Insulative panels for a railway boxcar

Abstract

Insulative panels mountable to the exterior of a railway boxcar, and railway boxcars having exterior insulative panels are disclosed. Each disclosed insulative panel may have first and second skins of fiber-reinforced plastic spaced apart from each other with foam or other insulative material interposed into the space therebetween. The disclosed insulative panels can be attached to the exterior of an existing, non-insulated boxcar to retrofit it as an insulated boxcar. In addition, thermally insulative material may be positioned vertically above a door opening for additional insulation.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] The present application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e), of prior provisional application No. 60 / 613,342 filed Sep. 27, 2004 and prior provisional application No. 60 / 651,296 filed Feb. 9, 2005.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to railroad freight cars and in particular to one or more thermal insulating members for railway boxcars and a method for retrofitting a boxcar to be thermally insulated. [0003] Existing boxcars typically include opposed side walls, opposed end walls, a floor, a roof, and at least one doorway together defining a cargo-carrying enclosure that is mounted upon a supporting undercarriage with a wheel assembly for movement upon a railroad track. Though early railway boxcars comprised simple wooden structures mounted on a platform, modern railway boxcars are built from materials that are both more sturdy and more durable so that they may carry loads far more heavy than what an...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Though the modern boxcar construction just described is adequate to transport heavy loads, such boxcars are often insufficient to transport over large distances perishable cargo or other cargo that must be maintained at a low temperature.

One problem with these existing insulated boxcars is that the floor of the insulated enclosure must be able to withstand without deformation, significant loading both from the cargo carried by the boxcar and the concentrated weight of forklifts or other machinery used to load and unload cargo from the boxcar.

The fiber reinforced composite material, however, does not have the strength of steel, and thus insulated boxcar enclosures are typically fabricated with thicker floors, end walls, and side walls to better withstand the forces encountered during transport of cargo.

Because the exterior dimensions of the boxcar must fit within the assorted plate requirements of the American Association of Railroads (AAR), however, this extra thickness reduces the interior dimensions of the cargo-carrying enclosure of the boxcar, hence decreases the load-carrying capacity of the boxcar.

These refrigeration units are costly to install, and unless used in combination with an existing insulated boxcar with the aforementioned disadvantages, are costly to operate due to the transfer of heat into the interior of the cargo-carrying enclosure.

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