EP0908368B1 - Tilt mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

The inclination device has a drive (31) and an associated transmission mechanism (33,34,35), with a variable transmission ratio, for controlled transverse inclination of the rail vehicle carriage (2) relative to the wheeled chassis (3). The transmission ratio of the transmission mechanism decreases as the angle of inclination of the vehicle carriage from its rest position increases.

Description

The invention relates to a tilting device for generating a car body inclination in rail vehicles depending on the track curve, with a coupling device with which the car body is movably connected to a chassis such that the car body can be transferred from an essentially upright rest position to a position inclined relative to the chassis. and with an adjustment device having a drive and a transmission device, with which the carriage body can be moved relative to the chassis for transferring from its rest position into its inclined position.

Such tilting devices are known from the prior art. They are used in so-called "tilting trains". It is a special design of passenger cars, the construction of which allows the car body to be turned or "tilted" about its longitudinal axis in relation to a chassis. This tendency is intended to largely compensate for the lateral acceleration acting on the passengers when cornering. In addition to a noticeable improvement in comfort for the travelers, this primarily creates the possibility of being able to drive through curves much faster than would otherwise be possible with normal trains due to the EBO (Railway Construction and Operating Regulations), which is particularly useful on winding routes can achieve a significant gain in travel time.

With such tilting devices, a distinction is made between active and passive systems. In passive systems, the body of the car is only inclined due to the centrifugal forces acting on the body. However, the achievable tilt angle of such systems is very limited and, depending on the embodiment, is a maximum of 1.2 to 3.5 degrees. Active systems use an adjustment device with which the inclination between the car body and the chassis is controlled via a control loop as a function of the track curve and / or the speed. These systems are generally designed for a maximum angle of inclination of approximately 8 degrees. The present invention relates to such an active tilting device.

In known systems, the adjustment device consists of either a hydraulic servo cylinder or an electromechanical linear drive. The electromechanical For example, a linear drive is a combination of an electric motor and a planetary roller spindle. The adjustment device is arranged between the car body and the chassis.

It is known from the tilting trains in practical use that an actuator force of the order of 8 to 10 tons is installed on each of the two bogies of a car. Such high values are needed if the car body is to be held in its maximum deflection position of 8 degrees, because at high tilt angles the center of gravity of the car body is effective via a relatively large lever arm in the sense of a restoring torque. These high forces are desired so that the car body returns safely and independently to its unintended starting position in the event of a possible failure of the tilting device.

The linear drive is designed according to the greatest forces occurring at the maximum tilt angle. In addition, there is e.g. B. in the known electromechanical actuators also proportionality between the actuating force and the torque required for this on the motor. When using such a drive, this means that a current is required in the servo motor to generate the required force, the strength of which is also proportional to the size of the angle of inclination. Since it is known that the power loss in a motor increases with the square of the motor current, this results in a particularly high power loss when the car body inclination is in the range of large deflection angles.

The consequence of this is that both the electric motor and the power electronics supplying it with power must be designed for high continuous currents and thus for a high continuous output, which is naturally reflected in the procurement costs of the system.

In addition, the dimensioning of the drive also affects the required installation space. With larger drive motors, this installation space must be designed accordingly.

The invention has for its object to provide an actuator for the track-dependent car body control, which has the disadvantages described above with regard to the high power loss when traveling with large angles of inclination and can also be made more compact and manufactured more cost-effectively.

This object is achieved in that the transmission device has a transmission with a variable transmission ratio, the transmission ratio of the transmission increasing when the car body is moved from its rest position to its inclined position with an increasing angle of inclination of the car body relative to the chassis.

This solution is simple and has the advantage that, with increasing inclination forces, a correspondingly larger transmission ratio is provided, so that a clearly smaller drive is sufficient to be able to absorb large forces. Correspondingly, the translation is lower at low angles of inclination and increases with increasing angles of inclination. A small ratio with small tilting angles is desirable because the gearbox losses are lower and the small restoring forces can safely return the car body to the uninclined starting position. Since a drive that is smaller in terms of the required continuous output is now sufficient for comparable forces due to the angle of inclination, this affects both the drive itself and the power electronics and the cables. As a result, the inclination device can be designed much more cost-effectively. A small drive also takes up less installation space.

In an advantageous development of the invention, the transmission can have a crank mechanism with a crankshaft, which is provided with a crank pin which is offset radially relative to the crankshaft and on which a pull and / or push rod is pivotably attached. With such a transmission, a large transmission ratio can be realized in a simple manner with a continuously changing transmission ratio. Especially when the crank mechanism is almost stretched, a translation of almost any size can be achieved.

The advantage that results from a high gear ratio at large angles of inclination has an effect in particular in the case of electromotive drives when holding large ones Actuators. In the case of electromotive actuators, the power loss is essentially influenced by the transmitted torque of the motor and not, as in the case of hydraulic linear actuators, by the adjustment speed. On the other hand, electric motors also have the advantage of lower maintenance costs, higher availability, lower life cycle costs, easier assembly, usually also lower power consumption and high environmental friendliness compared to hydraulic or pneumatic rotary drives.

In addition, the transmission can have a reduction gear between the crank mechanism and the engine. As a result, the desired tensile and / or pushing forces for transferring the car body from its rest position into its inclined position can be applied with even smaller electric motors.

It can be advantageous if the motor is connected to the reduction gear and / or the crank mechanism via a cardan shaft. As a result, the electric motor can be provided in a correspondingly more favorable installation position, so that the tilting device can be made more compact.

Alternatively, it is also conceivable that the motor is connected to the reduction gear and / or the crank drive via a belt or chain drive. Even then, the tilting device can be made particularly compact in that the motor can be provided at a distance from the reduction gear in a possibly more favorable installation space.

In an advantageous development, in the rest position of the car body, a line through the center of the crankshaft and the crank pin with a line through the center of the crank pin and a bearing point of the pull and / or push rod spaced apart from the crank pin can essentially enclose a right angle. This results in a particularly favorable course of force when the car body is initially deflected from its rest position.

Particularly large tilting forces can be applied when the crank mechanism is almost stretched at the maximum tilt angle.

The invention is explained in more detail below using an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 1

eine schematische Darstellung der erfindungsgemäßen Neigevorrichtung, wenn sich der Wagenkasten in der Ruhestellung befindet;

Fig. 2

die Neigevorrichtung aus Fig. 1 in einer geneigten Stellung des Wagenkastens;

Fig. 3

die Ansicht aus Fig. 2, wobei die Neigung in entgegengesetzter Richtung wie bei der Darstellung in Fig. 2 erfolgt ist;

Fig. 4

eine schematische Darstellung der Verstelleinrichtung;

Fig. 5

die Verstelleinrichtung aus Fig. 4 in einer Draufsicht;

Fig. 6

eine alternative Ausführungsform der Verstelleinrichtung in einer Ansicht wie in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7

eine alternative Ausführungsform der Verstelleinrichtung in einer Darstellung wie in Fig. 5;

Fig. 8a

ein Diagramm, welches den Verlauf des Motordrehmomentes über den Neigungswinkel darstellt;

Fig. 8b

ein Diagramm, das die Übersetzung über den Kurbeldrehwinkel darstellt;

Fig. 9

eine Darstellung einer Neigevorrichtung aus dem Stand der Technik;

Fig. 10

eine Darstellung einer Neigevorrichtung aus dem Stand der Technik;

Fig. 11

eine weitere Darstellung der Neigevorrichtung aus dem Stand der Technik.

Show it:

Fig. 1

a schematic representation of the tilting device according to the invention when the car body is in the rest position;

Fig. 2

the tilting device of Figure 1 in an inclined position of the car body.

Fig. 3

the view of Figure 2, wherein the inclination is in the opposite direction as in the illustration in Figure 2;

Fig. 4

a schematic representation of the adjusting device;

Fig. 5

the adjustment device of Figure 4 in a plan view.

Fig. 6

an alternative embodiment of the adjusting device in a view as in Fig. 5;

Fig. 7

an alternative embodiment of the adjusting device in a representation as in Fig. 5;

Fig. 8a

a diagram illustrating the course of the engine torque over the angle of inclination;

Fig. 8b

a diagram illustrating the translation over the crank rotation angle;

Fig. 9

an illustration of a tilting device from the prior art;

Fig. 10

an illustration of a tilting device from the prior art;

Fig. 11

a further illustration of the tilting device from the prior art.

Fig. 9 shows a cross section through a passenger car 1, or a rail vehicle, with a body 2 and a chassis 3. The chassis 3 has rail wheels 4, which are each connected via an axle 5 and rotatable in axle bearings 6 of the chassis 3 are stored. The rail wheels 4 run on schematically illustrated rails 7 which are fastened to a base 8.

The car body 2 has an interior 9 in which seats 10 are arranged. A person 11 is shown schematically, taking a seat on one of the seats 10.

The car body 2 also has a secondary suspension 12, the spring elements of which are shown schematically. The suspension 12 is arranged between the body 2 itself and a carrier element 13, which is attributable to the body 2. Instead of the suspension 12, the carrier element 13 can be directly rigidly connected to the body 2, or be part of the body 2.

A tilting device 14 is provided between the car body 2 and the chassis 3. This tilting device has a coupling device 15, which essentially consists of a four-bar linkage. The four-bar linkage is formed by link rods 16 and 17, which have ends 18 and 19, and 20 and 21, respectively. These ends form bearings. The ends 18 to 21 are each rotatably supported in bearing blocks 22 to 25, the bearing blocks 22 and 23 being fixedly attached to the body 2 and the bearing blocks 24 and 25 each being attached to the chassis 3.

The bearing blocks 22 to 25 are arranged such that the ends 18 and 20 of the link rods 16 and 17 are each further apart than the ends 19 and 21 of the link rods 16 and 17. Also the bearing blocks 22 and 23 of the car body are below the bearing blocks 24 and 25 of the chassis arranged. This creates a four-bar transmission with which the body 2 can be pivoted relative to the chassis 3.

The center of gravity S of the body 2 is below the pivot P of the four-bar transmission. As a result, the car body 2 stabilizes itself automatically in a rest position, in which it is arranged essentially upright on the chassis 3. In the 9, the car body 2 is inclined by an angle of inclination α with respect to the chassis 3, or is in its inclined position. The maximum inclination angle α is approximately 8 ° in the present embodiment.

Between the chassis 3 and the car body 2 there is an adjustment device 26, or a plurality of adjustment devices 26 can be provided. This adjustment device 26 is supported on the car body 2 and on the chassis 3.

In the prior art shown in FIG. 9, this adjustment device consists of hydraulic cylinders 27 and 28. By correspondingly lengthening and shortening the hydraulic cylinders, the body 2 can be inclined relative to the chassis 3.

A second embodiment from the prior art is shown in FIG. 10, in which hydraulic cylinders 27 and 28 are also provided as adjusting device 26. In contrast to the first embodiment from the prior art, the secondary suspension 12 is arranged on the chassis 3, the support element 13 being supported on the axle bearings 6 this time.

In a third embodiment (FIG. 11) from the prior art, electric linear actuators 29 and 30 are used instead of the hydraulic cylinders. By lengthening and shortening the actuators 29 and 30, the adjustment or inclination of the car body 2 relative to the chassis can take place accordingly.

In the solution according to the invention, the functioning of which can be seen particularly well in FIGS. 1 to 3, the suspension 12 is not shown for reasons of clarity. In the embodiment according to the invention, instead of the hydraulic cylinders 27 and 28 or the linear actuators 29 and 30, an electric motor 31 is provided, which is provided with a crankshaft 33 via a reduction gear 32. The crankshaft 33 has a crank pin 34 on which a pull and / or push rod 35 is rotatably mounted. This creates a gearbox with a continuously variable ratio.

The electric motor 31 with the reduction gear 32 is attached to the chassis 3. The pull and / or push rod 35 is rotatably mounted on the body 2 with its other end.

5 shows the adjusting device 26 in a top view, the crankshaft being rotatably mounted on the one hand on the reduction gear 32 and on the other hand in a bearing block 39, the bearing block 39 not being shown in more detail in FIGS. 1 to 3 for reasons of clarity. In alternative embodiments, the electric motor 31 can be connected to the reduction gear 32 either via an articulated shaft 37 or a belt drive 38, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.

The pull and / or push rod 35 is connected in an articulated manner to the car body 2 via a bearing block 36 and a shaft journal 40.

The car body 2 is shown only schematically in FIGS. 1 to 3, a carrier element 13 being shown as a representative of the car body 2, onto which the car body 2 is placed, or which part of the car body 2 can be.

In the rest position, the adjusting device 26 is set such that a line through the center of the crankshaft 33 and the crank pin 34 is substantially perpendicular to a line through the crank pin 34 and the shaft pin 40. In the state of maximum deflection or inclination of the car body 2 relative to the chassis 3, the adjusting device 26 or the crank mechanism is essentially stretched, as is shown in FIG. 3 and in FIG. 2. In the invention, the adjustment device 26 is controlled by a control device 41, by means of which the direction of rotation of the electric motor 31 can be controlled, depending on the direction of the desired deflection. The maximum deflection is approximately 8 degrees, as shown by the angle a in FIG. 2.

The mode of operation and functioning of the invention are explained in more detail below:

In the rest position of the body 2 relative to the chassis 3, the body 2 is arranged essentially upright on the chassis 3. The car body 2 is in the rest position when driving straight ahead. Now the passenger car 1 around a curve, the car body 2 can be continuously inclined relative to the chassis 3 depending on the driving speed and curve radius to the inside of the curve by a corresponding angle α. Such an inclination is shown, for example, for the car bodies in FIGS. 9 to 11. In order to generate the inclination, the electric motor 31 is switched on via the control unit 41, as a result of which a rotation of the motor shaft, not shown, is transmitted through the reduction gear 32 to the crankshaft 33, which rotates from the rest position shown in FIG. 1 into a state such as it is shown in Fig. 2 or 3, depending on the desired direction of inclination. Rotation of the crankshaft 33 causes the pull and / or push rod 35 to exert a force on the carrier element 13 or the car body 2, so that it is inclined by the desired angle α relative to the chassis 3.

During the initial deflection, the electric motor 31 initially requires a relatively low torque, which increases steadily as the crankshaft 33 rotates up to a maximum value, in order to then decrease again. Near the maximum deflection of the car body 2 relative to the chassis 3, the engine torque becomes smaller again due to the kinematic arrangement of the crankshaft 33 and the pull and / or push rod 35 despite increasing deflection forces. The torque curve in FIG depicted schematically as a function of the crank angle in FIG. 8b. The engine torque or the gear ratio is shown standardized, since it changes depending on the size of the body 2 and other design factors. The only thing that matters is the course of the engine torque, in which a very low engine torque is required at maximum deflection. As a result, the invention differs considerably from conventional solutions in which the motor of the linear drive must apply maximum torque at a maximum inclination angle.

Due to the novel design of the tilting device, it is now possible to design tilting systems for a given load spectrum with electric motors of lower continuous output. The tilting device according to the invention is less expensive to manufacture and can be made more space-saving. It is also possible to offset the electric motor 31 with respect to the reduction gear or the crankshaft 33 by using one PTO shaft 37 or, for example, a belt drive 38 provides. As a result, the tilting device can be adapted to the respectively predefined installation situation in the chassis 3.

Claims (10)

1. Tilting mechanism for creating a track curve-dependent tilt of the superstructure of rail vehicles (1 ), including a coupling means (15) to which the superstructure (2) with a bogie (3) is movably connected in such a way that the superstructure can be transferred from a mainly upright initial position into a tilted position relative to the bogie and having a drive (31) and an adjustment means including a transfer means (33,34,35) by means of the adjustment means the superstructure can be transferred from its initial position into a tilted position relative to the bogie, characterized in that the transfer means includes a gear (33,34,35) having a variable transmission, the transmission of the gear increases when the superstructure is transferred from its initial position into its tilted position with increasing inclination angle of the superstructure relative to the bogie.
2. Tilting mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that the gear includes a crank mechanism (33,34,35) with a crankshaft (33) being equipped with a crank pin (34) radially displaced relative to the crankshaft, a drawbar and/or side bar (35) being pivotably attached to the crank pin (34).
3. Tilting mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the drive is an electromotor (31).
4. Tilting mechanism according to claim 3, characterized in that the electromotor (31) is attached to the bogie (3), and the drawbar and/or side bar (35) is attached to the superstructure (2).
5. Tilting mechanism according to claim 3, characterized in that the electromotor is linked to the superstructure (2), and the drawbar and/or side bar is linked to the bogie (3).
6. Tilting mechanism according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the gear includes a reduction gear (32) between crank mechanism and motor.
7. Tilting mechanism according to claim 6, characterized in that the motor is connected to the reduction gear and/or the crank mechanism by means of a universal joint (37)
8. Tilting mechanism according to claim 6, characterized in that the motor is connected to the reduction gear and/or the crank mechanism by means of a belt drive or chain drive (38).
9. Tilting mechanism according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that in the initial position of the superstructure, a line through the center of the crankshaft and the crank pin forms a right angle to a large extent with the line through the center of the crank pin and a bearing position of the drawbar and/or side bar located distant to the crank pin.
10. Tilting mechanism according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the crank mechanism is aligned to a large extent in case of a maximum inclination angle.