JPH05132902A - Snow-melting device for railroad turnout - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a snow-melting device of electric heater type which has high setting workability and can be obtained at low cost for the railroad turnouts. CONSTITUTION:In a snow-melting device to remove frozen snow attached to the surrounding of a railroad turnout to move tongued rails 10 which are set on the floor plates 14 fixed to sleepers 12, a sheeted heater 30 covered with an electric insulator 32 and capable of heating by application of low-voltage large current is inserted into the space between the floor plate 14 and the sleepers 12. In stead of the heater 30, an induction heating coil to heat the floor plate by application of a specified AC voltage may be used.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a snow melting device for a railroad turnout, and more particularly to a snowmelting device for a railroad turnout using an electric heater.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When there is snowfall on a laid railway track, the snow adhering to a railroad branch may freeze and the branching operation may not be possible. For this reason, a snow-melting device may be installed at a railway turnout in an area where much snowfall occurs. As such a snow melting device, for example, there is a device configured to heat a steel plate floor plate supporting the tongue rail with an electric heater.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view showing a railroad branch switch to which the snow melting device using the electric heater as described above is applied.
In the figure, a rail (tongue rail) 10 is a sleeper 12
It is supported on a steel plate floor plate 14 which is fixed by dog nails 16 on the floor. A bar-shaped sheathed heater 18 is held by a metal fitting 20 on one side surface or both side surfaces of the floor plate 14. This metal fitting 20 is attached by means such as welding,
Not only does it hold the sheathed heater 18, but also serves to transfer the heat of the sheathed heater 18. That is, the sheathed heater 18 is heated by supplying electric power from a power source (not shown) to heat the floorboard 14 via the metal fitting 20 and indirectly the rail 10.
Is used to melt snow.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view showing another example of a railroad branch switch to which a snow melting device using an electric heater is applied. Figure 5
Similar to, the rail 10 is supported on a sleeper 12 on a floorboard 22 fixed with dog nails 16, but the floorboard 22 has a groove 2 on the bottom surface.
4, a planar heater 26 having a rectangular cross section is inserted in the groove 24. In this snow melting device, the planar heater 26 is heated to heat the rail 10 via the floor plate 22 to melt the snow.

[0005]

The conventional snow-melting device for a railway turnout device as described above has the following problems. In the snow melting apparatus of FIG. 5, the metal fitting 20 for holding the sheath heater 18 has to be attached to the side surface portion of the floor plate 14 by welding or the like, so that the attachment work is troublesome.

In the snow melting apparatus of FIG. 2, since it is necessary to form the groove 24 for installing the planar heater 26 on the lower surface of the floor plate 22, it is necessary to process the floor plate when using the floor plate according to the standard. Becomes In addition, since three dog nails 16 for fixing the floor plate 22 to the sleeper 12 are usually used on each side, it is difficult to insert and remove the planar heater 26 inserted into the groove on the lower surface of the floor plate. As described above, there are many working steps and it is troublesome. Further, when the groove 24 is formed in the floor plate 22, the floor plate 2
There is a problem that the strength itself of 2 also decreases. In order to solve the problem of the strength, if the floor plate 22 is thickened by the amount corresponding to the groove 24, there arises a problem that the height matching with a portion other than the periphery of the branching device is deteriorated.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electric heater type snow-melting device for a railroad branching device which has good installation workability and is inexpensive.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a snow-melting device for a railway turnout device, in which a movable tongue rail mounted on a floor plate fixed to a sleeper is moved to perform a branching operation. In a device that melts snow that has adhered and frozen around a turnout, a sheet-shaped heating element that is covered with an electrical insulator and that generates heat when a low voltage and large current is applied is inserted between the floorboard and sleepers. .

In addition, a snow melting device for a railway turnout according to a second aspect of the present invention is a railroad turnout surrounding which performs a branching operation by moving a movable tongue rail mounted on a floor plate fixed to a sleeper. In the device for melting snow that has adhered to and frozen on, the induction heating coil, which is covered with an electrical insulator and inductively heats the floorboard by applying a predetermined AC voltage and current, is inserted between the floorboard and the sleepers. .

[0010]

In the first aspect of the present invention, the sheet-like heating element which is covered with the electrical insulator and generates heat when a low voltage and large current is applied is inserted between the floorboard and the sleepers. The installation work of the body is simplified, and it is not necessary to perform special processing such as grooves on the floor board.

Here, when the voltage applied to the sheet-shaped heating element is AC 2 volts, for example, the required heating value is 2
The current value required to obtain 00 W requires a large current of 100 amperes, but it is a value that can be easily obtained by using a low voltage transformer. Further, since a low voltage is used, a thin film-shaped insulator is sufficient as the electrical insulator that electrically insulates the floor plate from the sheet-shaped heating element.

Further, in the second aspect of the present invention, an induction heating coil which is covered with an electric insulator and which induction-heats the floorboard by applying a predetermined voltage and current is inserted between the floorboard and the sleepers. By doing so, the work can be simplified as in the first invention. Further, by supplying a predetermined AC voltage to the induction heating coil, the floor plate itself is heated by the eddy current loss and the hysteresis loss due to the AC magnetic field, so that the heat loss is further reduced.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. 1A and 1B show the vicinity of a railway turnout device to which a snow melting device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied, FIG. 1A is a plan view, and FIG. 1B is a side sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. Tong rail 10 and main body rail 11 are sleepers 12
It is supported on a steel plate floor plate 14 which is fixed by dog nails 16 on the floor. This floor board 14 is a standard one without a groove, and a sheet-shaped heating element 30 wrapped in an electric insulator 32 also serving as a waterproof material is installed between the floor board 14 and the sleepers 12. There is.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of the sheet-shaped heating element 30 and the electrical insulator 32 that wraps the sheet-shaped heating element 30, and FIG. 3 shows a system diagram of the power supply system of the sheet-shaped heating element 30. The high voltage electric power supplied from the variable primary power source 38 is converted into the low voltage electric power by the low voltage transformer 36, and is supplied to the sheet-shaped heating element 30 via the lead wire 34.

When the sheet-shaped heating element 30 is made of a mild steel plate and has a thickness of 0.3 mm and a predetermined plane dimension, the electrical resistance value between both ends of the heating element is about 27 mΩ. In this case, when the applied voltage is 2.5 V, the heat generation amount is 230 W and the current value is about 93 A. In this way, the required amount of heat generation can be obtained even when a low voltage is applied. The amount of heat generation can be freely controlled by appropriately changing the voltage of the variable primary power source 38.

In addition to the case where a heating element is used as in the above embodiment, a snow melting apparatus in which a coil is installed to directly heat the floor plate can be considered. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the induction heating coil 40 used in the second embodiment of the present invention. The induction heating coil 40 is made of a steel plate and is covered with an electric insulator 42 that also serves as a waterproof material. The thickness and width of the conductive material formed in the coil are determined based on the required current value corresponding to the desired amount of heat generation. By installing this induction heating coil 40 between the sleepers 12 and the floor plate 14 as in the first embodiment, and converting the power of commercial AC100V into low voltage power by the low voltage transformer and supplying it to the coil, The floor plate 14 itself generates heat due to eddy current loss and hysteresis loss due to the AC magnetic field.

It is also possible to heat the rail itself by directly attaching the sheet-shaped heating element or induction heating induction coil to the lower surface or flank of the rail. Further, energy can be further saved by appropriately controlling the primary power supply voltage with reference to the floor plate surface temperature.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, since it is not necessary to perform special processing on the floor plate, not only the cost can be reduced but also the heating element and the like can be installed relatively easily. Good workability and no hassle. Moreover, since low-voltage power is used to heat the heating element and the like, it is advantageous in terms of safety.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A and 1B show the vicinity of a railroad branch switch to which a snow melting device according to a first embodiment of the present invention is applied, FIG. 1A is a plan view, and FIG. 1B is a side sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 1A. is there.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a sheet-shaped heating element 30 and an electrical insulator 32 that encloses the sheet-shaped heating element 30 used in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a system diagram of an electric power supply system for the sheet-shaped heating element 30 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an induction heating coil 40 and an electrical insulator 42 that encloses the induction heating coil 40 used in the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view showing an example of a railway branch switch to which a conventional snow melting device is applied.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view showing another example of a railroad branch switch to which a conventional snow melting device is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Tongue rail 11 Main body rail 12 Sleeper 14,22 Floorboard 16 Inu-nag 30 Sheet-shaped heating element 32,42 Electric insulator 34 Lead wire 36 Low voltage transformer 38 Variable primary power supply 40 Induction heating coil

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yuu Ito 3550, Kidayo-cho, Tsuchiura-shi, Ibaraki Hitachi Cable Ltd. Tsuchiura factory

Claims (2)

[Claims] Claim: What is claimed is: 1. An apparatus for melting snow that has adhered and frozen around a railroad branch turner that performs a branching operation by moving a movable tongue rail mounted on a floor plate fixed to a sleeper,
A snow-melting device for a railway turnout, characterized in that a sheet-shaped heating element which is covered with an electric insulator and generates heat when a low voltage and large current is applied is inserted between the floor plate and the sleeper. 2. A device for melting snow that has adhered and frozen around a railroad branch switch that performs a branching operation by moving a movable tongue rail mounted on a floor plate fixed to a sleeper,
A snow-melting device for a railway turnout, characterized in that an induction heating coil, which is covered by an electric insulator and which induction-heats a floorboard by applying a predetermined AC voltage and current, is inserted between the floorboard and the sleepers.