CN104203710B - Means for maintaining the trajectory of the guided vehicle in the event of derailment and/or failure of the guidance - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention describes a device for keeping a guided vehicle on a trajectory, for fitting to a guided vehicle movable on a track comprising a guide rail (3) and two side rails (13, 14) parallel to said guide rail, said guided vehicle comprising a guide member comprising guide wheels (1, 2), each wheel being intended to abut against said guide rail, said route-keeping device comprising: a. a rod (15), the rod (15) being for fixing to the guide member to be transverse to the track, the rod having a length L between a distance D by which the side rails are separated from each other minus a width C of the head of the rail of the guide rail and the distance D; b. fixing means designed for fixing the rods (15) to the guide members so that the rods are positioned laterally between the side rails at the level of the side rails.

Description

Means for maintaining the trajectory of the guided vehicle in the event of derailment and/or failure of the guidance

technical field

The invention relates to a device for maintaining the trajectory of a guided vehicle in the event of derailment and/or failure of the guidance of said guided vehicle.

"Guided vehicle" refers to means of public transport, such as buses, trolleybuses, trams, subways, trains or train units, etc., but also means of transport loading, such as e.g. It is very important and especially for the tools mentioned above that the guidance is provided by the monorail. The monorail acts as a guide for the guide unit, which is normally supported on the rail and follows its trajectory, when the guided vehicle moves. The guiding unit enables eg a guiding system to guide a steering axle of the vehicle, said axle being eg fitted with bogie wheels, along a trajectory defined by the rails.

A first known variant of a guide unit consists of a pair of guide wheels, also called guide pulleys, mounted in a V-shape and fitted with flanges able to grip the guide rail. Such guiding units are described, for example, in documents US 7,228,803 B2, US 6,029,579 A1, US 6,363,860 B1. The guidance unit ensures the guidance of the vehicle until it stops. This makes it possible, for example, to avoid material damage which could be caused by loss of guidance, and in the case of public transport to protect the health of staff or passengers on board the vehicle.

A vehicle guided by a guiding unit of this type operates according to the following general principle with reference to FIG. direction of the steering axis. The guide rail 3 is made in particular of a base plate 4 fixed to the ground 5 and a core 6 supporting a head 7 on which the pulleys 1 , 2 are supported via a tread 9 . Thus, each pulley 1, 2 in the same pair of guide pulleys has its tread 9 in contact with the surface of the head 7 - this surface of the head 7 is called the running surface 8 - and is symmetrically distributed over the head 7 on each side of the upper part. When the vehicle is in motion, the pulleys 1, 2 are in contact with the head 7 and the respective flanges 10 of said pulleys 1, 2 surround this head 7 in a nominal mode without contact and are further below this head 7. close to core 6. Since the distance between the lower ends 201, 101 of the two flanges 10 surrounding the head 7 is smaller than the width C of the head 7, only if the angle 11 of the fixed pulley—that is, corresponding to the pulley 1 through a pair of pulleys, The angle of the axis of rotation of each of the pulleys in 2 and the cutting sector of the plane of symmetry through the pair of pulleys in the shape of a V - increases, and/or if the flange 10 and/or the head 7 Deformation of the outer edge of the outer edge makes it possible to withdraw the head 7 from the clamping of said pulleys 1 , 2 , or even from the area comprised between the tread 9 and the flange 10 .

The correct orientation of the vehicle is thus obtained by coupling the pair of pulleys of the guiding unit of the guiding system with the steering shaft of the vehicle. If the pulleys grip the rails correctly, the vehicle follows the trajectory described by the rails as the vehicle moves. On the other hand, if the pulley leaves its normal operating position, for example if the head of the guide rail leaves the area comprised between the tread and the flange, the vehicle will risk leaving the track initially established by the rail. In fact, as soon as the pulley is no longer constrained in the direction in which the guide rail is imposed, it will move away to the right or left of the rail, thus causing the vehicle to deviate from the preset trajectory. The discussed situation is limited to loss of vehicle guidance or simply failure of vehicle guidance. In other words, correct positioning of the pulleys is necessary to ensure the correct orientation of the vehicle.

A second variant of the guide unit is described in WO 2008/074942 A1 and comprises a pair of pulleys clamping the head as described above, but differing in that the pulleys have no lugs. edge. In this case, the flange of the wheel is replaced by a fixing flange integrally formed with the fixing base for the pulley, which is also protected by the safety guard. This configuration creates greater rigidity, which increases the effort required to extract the pulley from the rail.

With whichever variant of the guide unit considered, extraction of the head from the clamping of the pulley is possible. This is the case when, for example, upward vertical tension is applied to the pulley or to a fixed base for the pulley so that deformation of the parts (flanges and/or head and/or pulley axis) means that the distance between the flanges exceeds The width of the head. In this case, the pulleys no longer grip the rail and can be positioned next to either side of the rail as shown in FIG. 2 or on top of the rail as shown in FIG. 3. The reference numbers used in FIG. in Figure 2 and Figure 3. When positioned on top of the guide rail, the vehicle can still be guided even if the guide unit is no longer clamping the guide rail. On the other hand, if the guide pulley is positioned next to the guide rail, then the deviation of the bogie wheels may cause the guided vehicle to deviate from its originally planned trajectory, which is critical for the operation of the vehicle and the network it belongs to, as well as for the passengers and Worker safety can have disastrous results.

Therefore, a current guidance system for a guided vehicle cannot ensure that the trajectory of said guided vehicle is maintained in the event of a derailment. It is an object of the present invention to provide a safe and reliable simple device for maintaining the trajectory of a guided vehicle in the event of derailment or loss of guidance. In other words, it includes in particular the ability to quickly and reliably prevent the guidance system of the guided vehicle from retaining its deviation by means of the drive rod in the event of loss of guidance and/or derailment.

To achieve this object, the invention provides a holding device for holding tracks.

The preferred embodiments of the invention also give the advantages of the invention.

The invention relates to a holding device for keeping a track for fitting to a guided vehicle capable of being on a track comprising at least one guide rail and two side rails movement, the two side rails being for example current rails parallel to the guide rails and positioned in particular symmetrically on each side of the side rails and which define a trajectory for the guided vehicle. The guided vehicle comprises a guidance system in particular for guiding the vehicle along a trajectory imposed by guide rails. The guide system comprises in particular a guide unit comprising guide wheels or guide pulleys, each guide wheel being intended to bear on said guide rail in order to guide said guided vehicle via said guide unit The trajectory defined by the rails is applied. The holding device is characterized in that it includes:

a. Rod for fixing to said guide unit so as to be transverse to the track and thus to the guide rail, said rod having a length L between the distance D separating the side rails from each other minus the distance of the guide rail between the width C of the head and said distance D at which the side rails are separated from each other, ie D-C<L<D;

b. Fixing means adapted to fix the rod to the guide unit such that the rod is positioned laterally to the rail and thus between the side rails at the level of the side rails to the guide rail to be supported on one or the other of the side rails during derailment and/or guide failure of the guided vehicle, so that by applying the guide rail to the guide unit The guided vehicle is guided by a defined trajectory.

In fact, since the side rails are parallel to the guide rails, they are also able to control the movement of the guided vehicle along said trajectory imposed by the guide rails. The side rails may in particular be current rails or feed rails for supplying electrical energy to the guided vehicle, or be configured for passage with the vehicle according to the invention in the event of a derailment of the guided vehicle or a failure of the guidance. The side rails of the guided vehicle are guided in cooperation with the means for maintaining the track. To this end, the rod is configured to hold the end of the pulley in place on the rail as shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 . The end of the pulley refers in particular to the flange fitted to the pulley or the wheel, but also to the flange as schematically shown in Figure 3 when said guided vehicle is fitted with a A track-keeping device is a pulley guard or fairing supported by a rail in the event of derailment or loss of guidance. The geometry and structure of this bar and the means of fixing said bar to said guiding unit make it possible in particular to transmit to said guiding unit the direction followed in order to keep said guided vehicle along the path defined by the guide rail. traces of.

Preferably, said rod and/or said fixing means comprise insulating material capable of preventing the transfer of electricity from one of said side rails to said side rail during contact between said rod and said side rail. This is especially the case for guided vehicles, especially in the specific case when the side rails are current rails. For example, said rod may comprise said insulating material at each of its ends and/or be made of said insulating material and/or be at least partially covered by a layer of said insulating material.

Preferably, the guide bar includes a jaw capable of enclosing the head of the rail to act as a track cleaner when used on a guided vehicle correctly reset into the rail. In particular, the protrusion of the pliers extends under the head to each side of the head during use of the holding device according to the invention such that the ends of the protrusions of the pliers The distance apart below the head is smaller than the width of the head to prevent the head of the rail from slipping out of the grip of the jaws during use of the holding device according to the invention.

Said rods are in particular of a distinctly parallelepiped shape. According to a preferred embodiment, said rod has at least a part of one of its ends beveled such that, for example, viewed from the front, the rod's global geometry corresponds approximately to that of a rectangle with an isosceles trapezoid superimposed on it. Correspondingly, its base has a length equal to the length of the rectangle, and the top has a length smaller than the base. Thus, the geometry of the rod provides self-centring of said rod, in particular between the side rails, in the event of derailment of the guided vehicle and/or failure of the guidance. Furthermore, said bar may in particular comprise, on at least one of its ends, supporting castors configured to be supported on said guided vehicle during said derailment and/or guide failure. on one of the side rails.

Preferably, the fixing means are in particular able to fix said rod to a fixing base of a guide wheel/pulley of the guiding unit or a fixing base of a wheel/pulley of the guiding unit. Furthermore, the fixing means may in particular fix the rod rigidly or flexibly to the guide unit, ie to dampen the transmission of shocks between objects and the rod to the guide unit. To this end, the fixing device preferably comprises shock absorbing means, including for example hydraulic and/or spring shock absorbing systems.

The invention also relates to a guiding unit of a guided vehicle comprising a holding device as described above for keeping a track, in particular said unit is characterized in that it comprises a pair of Said guide wheels, said pair of said guide wheels, are mounted in a V-shape with a point pointing downwards and are fitted with a flange which makes it possible to grip the guide rail. The invention also relates to a guided vehicle comprising said holding device as described above.

Description of drawings

Finally, exemplary embodiments and applications are provided by the following drawings:

Figure 1 shows a pair of guide pulleys correctly reset into the rails on the rail in nominal mode;

Figure 2 shows the positioning of a pair of guide pulleys next to the guide rail during derailment;

Figure 3 shows the positioning of a pair of guide pulleys on top of the guide rail during derailment;

Figure 4 shows the positioning of the guide pulley during derailment of a guided vehicle equipped with a holding device according to the invention;

Fig. 5 shows an example of fixing the holding device according to the present invention to the pulley fixing base of the guide unit;

Figure 6 shows an exemplary embodiment according to the invention of a track keeping device;

Figure 7 shows an exemplary embodiment according to the invention fitted with a bar supporting castors.

detailed description

Figures 1 to 3 respectively show the correct repositioning of a pair of pulleys 1, 2 on a rail 3 next to which pair of pulleys 1 , 2 derailed, and a pair of pulleys 1, 2 on top of the guide rail 3, each of which is mounted on a fixed base 12 of the guide unit. A derailment of a pair of pulleys 1 , 2 next to the guide rail 3 may cause a deflection of the guide unit which may cause loss of track of the guided vehicle.

In order to avoid this problem, the invention proposes to cooperate the guiding unit of the guided vehicle with the track keeping device. For this purpose, FIG. 4 shows an exemplary embodiment of a holding device according to the invention mounted on a guiding unit of a guided vehicle that has derailed. The guided vehicle can eg run on a track comprising the guide rail 3 and the side rails 13 , 14 which can eg supply electric current to the guided vehicle. A guiding unit comprising a pair of guiding wheels or pulleys 1 , 2 mounted in a V shape with points pointing downwards enables the guided vehicle to follow the trajectory described by the guide rail 3 in nominal mode. In the event of a derailment as shown in FIG. 4 , the holding device according to the invention makes it possible to maintain said trajectory of said guided vehicle despite derailment and/or failure of guidance. The holding device according to the invention comprises in particular:

a. a rod 15 for fixing to said guiding unit, for example to the fixing base 12 of the pulleys 1 , 2 of said guiding unit, so as to be transverse to the track and thus to the guide rail 3 , said rod 15 has a length L between the distance D at which the side rails 13, 14 are separated from each other minus the width C of the head of said rail 3 and said distance D at which the side rails are separated from each other, i.e. D-C<L <D;

b. Fixing means adapted to fix said rod 15 to said guide unit such that said rod is positioned transversely to the rail and thus to guide rail 3 , between said side rails 13 , 14 and at the level of said side rails 13, 14 to be supported on one or the other of said side rails 13, 14 during derailment and/or guide failure of said guided vehicle, This makes it possible for the rod 15 to impose the trajectory defined by the guide rail 3 on the guide unit.

Preferably, said bar 15 is mounted at the front of said guiding unit with respect to the direction of movement S of said guided vehicle, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 . Each end 151 , 152 of the rod 15 is notably bent in a direction opposite to the direction S of motion of the vehicle, or may consist only of insulating end pieces, metal or otherwise. The fixing means 16 may eg integrate said rod 15 with the fixing base 12 for the pulley of the guiding unit. In particular, the fixing means comprise a system of nuts 162 and bolts 161 capable of fixing said rod 15 to said guiding unit, for example to said fixing base 12 of said guiding unit. In particular, the system of nuts 162 and bolts 161 can cooperate with the system of plates 163 to keep said rod integral with said fixing base 12 . Preferably, the retaining device according to the invention, for example said rod 15 and/or said plate 163 comprises a pincer 17 capable of enclosing the head of said guide rail 3 , in particular by means of said pincer 17 The protrusion 171 surrounds the head of said guide rail 3 to act as a track cleaner during correct reset of the guided vehicle into the rail. The jaws 17 are specifically configured to allow a play of approximately 14 mm around the head of the guide rail 3 . The value of said play is determined in particular such that said play avoids contact between the jaws and the guide rail during lateral and vertical movements and rocking and pitching rotations of rotation of the pulley, The wear of the pulleys is also taken into account.

Figure 7 shows an exemplary embodiment of a rod 15 according to the invention. The reference numbers of the preceding figures are retained for the same objects in FIG. 7 . Preferably, said rod 15 is made, for example, of a metal material or alloy (for example, steel, stainless steel, etc.), or a composite material (for example, glass fiber, carbon fiber, etc.), or a mixture of metal material and composite material, for example covered with a composite material. Metal composition. The selection is made in particular with reference to the mechanical forces and the presence of electrical currents in the side rails 13 , 14 . Preferably, said rod 15 is configured such that its longitudinal buckling is minimal. For the side rails 13, 14 spaced apart by 800 mm, the typical length L of the rod 15 is, for example, 768 mm, to ensure the distance between each end of the rod 15 and the side rail during derailment or loss of guidance of said guided vehicle. There is about 16mm of play between them. In particular, each end of the bar 15 may be fitted with a supporting castor 153 configured to be supported on said side rails 13 , 14 during derailment or loss of guidance of the guided vehicle.

In summary, the device according to the present invention has the following advantages:

- reduced number of components that could cause failure, implying in particular low retrofitting, manufacturing, installation and maintenance costs;

- resistance to the restricted external environment associated with the guided vehicle;

- ensuring and maintaining the trajectory in case of derailment of the guidance unit;

- The function of the track cleaner for the device according to the invention enables the removal of objects located on the guide track and the protection of the guide unit, in particular by said jaws fitted to the rod according to the invention.

Claims (14)

1. A holding device for holding a track for fitting to a guided vehicle capable of moving on a track comprising two side rails (13, 14) and at least one guide rail ( 3), said two side rails (13, 14) are parallel to said guide rail (3) and positioned on each side of said guide rail (3), said guided vehicle comprises a guide unit, said The guide unit comprises guide wheels (1, 2) each of which is intended to be supported on said guide rail (3), said holding means being characterized in that , the holding device includes: a. Rod (15) for fixing to the guide unit to be transverse to the rail, said rod having a length L between the two side rails Between the distance D separating each other minus the width C of the head of the guide rail and the distance D separating the two side rails from each other, ie, D-C<L<D; b. Fixing means (16) adapted to fix said rod (15) to said guide unit such that said rod (15) is positioned laterally on said two side rails ( 13, 14) and at the height of said two side rails (13, 14) to be supported on said two side rails (13, 14) during derailment and/or guide failure of said guided vehicle , 14) on one side rail or the other side rail. 2. The holding device for keeping track according to claim 1, characterized in that said rod (15) and/or said fixing device (16) comprises an insulating material which can be used when said contact between said rod (15) and said one of said two side rails (13, 14) when one of said two side rails (13, 14) is a current rail or feed rail During this time electricity is prevented from being transferred from said one of said two side rails (13, 14) to said guided vehicle. 3. Holding device for keeping a track according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the fixing device (16) is adapted to fix the rod (15) to a guide for the guide unit. Fixed base (12) of pulley. 4. The holding device for keeping track according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the rod (15) comprises a pincer (17) capable of enclosing the guide rail (3 ) to act as a track cleaner when used on a guided vehicle to properly reset into the track. 5. Holding device for keeping track according to claim 4, characterized in that the protrusion (171) of the jaw extends under the head to the On each side of the head, the ends of the protrusions (171) of the jaws (17) are separated below the head by a distance less than the width of the head to prevent the rails (3 ) slides out of the grip of the jaws (17) during use of the holding device. 6. Holding device for keeping tracks according to claim 2, characterized in that said rod (15) comprises said insulating material at each of the ends of said rod (15). 7. Holding device for keeping tracks according to claim 2 or 6, characterized in that said rod (15) is made of said insulating material or is at least partially covered with a layer of said insulating material. 8. A holding device for keeping track according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the rod (15) bevels at least part of one of the ends of the rod (15) . 9. The holding device for keeping track according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the bar (15) comprises supporting castors ( 153), said support castors (153) configured to be supported on one of said two side rails (13, 14) during said derailment and/or guide failure of said guided vehicle . 10. Holding device for keeping tracks according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the rod (15) is made of steel. 11. The holding device for keeping track according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, the fixing device (16) comprises a shock absorbing device for contacting the object with the rod (15) ) to buffer the transmission of the impact between the guide units. 12. A guiding unit of a guided vehicle, characterized in that the guiding unit comprises a holding device for keeping a trajectory according to any one of claims 1 to 11. 13. The guiding unit according to claim 12, characterized in that, the guiding unit comprises a pair of said guiding wheels (1, 2), said pair of said guiding wheels (1, 2) Mounted in a V-shape and fitted with a flange that makes it possible to clamp the rail (3). 14. A guided vehicle, characterized in that the guided vehicle comprises a holding device for keeping a trajectory according to any one of claims 1-11.