JP2023517967A - Railway track rail supports - Google Patents

Abstract

A railway track rail support (1), a central core of parallelepiped appearance, formed by at least two juxtaposed strips of material (3) of thickness (e), solid wood or wood A central core (2) made of material and a protective casing (4) surrounding the central core (2), made in one piece and having at least two opposite upper (6) and lower (7) surfaces. and two opposite sides (8, 9) and designed to fit at least four longitudinal sides of the central core (2) and extending between two opposite faces or two adjacent faces of the peripheral wall and, together with the peripheral wall of the protective casing (4), each complementary to one strip (3) of the central core (2) at least one internal partition (13) defining at least two shaped cells (14), said strip (3) having a plurality of slots formed through its thickness (e). A railway track rail support (1) is disclosed comprising a slot of each strip connected to a slot of an adjacent strip by a pin made of plastic material filling the slot. [Selection drawing] Fig. 1

Description

The present invention relates to a railway track rail support, in particular of the sleeper type, having a central core of parallelepipedal appearance, formed by at least two juxtaposed strips, made of solid wood or of wood-based material, A central core and a protective casing surrounding the central core, the central core being integrally manufactured and formed by a peripheral wall having at least two opposing upper and lower surfaces and two opposing side surfaces, and and extending between two opposing or two adjacent surfaces of the peripheral wall and, together with the peripheral wall of the protective casing, each of at least one internal partition defining at least two cells having shapes complementary to the strips of said central core.

In a known manner rail supports, also called track rail supports in the context of the present invention, e.g. railway sleepers, bridge parts, engineering structural parts and timbers, participate in the construction of railway tracks and are anchored to ballast. and, in addition to functioning as supports for the rails, the purpose is to ensure a certain distance between the latter and distribute the mechanical loads on the ballast during the passage of the train.

Railroad engineers have a constant interest in designing infrastructure that is both reliable and safe while meeting established budgetary constraints. In this context, these studies, inter alia, continuously explore new solutions for improving the mechanical performance of railway track components and consequently the mechanical performance of railway track rail supports. It is to let

In this regard, various solutions have been proposed over the years to overcome the problems associated with the natural aging of railroad track support logs made early in the railroad age.

Therefore, in order to increase their lifespan, the wooden supports of railway track rails, which by definition are perishable, are provided with a protective substance, such as creo, intended to combat bio-attack from wood-eating agents, such as fungi and termites. It is proposed to impregnate the sort. However, although creosote is still approved and used today, it is currently hotly contested due to its detrimental effects on the environment and human health. Constantly evolving regulations on the use of this substance also suggest that it will be phased out. Furthermore, it should be noted that the same applies to new chemical treatments proposed as alternatives to creosote, which continue to cause environmental pollution, especially in the aquatic environment. It is recognized that permits may not be renewed.

Another solution consisted in developing railway track rail supports made of anti-corrosion materials such as concrete, steel, plastic or composite materials.

Concrete rail supports are cost effective, but are heavy, complicated to handle, and fragile due to their stiffness. In addition, they cannot be machined and the ballast must be lifted, adding to the cost. Finally, railroad track supports made of concrete have a high carbon footprint.

Steel track supports have a long service life. However, steel track supports generate noise when trains pass over them, limiting the areas in which they can be used. High electrical conductivity, high maintenance costs and especially the risk of corrosion also limit it.

More recently, track supports made of plastic or composite materials have become available, which, like their wooden counterparts, are machinable and recyclable, and absorb vibrations and thus noise. Nevertheless, technical limitations such as dimensional changes due to thermal expansion of the constituent materials remain. Additionally, the latter can creep over time, potentially compromising the pull-out strength of the lag bolt. Also, the cost of plastic or composite track supports is high, which further impedes deployment.

Also, in order to overcome the problem of wood decay, it is envisaged to design rail supports for railway track rails in the form of a wooden core coated with a protective casing made of thermoplastic material, the purpose of which is to isolate the wood from any and all external contact and thus protect it from any possible biological attack.

The specifications WO0158663 and WO2016105209 describe railway sleepers whose central core is made of a solid piece of wood. However, this configuration presents a non-negligible risk: when changing all or part of the plastic shell, due to its monolithic construction, the entire central core gradually decomposes and rots from one area to another. Allowing the propagation of the phenomenon, leading to a reduction in the mechanical properties of the considered sleepers.

Specification US Pat. No. 4,286,753 teaches the possibility of designing the central core of a railroad sleeper with juxtaposed solid wood planks or particleboards that are bonded together to form a homogeneous block. However, a drawback of the solution described is the need to use harmful and potentially polluting substances such as formaldehyde.

The object of the present invention is to overcome all the above drawbacks, and to overcome all the drawbacks mentioned above, and to have an alternative structure to that already described, made of wood or wood-based material covered with a protective casing, and Railroad track rails, such as railroad ties, of the type consisting of a central core that both allow to improve their life in terms of weight impact and at the same time meet the technical, financial and environmental criteria currently in force. is to propose a support for More precisely, the present invention seeks to propose a machinable support for railway track rails, which has a longer life compared to existing rail supports, is environmentally friendly, and whose structural and constituent materials are easily recyclable. aim.

To this end, the object of the invention is to provide a railroad track rail support of the kind shown in the preamble, the strip comprising a plurality of slots formed through its thickness e, each strip comprising: The slots of the strips are connected to the slots of the adjacent strips by means of pins made of plastics material which fill the slots.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, said protective casing is made of plastics material.

According to a particular embodiment, the protective casing further comprises a pair of caps capable of covering the left and right end faces of the central core.

The invention also provides that the upper surface of the protective casing comprises at least two recesses extending symmetrically on either side of a plane passing through the center of the protective casing and extending perpendicular to its longitudinal axis. provided as

Preferably, the recess has a threaded hole.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the peripheral wall of the protective casing may have a structure forming a set of reliefs and recesses extending over at least part of the lower surface of the peripheral wall of the protective casing.

Optionally, the structure forming the set of reliefs and recesses also extends across at least one portion of the opposite side of the peripheral wall of the protective casing, which portion extends from the lower surface of the peripheral wall toward the upper surface of the peripheral wall. there is

Furthermore, the invention also provided the feature that said strips were each formed by a series of abutting strips.

According to a possible embodiment, the strips run parallel to each other and parallel or perpendicular to the top and bottom sides of the peripheral wall of the protective casing.

Alternatively, a construction in which the strips run parallel to each other and at an angle to the upper and lower surfaces of the peripheral wall of the protective casing is also according to the invention.

Advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Corresponding to a perspective perspective view of an embodiment of a support for rails according to the invention, here defined by railway sleepers. Figure 2 is a perspective view of the central core of the railroad sleeper of Figure 1; The through slots provided by the strips of the central core along one of their lateral edges correspond to the cross-sectional view of the railroad sleeper of FIG. 1, aligned. Figure 2 shows a partial side view of the railway sleeper of Figure 1; FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a variant of the second embodiment of a support for a railway track rail according to the invention; FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a variant of the third embodiment of a support for rails according to the invention;

In a variant of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the support of the rail according to the invention consists on the one hand of a central core 2 of parallelepipedal appearance and on the other hand of a protective casing 4 surrounding said central core 2, is defined by a railroad sleeper 1 comprising: The latter is formed here by four strips 3 made of solid wood of thickness e. However, other configurations are also conceivable in which the strips 3 are each formed by a series of wooden strips assembled together, for example by their respective side edges, or by their respective longitudinal edges, or overlapping and facing each other. be done. Furthermore, according to yet another arrangement, different strips 3 of the central core 2 are each made of different types of wood, in order to optimize the cost of wood material, the mechanical properties and the durability of the rail support according to the invention. may be made from Thus, for example, a central core 2 is manufactured comprising three inner strips of beechwood sandwiched between two outer strips 3 of oak, a material which by definition is more durable and resistant than beechwood. It is possible to In other cases it may be possible to insert the central core 2 between two outer strips made at least partially of polymer material and surround this assembly with an outer casing 4 .

According to the invention, the protective casing 4 is advantageously one-piece, made of plastic or thermoplastic material, reinforced with fibers and/or talc or unreinforced, e.g. , extrusion or by processes known per se such as the "exjection" process®.

More precisely, the protective casing 4 is formed by a peripheral wall with a thickness e1 preferably between 5 mm and 15 mm. The protective casing 4 comprises two opposite upper and lower surfaces 6 and 7 and two opposite side surfaces 8, 9 designed to fit at least four longitudinal sides of the central core 2 and the It has two left and right faces 11 and 12 designed to cover the left and right faces.

Furthermore, the protective casing 4 also has three internal partitions extending parallel to each other and between two opposite sides 8 and 9 of the protective casing 4 and parallel to its top 6 and bottom 7 surfaces. 13. Preferably, the internal partition 13 has a thickness e2 of 3 mm to 10 mm and, together with the peripheral wall of the protective casing 4, defines four cells 14 each having a complementary shape to the strips 3 of the central core 2. .

In summary, with such a railroad sleeper 1 construction, each wooden strip 3 making up the central core 2 is housed in a separate protective sheath defined within each case by a cell 14, thus isolating it from the other strips 3. completely separated. Therefore, if there is deterioration in the peripheral wall of the protective casing 4, it will lead to exposure of the wooden strips 3 to external factors, only the latter will gradually decompose, but there is no risk of spreading the phenomenon to the rest of the strips 3. Such features make it possible to significantly improve the life of the railway sleeper 1 . Furthermore, the alternating use of wood and plastic minimizes the occurrence of possible creep phenomena of the plastic material, thus ensuring robustness of the anchoring of the tie rods for fixing the rails to the sleepers 1. leads to a structure that

In order to create a permanent connection across the railway sleepers 1, the strips 3 are provided with a plurality of slots 30 formed through their thickness e, whereby in the alternative embodiment shown in FIG. It should also be noted that each slot 30 in strip 3 is aligned with a corresponding slot 30 in the adjacent strip(s) 3 . These slots 30 are used to enclose the strips 3 of the parallelepiped core 2 with a protective casing 4 during manufacture of the railway sleeper 1, for example by plastic injection, extrusion or the "exjection" process™. Filled with plastic or thermoplastic material. After the plastic material has hardened, the strips 3 are therefore not only surrounded by individual protective sheaths, but are also connected to each other by pins 31 made of plastic material, which fill the slots 30 in question. This last feature prevents the strips 3 from moving relative to each other within the protective casing 4, especially under the influence of the weight of a train moving on the track.

According to the invention, the slots 30 are located at a distance d0 of 5 mm to 40 mm from the longitudinal edges 18 and a distance d1 of 5 mm to 70 mm from their lateral edges 19. Note also the preferential alignment along the directional edge 18 and lateral edge 19 . Moreover, the slots 30 of the same strip 3 are regularly spaced by a distance d2, preferably between 50 mm and 200 mm.

1 and 3, the upper surface 6 of the protective casing 4 extends symmetrically on either side of a plane extending through the center of the protective casing 4 and perpendicular to its longitudinal axis X. It has two recesses 15 which The two recesses 15 are for example machined and each designed to accommodate a metal plate (not shown) for mounting a rail. For this purpose they are provided with threaded holes 16 extending through the strip 3 and the inner partition 13 of the protective casing 4, intended to receive screws for fixing the metal plates in the recesses 15. ing.

It should also be noted that in the illustrated embodiment the bottom 17 of each recess 15 has a slope suitable for receiving a mounting plate according to the current French standard. Of course, the bottom 17 of the recess 15 may also have a different slope than shown and extend horizontally, for example to accommodate other types of mounting plates.

As is clear from the above, rail supports, e.g. railway sleepers 1, according to the present invention are an alternative to existing ones in order to overcome the problems associated with the perishable nature of the wood from which they are originally made. present a solution. In fact, the watertight protective casing 4 covering the material from which the strip 3 is made makes it possible to protect the material from which the strip 3 is made and thus guarantee its durability according to regulations. Furthermore, the rail support according to the invention is simple, economical and environmentally friendly to manufacture. There is also the advantage of a long service life compared to known state-of-the-art rail supports, independent of the use of toxic and potentially polluting substances.

Further, variations of embodiments other than those shown in FIGS. 1-3 may be provided. Therefore, a variant of the support of the rails defining the railway sleepers 10 has been designed (see FIG. 4), the strips 3 forming a central core 20 parallel to each other and on the upper surface of the protective casing 4 6 and extends perpendicular to the lower surface 7 . A railroad sleeper 100 comprises a central core 200 having two groups of strips 3 extending parallel to each other and at an angle to the upper and lower surfaces 6 and 7 of the protective casing 4, through the center of the protective casing 4. 5, in which the two groups are arranged symmetrically in the casing with respect to a plane extending parallel to the longitudinal axis X of the protective casing 4, also shown in FIG. follow the spirit

According to the manufacturing process used to manufacture the rail support according to the invention, the protective casing 4 comprises a pair of caps designed to cover the left end face 11 and the right end face 12 of the central core 2, 20, 200. (not shown).

On the other hand, in order to improve the integration of the rail supports, e.g. railway sleepers 1, 10, 100, according to the invention into the ballast of the railway track, the peripheral wall of the protective casing 4 advantageously has at least a part of its underside 7 across or even, if desired, a structure forming a set of reliefs and recesses extending from its lower surface 7 towards its upper surface 6 and over at least part of its opposite sides 8, 9 can be designed to

Claims (10)

A support (1, 10, 100) for a railway track rail, in particular of the railway sleeper type, comprising a central core (2) of parallelepiped appearance and comprising at least two juxtaposed strips (3) of thickness e a central core (2) and a protective casing (4) surrounding said central core (2), formed by and made of solid wood or wood material, being integral and having at least two opposite upper surfaces ( 6) and a lower surface (7) and a peripheral wall with two opposite side surfaces (8, 9) and designed to fit at least four longitudinal surfaces of said central core (2). extending between two opposite faces or two adjacent faces of said peripheral wall, and together with said peripheral wall of said protective casing (4), each of said central core (2 at least one internal partition (13) defining at least two cells (14) having a shape complementary to the strip (3) of the railroad track rail (1, 10, In 100), said strip (3) comprises a plurality of slots formed through the thickness e of said strip (3), said slots of each strip being filled by pins made of plastic material filling said slots. A support (1, 10, 100) for a railway track rail, characterized in that it is connected to said slots of adjacent strips. Support (1, 10, 100) for railway track rails according to claim 1, characterized in that said protective casing (4) is made of plastics material. Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the protective casing (4) further comprises a pair of caps capable of covering the left end face (11) and the right end face (12) of the central core (2). railway track rail supports (1, 10, 100). said upper surface (6) of said protective casing (4) symmetrically on both sides of a plane passing through the center of said protective casing (4) and extending perpendicularly to its longitudinal axis (X); Support (1, 10, 100) for a railway track rail according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises at least two recesses (15) extending. Support (1, 10, 100) for a railway track rail according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said recess (15) comprises a threaded hole (16). CHARACTERIZED IN THAT said peripheral wall of said protective casing (4) has a structure forming a set of reliefs and recesses extending over at least part of said lower surface (7) of said peripheral wall of said protective casing (4). A support (1, 10, 100) for a railway track rail according to any one of claims 1 to 5. Said structure forming a set of reliefs and recesses also extends over at least one portion of said opposite sides (8, 9) of said peripheral wall of said protective casing (4), said portion A support (1, 10, 100) for a railway track rail according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it extends from the lower surface (7) towards the upper surface (6) of the peripheral wall. ). Support (1, 10, 100) for a railway track rail according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said strips (3) are each formed by a series of abutting strips. . Claim characterized in that said strips (3) run parallel to each other and parallel or perpendicular to said upper surface (6) and said lower surface (7) of said peripheral wall of said protective casing (4). A railway track rail support (1, 10) according to any one of items 1 to 8. 4. Claim characterized in that said strips (3) extend parallel to each other and at an angle to said upper surface (6) and said lower surface (7) of said peripheral wall of said protective casing (4). A railway track rail support (100) according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

Images