Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B62—LAND VEHICLES FOR TRAVELLING OTHERWISE THAN ON RAILS
  • B62D—MOTOR VEHICLES; TRAILERS
  • B62D31/00—Superstructures for passenger vehicles
  • B62D31/02—Superstructures for passenger vehicles for carrying large numbers of passengers, e.g. omnibus

Definitions

• High-capacity body for motor vehicles mainly for low-floor town/suburban buses
• the present invention relates to a high-capacity vehicle body having a low floor and a side door arranged at middle length of the body to facilitate loading of goods and taking up of passengers.
• This proposed arrangement requires, of course, a roof structure capable of carrying the weight of said elements.
• a floor height of 500 millimetres and a single stairstep is envisaged in said description.
• a vehicle body accessible without any interposed stairstep i.e. employing a low floor arrangement, whereby not only said aims can be achieved, but also persons bound to a wheel-chair can travel by bus, who otherwise would not be able to get into a bus of a larger floor height above ground.
• Our aim has been set to design a stairless, low-floor body, having a floor height below 400 millimetres, or as in present case, equal to 370 millimetres.
• bus a high-capacity vehicle is meant, which is capable of transporting more than 16 sitting passengers and is equipped with rubber tyres and is driven by an engine of about or above 100 kW.
• the space under the floor level available for the framework is considerably restricted from either direction, i.e. both from that of the floor level and from that of the bottom plane of the body, whereby a mere 100- millimetre high space in the section of the passenger doors and under the gangway of the passenger cabin is left free for accommodating the lower framework.
• a frame structure of satisfactory load-carrying capacity it is not possible to accommodate a frame structure of satisfactory load-carrying capacity.
• the roof structure must also have a sufficient loadability, even if no heavy elements, e.g. engine etc. are mounted in the overhead roof space.
• the roof structure built up of braces of sufficient load-carrying capacity may have a constructional height exceeding several times the approx. 100-millimetre height of the lower framework.
• the roof structure and the lower framework are linked up by load-bearing sidewalls and rear/front walls.
• large-size lintels and passenger doors have to be provided, introducing asymmetries in the stress conditions on either side of the vehicle body.
• the town buses have usually a front door in front of the fore-axle and a door between the two axles, but often behind the rear axle as well.
• the lintels are large, and the deformations under load are asymmetrical, adversely affecting the service life of the body. In the course of realising our aims further tasks of equalising the asymmetry of deformations arising in the body frame and of reducing stress peaks have also been considered.
• our objectives have been achieved by connecting in axial direction the overhead load-bearing structure and the frame accommodated below the floor of the passenger cabin through suspension handgrip rods, expediently linking the bottom frame structure with the roof structure.
• the suspension rods are prestressed, since the bendingtorsional strength of the roof structure exceeds - in the present case several times - the bending/torsional strength of the bottom frame, further the door-posts are reinforced by lateral piers, fixing the latter to the roof structure and to the bottom frame.
• Similar reinforcing lateral piers are installed which constitute together with the attached elements an overturn frame.
• the middle section of the passenger cabin, where the middle passenger door is located serves generally for standing passengers, and its length is at least equal to the width of the passenger door.
• four suspension handgrip posts can be arranged - approximately in the cross-sectional segments of the door-posts in longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, spaced in transverse direction at a distance corresponding to the width of the passenger gangway.
• the further handgrip posts are not load bearing, and their location is not subject to strength considerations, and frame-structure aspects do not emerge in conjunction with their fixing and anchoring. An example showing their design is given in Patent Specification DE 2.900.056.
• the lower end of the handgrip posts is fixed by screws in a flanged seat while its upper end is led through a rubber bushing mounted in the ceiling.
• the suspension handgrip posts are located in that section of the vehicle body where maximum load is imposed by the weight of passengers standing on the large-size flat floor surface.
• the free height under the vehicle body, available for accommodating the bottom framework will be here the minimum, since this is the place whereto the ramp can be retracted after the wheelchair has been pushed into the bus.
• Object of our invention is a high-capacity body for motor vehicles, mainly for low- floor town/suburban buses, the roof structure of which is designed to form a load- bearing spatial latticework having a bending and/or torsional strength commensurable with the bending and/or torsional strength of the bottom framework supported by the undercarriage and covered by floor sheets.
• the roof structure and the bottom framework are linked together by load-bearing side walls and front/rear walls.
• the roof structure is provided with ribs forming a latticework, with side-posts attached to some selected ribs - expediently to those located in the same cross-sectional segments as the door-posts of passenger doors - said side-posts being fixed also to the door-posts and/or to the bottom framework.
• Such side-posts are provided also in the right- and left-hand side walls forming an overturn frame structure together with the element attached to them and situated in the respective cross-sectional segments thereof.
• suspension posts are provided, said posts being connected through load bearing clamping elements to the roof structure with their one end and to the bottom framework with their other end.
• the vehicle body is matched to the requirements of a town/suburban bus, with the passenger/freight side-door being designed as passenger-door, expediently being at least a double-wing door, the suspending posts of which being shaped as handgrip posts and this middle section of the vehicle body being arranged exclusively for standing passengers, the two suspension posts having a spacing between them approximately equal to the width of the passenger gangway provided between the right-and left-hand side row of seats.
• the suspension post contains an inner rod provided with a thread at least at one of its ends. By means of connecting nut(s) said inner rod is attached prestressed to the latticework of the roof structure and to the bottom framework, said inner rod being surrounded by the outer tube serving as vertical handgrip for standing passengers.
• the bending strength of the latticework of the roof structure exceeds the bending strength of the bottom framework, where at least at one end of the suspension post connecting the roof structure and bottom framework a distance sleeve is applied, the length of which is selected to render the frameworks prestressed against bending.
• Figure 1 Outline diagram of the side view of a low-floor town/suburban bus
• FIG. 5 Town bus of Fig.1 showing the arrangement of handgrip posts in
• Figure 6 Vertical handgrip rods of Fig. 5 shown in top view. MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
• Figure 1 shows a low-floor town bus 1 having its body 2 provided with a passenger door 4 arranged before the frontal undercarriage 3 and with another passenger door 6 in the right-hand side wall 7 between the frontal and rear 3 undercarriage and a third passenger door 9 in the same right-hand side wall 7 between the rear 3 undercarriage and engine compartment 8.
• the upper and lower 13,14 parts of side wall 7 are connected through window posts 12 arranged between the side windows 11, acting as load-bearing elements.
• the door ⁇ posts 15 of passenger doors 4, 6, 9 similarly serve as load-bearing elements, just as the frontal wall 39 and rear wall 40.
• the body top 5 is clamped to these load-ca ⁇ ying elements.
• a load-bearing spatial latticework 18 is provided, having a height exceeding 250 millimetres, as against the bottom framework 16 of the vehicle body 2 located under the passenger gangway 29 and in the vicinity of the passenger door 4, 6, 9, the height of said framework being kept below 100 millimetres, hence it can be regarded as a planar latticework.
• the bending and torsional strength bottom framework 16 is not only commensurable with the bending and torsional strength of the latticework 18 of the roof structure 17, but the strength of the latter is several times higher than that of the former. Therefore, the primary load-bearing part in the vehicle body 2 is the body roof 5.
• the two middle longitudinal beams 22 are attached on either side through two suspension posts 23 to the flange elements 25 of the two middle beams 24 of the roof structure 17.
• the flange elements 25 of the two beams 24 are square-section steel tubes 26; web 27 is a flange-edged steel sheet
• the transverse members 30, identical with flange elements 25, are mounted between beams 24, and constitute a ribbed roof framework, where ribs 53 of the framework - their pitch being equal to that of the window-posts 12 and door-posts 15 - are arranged in the cross-sectional segments 21,42 of said posts.
• the two beams 24 run above the two sides of the gangway 29 of the passenger cabin 28.
• a forther box- beam 31 is arranged above the side walls 7 and 10 at either edge of the roof structure 17.
• a tie plate 32 is welded along the junction line of flange element 25 and transverse member 30.
• the flange element 25 of the longitudinal beam 24 and the transverse member 30 are connected by a welded-in tie plate 32, to which the end 33 of the suspension post 23 is fixed by bolt 34.
• the lower end 33 of the suspension post 23 is fixed in a similar way to the tie plate 32 welded to the beam 22 and transverse brace 24 forming a junction between them.
• a bore 38 is machined into said tie plate 32 .
• the bottom latticework 16 is "lifted" through suspension post 23 to the roof structure 17, i.e. it is prestressed against the passenger load, the bending strength of the roof structure being higher than that of the bottom latticework.
• a side-post 54 is attached to each door-post 15 by welding. These side-posts 54 are welded at their ends to the roof ribs 53 and to the transverse braces 30 of the bottom latticework 16.
• each side-post 54 located in side-wall 7 a side-post 54 is arranged also in side-wall 10, fixed in a similar way to the roof ribs 53 and to the transverse brace 30 of the bottom latticework.
• An overturn frame is thereby formed jointly by the roof ribs 53 and side-posts 54, together with the door-posts 16 and window-posts 12 rigidly linked up with the former.
• the suspension post 23 is a tube with a threaded plug 44 fitted to either end, and with a distance piece 36 placed between one of said plugs 44 and tie plate 32, permitting adjustment of prestress by selecting the length 37 of said distance piece 36.
• the outer surface 46 of the suspension post 23 is provided with a protecting sleeve 47, rendering the suspension post suitable 23 for serving as vertical handgrip for passengers.
• the remaining handgrips 56 only serve as conventional passenger handrails arranged above the row of seats 43.
• the suspension posts 23 are passed through the floor cover 45 and ceiling cover 35, whereas this is not necessary with the remaining handgrips 56.
• the suspension post 23 is a rod 48 threaded 49 at either end 50, passed through the tie plates 32 and fitted with nuts 51 and covered with an external sleeve 52 and secured by an ornamental disk 57, said rod being formed to serve as a vertical passenger handgrip.
• the suspension rods 23 are provided exclusively in the cross-sectional segments 21 of door-posts 15 of the middle passenger door 6, two of them in each segment

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Transportation (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Body Structure For Vehicles (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=10985241

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Cited By (1)

Citations (2)

• 1994
  • 1994-05-31 HU HU9401619A patent/HU216940B/hu not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1994-05-31 HU HU9500158U patent/HU767U/hu unknown
• 1995
  • 1995-05-30 WO PCT/HU1995/000019 patent/WO1995032882A1/en active Application Filing

Patent Citations (2)

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