Automated people mover (APM) monorail system

Abstract

A bogie assembly for supporting and guiding a vehicle car body on a monorail track, the monorail track having a guideway portion and a narrower guideway beam extending upwardly from the guideway portion. The guideway portion includes a pair of rails, while the guideway beam defines a top surface and a pair of side surfaces. The bogie assembly includes a frame operative to support the vehicle car body above the guideway beam, where this frame includes an upper surface adapted to be pivotably mounted to the underside of the vehicle car body and a pair of side members extending downwardly from the upper surface. Each side member of the frame has an inner surface and an outer surface, the inner surface of each side member adapted to be positioned adjacent a respective one of the side surfaces of the guideway beam. The bogie assembly also includes a pair of load wheels, each load wheel being mounted to a respective one of the side members of the frame and being operative to engage a respective one of the rails of the guideway portion. Each load wheel is characterized by a flange portion capable to engage the respective rail for assisting in the guidance of the vehicle car body as it travels along the monorail track.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application claims priority on U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 469,420, filed on May 12, 2003.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Conventional Automated People Mover (APM), People Mover and monorail system designs are known to have several drawbacks. Firstly, these conventional designs typically require rubber tires for the suspension, guidance and propulsion sub-systems, which creates restrictions in both high-speed and extreme-temperature applications where excessive tire rotational speeds and dynamic vibrations would normally cause high tire wear and premature suspension failure. Furthermore, the use of rubber tires creates the need for guideway heating in cold weather (i.e. snow and ice conditions), such that the conventional designs are often neither suitable nor economical for all weather operations. [0003] The conventional APM and monorail systems are typically supported and guided by a guideway beam surface and, due ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009] Advantageously, the use of flanged load wheels allows the monorail vehicle to switch between different monorail tracks using conventional switches and trackwork elements.

[0010] In a second broad aspect, the invention provides a vehicle for travelling on a monorail track, the monorail track having a guideway portion and a narrower guideway beam extending upwardly from the guideway portion. The guideway portion

Problems solved by technology

Firstly, these conventional designs typically require rubber tires for the suspension, guidance and propulsion sub-systems, which creates restrictions in both high-speed and extreme-temperature applications where excessive tire rotational speeds and dynamic vibrations would normally cause high tire wear and premature suspension failure.

Furthermore, the use of rubber tires creates the need for guideway heating in cold weather (i.e. snow and ice conditions), such that the conventional designs are often neither suitable nor economical for all weather operations.

The conventional APM and monorail systems are typically supported and guided by a guideway beam surface and, due to vehicle weight and limited tire load ratings, often have restrictions for passenger capacity and high speed applications.

In addition, the fact that mid-support/propulsion tires occupy the inner vehicle floor space of most monorail vehicles results in limited passenger space and prevents passenger movement (walk-through) between coupled cars, which is necessary for emergency evacuation.

In the past, economical designs of monorail vehicles have not been classed as APMs, since the cars have great difficulty in meeting certain structural and operat

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