AU2009201747A1 - Railway axle bearing adaptor apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT ORIGINAL Name of Applicant: Bluebird Rail Operations Pty Ltd Actual Inventor: William Maurice Roberts Address for Service: C/- MADDERNS, First Floor, 64 Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Invention title: RAILWAY AXLE BEARING ADAPTOR APPARATUS Details of Associated Provisional Application No: 2008902192 dated 5 May 2008 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us.

2 This invention relates to railway passenger bogie arrangements and in particular to freight wheel sets and their bearings being useable with railway passenger bogies. BACKGROUND A bogie (or truck) is a term used primarily in the railway industry to describe a chassis or framework 5 that has wheels that support a purpose built enclosure (passenger carriage, rolling stock vehicle, flat wagon, open wagon, hopper wagon, well wagon, etc). Bogies are the wheeled interface between rail vehicles/wagons/hoppers/rail carriage and the railway track. There are usually four wheels arranged as pairs in passenger bogies (referred to as wheel sets), and each pair of wheels are connected by an axle. Each wheel is press fitted to the respective end of the LO axles. The free ends of the axles which extend beyond the press fitted wheels are fitted with a bearing which are referred to as a bearing assembly, which in turn is attached to the bogie (or truck). The bearing assembly may be a sealed package bearing, or it may be in a housing having an opening that can be accessed for servicing the bearing, an example being an axle journal box arrangement. More generally the bearing assemblies are referred to as axle boxes where the term "box" relates more to L5 the shape of the bearing assembly housing. The attachment of the axle box to the bogie is achieved via one or more interface elements fixed into the bogie frame, sone of which may be suspension elements and others to allow relative movement between the wheel set and the bogie. Modern day bogies are mounted to a carriage with the use of a bolster on the bogies and centre casting on the carriage that enables the bogies to swivel underneath the carriage to negotiate the curves in the !0 rail. Passenger carriage bogies have wheel sets that are specifically designed to only fit passenger bogies and are not used under any other types of railway vehicles. Since they are only used in passenger bogies they are less common than other railway stock and can be expensive to purchase, have long lead times to have them manufactured, delivered and any delays involved precede the actual task of 25 replacement thus keep the passenger vehicle out of service for long unproductive periods of time. The invention described in this specification eliminates, reduces, or at least provides an alternative arrangement which is equal to or less than the cost and inconvenience of the arrangements described above. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 30 The invention described in this specification allows for a standard freight wheel set to be utilised on passenger bogies. Freight wheel sets are used on the very numerous freight vehicles in the rail industry and because of their relatively large numbers are much less expensive to purchase new and 3 are more readily available as second hand spares. Therefore if freight wheel sets are useable with a passenger bogie, it can eliminate the need to hold passenger specific wheel sets for fitment to passenger bogies. In one aspect of the invention a wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement for use with a railway bogie, 5 includes a frame adapted to engage both a wheel axle bearing casing and a bogie wherein the frame is adapted to accommodate one at a time of a variety of wheel axle bearings and wherein the frame is adapted to at least limit movement of the wheel axle bearing relative to the frame and having an outer shape adapted to slidingly engage with a bogie. 10 In a further aspect of the wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement further includes at least one stop member located on the frame and engageable with the wheel axle bearing to limit movement of the wheel axle bearing in relation to the frame along the axis of rotation of the wheel axle bearing. In yet a further aspect of the wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement further includes at least one stop member located on the frame and engageable with the wheel axle bearing casing adapted to limit L5 movement of the wheel axle bearing relative to the frame in a direction orthogonal to the rotational axis of the wheel axle bearing. In a further aspect the wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement further includes a first axle bearing blocking element shaped to conform to both the wheel axle bearing and an upper portion of the framework located in the frame to block the movement of the wheel axle bearing within the frame. !0 Yet further a wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement further includes a second axle bearing blocking element removably located between the wheel axle bearing and a lower portion of the framework to space the wheel axle bearing from the lower portion of the framework and maintain the first axle bearing blocking element adjacent to the upper portion of the frame. In a further aspect a wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement further includes fixing elements for 25 fixing the second blocking element to a lower portion of the frame. Any reference to the prior art contained herein is not to be taken as an admission that the information is common general knowledge. In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprise" or 30 variations such as "comprises" or "comprising" is used in an inclusive sense, i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention.

4 Specific embodiments of an invention will now be described in some further detail with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying figures. These embodiments are illustrative, and are not meant to be restrictive of the scope of the invention. Suggestions and descriptions of other embodiments may be included within the scope of an invention, but they may not be illustrated in the accompanying 5 figures. Alternatively features of an invention may be shown in the figures but not described in the specification. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES Figure. I a depicts a top view of view of a half portion of a bogie showing the major structural and motive parts of a bogie; LO Figure. I b depicts a side view of view of a bogie showing the major structural and motive parts of a bogie; Figure. 2 depicts an end view of an existing wheel axle bearing and casing located in a bogie; Figure. 3 depicts a perspective view of the frame of a wheel axle bearing arrangement frame; Figure. 4 depicts a section view along D-D of Figure 3; L5 Figure. 5 depicts a section view along A-A of Figure 3; Figures 6a, 6b and 6c depict respectively a side, top and end view of the wheel axle arrangement frame of Figure. 3; and Figure. 7 depicts a side view of the wheel axle frame of Figure. 3 having a wheel axle bearing inserted and the wheel axle arrangement fitted to a bogie. 20 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION The passenger bogie depicted in Figures Ia (top view) and lb (side view) shows the framework 10 which is shaped to accommodate the fitting of the wheel sets 12 and 14, suspension elements, brakes and in some cases an electric or diesel motor, although in the embodiment to be described in detail herein the bogie is a passive bogie which does not have a motor of any kind. 25 Figure Ia depicts a top view of a half portion of a bogie showing the major structural parts of a bogie. One side is not shown but by describing the one side shown the other side is also described. Figure. I b depicts a side view of view of a bogie showing the major structural and motive parts of a bogie in particular the wheels 16 and framework 10. The framework 10 is very strong as not only does it need to be structurally sound so as to carry the 30 above noted elements and survive the strain of breaking and acceleration it must also support the 5 weight of the vehicle body (and its dead and live loadings) which is mounted on top of the bogie. Frameworks are generally made of steel plate or cast steel and more recently of steel box construction. The framework includes transom frame member/s I I and 13 which extend transversely of the bogie to space the parallel side frame members 15. Each of these frame members are used to support various 5 elements of the bogie and the vehicle body mounted to be mounted thereon. Some of the other elements of a bogie include the wheel sets 12 and 14, one set of which includes a pair of wheels 16 (and 18 not shown) fitted at each end of an axle 20. On the free ends of the axle are located bearing assemblies (axle bearings) 22 (and 24 not shown) in which the axle rotates with the least possible friction. LO The mounting details of an existing wheel and its associated bearing are best depicted in Figure 2. In this example, the axle bearing 22 is housed in a casing 26 together the wheel axle bearing and casing are referred to herein by reference to the term wheel axle bearing (and of course there is an associated pair of wheels and an axle in a complete wheel set). So a wheel set is fitted to a bogie in one operation. L5 The bogie has a wheel suspension frame member 28 and a bottom frame member 30 which is removed from the base of the wheel suspension frame member while the axle bearing casing 26 is fitted up into the bogie framework by the action of sliding the side of the bearing casing 26, which has grooves 32a and 32b created in the outside shape of the casing 26, onto complementary shaped portions 34a and 34b of the wheel suspension frame member 28. The wheel suspension frame 20 member 28 guides the casing in its allowable movement along the path formed by the grooves and complementary shaped portions, which when fitted to a bogie is a path that is vertically up and down as indicted by arrows 35. Wear pads are also positioned in this fitting process more about which will be described later in the specification. The bottom frame member 30 is then re-fitted to the open end of the wheel suspension frame member 25 28 to limit the downward vertical movement of the casing 26, while the upwards vertical movement is limited by a bogie equalising beam 36 and bogie equalising beam terminal pad 38. The bogie equalising beam 36 and terminal pad 38 are arranged to bias the casing 26 towards the lower end of the wheel suspension frame member. There may be other suspension arrangements on the bogie but the axle bearings are provided the described limited range of movement with the elements described. 30 When a wheel set inclusive of bearings needs to be replaced a comparable new or second hand wheel set can be used. What has not been possible is to use a new or second hand wheel set that has a different sized bearing or casing.

6 Figures 3 to 6c depict an embodiment of a wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement which allows a new or second hand wheel set having a bearing casing that is of a different size to that which it replaces, to be fitted to a railway bogie in particular in this embodiment a passenger bogie. In one example, the Commonwealth and Bradford Kendal bogies which entered service in 1970 has 5 the type and size of bearing depicted in Figure 2 which can now be replaced with 50 and 70 tonne freight wheels sets which are in common use at this time and for which there are many second hand and reasonably priced new units available. The continued use of the mentioned passenger bogies comes about because the vehicles they carry continue to be useful in the railway system and the wheel set replacement provided by this invention ensures that they can remain so for very much longer, thus LO saving the cost of replacement of the whole bogie or the vehicles they carry being excluded from service. Referring briefly to Figure 7 which depicts an embodiment of a wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement fitted to a railway bogie, the axle bearing casing 78 is engaged in the wheel axle bearing adaptor frame 60. The wheel axle bearing adaptor frame 60 is shown located in the wheel suspension .5 frame member 28. The bottom frame member 30 is located at the base of the wheel suspension frame to limit the downward vertical movement of the wheel axle bearing adaptor frame 60, while the upwards vertical movement is limited by a bogie suspension arm 36 and bogie suspension arm terminal pad 38. Both directions of movement are orthogonal to the axis of rotation of the wheel axle bearing. The wheel axle bearing adaptor frame 60 is shown having two blocking elements 72 and 74 0 the functions of which will be described later in the specification. Referring to Figure 3 which is a perspective view of one part of an embodiment of an axle box arrangement wherein the axle box frame 60 is formed from a base casting and additional apertures and attachment elements welded out of or onto as required, this being but one example of the way in which the axle box arrangement frame can be formed. 25 In another embodiment not shown, the frame is formed by multiple parts for example the sides of the substantially box shaped frame are individual parts, joined by any suitable means. The axle box frame in Figure 3 is depicted having the orientation that it would have in use, because the vertical grooves 62a and 62b in the side of the frame are shown on the outside vertical sides of the axle box frame and engagement tangs 64a (and 64b not shown in this view) are in the upper portion of 30 the inside of the axle box frame 60. The grooves 62a and 62b are formed on the outside vertical sides of the axle box arrangement frame and are complementary to the shape of portions 34a and 34b of the wheel suspension frame member 28. The wheel suspension frame member 28 guides the movement of the axle box arrangement frame 7 along the path formed by the grooves, which, when the axle box arrangement is fitted to a bogie, is a path that is vertically up and down. The axle box arrangement frame 60 is adapted to engage both a wheel axle bearing casing 78 (not shown in Figure. 3 but depicted in Figure. 7) and a bogie (not shown in Figure 3 but depicted in 5 Figures Ia, l b and 7). The adaptation of the axle box arrangement frame to accommodate a wheel axle bearing adaptor includes an aperture 64 (Figure 3) also adapted by its size to at least accommodate a wheel axle bearing casing 78 (depicted in Figure. 7). The adaptation in one embodiment of the axle box arrangement frame 60 also includes engagement tangs 64a (and 64b not shown in the view provided in Figure. 3 but better displayed in Fig 6a) protruding from an upper LO region of the inside of the aperture 64 in the axle box frame 60. Alternative adaptations could include insertable and fixable tangs/bolts or other devices to achieve the same function as the included engagement tangs. The tangs may engage either the wheel axle bearing casing 78, or in the embodiment described herein, a blocking element 72 (shown in Figure. 7), to at least limit movement of the wheel axle bearing L5 and/or the blocking element relative to the frame along the axis of rotation of the wheel axle bearing (the axis is along a line coming out of the page in Figure 7 at the centre of the wheel axle bearing casing 78). In the embodiment depicted, an axle bearing casing blocking element 74 (shown in Figure 7) located between the wheel axle bearing casing 78 and a lower portion 30 of the framework, is used to keep !0 the wheel axle bearing in the upper region of the axle box arrangement frame thus ensuring the engagement of the engagement tangs 64a and 64b with either the wheel axle bearing casing 78 or as depicted in this embodiment, the blocking element 72. The blocking elements are sized to adapt and conform to the outer shape of the wheel axle bearing casing and should a casing be different to the one depicted appropriately sized blocking elements can be used to adapt the casing to the axle box 25 arrangement frame. Thus the blocking elements perform both a shape adaption and stabilising function and one or more of such elements may be configured to provide the function of limiting movement to the bearing in a direction orthogonal to the rotational axis of the wheel axle bearing. The axle bearing casing blocking element 74 is secured to the frame member 30 by one or more fixing means including screws, bolts or any other effective fixing means for the conditions. The outer shape 30 of the axle box arrangement frame in this embodiment is adapted to engage with a bogie by the provision of grooves 62a and 62b (as depicted in Figures 3, 4, 6c and 7) created in the outside shape of the axle box arrangement frame 60 being slidable onto complementary shaped portions 34a and 34b of the wheel suspension frame member 28. Further, the outer top portion of the frame is shaped and adapted to mechanically interface with the equalising beam 36 and terminal pad 38. However, 8 since these are the main interface regions the remainder of the frame can be of different shapes and configurations to that illustrated in the specific embodiment disclosed herein. Not shown in any of the figures are two wear plates, preferably of magnesium material, one each of which are placed between the open ended grooves 32a and 32b (Figure. 7)and the respective shaped 5 portions 34a and 34b of the wheel suspension frame member 28, to provide a sacrificial element upon which frictional forces that occur as a result of the vertical sliding movements of the wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement and the wheel suspension frame member 28 can be expended. In Figure 7 a small gap 80 is visible between the inside surface 62c (Figure 3) of groove 62b and the complementary shaped portion 34b of the wheel suspension frame member 28 which accommodates a LO wear plate. The outer dimension of the axle box arrangement frame 60 is sized to appropriate dimensions to accommodate these wear elements. In this embodiment the axle box arrangement frame 60 in Figure 3 depicts two closed ended grooves 76b and 78b on the groove 62b side of the frame, and as shown in Figure. 4 there are also two closed ended grooves of the same dimensions, orientation and location on the other groove 62a side of the L5 frame into which tabs or similar incorporated into the wear plates (not shown) can fit, so as to locate the wear plates in use between the groove 62b and the respective portion 34b of the wheel suspension frame member 28. Figure. 4 depicts a section view along D-D of Figure 3 showing the grooves 76a and 78a as well as grooves 76b and 78b on the opposite side of the frame 60. Also shown in cross-section are the two !0 engagement tangs 64a and 64b protruding from an upper region of the inside of the axle box frame. The tangs engage either the wheel axle bearing casing 78 or a blocking elements 72 (shown in Figure. 7), to at least limit movement of the wheel axle bearing casing and/or the blocking element relative to the frame along the direction of the longitudinal axis of the wheel axle bearing. In an embodiment where the tangs engage a blocking element they do so by engaging an open ended groove (not shown) 25 in the side wall of an upper portion of a blocking element, in this embodiment blocking element 72. Figure. 5 depicts a section view along A-A of Figure 3 showing a front-on view of the tang 64a protruding from an upper region of the inside of the axle box frame 60. Also depicted are retaining bars 50, 52 and 54 which are three of a total of four retaining bars. The fourth retaining bar 56 is depicted in Figure 3. The retaining bars are shaped and located to allow the bogie suspension arm 30 terminal pad 38 of the bogie suspension arm 36 (shown in Figure 7) to rest within the space between the bars on the top surface 58 (Figure 3) of the axle box arrangement frame 60. In this embodiment bars of steel material are welded to the top surface of the axle box arrangement frame 60.

9 Figures 6a, 6b, and 6c depict respectively a side, top and end view of the axle box arrangement frame of Figure 3 where numbers used in Figures 3, 4, 5 and 7 are associated with like elements in Figures 6a, 6b and 6c. Once an axle box arrangement frame 60 is fitted to both ends of a wheel set it can be fitted to the 5 bogie in the manner described herein and since the frame can be removed at any future time, it can be replaced or used again on other wheel sets, even different wheel sets by using appropriately sized and shaped blocking elements. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not restricted to the embodiment described herein and also not in regard to the particular elements and/or features LO described or depicted herein. It will be appreciated that various modifications can be made without departing from the principles of the invention. Therefore, the invention should be understood to include all such modifications within its scope.

Claims (8)

1. A wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement for use with a railway bogie, includes: a frame adapted to engage both a wheel axle bearing casing and a bogie wherein the frame is adapted to accommodate one at a time of a variety of wheel axle bearings and wherein the frame is 5 adapted to at least limit movement of the wheel axle bearing relative to the frame and having an outer shape adapted to slidingly engage with a bogie.

2. A wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement according to claim 1 further including at least one stop member located on the frame and engageable with the wheel axle bearing to limit movement of the wheel axle bearing in relation to the frame along the axis of rotation of the wheel axle bearing. 0

3. A wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement according to claim I further including at least one stop member located on the frame and engageable with the wheel axle bearing casing adapted to limit movement of the wheel axle bearing relative to the frame in a direction orthogonal to the rotational axis of the wheel axle bearing.

4. A wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement according to claims 1, 2 and 3 further including a 5 first axle bearing blocking element shaped to conform to both the wheel axle bearing and an upper portion of the framework located in the frame to block the movement of the wheel axle bearing within the frame.

5. A wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement according to claim 4 further including a second axle bearing blocking element removably located between the wheel axle bearing and a lower portion 0 of the framework to space the wheel axle bearing from the lower portion of the framework and maintain the first axle bearing blocking element adjacent to the upper portion of the frame.

6. A wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement according to claim 5 further including fixing elements for fixing the second blocking element to a lower portion of the frame.

7. A wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement according to any preceding claim wherein the 25 frame has multiple parts.

8. A wheel axle bearing adaptor arrangement substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 3 to 7 of the accompanying drawings.