GB2377258A

GB2377258A - Rail bearing monitoring & testing apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2377258A
Application number: GB0113975A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Keith Ebbrell
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-06-08
Filing date: 2001-06-08
Publication date: 2003-01-08
Anticipated expiration: 2021-06-08
Also published as: GB2377258B; GB0113975D0

Abstract

An apparatus for use in connection with the in situ testing and/or monitoring of wheel/axle bearings of rail vehicles comprises a lifting device arranged to sit on rail tracks and a drive arrangement for rotating the wheels and axle during testing. Wheels 10a-b of an unshown rail vehicle, connected by axle 12, run on tracks/rails 14a-b with the rim surface 17a-b of the wheels being in contact with rails. The apparatus itself comprises four wheel rollers 16a-d which are carried by supporting structures 18a-b that sit on the top of rails 14a-b (via support plates 26a-b), so as to engage with rim 17a-b of wheels 10a-b. Pairs of hydraulic jacks 10a-d carried by supporting structures 18a-b allow the supporting structures of be selectively raised above rails 14a-b. Roller 16b is driven my either an electric, air, diesel or hydraulic motor 22 and the motion of this roller is transferred to roller 16d via drive axle 24. Support plates 26a-b are connected by a par of tie vars 32a-b which are coupled to upright gusset plates 28a-b by pins 34a-b.

Description

DESCRIPTION RAIL BEARING MONITORING The present invention is concerned with the monitoring and checking of wheel/axle bearings in rail vehicles, such as passenger coaches, goods wagons, locomotives and the like.

It is essential for regular checks to be carried out on the bearings associated with the wheels of rail vehicles since bearing failures could have catastrophic results in many operational situations, e. g. in trains running at high speed.

To test a given bearing, the associated axle and wheels rigidly coupled to the ends thereof must be run dynamically at speed in an otherwise static test. The traditional way of enabling the axle and wheels to be run in their bearings at speed in a static test has been to remove the axle/bearings sets as units from the vehicle as a whole and to subject them to rolling road type tests. Of course, removal of the axle/bearing sets from the vehicles is a major operation requiring specialised heavy duty lifting equipment and can only be carried out in specially adapted maintenance premises, with attendant high financial and manpower costs.

It would be highly advantageous to be able to test axle/wheel bearings of rail vehicles at any track location and without having to remove the axle/bearing assemblies from the vehicle.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for use in connection with the testing and/or monitoring of the condition

of wheel/axle bearings of a rail vehicle, comprising a lifting device which, in use, is arranged to sit on the two rails carrying the rail vehicle adjacent the two wheels of the rail vehicle disposed at the opposite ends of an axle whose bearings are to be tested, the lifting device including a jacking arrangement which can be actuated to selectively lift said wheels out of engagement with the rails, and a drive arrangement for rotating the wheels and axle whilst so lifted, thereby enabling tests to be carried out on the rotating axle whilst still in situ in the rail vehicle.

Preferably, the lifting device includes two pairs of rollers, the two rollers in each pair being arranged to engage the two opposite sides respectively of an associated one of the two rail vehicle wheels, actuation of the jacking arrangement being adapted to raise the rollers, and hence the vehicle wheels, relative to the rails.

Advantageously, the rollers in each pair are carried by respective support plates which, in use, lie on the rail, the two support plates carrying each pair of rollers being interconnected in a selectively detachable manner to enable the lifting device to be assembled around the wheels.

In some embodiments, the interconnection between the two support plates in each pair can be achieved by simple rigid tie bars. In other embodiments, the interconnection could comprise a hydraulic link to enable the two support plates to be selectively drawn together to bring the rollers carried thereby into engagement with the associated wheel of the rail vehicle.

Preferably, the jacking device comprises four hydraulic jacks disposed

respectively on each of the four support plates of the lifting device, each having a piston/plunger which, when actuated, projects through the respective support plate to engage the top surface of the rail therebeneath.

Preferably, the drive arrangement comprises an electric, diesel, air or hydraulic operated motor which drives one of the rollers engaging one of the vehicle wheels, that one of the rollers being coupled by an axle to one of the rollers engaging the other vehicle wheel whereby both of the wheels connected to the axle under test are driven by the motor.

Preferably, the lifting device components are made principally of mild steel. However, the rollers, or at least the outer parts of the rollers, are preferably made of a higher friction material such as hard rubber or composite.

The invention is described further hereinafter, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :- Fig. 1 is a simplified perspective view illustrating the use of one embodiment of a rail bearing monitoring apparatus in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a simplified side view of the apparatus while being assembled around the rail wheels associated with bearings to be tested ; Fig. 3 shows the directions of the principal operational load forces in the apparatus in its assembled state; and Fig. 4 shows the apparatus in an operated state with the wheels lifted from the track to enable a test to be carried out.

Fig. 1 shows two wheels 1 Oa, 1 Ob of a rail vehicle (not shown), rigidly connected by an axle 12 and running on respective transport rails 14a, 14b. In practice, the wheels lOa, I Ob would be one half of a twin axle bogey set disposed at the two ends respectively of a rail carriage. In the case of smaller goods wagons, on the other hand, there may only be one axle at each end of the wagon.

Each axle is mounted adjacent its opposite ends in respective bearings (not shown) disposed outboard of the wheels lOa, lOb. It is these bearings whose condition is to be tested and evaluated by the rail bearing monitoring apparatus.

Although not illustrated, it is emphasised that the axle 12 and wheels 1 Oa, 1 Ob remain in place in the rail vehicle throughout the testing procedure carried out using the present apparatus. The other axles and the body of the rail vehicle have been omitted purely for the purposes of simplifying the illustration of the apparatus and its operation.

The operation of the rail bearing monitoring apparatus involves the lifting clear of the rails 14a, 14b of the two wheels 10a, lOb at each end of the axle 12 whose axle bearings are to be tested, rotating the axle 12 and monitoring and analysing vibration and/or other factors within the axle bearing (s) during this rotation.

The embodiment illustrated in Figs 1-4 comprises four wheel rollers 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d carried by two supporting structures 18a, 18b which, in use, sit on top of the rails 14a, 14b on which the rail vehicle runs, such that the rollers 16a, 16b engage the rim surface 17a of the wheel lOa and the rollers 16c, 16d engage

the rim surface 17b of the wheel lOb. Pairs of hydraulic jacks 20a, 20b and 20c, 20d carried respectively by the supporting structures 18a, 18b enable the supporting structures to be selectively raised slightly above the rails 14a, 14b such that the wheels lOa, 10b are correspondingly raised from the rails by virtue of their engagement with the rollers 16a-16d.

The roller 16b is arranged to be driven by an electric, diesel, air or hydraulic motor 22, rotation of the roller 16b being transferred also to the roller 16d by way of a drive axle 24. By this means, the wheels 1 Oa, 1 Ob, and hence the axle 12, are rotatable by the motor 22 whilst in a condition where they are lifted clear of engagement with the rails 14a, 14b. This enables a vibration or other test to be carried out on the bearings at the two ends of the axle 12 at any convenient site on the track without any necessity for removing the axle 12 from the rail vehicle as a whole.

Both of the supporting structures 18a, 18b have essentially the same construction so only one need be described in more detail. Considering for example the supporting structure 18a, this comprises a pair of metal support plates 26a, 26b. The support plate 26a carries two parallel gusset plates 28a extending perpendicularly therefrom and between which the roller 16a is disposed rotatably in roller bearings 29a, 29b on an axle 30. The support plate 26b similarly carries the rotatable roller 16b between a further pair of gusset plates 28b. The two metal support plates 26a, 26b are connected together by means of a pair of tie bars 32a, 32b coupled to the upright gusset plates 28a, 28b by rectangularly-sectioned cotter

pins 34a, 34b which pass through correspondingly rectangular-sectioned slots in the tie bars 32, the shapes of which substantially prevent relative rotation between the tie bars and gusset plates. As shown in Fig. 2, the pin 34a (and/or the pin 34b) can be selectively withdrawn so as to enable the two support plates 26a, 26b to be separated and thereby enable the supporting structure 18a to be fitted around the two sides of the wheel loua, as shown. The pin 34a is replaced to arrive at the condition shown in Figs. 1 and 3, with the two rollers 16a, 16b in engagement with opposite sides of the wheel lOa at peripheral locations well below the central rotational axis of the wheel lOa.

The support plates 26a, 26b also carry the hydraulic jacks 20a, 20b which, when operated, cause respective plungers 36a, 36b to be projected downwardly through the plates 26a, 26b to engage the top surface of the rail 14a as shown in Fig. 4, thereby lifting the support plates 26a, 26b above the rail 1 osa and with them the wheel 10a via the engagement with the rollers 16a, 16b.

In a similar manner, the operation of the hydraulic jacks 20c, 20d of the supporting structure 18b cause the wheel 1 Ob to be lifted out of engagement with the rail 14b.

The motor 22 drives the roller 16b by way of a chain 38 and pulley (not shown) disposed within a chain guard 40.

As illustrated in Fig. 3 in connection with the supporting structure 18a, as a result of the non-rotational coupling of the tie bars to the support plates by virtue of the rectangular shapes of the cotter pins 34 and receiving slots in the tie bars,

the support plates remain substantially horizontal during the lifting process. This can be assisted by suitable relative positioning of the centres of rotation of the rollers 16a, 16b above the support plates 26a, 26b, the dispositions of the hydraulic jacks 20a, 20b and the location of the engagements of the rollers 16a, 16b with the wheel loua, such that the weight of the vehicle transferred via the rollers 16a, 16b when the wheel 10a is lifted off the rail 14a effects an anticlockwise moment on the support plate 26a and a clockwise moment on the support plate 26b (as viewed in Fig. 3). The same goes for the supporting structure 18b.

Thus, by operating all four hydraulic jacks 20, the two wheels lOa, lOb are lifted clear of the tracks 14a, 14b whilst remaining in situ in the vehicle. By operation of the motor 22, the axle can be run up to any desired testing speed and tests can be carried out on the respective axle bearings during such running.

Typically, bearing analysis tests can be carried out using known measuring

sty), instruments, such as those manufactured by SPM Instrument AB^ which carry out

a number of different tests, including shock pulse measurement, vibration severity measurement and vibration spectrum measurement. Shock pulse techniques were,

(PH) for example, approved by British Rail. for testing its Inter-Citykfleet.

The tests can be carried out virtually anywhere in the rail network, for example in convenient sidings, and not necessarily in major rail servicing centres.

Bearing analysis results can be logged on a computer database, enabling "trending"to optimise bearing life.

In other embodiments, the tie bars 32a, 32b can be replaced by hydraulic arrangements which enable the two pairs of support plates 28 to be hydraulically drawn together to bring the rollers 16 into driving engagement with the wheels 1 Oa, 1 Ob. Provision still needs to be made to enable the support plates in each pair to be fitted to the two sides of the wheel 10 to be lifted.

Claims

1. An apparatus for use in connection with the testing and/or monitoring of the condition of wheel/axle bearings of a rail vehicle, comprising a lifting device which, in use, is arranged to sit on two rails carrying the rail vehicle adjacent the two wheels of the rail vehicle disposed at the opposite ends of an axle whose bearings are to be tested, the lifting device including a jacking arrangement which can be actuated to selectively lift said wheels out of engagement with the rails, and a drive arrangement for rotating the wheels and axle whilst so lifted, thereby enabling tests to be carried out on the rotating axle whilst still in situ in the rail vehicle.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lifting device includes two pairs of rollers, the two rollers in each pair being disposed for engaging the two opposite sides respectively of an associated one of the two rail vehicle wheels, actuation of the jacking arrangement being adapted to raise the rollers, and hence the vehicle wheels, relative to the rails.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the rollers in each pair are carried by respective support plates which, in use, lie on the rail, the two support plates carrying each pair of rollers being interconnected in a selectively detachable manner to enable the lifting device to be assembled around the wheels.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the interconnection between the two support plates in each pair is achieved by simple rigid tie bars.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the interconnection between the two support plates comprises a hydraulic link to enable the two support plates to be selectively drawn together to bring the rollers carried thereby into engagement with the associated wheel of the rail vehicle.

6. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the jacking device comprises four hydraulic jacks disposed respectively on each of the four support plates of the lifting device, each having a piston/plunger which, when actuated, projects through the respective support plate to engage the top surface of the rail therebeneath.

7. A apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the drive arrangement comprises an electric, diesel, air or hydraulic operated motor which drives one of the rollers engaging one of the vehicle wheels, that one of the rollers being coupled by an axle to one of the rollers engaging the other vehicle wheel whereby both of the wheels connected to the axle under test are driven by the motor.

8. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the lifting device components are made principally of mild steel.

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the rollers, or at least the outer parts of the rollers, are made of a higher friction material such as hard rubber or composite.

10. An apparatus for use in connection with the testing and/or monitoring of the condition of wheel/axle bearings of a rail vehicle, substantially as

hereinbefore described, with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying .. 1 > -t-SXnce Ls cu. hereinbefore descnuea, Wlt. drawings.