Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B61—RAILWAYS
  • B61B—RAILWAY SYSTEMS; EQUIPMENT THEREFOR NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B61B13/00—Other railway systems
  • B61B13/12—Systems with propulsion devices between or alongside the rails, e.g. pneumatic systems
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B61—RAILWAYS
  • B61B—RAILWAY SYSTEMS; EQUIPMENT THEREFOR NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B61B13/00—Other railway systems
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B61—RAILWAYS
  • B61G—COUPLINGS; DRAUGHT AND BUFFING APPLIANCES
  • B61G5/00—Couplings for special purposes not otherwise provided for

Definitions

• the present invention is related to a mass transit system or apparatus for an endless travelling path consisting of consecu- tive vehicles, which are articulately connected in an endless configuration so that said vehicles can be folded to a side by side position from a linear position.
• the major disadvantages are found in the construction cost, waiting times, distance between stations and above all, unprofitability for the owner.
• the long-term profitability of any transport system is essential for its survival.
• This application for patent comprises an improvement to currently known principle solutions for continuous transportation of transit passengers.
• the solution which is based on folding of cars in the horizontal direction, eliminates waiting times at stations, it can reduce distance between stations to less than half of conventional subway systems, it reduces construction cost considerably. Further, it has in combination with constant speed transportation solutions an adaptable transport capacity, which corresponds to the market needs from the lower end to several times the maximum capacities found in conventional mass transit solutions.
• the major cost savings are primarily arrived at due to smaller cross sections for tunnel or lighter civil work designs for elevated solutions.
• the distance beam serve two functions, it improves the speed reduction or acceleration ratio by a factor of 2, or more if the pivoting points are extended outside the principle length of the car compartment. This reduces the construction cost significantly.
• the improved speed change ratio means in practice that double or more than double speed change ratio can be achieved compared to previous solutions which do not use a distance beam.
• the invention may be applied in stand-alone configurations serving as local transporters and as feeders or distributors to typical transportation nodes such as subway and bus stations in a citywide transportation infrastructure. It may also with modified door arrangement be used for accelerating and decelerating passengers at loading and unloading locations in a constant speed transportation apparatus.
• Figure 1 represents a plan view of a typical station arrange- ment .
• the vehicle compartment has been omitted for better clarity.
• Figure 2 is a side elevation view of a high speed section between the stations of a typical vehicle arrangement.
• Figure 3 is a side elevation view of a low speed section with folded vehicle ends at a station.
• Figure 4 is a typical cross section view at a location between two stations.
• Figure 4.1 is a detail view of Fig. 4 with wheel and bogie details .
• Figure 5 is the principle layout view of the folding process at each station.
• Figure 6 is the plan view of the load-carrying frame of foldable vehicle frames and its associated distance beams.
• the speed of the vehicles in the loading or unloading section with a wide distance between the tracks 4 is selected to make a safe transfer either directly from a stationary platform or if so required, from a contin- uously moving belt 5 which is moving at or close to or same speed as the sideways moving vehicles.
• the speed is in the range of 0.7-1.5 m/s.
• the acceleration force required to accelerate the tare weight of the vehicle can be provided by energy stored in springs 6 which are designed to generate a torque in the pivoting points 7 which in turn generates an acceleration force in the adjacent pivoting points.
• This acceleration force will have the same direction as the main travel- ling direction.
• the acceleration force needed in the main travelling direction for the variable passenger load can be generated by a force transfer device such as controlled linear induction motors 8 fixed to the underlying structure in the acceleration and retardation sections. These linear induction motors 8 generate a contactless acceleration force in the main travelling direc- tion on each reaction plate 9 mounted under each vehicle 1. The proper amount of acceleration force needed for each individual vehicle 1 is adjusted to achieve minimum forces between the track 4 and the flange 15. For this purpose sensors, placed along the track 4 in the retardation and acceleration sections, provide lateral track force information to the control device for the linear induction motors 8. By adjusting the acceleration force generated by the linear induction motors 8 to correspond and be proportional to the mass of the passengers onboard in each individual vehicle 1, minimum lateral forces between the track 4 and the wheel flange 15 can be achieved.
• a force transfer device such as controlled linear induction motors 8 fixed to the underlying structure in the acceleration and retardation sections.
• These linear induction motors 8 generate a contactless acceleration force in the main travelling direc- tion on each reaction
• the speed increase ratio is determined by the maximum width B of the vehicle and the distance between three consecutive pivo- ting points 7, designated as L.
• the speed change ration is L/B.
• the pivoting points may extend outside the vehicle compartment 11 ends.
• the distance between the centers of the pivoting points at each end of the distance beam 10 is geometrically determined by the distance L v between the two pivoting points 7 at each end of the vehicle frame 13 and the width B of the vehicle 1. It has a distance of the square root of (L v 2 +B 2 ) . For a i m wide vehicle and 6 m distance between the frame 13 pivoting points, the speed change ratio will be 12.08.
• the length of the vehicle compartment 11 may be adjusted to suit expected passenger volumes. As an example, with a 1 x 5 m compartment size and 4 standing person per m 2 , the capacity amounts to 50,000 person per hour per direction at 10 m/s travelling speed. The number of seated passengers is around 5-8 seats per car, which corresponds to 12000-21000 seated passengers per hour per direction.
• the vertical load generated by passengers, the tare weight of the vehicle 1 and the distance beam 10 is transferred to the tracks 4 via pivotable bogies 12 attached to the vehicle frame 13 at opposite sides and in each end of the vehicle frame 13.
• Each bogie 12 is equipped with two wheels 14 and each wheel 14 has flanges 15 on both sides of the wheel rim 16.
• the function of the flanges 15 is to generate the rotational forces needed for the folding of the vehicles 1 and to provide guiding forces at sections outside the station areas as well as to generate reaction forces to any uncompensated forces not compensated for by the force transfer device such as the linear induction motors 8 in the acceleration and deceleration sections, where the track gauge is increasing or decreasing.
• each vehicle After acceleration, each vehicle is travelling at constant speed until it reached the next station with a deceleration folding section where folding and its associated deceleration in the travelling direction occur.
• the function of the inven- tion is here in reverse compared with the acceleration sequence.
• the retardation forces are generated by means of a force transfer device such as the linear induction motors 8 which via the reaction plates 9 mounted under the vehicle frame 13 exerts a braking force on each vehicle 1 during the folding sequence which takes place where the distance between the tracks 4 is increasing.
• the energy absorption means may be hydraulic means.
• the horisontal steering means could be arranged at the pivoting point of the vehicles in the form of a gear ring and a rack instead of the shown tracks and wheels.
• the shown induction motor arrangement may be of any known type in order to brake and accelerate the vehicles.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Transportation (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Control Of Vehicles With Linear Motors And Vehicles That Are Magnetically Levitated (AREA)
• Materials For Photolithography (AREA)
• Engine Equipment That Uses Special Cycles (AREA)
• Electrical Discharge Machining, Electrochemical Machining, And Combined Machining (AREA)
• Platform Screen Doors And Railroad Systems (AREA)
• Escalators And Moving Walkways (AREA)
• Train Traffic Observation, Control, And Security (AREA)
• Electric Propulsion And Braking For Vehicles (AREA)
• Structure Of Belt Conveyors (AREA)
• Threshing Machine Elements (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (2)

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ID=20410581

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (8)

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Family Cites Families (4)

• 1998
  • 1998-05-13 AU AU80428/98A patent/AU8042898A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1998-05-13 CN CN98814036A patent/CN1104353C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1998-05-13 EP EP98928689A patent/EP1077858B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1998-05-13 KR KR1020007012447A patent/KR100424323B1/ko not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1998-05-13 DE DE69816874T patent/DE69816874T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1998-05-13 AT AT98928689T patent/ATE246111T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1998-05-13 WO PCT/SE1998/000884 patent/WO1999058387A1/en active IP Right Grant
• 2001
  • 2001-08-17 HK HK01105798A patent/HK1035169A1/xx not_active IP Right Cessation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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