EP0849397A1 - Device for the continuous finishing of the reprofiling of the head of a railway rail - Google Patents

Abstract

The implement comprises a support (1) with two or more pulleys or rollers (4) which are situated slightly above the surface of the rail and have an endless abrasive finishing belt (5) passing round them. The belt is driven by an additional pulley or roller (8) connected to a drive motor, and the implement incorporates a thrust foot inside the lower horizontal section of the band to press it against the rail as it is being rotated. The force applied by the thrust foot is designed to ensure a constant belt pressure against the rail with no vibration, while the tension of the belt is provided by two rollers (9) on pivoted arms (10) actuated by power cylinders (11). The thrust foot, made from a special material which is resistant to heat and friction, can also be connected to a coolant circuit.

Description

The present invention relates to devices allowing continuous and continuous reprofiling by grinding of the surface of the mushroom of one or two rails of a track. Several reprofiling installations fitted or towed by rail vehicles have been proposed to date such as those described for example in patents CH 606,616; CH 626.673; CH 633.336; CH 653,073; CH 654.047; CH 655.528.

All of these conventional grinding devices have common in that they have at least one unit of grinding which has guiding means along the rail; means for coupling to a chassis of a vehicle rail for its traction along the track; of means for moving a grinding unit in height by relative to the chassis and to apply it against the rail to reprofile; support members on the rail defining a reference base of sufficient length for the positioning of the grinding unit on the rail either substantially independent of the ripples to be eliminated from this rail; a grinding tool; and means of training this grinding tool in one or more relative displacements relative to the grinding unit and therefore to the rail to reprofile.

These rail reshaping installations by grinding differentiate on the one hand by the practical realization means and organs mentioned above and also by the type of grinding tools they use, namely either abrasive shoes, lapidary grindstones or peripherals, or strawberries.

The most serious disadvantage of these devices known, especially from those using rotary tools such as grinding wheels, lie in the fact that precision of reprofiling is not sufficient in particular for high-speed train tracks.

Figures 1 to 3 and 4 to 6 schematically illustrate the influence of the play in the bearings of the driving motor the peripheral grindstone respectively lapidary on the finish reprofiling work. This game in the stages of the axis of drive of the grinding wheel causes oscillations of it which are the cause of microwave on the fungus reprofiled rail (Figures 3 and 6).

We can show that for a grind of the axis of the grinding wheel of the order of 0.25 mm, the ripples or microwaves caused on the running surface of the rail can present a depth of the order of 0.1 mm and a length of waves between 18 and 20 mm.

These microwaves are the cause of noise pollution during the passage of trains with a frequency of the order of 1200 Hz for trains traveling at 100 km / h which can go beyond 3000 Hz for trains running at 250 Km / h.

This phenomenon of microwave creation on the surface bearing of the rail head must be found when using any device reprofiling using a rotary tool in contact with the rail, grinding wheel or milling cutter. These rail deformations are see very well in plan in Figures 2 and 5 and in section longitudinal of the rail in Figures 3 and 6.

We observe this same phenomenon of microwave creation on the surface of the rail when the reprofiling of this is done using hooves or scrapers in contact with the rail.

Currently the rail reshaping using abrasive shoes subjected to a continuous or alternating movement in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the rail is completely abandoned because the capacity of abrasion and therefore of removal of metal from these clogs is totally insufficient which immobilizes the track for far too long.

It has also been proposed to use as an abrasive tool for reshaping the rails an abrasive strip but these attempts were unsuccessful. The CH patent 356.483 describes a reprofiling device in which an abrasive belt is stretched under a pad fitted with rollers rolling at its ends. The abrasive belt is fixed, the portion in contact with the rail can be replaced by a new portion manually after wear. The patent EP 0 512 159 describes a rail grinding device comprising a continuous abrasive band, wrapped around rollers, three of which are in contact with the rail. These two devices CH 356.483 and EP 0 512 159, have the same disadvantage that the devices previously discussed because they have wheels or rollers applying the strip abrasive against the rail, these rollers must have play and this leads as indicated the creation of microwaves on the surface of the rail.

Patent EP 0 371 328 describes a grinding device of a rail using a continuous, closed abrasive strip on itself and driven by this engine. This band abrasive moves in a plane perpendicular to the axis longitudinal of the rail which requires having lower rollers on which the abrasive belt passes which are arranged laterally with respect to the rail and slightly lower than the rolling surface. This has a drawback serious because such a device cannot be towed along the track without having to be lifted frequently to avoid obstacles along the rail.

So none of the solutions proposed to date for the reprofiling or grinding the rail does not prevent the creation or eliminate, microwaves formed along of the running surface and which cause nuisance unacceptable sound when the train is moving high speed.

The object of the present invention is to produce a finish grinding device to remove microwaves formed on the running surface of the rail by rail reprofiling operations. In addition, this finishing device must be able to perform this operation finishing by being towed along the track by a rail vehicle at a speed similar to speed current reprofiling machines and not to present of members extending laterally on each side of the rail and which would collide with obstacles of the way.

The present invention relates to a device for grinding with an abrasive band closed on itself and driven in motion in a substantially parallel plane to the longitudinal axis of the rail, likely to be mounted on a rail vehicle to be towed along of the track and thus allow a finish grinding or continuous polishing of the rail running surface to remove microwaves from rotary tools rail reprofiling. This device has the characteristics defined in claim 1.

The attached drawing illustrates schematically and by way of example two embodiments of the grinding device for finishing the running surface of a rail track.

Figures 1 and 4 schematically illustrate a tangential wheel, respectively a lapidary wheel and its drive motor illustrating the unbalance of the grinding wheel due to the bearings of the bearings of the axis of the grinding wheel.

Figures 2.5 and 3.6 respectively illustrate in plan and in longitudinal section the running surface of the rail on which microwaves have been created by faults wheel rotation.

Figure 7 is a side view of the finishing device according to the invention.

FIG. 8 is a view of A from FIG. 7.

Figure 9 is a top view of the illustrated device in Figure 7.

Figure 10 is an enlarged detail of the backing pad of the abrasive belt illustrated in the figure 7.

Figure 11 illustrates an articulated pad supporting the abrasive belt.

Figures 12 and 13 illustrate the mounting of four devices as illustrated in figure 7 under a vehicle rail.

Figures 14 and 15 are views similar to Figures 12 and 13 for a second embodiment of the finishing device and its mounting on a vehicle rail.

The solution proposed by the present invention for the continuous reprofiling on railway tracks consists of reprofiling the rails using conventional continuous rail grinding then thereafter to do a finishing job using a device finishing according to the present invention using a abrasive belt, this finishing device can be mounted and towed by the same rail vehicle as that towing grinding devices.

The finishing device illustrated in Figures 7 to 9 comprises a longitudinal beam 1 bearing at each of its ends a guide shoe 2 entering, in position working, in contact with the upper and lateral surface internal of the rail head 3. The ends of the longitudinal beam 1 each still have a roller 4 having a slightly curved peripheral surface. These rollers 4 are intended to cooperate with an abrasive belt endless 5 and never come into contact with the rail.

The longitudinal beam 1 carries in its central part a frame 6, the upper part of which serves as a support to its motor 7 driving a pulley 8 intended to cooperate with the endless abrasive belt 5.

The endless abrasive belt 5 passes around the rollers 4 and the pulley 8 which drives it in rotation. This band endless 5 is subjected to the action of tension rollers 9 carried by the end of the arms 10 articulated on the parts sides of the longitudinal beam 1 and subjected to the action of hydraulic cylinders 11.

The lower part of the frame 6 carries a support pad 12. As seen in FIG. 10, the support pad 12 has a lower part 12a under the surface of which the abrasive strip 5 slides. This lower part 12a is located under a flexible blade 13 and fixed to it by bolting on the upper part 12b of the shoe support 12. The flexible steel blade 13, pinched between the parts 12a and 12b of the shoe 12 is fixed by its ends in box 6.

The upper part 12b of this shoe 12 is connected to the frame 6 by a hydraulic cylinder 14 allowing the device being fixed under a railway vehicle as we will see later, apply the pad 12, and therefore the strip endless abrasive 5 against the running surface of the rail head 3 with a determined force. This cylinder also acts as a shock absorber so that shoe 12 is applied continuously without vibration or oscillation, with constant force against the rail.

Generally the drive of the abrasive belt 5 takes place so that the strand 5a of this strip 5 in contact with the rail moves in the same direction as advancement of the rail vehicle along the track to facilitate the evacuation of filings or dust of metal removed from the rail.

The support shoe 12 has a cooling circuit integrated supplied with coolant by a pipe 15. This allows, if the temperature of the abrasive belt had to exceed a predetermined value, to cause it to cool to avoid its deterioration and not lower its abrasion power.

Thanks to this construction the abrasive band 5 is applied against the rail using pad 12 without vibration and none of the rotary belt drive members abrasive not coming into contact with the rail it is possible completely remove residual microwaves left on the rail running surface by the grinding wheels reprofiling.

FIG. 11 illustrates a variant of support pad 12 in which its lower part 12a is divided longitudinally in three parties. These three lower parts 12a are fixed on the flexible blade 13 on upper parts 12b hinged together and relative to the rod 14a of the pressure cylinder in such a way that under the thrust of the jack 14 the lower parts 12a of the skate 12 conform to the domed shape of the surface of bearing so as to apply the abrasive strip evenly over the entire running surface of the mushroom 3 of the rail.

The support shoe 12 and in particular its lower parts 12a can be made of a special material, such as ceramic, heat and heat resistant friction.

Figures 12 and 13 illustrate how four units as described with reference to Figures 7 to 9, two for each row of rails, are mounted under a vehicle railway V.

Two lifting cylinders 15 are fixed on each side under the chassis of the rail vehicle V and carry a movable frame 16 comprising two wheels 17 intended to roll on the rails as well as stops 18 cooperating with the internal side of the mushroom 3 of the rails.

The movable frame 16 is also connected to the vehicle V by a drawbar 19. In this way the movable frame 16 can be towed along the track or raised, and kept in high position using a rod 20 and a pin 21 coming to lodge in a hole 22 of this rod.

The movable frame 16 has supports 23 on which the finishing units are pivotally mounted under the action of jacks 24. When the units of finishing are pivoted in the high position they can be kept in this rest position using hooks 25 actuated by jacks 26, then the four finishing units are raised for high-footed walking using the cylinders 15.

In the working position illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13, the support 16 is in the low position, the wheels 17 rest on the rails and the finishing units are in position of work resting on the rails using the skids guide 2. In this position, the abrasive belt 5 is applied against the rail 3 by the support pads 12 under the action of the thrust of the jacks 14.

In order for the finishing units to be in the work on the rails the spacers are designed to separate two opposite finishing devices so as to apply the guide pads 2 against the inner side of the rails 3.

Similarly, tilting devices are provided to tilt the finishing units by a determined angle so that these are located in the plane of symmetry of each rail. These spacing and tilting devices are of the same type as those used for positioning grinding units and will not be described in detail here.

In the second embodiment, illustrated in Figures 14 and 15, each finisher has two pulleys 30 each driven by a motor 31 mounted on a beam 32. An endless abrasive belt 33 surrounds these two pulleys 30, is subjected to the action of a tensioner roller 34 and passes on a support pad 12 as in the first form of execution. The beam 32 carrying the finishing unit is connected to a carriage 35 by connecting rods 36 forming a deformable parallelogram actuated by a jack 37 for lifting the unit.

The carriage 35 is provided with rollers 38 rolling on the rails, guide stops 39 and a spacer comprising the guides 40 and the jacks 41 connecting the two opposite halves of the carriage 35 each carrying two finishing units.

This carriage 35 is connected to the rail vehicle V on the one hand by lifting cylinders 42 and on the other hand by a stringer 43.

In the two embodiments of the two pairs of rollers 4 or pulleys 30, of the abrasive belt 5.33 are raised relative to the working plane so as not to enter in contact with the rail and facilitate the passage of the joints offset from the rails. The support shoe 12 is located in the middle between these two rollers or pulleys 4.30 which brings a same efficiency in both directions of the vehicle railway V along the railway.

No rotating parts of the finishing units are in contact or resting on the rail.

In both embodiments the finishing units are pivotally mounted between a working position and a rest position on their support, which support is him resting on the rail by rollers in position job. This support is also connected to the vehicle rail using a drawbar and lifting cylinders.

Claims (14)

Device for finishing reprofiling on track and continuously from the surface of the mushroom of at least one rail a railway track with at least one finishing unit by line of rails, characterized in that each of these finishing units has a beam on the which are rotatably mounted at least two pulleys or rollers, located slightly above the rail, around with an endless working abrasive belt in the longitudinal direction of the rail; by the fact that between two of these pulleys or rollers is a support shoe subjected to the action of a jack bearing on said beam and acting on the skate with a determined force to apply the abrasive strip against the running surface rail without any vibration; and by the fact that at less one of the pulleys is rotated by a motor to set the abrasive belt in motion. Device according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that each finisher has two rollers located in the working position slightly above the running surface between which the shoe is located support and a pulley rotated by a motor located between said rollers and above them, this motor and this pulley being fixed on said beam. Device according to claim 2, characterized by the fact that the finisher still has two rollers tensioners subjected to the action of jacks to adjust the abrasive belt tension. Device according to claim 2 or claim 3, characterized in that each finishing unit has at least two guide shoes which, in position unit working, are in contact with the surface of the rail and with the internal side of the rail head. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that four finishing units are tiltably mounted on a central support connected to a railway vehicle by two lifting cylinders and one drawbar. Device according to claim 5, characterized by the fact that each finisher is connected to the support central by a tilting cylinder; and by the fact that a hook keeps each unit in the raised position relative to the central support. Device according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that each finisher has two pulleys each driven by a motor, these pulleys being located above the running surface of the rail; speak the abrasive belt is stretched around these pulleys by a tensioner roller subjected to the action of a jack and by the fact that the support pad is located between the two pulleys. Device according to claim 7, characterized by fact that the beam of the finisher is connected by two connecting rods constituting a deformable parallelogram at frame of a rolling cart on the railway track using wheels; and by the fact that this trolley is connected to a vehicle rail by lifting cylinders and by a drawbar. Device according to claim 8, characterized by causes a cylinder to connect one of the connecting rods to the carriage and raises the finisher from this cart. Device according to claim 6 or claim 9, characterized in that the support or the carriage carries four finisher and has a spacer device positioning the finishing units to the right of the rails. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that each support pad has a cooling circuit. Device according to claim 1 or claim 11, characterized in that each support pad consists of a lower part applying the abrasive band on the rail and a connected upper part to the thrust cylinder, by the fact that these two parts are fixed together and clamp a blade between them flexible, the ends of which are integral with a frame attached to the beam. Device according to claim 12, characterized by the fact that the support pad is made up of three parts extending parallel to each other as well than the axis of the rail, by the fact that the upper pads of these three longitudinal parts are pivoted by through three connecting rods on the end of the cylinder of thrust so that the longitudinal parts of the skate are oriented automatically under the push of the cylinder according to the curvature of the running surface of the rail by bending the flexible blade transversely relative to the axis of the rail. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that the support shoe is made of a material special resistant to heat and friction.

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