WO2015140464A1

WO2015140464A1 - Method for manufacturing a driving cab cell of a vehicle of the tramway or train type

Info

Publication number: WO2015140464A1
Application number: PCT/FR2015/050651
Authority: WO
Inventors: Patrick Durand; Maxime VILLAIN
Original assignee: Bfg Europe
Priority date: 2014-03-20
Filing date: 2015-03-17
Publication date: 2015-09-24
Also published as: FR3012785B1; FR3012785A1

Abstract

Method for manufacturing a driving cab cell of a vehicle of the tramway or train type, that can be used for various widths of cab and can be adapted to any external fairing, said cell comprising two side windows (2, 2') and a frontal opening (3). This method is characterized by the following steps: - moulding of two symmetric composite standard half-shells (1, 1'), one for the right and one for the left, of predetermined width L; - moulding of two standard symmetric surrounds (4, 4'), one for the right and one for the left, for the glazed side window openings, said surrounds (4, 4') being able to be assembled so as to cover the side windows (2, 2'); - in the event that the width I of the cab is less than L, corresponding trimming of the edges (21, 22, 23, 24; 21', 22', 23', 24') of the side windows (2, 2') to obtain the width I; - assembly of the window-opening surrounds (4, 4') to the two, right and left, half-shells (1, 1'); - assembly of the two half-shells (1, 1') in order to constitute the driving cab cell.

Description

Method of manufacturing a cabin cell

tram or train type vehicle piloting.

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a standard cell for a tram-type vehicle control cabin or, more generally, a railway vehicle, as well as to a cell having technical characteristics that make it possible to implement the method in question. . The objective is in fact to initially make the manufacturing operations compatible with the aforementioned standardization requirement, the techniques implemented in addition to allow a dimensionally adaptable production in a second time, and ultimately provide an economic gain not insignificant.

Up to now, the making of ends before such vehicles has gone through the manufacture of a single piece, base of the cell, consisting of successive additions of fibered sheets and resin, thus comprising manual operations requiring a know-how of the operator. Each cell manufactured in this way must not only be made up of the final dimensions of the future tramway cabin, but must incorporate the aesthetic characteristics of the final model as soon as it is made. It is then necessary to bring back a certain number of additional molded parts to obtain a finished product, requiring the molding of a dozen additional pieces and consequently the existence of a corresponding number of molds. These additional pieces also depend on the final design of the cabin, each new model of tram potentially imposes the realization of new molds, etc.

In terms of industrialization, the realization of these front ends suffers in particular from the impossibility of molding the single piece base of the cell for obvious reasons related in particular to undercuts. It is therefore necessary to go through the aforementioned manual steps, depending on the skill of operators, with as a corollary possible less control over the quantities of material used. The overall control of the process is not assured, which can have cost management implications. The heating of the resin inherent in this process also leads to the emission of volatile organic compounds gas (VOC) which are likely to present health risks to operators.

In short, responding to different models of street sizing and cladding, which are known to depend on the end customer - usually cities or urban communities - could only be done at the very beginning of the process. subsequent adaptations being very small.

In order to overcome these drawbacks, the idea underlying the invention makes it possible to considerably optimize industrialization, process control and adaptability by designing standard cabin cells that can be manufactured by a reproducible and controlled process, and then Easily adapted to different dimensions, configurations and aesthetics. The fact that each city has its streetcar model, whose appearances are very different from one place to another, impacts only marginally the process, for additional phases easily controllable because of the very design of the cells. the invention. The standardization permitted by the invention is advantageous both in an industrialization objective and in the perspective of increasing economic profitability.

Thus, according to the invention, the method of manufacturing a tram-type vehicle control cabin cell, usable for several widths of cabins and adaptable to any external fairing, said cell having two side windows and a front opening, is characterized by the following steps:

molding two symmetrical right and left composite right half-shells of predetermined width L;

molding two symmetrical right and left standard frames for side windows, said frames being able to be assembled to cover the side windows; - In case of width I of the cabin lower than L, corresponding trimming of the edges of the side windows to obtain the width I;

- assembling the berry frames to the two half-shells right and left;

- Assembling the two half-shells to form the cell of the cockpit.

In the process of the invention, only two molds for the two half-shells and the two molds of the frames remain, whatever the final width of the cells of the end tips and therefore cabins, and regardless of their subsequent appearance. The invention makes it possible in a way to implement a standard cockpit cell, which is used for all kinds of configurations, allowing more synergies between the different versions available. The industrialization is in fact simplified and easily reproducible, oriented towards the manufacture of a basic one-dimensional model designed to undergo an operation also industrializable resizing in other widths on the one hand, and allowing the installation of various fairings on the other hand, which depend, as we have seen, mainly on the requirements of the final customer of the tramway trains.

The small number of molds and therefore of single, standard parts from which the cell is built allows a significant improvement in productivity, by a significant increase in production rates. Industrialization is reflected here by a transfer of technological "weight" between the process used in the past and that which is the subject of the invention, which moves in this case to machining operations rather than to remain centered on the work of forming the fiber resin.

The displacement of the technical center of gravity towards the machining is clearly generating gain, because it makes it possible to simplify considerably said operations of forming of the material, validating the economic aspect suggested previously. It involves, however, the design of a particular cabin allowing the easy implementation of simple machining to achieve the aforementioned dimensional changes.

The frames of the side bays can also be cut off, and the width adjustment can then be fine obtained by a double dimensional adjustment.

According to an easy possibility to implement, the cutouts can be made using templates that ensure reproducibility compatible with industry standards.

In the method of the invention, following the assembly of the half-shells, the upper and lower hoops of the windshield are fixed at the upper and lower edges of the front opening. At this stage, in addition to the molds of the two half-shells always identical forming the base of the cell and those of the berry frames, additional molds are used for the hoops provided to house the windshield. All in all, six molds are used. The said hoops are then not affected by the machining operations.

Then, still following the assembly of the half-shells, inserts are attached to the cell for the subsequent fixing of the outer covering. These inserts are identical and intended to be approached by inserts or supports placed on the fairing elements.

The two assembled half-shells must of course have the same mechanical strength as the single piece of the prior art, and in particular offer impact resistance and more generally mechanical resistance compatible with the standards in force. For their assembly, the half-shells comprise for these effects of the bonded and bolted composite return type interfaces, separated by spacers guaranteeing the rigidity of the cell as well as the thickness of glue.

This assembly by gluing and bolting with the interposition of a spacer which places a de facto distance between the facing surfaces makes it possible not only to wait for the end of the polymerization of the bonding resin, but also to control the thickness of glue. This solution leads to an optimization of the manufacturing cycle times, because it no longer requires waiting for the resin to dry. The presence of composite returns also increases the rigidity of the whole.

Preferably, when they have been cut out, the berry frames are fixed on the outer faces of the edges of the side windows.

During the machining / trimming operations, the orientation of the different faces which participate in the fixing of the frames on the half-shells remains unchanged: this results from the particular design of the various elements which intervene in the fixing zones, which are such as clipping operations do not change the mode and the realization of the fixation, as will be seen in more detail later.

The rack frames are also fixed by screwing / gluing, which ensures the mechanical strength of the frames and optimizes again the cycle time, which would otherwise depend solely on the polymerization time of the glue.

More preferably, the molding of all the components is carried out by transfer of composite resin. This technology makes it possible to increase the rate of reinforcing fibers incorporated in the resin, which is preferably greater than 35%. The resin is injected at low pressure or under vacuum into the closed molds, provided with reinforcing fibers, which limits the VOC emissions compared to the existing manual solution. Such manufacture in infusion in molds ensures perfect reproducibility for increased rates. It ensures control of the quantities of material ultimately resulting in a mass gain, as well as an optimization of the structure of the composite material in the thickness.

For the record, in the technologies used so far, the rate of reinforcing fibers did not exceed 25%. By controlling the quality of the materials used, the invention makes it possible to implement an overall improvement in the mechanical strength of the control cabin cells, an improvement which also results from the type of fastening by gluing and bolting, of which we have mentioned the fact that it increases the rigidity of the cell composed of the two half-shells.

As mentioned several times before, the method of the invention only makes sense if the configuration of the cell is provided accordingly: the present invention therefore also relates to a composite cell whose manufacture allows the implementation of said method, which is therefore characterized in that it is composed of two symmetrical half-shells provided with two lateral windows and a front opening, said windows having edges protruding outwards in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the window, on the outer free edges of which rest the windows integrated in frames fixed on the outer faces of said borders.

The existence of these thin edges, planar pace, greatly simplifies the trimming operation, when an adaptation of the width dimension is necessary. Another advantage of this solution is to completely hide the attachment areas of the frames at the edges, after laying the windows over these areas, as will be seen in more detail later.

According to one possibility, the front edge of each window is part of an upright section of the cell substantially flared U, said front edge being one of the walls generated by one of the legs of the U and the frame of the bay having a profile adapted to be inserted into the opening of said upright and provided with two surfaces facing the flared walls.

The lateral ends of the windshield are in practice at the level of the wall generated by the other leg of the U, which allows for advantageous treatment of the external visible surfaces with the help of future fairings. These can indeed cover the glazing at the top and bottom, as well as on the rear sides, while the proximity between the side edges of the windshield and the front edges of windows allows treatment by smoothed connection joint. The invention will now be described in more detail, with reference to the appended figures, for which:

- Figure 1 shows in perspective the symmetrical half-shells in the process of assembly;

- Figure 2 shows, in perspective view, the assembled cell;

- Figure 3 shows the two symmetrical frames of the side windows;

- Figure 4 shows the upper and lower hoops used for fixing the windshield;

- Figure 5 is a sectional view of the assembly system composite returns by bolting and gluing;

- Figure 6 illustrates, in section, the attachment of a side window frame in a front pillar of the cell, in two positions corresponding to two different widths;

- Figure 7 shows, still in section, the attachment to a rear amount of the same side bay, for two different widths;

- Figure 8 shows, still in section, fixing the upper part of the frame of the bay in two widths; and

- Figure 9 corresponds to Figure 8, but for the lower part of the frame of the side bay.

With reference to these figures, and taking into account the symmetry always present, the numerical references have been preserved for two symmetrical components, the differentiation taking place in this case using a bonus (') added to the reference digital for one of the two half-shells.

Thus, the vehicle control cabin cell of the tramway type as it appears for example in FIG. 2, manufactured according to the invention in composite material, consists of two half-shells (1, 1 ') each provided with a side window (2, 2 '), the front part of each half-shell (1, 1') having an opening provided to constitute after assembly the opening (3) of the windshield. FIGS. 1 and 2 show that the periphery of the windows (2, 2 ') is constituted on the four sides (21, 22, 23, 24, 21', 22 ', 23', 24 ') by a flat border which presents a certain depth, which is the means, in the sense of the invention, to perform a simple trimming for adapting the width of the cells (1), and therefore the ends of the reams, according to the final design of these.

These projecting flat edges (21, 22, 23, 24, 21 ', 22', 23 ', 24') are used to fix the frames of the bay windows (4, 4 ') which appear in FIG. 3. These frames (4 , 4 ') have a particular section that allows them to attach to said borders in the manner that will be explained in more detail below. They are also subjected to a machining / trimming operation so as to adapt if necessary the dimensioning of the outside of the cell (1), provided with its windows, dimensional constraints provided for the finished ream.

These dimensional constraints do not affect the windshield, which maintains a unit dimensioning. This windshield is attached to the cell (1) via an upper bow (5) and a lower bow (6) mounted outside the edges of the opening (3) covered by the windshield. Their arch form allows to preserve the anti-intrusion function in case of frontal or lateral impact.

Figure 5 shows the principle of assembly using bolting

(7) performed in composite returns of the half-shells (1, 1 ') unfolding in a direction of a course perpendicular to the main surface thereof, in the assembly area. The fixation is completed by polymer adhesive (9), the thickness of which is guaranteed by the installation of a spacer

(8) in the bolt (7).

FIG. 6 shows a perpendicular section of the front upright (10) of flared U-shaped half-shells (1, 1 ') at the outlet of which a particular profile (1 1) is inserted protruding from the bays (4, 4'). ). The marks (a) and (b) show two different dimensions of the amount (10) corresponding to two different versions of cells, and thus the width of the end end of a tramway.

The original molding leads to the dimension (a), while a trimming, that is to say a particular machining of the wall of the proximal amount (1 1, 1 1 ') of the bay window laterally, leads to a second dimensioning (b).

The same goes for FIG. 7, which shows in section the rear upright (12, 12 ') of the rack frame (4'), and the two dimensions (b) and (a) respectively obtained after clipping and without clipping. . In both cases, that is to say for the amounts respectively before (10) and back, the differences generated by the differences in widths due to the detours are managed at the level of the bonding areas, which look parallel to the edges (21, 22, 23, 24, 21 ', 22', 23 ', 24') of the frames (4, 4 ') and covered by the glazings, due to the particular shape of said frames (4, 4') .

The same logic applies in Figures 8 and 9, respectively representing the upper portion (13 ') of the rack frame (4'), and the lower portion (14 ') of the rack frame (4').

Essentially, the manufacturing process therefore comprises the following steps:

- molding of two half-shells (1, 1 ') right and left symmetrical;

- molding of two right and left frames (4, 4 ') symmetrical for side windows;

- in case of adaptation of the cabin width, corresponding trimming of the borders (21, 22, 23, 24, 21 ', 22', 23 ', 24') provided for this purpose of the side windows (2, 2 '), and where appropriate, said frames (4, 4 ') of the lateral bays;

- assembling the berry frames (4, 4 ') to the two half-shells (1, 1');

- Assembling the two half-shells (1, 1 ') to form the cell of the cockpit. The invention is not limited to the example given via the appended figures, but it also encompasses the variants of shape and constitution which are included, for those skilled in the art, within the scope of the claims.

Claims

Method of manufacturing a cockpit cell for a tram or train type vehicle, usable for several cabin widths and adaptable to any exterior fairing, said cell comprising two side windows (2,

2') and a front opening

(3), characterized by the following steps:

- molding of two standard symmetrical right and left composite half-shells (1, 1') of predetermined width L;

- molding of two symmetrical standard right and left frames (4, 4') for side bay windows, said frames (4, 4') being able to be assembled to cover the side windows (2, 2');

- in the case of cabin width I less than L, corresponding trimming of the edges (21, 22, 23, 24; 21 ', 22', 23', 24') of the side windows (2, 2') to obtain the width I;

- assembly of the bay frames (4, 4') to the two half-shells (1, 1') right and left;

- assembly of the two half-shells (1, 1 ') to constitute the cell of the cockpit.

Method of manufacturing a cockpit cell of a tram or train type vehicle according to the preceding claim, characterized in that said frames (4,

4') of the side bays are cut out.

Method of manufacturing a cockpit cell of a tram or train type vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cuts are made using templates.

Method of manufacturing a cockpit cell of a tram or train type vehicle according to one of the claims previous, characterized in that, following the assembly of the half-shells (1, 1 '), inserts are fixed to the cell for fixing the exterior covering.

5. Method of manufacturing a cockpit cell of a tram or train type vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the two half-shells (1, 1 ') comprise composite return type interfaces glued and bolted, separated by spacers (8) guaranteeing the rigidity of the cell as well as the thickness of the glue (9).

6. Method for manufacturing a cockpit cell of a tram or train type vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the frames (4, 4') of the bays are fixed on the exterior faces of the edges (21, 22, 23, 24; 21 ', 22', 23', 24') of the side windows (2, 2').

7. Method of manufacturing a cockpit cell of a tram or train type vehicle according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the bay frames (4, 4') are fixed by screwing/gluing.

8. Method for manufacturing a cockpit cell of a tram or train type vehicle according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the molding is carried out by transfer of composite resin.

9. Method for manufacturing a cockpit cell of a tram or train type vehicle according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the rate of reinforcing fibers integrated into the resin is greater than 35%.

10. Composite cell for the cockpit of a tram or train type vehicle manufactured according to the method of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is composed of two symmetrical half-shells (1, 1 ') provided with two windows (2, 2') side windows and a front opening (3), said windows (2, 2') comprising borders (21, 22, 23, 24; 21 ', 22', 23', 24') projecting outwards in a direction running perpendicular to the surface of the window, on the outer free edges of which rest the bay windows integrated into frames (4, 4') fixed on the external faces of said borders (21, 22, 23, 24; 21', 22', 23', 24').

1. Universal molded composite cell for the cockpit of a tram or train type vehicle according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the front edge (21, 21 ') of each window forms part of an upright (10) of the cell with a substantially flared U-shaped section, said front edge (21, 21 ') being one of the walls generated by one of the legs of the U and the frame (4, 4') of the bay comprising a profile (1 1) capable of be inserted into the opening of said upright (10) and provided with two surfaces facing the flared walls.