GB2350091A

GB2350091A - Bellows of a connecting corridor

Info

Publication number: GB2350091A
Application number: GB0012232A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Wilhelm Mobus; Reinhard Hubner
Original assignee: Huebner Gummi und Kunststoff GmbH
Current assignee: Huebner Gummi und Kunststoff GmbH
Priority date: 1999-05-21
Filing date: 2000-05-19
Publication date: 2000-11-22
Anticipated expiration: 2020-05-19
Also published as: GB0012232D0; GB2350091B

Abstract

A bellows of a connecting corridor with an intercommunicating gangway between two vehicles hinged to each, is made of a metallic material. It may be a concertina or expansion bellows and may be one piece or multi-port.

Description

2350091 BELLOWS OF A CONNECTING CORRIDOR WITH AN INTERCOMMUNICATING

GANGWAY The invention relates to a bellows of a connecting corridor with an intercommunicating gangway between two vehicles or vehicle parts hinged to each other.

A connecting corridor between two vehicles hinged to each other, pertaining for example to an articulated bus or to a tramcar unit comprises an intercommunicating gangway and a bellows encompassing the gangway. The bellows can hereby be designed as an expansion bellows or as a concertina bellows, Such a bellows is usually made of fabric backed plastic, which means that it is composed of a fabric layer lined with a plastic layer. Whether the bellows is an expansion bellows or a concertina bellows, the various elements of the bellows may hereby be either sawn or glued together. For stabilization, the individual pleats or undulations of the bellows are provided In circumferential direction with metallic frames, It is furthermore state of the art to manufacture such a bellows by forming the different bellows elements or complete bellows sections in a corresponding form in a vulcanization process similar to that used for automobile tyres. Such a bellows, which has been manufactured by vulcanization, only has a poor inherent stability.

The object of the invention therefore is to provide a bellows for a connecting corridor that can be manufactured in a simple manner and at 33 low c-ost, that is provided with a high inherent stability and that furthermore is extremely durable.

2 The solution of this object is to have the bellows made of a metallic material. Such a bellows made of a metallic material, of V2A steel for example, is extremely resistant to wear and is furthermore, when the contours are adequate, capable of yielding to the movements occurring between two vehicles hinged to each other.

According to a first embodiment, the bellows is designed as a concertina bellows. Such a concertina bellows made of metallic material may hereby be designed in one piece or consist of different undulated elements, ic respectively of elements of a U-shaped cross section that are connected to each other in the area of the ends of their legs. According to a variant, the various elements in the connecting area of the undulated elements of the bellows are connected to each other by way of elastic means such as tapes made of an elastomer material or by glueing them together. The elastic .5 connection has the advantage that it can absorb part of the work of deformation done by the bellows, so that the bellows does not have to undertake the whole work of deformation alone. That means that in this case the bellows may be made of a relatively more rigid metallic material, which could not be the case with another kind of connection.

According to a variant, the tape is bipartite; each tape part can be arranged separately on the undulated element, for example by means of rivets. The two tape parts are then glued together for example in the parting plane.

The important point hereby is that, when riveting the tape parts onto the corresponding undulated elements, the rivets do not extend through the whole thickness of the tape part, since in such a case the overall tape would no longer be elastic. The same Is true for a connection by means of screws. Accordingly, several undulated and encompassing elements, which are posstbly of various rigidity or made of various materials, constitute a bellows.

3 A one-piece bellows is first of all a sleeve, whereas the undulated outline is achieved by the well known shaping process of rolling. The manufacturing process of rolling is characterized by the fact that the material is shaped by rolls in a way similar to the one used for deepdrawing. Alterations in the S thickness or in the material can of course be made by means of different rolling procedures that may be subsequent too, if necessary.

According to another embodiment, the bellows is designed as an expansion bellows. Here, the expansion bellows has individual metallic lamellas that G are connected together, for example by welding, by their ends to form a multitude of pleats. The lamellas of one expansion bellows part may be Ushaped, two such expansion bellows parts constituting the bellows. That means that the different bellows parts are connected together in the area of their longitudinal axis by welding or any other suitable methods. The is lamellas are hereby bent to form a U-shape around the longitudinal axis of the bellows and are not U-shaped in cross section.

According to another variant, the bellows itself can be designed to be composed of several parts in such a way that the various parts are connected to each other parallel to the longitudinal axis of the bellows.

According to a variant, the production of straight bellows elements made of metall is conceivable for the side wall, the bottom or the ceiling area, whereas these parts are connected in the corner area by means of elastic plastic elements. The shaping in the corner area, in particular on expansion bellows, is indeed simpler with plastic, elastomer or similar materials than with corner elements made of rnetal.

According to a second variant, the ceiling andlor bottom area, if necessary together with the corresponding corner area, may be removable in order to enable easier access to the devices covered by the bellows such as for 4 example conduits that are laid e.9, n the bottom area above the bellows but underneath the intercommunicating gangway.

Some areas of the bellows or the complete bellows may be reinforced.

Reinforcement may be achieved by doubling the material, According to a variant, the bellows is constituted by two shells, that is it has an inner and an outer bellows. The two shells of the bellows are frontally connected together, that is in the area of their gate. To have the bellows designed with two shells has the advantage that thermal insulation and soundproofing is better and that the inner space and so on may be designed in different ways. The measures consisting in having the bellows lined inside and outside with the corresponding insulating materials, or in having a bellows constituted of two shells and having an inner and an outer bellows foamed, or in using various materials for the inner and outer bellows or in the bottom or In other areas respectively, all serve the same purpose.

Another object of the invention is a connecting corridor between two vehicles hinged to each other with an intercommunicating gangway, whereas such a connecting corridor is provided with an expansion bellows or with a --oncertina bellows of the type mentioned above.

In the following, the invention is explained in more detail with the help of the drawing.

Figure 1 shows a partial view of an expansion bellows; Figure 2 shows a partial view of a concertina bellows; Figure 3 shows a schematic perspective illustration of a bellows, whereas the ceiling area is removable; Figure 4 shows a schematic illustration of a bellows manufactured by means of a rolling tool; Figure 5 shows a schematic illustration of a bellows configuration, in which the various undulated elements are connected together by an elastic tape; Figure 6 shows a partial view according to the detail "X" of Figure 5.

In the expansion bellows illustrated in Figure 1, several individual lamellas 1 are provided, which may be connected in the area of their ends by weld seams 2 for example. In the partial view of a concertina bellows as it is shown in Figure 2, several undulations 5 are provided, said undulations being connected to each other by their ends, that is in the area of their legs (arrow 6), whereas the connection may be done by welding for example. On this occasion, reference is explicitly made to the possibility of having a 1.3 concertina bellows manufactured in one piece in such a way that several undulations arranged one behind the other are formed in one piece. But there is also the possibility, as illustrated in Figure 2, to produce individual concertina bellows elements and to connect them later in the area of their legs, by welding them together for example. For the production of a complete bellows, U-shaped bellows parts 10 are preferably manufactured, said bellows parts being connected in the area of their longitudinal axis, that Is of the axis running alongside the vehicle, by welding them for example (arrow 11).

2-6 In the illustration of Figure 3 it can be seen that the ceiling area 13 may be removed from the remaining bellows. The detachability may be assured by a screw connection, one-sided or multisided strong glueing, Velcro or the like The illustration according to Figure 4 shows a part 100 of a bellows that has been manufactured by rolling. The various undulations 101 are hereby 6 evenly distributed over the length.

Figure 5 shows the connection of several undulated elements 5 by means of an edastic encompassing tape 7 made of rubber. The tape 7 may be glued to the metallic undulated eicments 5. A riveted joint is however conceivable, too.

On Figure 6 it may be seen that the tape 7 is composed of two tape parts 7a, 7b, each of them being riveted separately to the undulated element 5.

The rivets 8 are hereby arranged in the tape parts in such a way that the rivet head is sunk-in, so that the elasticity of the joint is not restricted by the rivets.

7 C I a i M s A bellows of a connecting corridor with an intercommunicating gangway between two vehicles hinged to each other, characterized in that the bellows is made of a metallic material, 2. A bellows according to claim 1, 10 characterized in that the bellows ise concertina bellows.

3. A bellows according to claim 2, characterized in that the bellows is made in one is piece.

4. A bellows according to claim 1, characterized in that the bellows is made of several pa rts.

5, A bellows according to claim 4, characterized in that the concertina bellows is made of Individual undulated elements (5) that are connected to each other in the area of the ends of their logs (arrow 6).

6. A bellows according to claim 2, characterized in that the concertina bellows is bipartite, whereras the two concertina bellows parts (10) may be connected together in the area of their longitudinal axis (arrow 11).

8 7. A bellows according to one of the previous claims, characterized in that the concertina bellows (5), the concertina bellows parts (10) or the concertina bellows elements may be manufactured by rolls.

8. A bellows according to claim 1, characterized in that the bellows is an expansion bellows.

1C 9. A bellows according to claim 8, characterized in that the expansion bellows has individual metallic lamellas (1) that are each connected by their ends in order to form a plurality of pleats.

10. A bellows according to claim 9, characterized in that the lamellas (1) of an expansion bellows part (10) are bent to form a U-shape, whereas two such expansion bellows parts (10) constitute the bellows.

11, A bellows according to claim 1, characterized in that the bellows is made of twoor more shells.

12. A bellows according to claim 10, characterized in that the two bellows' shells are frontaNy connectable to each other.

13. A bellows according to claim 1, characterized in that the bellows is coated for thermal insulation and soundproofing.

9 14. A bellows according to claim 4, characterized in that the bottom and/or the ceiling area of the bellows is detachable from the remaining bellows.

!5 15. A bellows according to claim 1, c h a racterized in that someareasof thebellowsaro reinforced.

16, A bellows according to one of the previous claims, characterized in that the various elements constituting the bellows may be made of various materials and/or of a material having different degrees of rigidity.

17, A bellows according to one of the previous claims, c h a racterized in that the various elements constituting the bellows have sections of various degrees of thickness in order to obtain sections of different degrees of ductility, 18. A bellows according to one of the previous claims, 20 characterized in that, in the corner area of a bellows, elements made of plastic, elastomer or similar materials are provided to connect the metallic bellows elements. 19. A bellows according to claim 6, 25 characterized in that, in the connecting area of the undulated elements (6) of the bellows, the various elements (5) are connected to each other by elastic means (7). 20. A bellows according to claim 19, 30 characterized in that the elastic means is a tape (7) made of elastic material.

21, A bellows according to claim 20, characterized in that thetaps (7) ismadeof elastomer.

S 22. A bellows according to claim 20, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n t h a t the tape (7) is bipartite (7a, 7b), whereas the two tape parts (7a, 7b) are connectable to each other in the area of the parting plane.

io 23. Connecting corridor between two vehicles hinged to each other with an interconmunicating gangway, c h a r a c t e r i z c d b y a bellows according to one or several of the previous claims.