Oil-free air compressor for rail vehicles with air ventilation

Abstract

An oil-free compressor for a rail vehicle includes a multi-piece compressor housing, a first piston cylinder supported in a first opening in the compressor housing, a second piston cylinder supported in a second opening in the compressor housing, a multi-piece crankshaft assembly supported by the compressor housing, and an optionally filtering air plenum in fluid communication with the compressor housing interior to provide a volume of air to the compressor housing interior. The crankshaft assembly is linked to pistons of the first and second piston cylinders by respective connecting rods. The connecting rods connect to a wrist pin associated with each of the pistons, and the wrist pins are respectively supported by a dry lubricant bushing to the associated piston. The compressor housing may have a first housing portion and a second housing portion forming respective halves of the compressor housing.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO APPLICATIONS[0001]This application incorporates by reference U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 350,980, filed Jan. 16, 2012 entitled “Oil-Free Air Compressor for Rail Vehicles”, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61 / 437,333, filed Jan. 28, 2011, and entitled “Oil-Fee Air Compressor for Rail Vehicles”, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in their entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]This disclosure relates to the field of air compressors adapted for use on rail vehicles for the purpose of supplying compressed air to pneumatic units associated with the rail vehicle and, in particular, to an oil-free air compressor on a rail vehicle with air ventilation; the oil-free air compressor is used for supplying compressed air to various pneumatic units associated with the rail vehicle.[0004]2. Description of Related Art[0005]Normally, a pneumatic system is provided for a rail vehicle by which...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

In either mode of operation, friction during operation of the compressor leads to high heat development.

However, oil lubrication carries a risk that the lubricating oil, usually situated in the housing of the compressor unit in the case of a piston air compressor, can penetrate past the piston-cylinder interface and into the pneumatic system, which may result in oil fouling the pneumatically operated brake units on the rail vehicle.

This collection process leads to increased maintenance and disposal expenditures as well as to high oil consumption.

In addition to the foregoing difficulties, emulsion formations in the oil circuit of these oil-lubricated compressor units can occur if the oil-lubricated compressor units are used infrequently or for limited periods of time as during cold weather operation.

However, such light carrier structures frequently have a number of unfavorable natural frequencies that are close to the rotational speed of the air compressor of the pneumatic system which is arranged thereon.

Therefore, it is difficult to sufficiently observe the required specifications concerning permissible structure-born noise levels.

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