EP0726360A1 - Method and machine for tamping and stabilizing a railway track - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves lifting the rail above its intended position and tamping it in steps whilst vibrating the track horizontally in the work direction at the rear of the track. At the same time a vertical load is applied to the track to the lower the track into the final position. In parallel with the continuously advancing tamping operation, a further continuously repeated stabilising and load removal operation lowers the track into its final position. The load applied to the track is automatically lifted from the track during the stabilising operation and the loading reduced to a min. value which can be a reduction of 20 to 100 per cent of the max..

Description

The invention relates to a method for tamping and stabilizing a track, the track being raised to a provisional target position and gradually being supported, while in the working direction behind it the track is displaced in horizontal and perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the track and with a vertical value to form a lowering value Load and thus lowered to a final target position as well as a machine for performing the method.

Such a method, known from US Pat. No. 5,172,635, combines the correction of the track position errors that can be achieved in the context of a tamping with a subsequent spatial compaction of the ballast bedding by applying a vertical load and horizontal track vibrations. With this method, the necessary sleeper supports are produced, the inhomogeneity caused by the intervention of tamping picks in the intermediate compartment is eliminated, the front head is compacted and the track is lowered into the desired position. As a result, the inevitable initial settlement of a track and the resulting dynamic forces can be avoided.

The targeted track lowering referred to as track stabilization is carried out with the continuous forward movement of a corresponding stabilization unit, the load remaining constant in order to achieve a constant lowering value for the track. Parallel to the track stabilization in the working direction, immediately before this, the track is tamped within a common machine unit, which - with relative displacement of a tamping unit with respect to the continuously moving machine unit - is carried out step by step in the area of each threshold.

Further machine units which advance step-by-step during work to carry out a stabilization of a track combined with tamping are known from the following patents: US 4,046,079, US 4,046,078, GB 2,094,379, US 4,430,946.

The object of the present invention is to create a method of the generic type with which, with relatively little effort in terms of personnel and machinery, a satisfactory combination of a tamping that can be achieved by gradual right of way with a spatial compression of the ballast bed to avoid initial settling of the track can be achieved .

This object is achieved with a method of the type described in the introduction that, parallel to the continuously repeating tamping sequence composed of the tamping process and the right of way, the track is gradually passed into a further, continuously repeating and consisting of a stabilization process and a relief process final target position is lowered, the load being automatically increased to the lowering value during the stabilization process and reduced to a relief value in the subsequent unloading process.

As is generally known in specialist circles and also mentioned in an article in the magazine "Railway Track & Structures" March 1984, pages 48 to 52 (see in particular page 48, column 1, lines 39.40 and column 3, lines 7-9), the track stabilization is successfully implemented in practice with the permanent action of the stabilization unit in connection with a continuous machine approach. Such track stabilizers have proven their worth worldwide for over a decade. As also mentioned on page 52 of the mentioned article, column 2, the track stabilizer is particularly suitable for joint work with a high-performance tamping machine that can also be moved continuously forward due to the high work performance associated with the continuous machine approach.

According to the patent literature listed in the fourth paragraph of the introduction to the description, there has long been a desire to stabilize the track with a simplification of the mechanical and personnel expenditure Combine the tamping machine moving forward gradually during work. However, all such known proposals have so far not been able to be implemented in practice.

According to the method steps according to the invention, the step-by-step tamping process is now combined for the first time with a stabilization process which also takes place step-by-step in parallel. It is only through this alternating application of two different loads (lowering and relief value) during the stabilization sequence that is completely different from the previously practiced procedure that the stabilization process can be optimally coordinated with the tamping process that takes place immediately before. In particular, a different stabilizing effect on the track caused by the alternating machine approach and thus its different lowering can be excluded. Although a reduction in performance is to be accepted in comparison with the known continuous mode of operation, the method according to the invention is particularly suitable for simplified position correction of shorter track sections with reduced mechanical and personnel expenditure.

Further advantageous embodiments of the invention result from the subclaims.

The invention is described in more detail below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawing.

• Fig. 1 eine Seitenansicht einer ein Stopf- und ein Stabilisationsaggregat aufweisenden Gleisstopf- und Stabilisiermaschine,
• Fig. 2 einen vergrößerten Teil-Querschnitt gemäß der Schnittlinie II in Fig. 1,
• Fig. 3 bis 6 schematisch stark vereinfachte Darstellungen des Stopf- und des Stabilisationsaggregates zur Verdeutlichung des erfindungsgemäßen Verfahrens, und
• Fig. 7 bis 9 die einzelnen Vorgänge für die Stopf- und Stabilisiersequenzen darstellende Diagramme.

Show it:

• 1 is a side view of a tamping and stabilizing unit having a track tamping and stabilizing machine,
• 2 is an enlarged partial cross section along the section line II in Fig. 1,
• 3 to 6 schematically greatly simplified representations of the tamping and stabilizing unit to illustrate the method according to the invention, and
• 7 to 9 the individual processes for the stuffing and stabilizing sequences diagrams.

A track tamping and stabilizing machine 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a machine frame 3 supported on rail running gear 2, to which a driving and working cabin 5 with a central control device 6 is assigned at the rear end with respect to the working direction (arrow 4). An energy unit 7 is used to supply the various drives and a travel drive 8. A first reference system 12 is provided to determine position errors of a track 11 formed from rails 9 and sleepers 10. This is composed essentially of two measuring carriages 13 arranged at the end on the machine frame 3 with respect to the longitudinal direction of the machine, a middle measuring carriage 14 and tensioned chords 15.

Immediately in front of the rear rail running gear 2, a tamping unit 16 is provided for simultaneously tamping two adjacent sleepers 10. This tamping unit 16, which has a vibrating tamping pick 17, is designed to be height-adjustable by drives 18. To compact the ballast below the sleepers 10 to be tamped, the tamping pick 17 can be provided in a known manner to one another in the longitudinal direction of the machine by means of auxiliary drives 19. Immediately in front of the middle measuring carriage 14 there is a track lifting / straightening unit 20 which can be rolled off the track 11 and which is connected to the machine frame 3 by drives 21 which can be adjusted in height and on the side. Height and side adjustable lifting tools 22 are provided for gripping the track 11.

Immediately behind the machine 1 is a stabilizer vehicle 23 with a vehicle frame 25 supported on a rail chassis 24. This is with a front frame end 26 through a universal joint 27 with the machine frame 3 of the track tamping and stabilizing machine 1 connected. A stabilizing unit 28 is connected to the vehicle frame 25 approximately midway between the joint 27 and the rail running gear 24. A second reference system 29 is provided to determine the vertical track position errors. This has a measuring carriage 30 which can be rolled off and is height-adjustable directly behind the stabilizing unit 28 on the track. A taut tendon 31 running in the longitudinal direction of the machine is mounted with its front end on the rear measuring carriage 13 of the first reference system 12 and with the rear end on an axle bearing housing 50 of the rail carriage 24. The drives of the stabilization unit 28, which are described in more detail in FIG. 2, are supplied with energy by the energy unit 7.

An upper boundary line 32 of the stabilizer vehicle 23 is formed by the vehicle frame 25 positioned in a horizontal plane 33 leading through the joint 27 and indicated by a dash-dotted line. This ensures that an operator in the driving and working cabin 5 can easily move the track tamping and stabilizing machine 1 in the direction opposite to the working direction (for a transfer run).

As can be seen in FIG. 2, the stabilization unit 28 rests on the rails 9 of the track 11 by means of (four in total) flange rollers 34. In each case two flanged rollers 34 lying opposite one another in the cross-machine direction are connected to a hydraulic spreading drive 35 in order to switch off the backlash. In a unit housing 37 connected to drives 36, the upper ends of which are articulated on the vehicle frame 25, two vibrators 38 designed as eccentric drives are mounted. These are designed to generate vibrations (indicated by arrow 45) that run in the cross machine direction and parallel to the rotation axes 39 of the flanged rollers 34. Between the two respective flanged rollers 34 assigned to the same rail 9, so-called roller tongs 40 are mounted on the unit housing 37 so as to be pivotable about an axis 41 running in the machine longitudinal direction. This pivoting takes place by means of a hydraulic drive 42. At the lower end of each roller tongs 40, a roller table 44 rotatable about an axis 43 is provided. By an arrow 46 is the maximum load acting upon the drives 36 and acting on the track 11 and lowering it into the final desired position is shown. The shorter arrow 47 indicates a relief value or minimum loading pressure that is reduced in a range of 20 to 100 percent compared to the maximum load. The load acting on the track 11 in the vertical direction is infinitely adjustable up to approximately 300 kilonewtons by controlling the pressure acting on the drives 36 via a proportional pressure valve. Maximum load is to be understood as the force with which the track vibrated in transverse vibrations is lowered into the desired position while compacting the ballast bed. The size of the maximum load chosen for this depends on various parameters, such as the height of the track lowering, duration of exposure, type of machine, etc.

In an alternative embodiment variant, the joint 27 can also be mounted on the machine frame 3 so as to be displaceable in the plane 33 and in the longitudinal direction of the machine. The displacement takes place by means of a longitudinal displacement drive 49 (indicated by dash-dotted lines in FIG. 1). In this way, for example, the duration of the stabilization sequence can be kept largely constant even with a particularly different duration of the stuffing sequence.

The central control device 6 shown in FIG. 1 is designed for automatic and simultaneous actuation of the drives 18, 36 assigned to the tamping unit 16 and the stabilization unit 28 for an increase in the load from a low relief value to the maximum load parallel to the lowering of the tamping unit 16. In an alternative embodiment, as will be described in more detail in relation to FIG. 9, the individual tamping and stabilizing sequences can, however, also be shifted in time from one another, i.e. take different lengths.

3 to 6, in which the tamping and stabilizing unit 16, 28 and the track 11 are shown schematically, the method according to the invention is described in more detail below. In the area of the tamping unit 16, the track 11 is raised by the value x to a provisional target position (see small arrow in FIG. 3), brought into the correct lateral position and supports. For this purpose the right of way is interrupted. In parallel to the tamping process, the stabilizing unit 28 is used in a stabilizing process to lower the track 11, already tamped, by the value y, also referred to as setting value, into the final desired position. For this purpose, a maximum load, designated 46, is applied to the stabilization unit 28 and thus to the track 11 (under the action of the drives 36). A height sensor 48 connected to the measuring carriage 30 (FIG. 1) registers the achievement of the desired lowering of the track and then automatically reduces the maximum load 46 to form a relief value 47 or minimum load pressure (FIG. 4). This is reduced by at least 20 percent compared to the maximum load 46 and serves to maintain a safe, force-fitting guidance of the stabilization unit 28 on the track 11. The ideal extent of the reduction is dependent on various parameters, such as the absolute size of the maximum load 46, duration of the stabilization. and / or relief process, oscillation frequency, etc. dependent.

As soon as the tamping process is completed, the tamping unit 16 is raised and the immediate subsequent joint forward movement of the tamping and stabilizing unit 16, 28 takes place with the corresponding advance of the machine 1 (FIG. 4). During this right of way, the stabilization unit 28 is only subjected to the relief value 47 in a sequence section referred to as a relief operation and continues to remain non-positively engaged by pressing the roller table 44 against the rails 9. The oscillation frequency can be kept unchanged or optionally reduced.

After reaching the next following tamping point (see dash-dotted lines of the tamping unit 16 in FIG. 4), the machine approach is interrupted. Next, while simultaneously actuating the drives 18 and 36 to initiate the tamping or stabilizing process, the tamping unit 16 is lowered and the load on the stabilizing unit 28 is increased to the maximum value 46 (see FIG. 5). After the desired lowering of the track in the area of the stabilizing unit 28 (FIG. 6) and the completion of the tamping in the area of the tamping unit 16 begins a new cycle in the manner already described in that both units 16, 28 are jointly moved forward to the next place of use while lifting the tamping unit 16 and reducing the maximum load 46.

7 to 9, the individual processes of the method according to the invention are shown diagrammatically both for the stuffing sequence and for the stabilizing sequence. "A" denotes the tamping process and "b" the right of way. The capitalization letters "A" or "B" denote the stabilization or relief process forming the stabilization sequence. "t" stands for the time axis and thus for the duration of the individual processes of the sequences mentioned.

The diagram in FIG. 7 shows above all that the tamping process a on the one hand and the stabilization process A initiating the track stabilization on the other hand are initiated simultaneously. Parallel to the right of way b immediately following the tamping process a, the relief process B reduces the maximum load on the stabilization unit. This means that both the individual sequences and the sequence sections run synchronously.

8 shows that the stuffing and stabilizing sequences can also be shifted by half a sequence to one another. Thereafter, the load is reduced to the relief value (relief procedure B) in parallel with the tamping procedure a. The lowering of the track (stabilization process A) takes place parallel to the approach of machine 1. In these versions shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the duration of the stabilization process can be adapted to match the duration of the tamping process, as the size of the maximum load to extend the stabilization process, for example is reduced.

According to FIG. 9, the stabilization process A of the stabilization sequence initiated with the increase in the load takes less time than the tamping process a started in parallel. This means that the relief process B begins to a (lesser) extent already during the tamping process and until it is lowered of the tamping unit to initiate the next tamping process. In this case, a slow forward movement of the vehicle frame 25 can be initiated by acting on the longitudinal displacement drive 49 after the stabilization process A has ended.

Common to all three combinations of tamping and stabilizing sequences shown by way of example in FIGS. 7 to 9 is that the stabilizing sequence is composed in each case of a stabilizing process for carrying out the track stabilization and an immediately following unloading process.

Claims (12)

Method for tamping and stabilizing a track, whereby the track is raised to a provisional target position and gradually supported, while in the working direction behind it the track displaces vibrations running horizontally and perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the track and, with the formation of a lowering value, is loaded with a vertical load and thus is lowered to a final desired position, characterized in that, parallel to the continuously repeating tamping sequence composed of tamping and driving ahead, the track is gradually progressed into the final one in a further, continuously repeating and consisting of a stabilizing process and a relieving process Desired position is lowered, the load being automatically increased to the lowering value during the stabilization process and reduced to a relief value in the subsequent unloading process. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the load is reduced by 20 to 100 percent of the maximum load in order to achieve the relief value. Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the vertical load is increased to the lowering value simultaneously with the initiation of the tamping process of the tamping sequence. A method according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the distance between the tamping and stabilizing process is kept constant. Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that during the unloading process the vertical load to form the unloading value effective during the approach to the next tamping is reduced by at least 50 percent of the reduction value. Method according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the oscillation frequency of the track is reduced in parallel with the formation of the relief value. Method according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the changeover from the higher lowering value to the relief value is carried out before the final desired position is reached, the remaining track lowering being effected by the effects during the subsequent relief operation. Track tamping and stabilizing machine (1) with a machine frame (3) supported on rail bogies (2), which has a height-adjustable tamping unit (16) for a gradual work approach from threshold (10) to threshold (10), a height-adjustable track lifting / leveling unit (20) and a reference system (12) with measuring carriages (13, 14) that can be rolled on a track (11) is assigned, and with a stabilizer vehicle (23) which is subsequently coupled in the working direction and to which a stabilizing unit (28) and a rail running gear (24) are assigned, for performing the method according to claim 1, characterized in that the stabilizer vehicle (23) with its front frame end (26) is connected to the machine frame (3) of the machine (1) by a joint (27) acting on all sides and has its own reference system ( 29) for the track height. Machine according to claim 8, characterized in that an upper boundary line (32) of the stabilizer vehicle (23) is formed by a vehicle frame (25) positioned in a horizontal plane (33) leading through the joint (27). Machine according to Claim 9, characterized in that a driving and working cabin (5) is associated with the rear end of the machine frame (3) which is located in the region of the joint (27). Machine according to claim 8, characterized in that a measuring carriage (13) in the working direction of the reference system (12) assigned to the tamping unit (16) is designed as the foremost measuring carriage (13) of the reference system (29) assigned to the stabilizing unit (28). Machine according to one of Claims 8 to 11, characterized by a central control device (6) for automatic and simultaneous loading of the drives (18, 36) assigned to the tamping unit (16) or the stabilization unit (28) for height adjustment of the respective unit ( 16.28).

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