, to talk with others over the phones, or even to play with their babies.
In general, this invention has many advantages and is a very practical invention.
Embodiments of the invention relate to dual-mode, adjustable wheel-span vehicles (DMASV) and an associated rail freeway system. As used herein, “dual mode” refers to a vehicle that can run on a regular road and on rails. The term, “adjustable wheel-span” refers to a distance (span) between a pair of wheels on the same axle is adjustable to fit different spans (gauges) of different rail systems. The specially constructed railways with the specially designed on-and-off ramps allow the non-interfering entry and exit of DMASV's, just like the regular cars working with the regular freeways.
As noted above, several different kinds of dual-mode vehicles and the transportation systems have been proposed in the past, but none of them allows incessant accesses, thus are not practical.
Embodiments of the present invention use steel wheels on steel rails, just like the ones used for bullet train systems. Embodiments of the invention also use stereo (3D) structures plus the flexible change of wheel spans to allow vehicles to enter and exit the railways freely without affecting the speeds of the passing vehicles. Embodiments of the invention can meet the high-speed needs, while giving people freedom to drive their own cars on regular roadways or on the specially designed rail freeways.
Embodiments of the invention will be illustrated with the following specific examples. However, one skilled in the art would appreciate that these examples are for illustration only and that other modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention.
Vehicle Description
As used in this description, the term “tire wheel” is used to refer to a wheel with tire for regular roadways, which include local streets (paved or unpaved) or highways. A tire wheel has a tire that does not have to be made of rubber. Instead, any suitable materials can be used. The term “rail wheel,” “steel wheel,” or “steel rail wheel” refers to a wheel that is configured to run on a rail system. The term “rail gauge” is used in its customary meaning and refers to the distance between two parallel tracks of a rail system. Rail gauges are usually categorized as standard gauge (used on approximately 54.8% of the world's existing railway lines), broad gauge, and narrow gauge. In accordance with embodiments of the invention, a span (distance) between a pair of rail wheels may be adjustable to fit the rail gauge. As used herein, a pair of rail wheels or a pair of tire wheels refer to two wheels on the same axle.
The materials of these wheel are not important for this invention, and one skilled in the art would appreciate that any suitable material may be used. The term “CV joint” is used to refer to a mechanism that allows a power-driven wheel to be steerable. For clarity of description, the term “CV joint” is used generically in this description to include any similar mechanisms that can perform such similar functions.
In accordance with some embodiments of the invention, the rail wheels and the tire wheels may be arranged to share the same axle, i.e., co-axle or co-axial or co-axially. Some of these embodiments are illustrated later in the examples.
In this figure group,
The black bar 1-7 in the cut-away view of
Again,
Type B vehicles can also be driven by front tire wheels 2-2 when running on normal roadways. The rear wheel axle 2-7, shown in the cut view of
A third type (Type C) of DMASV 3-1 is shown in
This type of vehicles has the advantages of lower weight and more compact profile. However, the vehicles preferably are rear-wheel driven, because it is more difficult to design a vehicle that uses CV axles for front-wheel drive concurrently with the inserted rail wheels being adjustable for desired spans. Details will be discussed later in this description (See
A fourth type of DMAS (Type D) is shown in
Eliminating the two pairs of tire wheels in Type D vehicles (
Similarly, eliminating the fixed rail wheels in vehicles Type A, B, D and F can create four new types of vehicles. They can be called Types A′, B′, D′ and E′ vehicles. The elimination will not affect their regular operations on the new rail freeway system and, therefore, they are part of this invention. However, vehicles with the fixed rail wheels are expected to run more stably.
At the overhead exit ramp 8-2 illustrated by
At the exit ramp 9-2 illustrated by
The easiest method to solve this problem is to let the vehicles get on and off the rails at low speeds. In practice, however, rubber tire wheels may be preferred to shorten the acceleration or deceleration period. In such cases, the transition between running on rubber tire wheels and steel rail wheels must occur at high speed.
Another method to solve the problem is to use some special materials on the ramp rails so that the slip between the rail wheels and the rails can be eliminated or reduced. Thus, the acceleration or deceleration can take place on the rails and the vehicle can get on or off the rail at the ends with very slow speeds.
The severity of this problem depends on the situation. For overhead ramps with vehicles of which the fixed rail wheels and adjustable rail wheels are separated (Types A, D, F), this is not a problem because the tire wheels and the adjustable rail wheels running on the ramp rails do not use the same axle, therefore, they can have different rotation speeds (See
For vehicle Types B and C (See
In summary, the problem of relative motion should not be a big issue for the present invention.
For this newly-invented transportation system to work safely, the vehicles should preferably be able to extend and retract their adjustable rail wheels to the desired spans concurrently and swiftly. Otherwise, accidents may occur. There are many ways to achieve this.
The above description is an example for illustration only. One skilled in the art would appreciate that other modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention.
The mechanism for the rear wheel shown in
The span changes of these adjustable wheels can also be done by using a combination of chains and gears, or by using other mechanisms such as pneumatic, hydraulic or electro-magnetic methods.
System Designs
The above examples illustrate the scenarios, in which the ramps are fixed structures. However, these are for illustration only and other alternatives are possible. For example, one may have moveable track mechanisms at the ramps such that the inner rails and/or the outer rails can become continuous tracks when no vehicle is entering or exiting the system.
Safety is the number one parameter to judge if this invention is feasible for public transportation. For this reason, this invention should go through a number of evaluation, design, manufacture, test and inspection for being 100% safe before it gets its permit for public use. This section will discuss some safety-related aspects.
To be safe, the vehicle needs to have the abilities to (1) get all its adjustable wheels to their expanded or retracted states concurrently as directed, (2) to keep all wheels on the vehicle even though part of the axle is movable, and (3) to stay strong even when it's at its expanded state. With proper design, these requirements should not be hard to meet. As shown in
The weak points of a system should be determined by force analysis. In this system, the weak situations occur when (1) the vehicle is at its large span, (2) the adjustable wheels are the only ones that bear the vehicle's load, and (3) the vehicle is applying the maximum load on the rails. In
As discussed previously, rail freeways with overhead ramps are the top choice for long-distance travelers because the passing rails are continuous inner rails. The vehicles on such railways may reach the speeds of bullet trains. Unfortunately, their entry and exit ramps are the weakest points. Several methods can be used to mitigate the potential risks at these weak points. For weak point C-C′, the type of track can be easily changed to the ones shown in
In case of an emergency with a driver on board of a vehicle, the system computer may quickly guide the vehicle out of an exit close to a hospital. If the person cannot drive, the system computer may be designed to work with GPS to stop the vehicle at a safe place for ambulance to come.
In case of accidents or stalled vehicles, the rescue crew can use the regular freeway to get accessed to the spot for rescuing. If the traffic on rails is blocked, it can always be diverted to the normal freeways. After passing the problematic spot, the traffic can enter the rail freeway again.
In fact, the vehicles are designed to allow them to bump into and connect with each other.
This is one of the main challenges for this system if the railways are built along the highways. The rail freeways must be built strong enough to stand the vehicle hit. Protective walls must be built along the rail freeways. For places with high accident occurrence, the rail freeways should be built at a distance away from the roadways.
Although the vehicles are supposed to be lighter than regular cars, they should be heavy and sturdy enough to run regularly in bad weather. In extremely bad weather, such as hurricanes, tornados and icy rails, the system may be warned to slow down. In fact, special devices may be installed on vehicles that can hold the vehicles on rails during this type of bad weather. From this sense, travel with the rail freeway system should be much safer and more timely-reliable than travel with the airways and highways.
This purely depends on the design of these vehicles. It is expected that passengers should have several layers of protection. First, the vehicle frame should have the necessary springs or cushion type devices to absorb the impact during an accident. Second, the vehicle should have two main portions. One is the frame with battery, gear boxes, and so on, and the other portion is the passenger cabin with the computer and controls. If the hit is too hard, the cabin with passengers should be sprung away from the crash point. Third, while the frame acts like a spring, the cabin frame should be strong enough to stand the hardest crash in the highway. Fourth, air bags should be installed in all directions around the passengers. Finally, the airbags can act like a floatation device, protecting the passengers crashing into water.
To promote system safety, continuous sensing is needed all the time to give instantaneous messages for system computers and on-board computers to take the right actions instantaneously. This kind of sensing should include remote operation to see or feel approaching or leaving vehicles at certain distances. Angled sensing at the entries and exits is especially needed to avoid collapses of nearby vehicles. Sensing is also needed to judge when to let the vehicles at the entries to start running. Some sensors are on the vehicles, while some other sensors should be mounted at the entries and exits.
The system computers, as the central brains of all vehicles in the system, should be able to get all information from all sensors and on-board computers and send out all commands for all vehicles to take the necessary actions. This type of systematic interactions is especially needed for vehicles to run as a chain on rails. In case of certain kind of emergency, the system computer should be able to send a single braking signal to all approaching vehicles, either in the same chain or in the chains nearby.
Besides this kind of systematic control, individual vehicle should have an independent sensing, judging and braking system to take the necessary safety measures during an emergency. This safety feature serves as the second layer of protection for the passenger and the system.
Because the vehicle is auto controlled when running on rail freeways, an auto alarm system, either by sounds or by physical shaking, is needed to wake up sleeping drivers.
The control system should also consider the possibility of the unexpected loss of drivers' ability to drive. In such situations, whether by sensors or being messaged, the system computers should be able to work with the on-board computer or even GPS to guide the vehicle out of the railways at the proper exit.
In 2010, an interesting idea of non-stop bullet train system was proposed in China. The idea is to have the bullet train carry a passenger cabin on its top (
While this idea is quite interesting, it may not be practical. First, the overhead cabin raises the train's center of mass, which makes the train more unstable, especially at turns. Second, with the overhead cabin, the bullet train may not be able to go through tunnels and other built-in facilities along the railway that have limited space overhead. For these reasons, six years have passed and no one has ever built such a non-stop train system.
By combining the designs of our overhead entry ramp and overhead exit ramp (
In this process, the fixed and adjustable rail wheels on a rail-bus work just like these wheels on DMASV's exiting and then entering the rail freeways. Since the rail bus is behind the regular train, it does not need any extra overhead room to operate. The only things that need to be built are the stations for rail buses to take off and land on.
All vehicles in this system are intended to be electrically powered with a battery on board. The battery provides power for vehicles to run on regular roadways. When these vehicles run on rail freeways, they should use the power from the power line, just like the way a bullet train does. Meanwhile, their batteries should get charged.
Solar panels can be installed on top of the rail freeways to provide the power whenever possible.
When traffic on the system becomes heavy, more tracks can be built. The vehicles can get on and off these extra tracks directly from ramps with more openings. It can also be done with overhead shifting ramps and underneath shifting ramps. The overhead shifting ramp looks just like the system for non-stop bullet trains (
As shown in
However, a similar vehicle for non-stop bullet trains, Type G as shown in
With proper design and testing, the system may be used for driverless, long-distance transportation of goods, children, elders or even patients. In these applications, the vehicle may just be an electric motor trailer without the capability of steering and power storage. The trailer can be rented and hauled home. After being loaded with what to be sent with, the trailer can be hauled to a special station for dispatching. The station acts just like a dock for a boat. The trailer is then guided by system computer to a similar station near its destination. There it can be pulled away by regular cars to its destination.
Previous sections in this description discusses the status of world transportation and the need for a more effective transportation method, as well as the details of our invention. Based on these discussions, the newly invented rail freeway system of the invention may have one or more of the following advantages.
It is socially enviable. As mentioned earlier in the background section, traffic jams have been acting just like artery clogs for all grown or fast-growing countries. It causes people remarkable car-wearing and gas burning, costs people significant amount of time and money, adds extra stress and trouble to people's daily life and deteriorates people's health. This new rail freeway system can be used to solve the traffic jam problem, therefore, is highly desired.
It is technically feasible. As discussed in the detailed description section, the new system can be used for both inner-city daily commutes and inter-city travels. The rail freeways with overhead ramps are best for intercity travels because the inner rails are main rails which are continuous all along the way. This continuous, inner-rail feature makes it possible for the vehicles to gain speeds as high as bullet trains. The rail freeways with underneath ramps are best used for daily commutes. Because of the frequent entering and exiting of highways, the rail freeways must be elevated. It's convenient to build ramps under the main freeways. These two types of ramps make the free entering and exiting of rail freeways possible.
It is favorable. Since the new system lets people keep their own privacy, enjoy their own freedom and control their own pace in their trips or commutes, it should be highly appreciable by everyone troubled by traffic jams. Because it has the ability to divert a substantial portion of traffic from the main roadways, it has the potential to completely resolve the traffic jams problems in most major cities in the world. This helps reduce gas burning and car wearing, alleviate air pollution, save people time and money, ease people's living stress, improve people's health and increase people's work efficiency.
It is economically viable. Because almost all vehicles are individually owned, the system does not need to include the cost for vehicles, the salary for attendants, the fee for maintenance and the expenses for repairing. Because it is to be built on governmental lands along major highways and streets, the cost for lands can be eliminated. Because the system is for light transportation, the vehicles and tracks can be narrower than regular bullet trains. Therefore, the costs for building this newly invented system (labors and materials) can be significantly lower than bullet trains. Table 1 lists the economic advantages of rail freeway system over bullet trains.
In short, with all these savings, the rail freeway system may just be ⅓ or even ¼ of the cost for a regular bullet train system.
It's operationally profitable. As listed in Table 2, the new system can have a large number of advantages over a bullet train system, such as the privacy, freedom, convenience, low stress, and so on. These will give the users more incentive to use the system. The more people use it, the more profitable the system can be.
Overall, the newly invented system has a significant number of advantages over the bullet train system and can be economically built and successfully operated.
Embodiments of the invention have been illustrated with a limited number of examples. One skilled in the art would appreciate that other modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be limited by the accompanying claims.
This claims the benefits of Provisional Application No. 62/383,427, filed on Sep. 3, 2016, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62383427 | Sep 2016 | US |
