Hollow-chamber profile floor for a rail vehicle

Abstract

A hollow-chamber profile floor for a rail vehicle includes an upper floor and a lower floor which are connected to one another by struts and/or posts extending between the upper floor and lower floor. The spacing between the upper floor and the lower floor corresponds to a first value in a first region and the spacing between the upper floor and lower floor corresponds to a second value in a second region, and the first spacing value is less than the second spacing value.

Description

The present invention relates to a hollow-chamber profile floor for a rail vehicle. In particular, the present invention relates to a hollow-chamber profile floor, which has an upper flange and a lower flange which are connected to each other by means of struts and/or posts which extend between the upper flange and the lower flange, wherein the spacing between the upper flange and the lower flange in a first region corresponds to a first value and the spacing between the upper flange and the lower flange in a second region corresponds to a second value and the first spacing value is smaller than the second spacing value.

PRIOR ART

Rail vehicles form complex multi-component systems whose material composition and structural configuration are limited by a large number of very different peripheral conditions. For instance, particularly the demands which are made in the field of rail vehicle construction with regard to safety, reliability, functionality and not least also the economic viability of the technical implementation constitute a complex challenge, which in other fields of vehicle construction of this type may not be encountered at all or may be encountered only in a reduced form.

Previously in the construction of floors in rail vehicles, there were used hollow-chamber profiles which have a significant construction height over the entire vehicle width of the rail vehicle shell. In particular in the region of the bogies of rail vehicles, the entire structural space available was thus occupied by the structural height of the floor profiles.

A bogie is a drive mechanism of a rail vehicle in which two or more sets of wheels are resiliently supported in a frame which can turn with respect to the carriage chassis on bends. This so-called dual turntable steering enables the construction of longer vehicles or line laying of the rails with a tighter radius of curvature.

Modern bogies in this instance have dual spring-mounting. On the one hand, the wheel sets are spring-mounted by means of the so-called primary spring-mounting with respect to the bogie frame. On the other hand, the bogie is spring-mounted by means of a cradle in the region of the bogie pivot which forms the connection between the carriage body and the bogie with respect to the carriage body of the rail vehicle by means of the so-called secondary spring-mounting.

The spring-mounting of the bogie with respect to the carriage body by the secondary spring-mounting in this instance improves the travel comfort of the rail vehicle. At high speed, the rigidity of the primary spring-mounting and the damping of the rotary movement by means of so-called rolling dampers becomes highly significant for the stability of the sine run of the wheel sets.

A sine run occurs with wheel/rail systems having conically profiled and rigidly coupled wheels in which the wheel profile tapers outward. On bends, the wheel which is outwardly displaced travels with a larger periphery on the rail than the wheel which is offset toward the track center. This remains recessed with respect to the outer wheel so that the axle steers into the bend. A sine run occurs in the event of a deviation of the rail guide from the ideal line which is overcompensated by the wheel profiling and thus leads to a rolling movement. This movement is at small amplitudes sinusoidal with a constant wavelength, the frequency increasing with the travel speed. At high speeds, additional dynamic forces occur and may occur to the extent of zig-zag travel with an abutment of the wheel flanges of the wheel sets on the rails so that measures for damping have to be taken in order to prevent excessive wear and significant impairments of comfort. It is therefore necessary in the region of the bogies to provide corresponding damping and spring-mounting components. However, these require sufficiently free structural space, both for the installation thereof and for the maintenance thereof.

Furthermore, in the region of the bogies, there are also the drive motors of modern rail vehicles, which in turn take up a corresponding amount of structural space.

The control and supply lines which are intended to be guided through the region of the bogies are currently either guided through the hollow-chamber profile or laid in cable ducts which are mounted separately below the hollow-chamber profile, whereby the free structural space available is, however, significantly further reduced. Laying the supply and control lines through the hollow-chamber profile is in this instance extremely unfriendly in terms of assembly and very time-consuming since in this instance care has to be taken that the hollow-chamber profiles in which the lines are intended to be laid are free from any occurrences of contamination, such as, for example, welding defects, in order to prevent damage to the lines during assembly or during operation of the rail vehicle.

An object of the present invention is therefore to provide sufficient free structural space for assembling modern drive and spring-mounting systems in the region of bogies of rail vehicles.

This object is achieved according to claim 1. Specific embodiments of the invention are set out in the dependent claims.

To this end, there is provided according to the invention a hollow-chamber profile floor for a rail vehicle having an upper flange and a lower flange which are connected to each other by means of struts and/or posts which extend between the upper flange and the lower flange, wherein the spacing between the upper flange and the lower flange in a first region corresponds to a value A and the spacing between the upper flange and the lower flange in a second region corresponds to a value B, wherein the value A is less than B.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, consequently, there is proposed a hollow-chamber profile which is significantly tapered with respect to the previously used hollow-chamber profiles at least in the region of the bogies of a rail vehicle. The hollow-chamber profile in this instance has localized reinforcements for transmitting the longitudinal forces which occur. In particular, there may be provision for the hollow-chamber profile in the region of the cross section center of the rail vehicle to have a greater strength than in the edge region of the cross section in order to absorb and to be able to reliably discharge the coupling forces which occur in the rail vehicle. As a result of the tapering of the hollow-chamber profile in the edge region of the cross section, assembly space is provided within which supply and control lines can be guided in cable ducts, without this leading to an increase of the entire structural height of the floor.

This simplifies the assembly of control and supply lines in this region since these no longer have to be laid through the chambers of the hollow-chamber profile in order to be able to dispense with the assembly of cable ducts which are mounted below the hollow-chamber profile to the benefit of the assembly space. A time-consuming and costly endoscopic examination of the hollow-chamber profiles is thereby prevented. Cables and pipes may be prefabricated and laid in cable ducts which are secured in the region of the tapered hollow-chamber profile. This enables pipe and cable guiding within the structural space height of the originally used hollow-chamber profiles with at the same time easy accessibility and thereby a high level of ease of assembly. Furthermore, the reinforced hollow-chamber profile in the region of the cross section center can be used for guiding air, for example, for cooling the drive motors.

According to an embodiment of the hollow-chamber profile floor according to the invention, there is therefore provision for the tapered region of the hollow-chamber profile to also comprise two partial regions which substantially centrally enclose the stronger region of the hollow-chamber profile floor. This has the advantage which has already been described above that, in the region of the highest action of force, sufficient capacity is provided to absorb the tensile and pressure forces which occur and the forces can be redirected into the remaining shell structure.

According to another embodiment of the invention, there is provision, with respect to the width of the rail vehicle, for the tapered region of the hollow-chamber profile floor to be greater than the stronger region of the floor. In this instance, there may be provision for both tapered partial regions, with respect to the width of the rail vehicle, to be individually smaller than the stronger region of the floor. The structural space made available in particular in the region of the bogies is thereby maximized.

Furthermore, there may be provision for there to be arranged between the tapered partial regions and the stronger region a transition region whose spacing between the upper flange and the lower flange corresponds to the value C, wherein this is between the values A and B of the tapered or stronger region. As a result of the provision of such a transition region, a uniform force dissipation of the forces occurring in the stronger central region of the floor, in particular the coupling forces, into the remaining vehicle structure, in particular the lateral longitudinal carriers of the shell, is ensured.

In another embodiment of the invention, there is provision for the floor to have supports by means of which the floor is connected to longitudinal carriers of the rail vehicle bodywork. The connection to the longitudinal carriers is preferably carried out in a materially engaging or force-locking/form-locking manner. In this instance, a releasable force-locking/form-locking connection of the hollow-chamber profiles to the longitudinal carriers is particularly preferred since improved accessibility to the under floor region, in particular to the bogies, can thus be achieved in the event of maintenance.

According to another embodiment of the invention, there is provision for the spacing between the upper flange and the lower flange in the region of the supports to correspond to the spacing B of the stronger region of the hollow-chamber profile floor. In a particularly preferred manner, the region of the supports is adjoined by a transition region as far as the tapered regions of the hollow-chamber profile floor, in which region the spacing between the upper flange and the lower flange corresponds to the spacing between the upper flange and the lower flange in the transition region between the tapered region of the floor profile and the stronger region of the floor profile. As a result of such an embodiment of the profile transitions, a uniform force redirection into the remaining bodywork elements, such as, for example, the longitudinal carriers, is ensured.

In another embodiment of the invention, the hollow-chamber profile floor has securing means for the underfloor securing of cable ducts. These securing means are preferably provided in the transition regions between the tapered profile and the stronger profile, and the tapered profile and the support region. This enables a structural-space-saving assembly of elements, such as, for example, pipelines or cable ducts with at the same time good accessibility thereto.

According to another embodiment of the invention, there may be provision for the hollow-chamber profile floor to be composed over the width of the rail vehicle of at least three elements, wherein a first and a second element comprise a portion of the tapered hollow-chamber profile, the transition region to the support region and the support region, whilst a third portion comprises the stronger, central region of the hollow-chamber profile floor and in a state laterally adjacent thereto the transition regions to the tapered hollow-chamber profile and a partial region of the tapered hollow-chamber profile. The three elements may be joined to each other in a materially engaging or force-locking or form-locking manner, wherein a materially engaging connection or a form-locking connection by means of shaped joining elements is particularly preferred. Suitable shaped joining elements are in this instance, for example, pins or bolts.

The invention is explained in greater detail below with reference to figures, in which:

FIG. 1 shows the embodiment of a vehicle floor according to the prior art; and

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a hollow-chamber profile floor according to the invention for a rail vehicle.

FIG. 1 shows the embodiment of a vehicle floor 800 above a bogie according to the current prior art. The floor is constructed as a hollow-chamber profile 801. The hollow chambers 802 have to be endoscopically examined prior to the introduction of the lines in order to identify and where applicable to remove from within the hollow chambers 802 any occurrences of contamination which could during operation of the rail vehicle lead to damage to lines guided inside the hollow-chamber profile 801. Alternatively, any control and supply lines are guided through cable ducts 803, which have to be assembled below the hollow-chamber profile 801. This significantly limits the free structural space in particular in the region of the bogies.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment according to the invention of a hollow-chamber profile floor 100 for a rail vehicle. The hollow-chamber profile floor 100 has an upper flange 110 and a lower flange 120 which are connected to each other by means of struts 130 and/or posts 140 which extend between the upper flange 110 and the lower flange 120. The spacing between the upper flange 110 and the lower flange 120 corresponds in a first region 200 to a value A. In a second region 210, the spacing between the upper flange 110 and lower flange 120 corresponds to a value B, the value A being smaller than B. The tapered region 200 preferably comprises two partial regions 201,202, the stronger region 210 being arranged between the partial regions 201, 202. In the embodiment shown, the region 200 with respect to the width 300 of the rail vehicle is on the whole larger than the region 210. The partial regions 201, 202 are individually in turn smaller than the region 210. Between the partial regions 201, 202 and the region 210, there is arranged in each case a transition region 220 whose spacing between the upper flange 110 and the lower flange 120 corresponds to the value C, with C being between A and B (A<C<B). The floor 100 has supports 230, 231 by means of which it is connected to longitudinal carriers 310 of the rail vehicle bodywork. The spacing between the upper flange 110 and the lower flange 120 in the region of these supports 230, 231 corresponds to the spacing B in the region 210. The region of the supports 230, 231 is adjoined by a transition region 221, in which the spacing between the upper flange 110 and the lower flange 120 corresponds to the spacing C of the transition region 220. On the transition regions 220, 221, securing means 400 for the underfloor securing, for example, of cable ducts are provided. The hollow chambers in the stronger, central region 210 of the hollow-chamber profile floor can be used as air-guiding ducts for supplying cooling air to the drive motors which are mounted in the bogies. In the embodiment shown, the hollow-chamber profile floor 100 is composed over the width 300 of the rail vehicle of at least three elements 301, 302, 303, the elements 301 and 303 comprising a portion of the tapered hollow-chamber profile 200, the transition region 221 to the support region and the supports 230, 231. The third portion 302 comprises the stronger, central region 210 of the hollow-chamber profile floor and in a state laterally adjacent thereto the transition regions 220 to the tapered hollow-chamber profile 200 and a partial region of the tapered hollow-chamber profile 200. The three elements 301, 302, 303 are joined to each other in a materially engaging manner.

Claims

1-10. (canceled)

11. A hollow-chamber profile floor for a rail vehicle, the hollow-chamber profile floor comprising: an upper flange and a lower flange defining a spacing therebetween;at least one of struts or posts extending between said upper flange and said lower flange and interconnecting said upper flange and said lower flange;a first region and a second region;said spacing between said upper flange and said lower flange in said first region corresponding to a value A, said spacing between said upper flange and said lower flange in said second region corresponding to a value B, and A being less than B.

12. The hollow-chamber profile floor according to claim 11, wherein said first region includes two partial regions and said second region is disposed between said partial regions.

13. The hollow-chamber profile floor according to claim 11, wherein said first region is greater than said second region, relative to a width of the rail vehicle.

14. The hollow-chamber profile floor according to claim 12, wherein said partial regions are each smaller than said second region.

15. The hollow-chamber profile floor according to claim 12, which further comprises transition regions each disposed between a respective one of said partial regions and said second region, said spacing between said upper flange and said lower flange in said transition regions corresponding to a value C, and A<C<B.

16. The hollow-chamber profile floor according to claim 15, which further comprises floor supports connecting the floor to longitudinal carriers of a rail vehicle shell.

17. The hollow-chamber profile floor according to claim 16, wherein said spacing between said upper flange and said lower flange in a region of said floor supports corresponds to said spacing B in said second region.

18. The hollow-chamber profile floor according to claim 16, which further comprises other transition regions each adjoining a region of a respective one of said floor supports, said spacing between said upper flange and said lower flange in said other transition regions corresponding to said spacing C in said transition region.

19. The hollow-chamber profile floor according to claim 11, which further comprises securing devices for under floor securing of cable ducts.

20. A rail vehicle, comprising: a bogie; anda hollow-chamber profile floor according to claim 11 disposed at least in a region of said bogie.