Method and vehicle for de-icing a railway track

Abstract

A locomotive track deicing method, comprising the following steps: track surface pretreatment, pretreating the track surface before removing the ice and snow on the track surface, preliminarily removing the snow and ice on the track surface; track heating, heating the track after removing the snow and ice on the track surface, melting the ice and snow on the track surface to make it separate from the top surface of the track; ice and snow scraping, scraping the ice and snow on the track surface that has been melted and separated from the track; and ice and snow cleaning, removing the remaining residual ice and snow from the top surface of the track to complete the deicing. The snow and ice layer on the surface of the steel rail is pretreated before mechanical deicing, the thick snow and ice layer is removed first, the effect of subsequent heating and ice melting of the steel rail is ensured to be sufficient, the deicing efficiency is improved, and the deicing is more thorough and sufficient.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of rail transit maintenance equipment technology, specifically to a locomotive track de-icing method and a de-icing vehicle. Background Technology

[0002] Snow and ice accumulation on locomotive tracks during icy and snowy weather poses certain safety risks to locomotive operation, necessitating regular de-icing operations. Currently, track de-icing equipment generally employs mechanical or chemical methods. Mechanical de-icing typically removes the snow and ice layer from the track surface using roller brushes, scrapers, or blowers, often supplemented by heating devices to further enhance the thorough removal of surface snow and ice.

[0003] A search revealed existing literature concerning large Ferris wheels: Publication number "CN113756250A" entitled "A Track De-icing Vehicle," which relates to mechanical de-icing equipment. The ice layer, heated by an electromagnetic ice melter, is then crushed by a mechanical ice-crushing device, and finally, the accumulated water on the track surface is dried by a drying device to complete the de-icing operation.

[0004] The publication number "CN106968215A" entitled "A Box-type Steel Beam Rail De-icing Vehicle" also involves mechanical de-icing equipment, which uses an induction heating device to melt the snow and ice layer, crushes the ice layer with an ice-crushing device, and finally completes the de-icing operation with an ice-sweeping device.

[0005] The existing technical solutions disclosed above all involve directly heating the track to melt the ice layer, then breaking up the ice, and finally sweeping away the broken ice to complete de-icing. When the snow and ice layer is thick, directly heating the rail with a heating device is not ideal for melting the ice, and the snow and ice layer cannot be fully melted. In this case, applying pressure to break up the snow and ice layer will not completely break up the insufficiently melted snow and ice layer, resulting in incomplete de-icing. Therefore, proposing an efficient and thorough locomotive track de-icing method and de-icing vehicle within this field is of great significance. Summary of the Invention

[0006] To address the shortcomings of existing technologies, this invention provides a method for de-icing locomotive tracks, comprising the following steps; Rail surface pretreatment involves pretreating the rail surface before clearing ice and snow to initially remove snow from the rail surface. Track heating involves heating the track after removing snow from the track surface to melt the ice and snow and remove it from the top of the track. Ice and snow removal involves scraping away the melted ice and snow from the track surface that has derailed. Snow and ice removal: Remove any remaining snow and ice from the top surface of the track to complete the de-icing process.

[0007] Furthermore, the rail surface pretreatment involves pretreating the side of the rail to remove snow accumulation and expose the side of the rail; the rail heating involves electrically heating the exposed side of the rail to melt the ice and snow on the top surface of the rail and remove it from the top surface of the rail.

[0008] Furthermore, after heating the side of the rail with electricity and scraping away the thick layer of ice and snow on the top surface of the rail, pressure is applied to crush the thin layer of ice on the top surface of the rail to break it before the ice and snow are cleared.

[0009] Furthermore, the pretreatment of the rail side involves first removing the thick layer of ice and snow from the rail side, and then heating the rail side to remove the remaining ice debris, thus exposing the rail side.

[0010] A locomotive rail de-icing vehicle is also provided, comprising a vehicle body that can travel on the rail, a rail surface pretreatment unit located at the bottom along the direction of travel of the de-icing vehicle for initially removing snow from the rail surface; a rail heating unit for melting the ice and snow on the rail surface and causing it to detach from the top surface of the rail; an ice and snow scraping unit for scraping off the ice and snow that has detached from the rail surface; and an ice and snow sweeping unit for sweeping away residual debris from the top surface of the rail.

[0011] Furthermore, the rail surface pretreatment unit includes a rail side scraper and a rail side preheating wheel assembly. The rail side scraper scrapes away snow accumulated on the rail side, while the rail side preheating wheel assembly has heating wires inside, which can roll and move along the rail side to melt and remove any remaining ice chips, thus exposing the rail side. The rail heating unit includes copper brushes that contact the exposed rail side. When the copper brushes are energized, they form a circuit with the rail to heat the rail, causing the ice and snow on the top surface of the rail to melt and detach.

[0012] Furthermore, the copper brush has multiple sets, and the current of each set of copper brushes is individually controllable. The copper brushes near the side of the rail preheating wheel set have a lower current than the copper brushes behind them.

[0013] Furthermore, the rail side preheating wheel assembly and copper brush are connected to a fixed bracket via springs, and the fixed bracket is connected to the car body.

[0014] Furthermore, a rail top surface compaction wheel assembly is also included between the rail heating unit and the ice and snow removal unit to apply pressure and compact the thin ice layer on the top surface of the rail.

[0015] Furthermore, the snow and ice removal unit is a rotatable sweeping roller connected to the bottom of the vehicle body.

[0016] Compared with the prior art, the technical solution of this application has the following beneficial effects: the snow and ice layer on the surface of the rail is pretreated before mechanical de-icing, and the thicker snow and ice layer is removed first to ensure that the subsequent heating and melting of the rail is fully effective, thereby improving the de-icing efficiency and making the de-icing more thorough and complete. Attached Figure Description

[0017] Figure 1 : Schematic diagram of the bottom structure of the de-icing truck; Figure 2 : Schematic diagram of the side structure of the de-icing truck; Figure 3 : Figure 2 Sectional view along direction A; Figure 4 Schematic diagram of snow and ice accumulation on steel rails. Detailed Implementation

[0018] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0019] This embodiment provides a method for de-icing locomotive tracks, including the following steps: track surface pretreatment, which involves pre-treating the track surface before removing ice and snow to initially remove snow from the track; track heating, which involves heating the track after removing snow to melt the ice and snow on the track surface and remove it from the top surface of the track; ice and snow scraping, which involves scraping away the melted ice and snow that has detached from the track; and ice and snow sweeping, which involves removing the remaining residual ice and snow from the top surface of the track to complete the de-icing process.

[0020] Specifically, a relatively simple implementation involves pre-treating the top surface of the rail before heating. This can be done by using a roller press or scraper to remove and break up the thick layer of snow and ice on the rail top surface, leaving only a thin layer of ice. After pre-treatment, the rail is heated, using existing electromagnetic induction heating methods to melt and detach the thin layer of ice. The detached ice and snow are then scraped off. Finally, any remaining ice and snow are swept away.

[0021] A more preferred implementation is as follows: Figure 1 , Figure 3 As shown, the side of rail T undergoes pretreatment to remove accumulated snow and expose the side of rail T; rail heating involves electrically heating the exposed side of rail T, causing the ice and snow on the top surface of the rail to melt and detach. Figure 4 As shown, rail de-icing primarily involves removing ice from the top surface of rail T. The top surface of rail T has a significantly thicker layer of snow and ice compared to its sides. Furthermore, because the top surface is a flat plane, it continuously accumulates snow, forming a thicker ice layer A1. Conversely, the thickness of the snow layer S2 on the vertical surface of rail T is significantly less than the thickness of the snow layer S1 on the top surface. Therefore, pre-treating the sides of rail T is more efficient than pre-treating the top surface.

[0022] Furthermore, electromagnetic induction heating consumes a significant amount of energy when heating the rail T. After the aforementioned side pretreatment process, the snow on the side of the rail T is removed, exposing it. At this point, the side of the rail T can be used as an access point, forming a circuit between the rail T and the ground, combined with the circuitry within the de-icing vehicle, to heat the rail T. Due to the skin effect, the current concentrates on the surface of the rail T, especially the upper surface. The heating of the rail T melts a layer of water film from the attached ice, causing it to detach from the rail T. Although the top surface of the rail T is not heat-treated at this point, the snow on the top surface S1 and the ice layer A1 between the top surface and the rail surface have already melted and detached due to the electric heating. Subsequent snow scraping and sweeping of the top surface of the rail T can more thoroughly remove the snow and ice layer. Moreover, since the side pretreatment only requires cleaning the relatively thinner vertical snow layer S2 on the top surface, the energy consumption for electric heating is obviously lower than that for induction heating of the entire track, and the pretreatment efficiency is also higher.

[0023] To more thoroughly remove snow and ice from the top surface of the rail T, after electrically heating the side of the rail T and scraping away the thick layer of snow and ice, pressure is applied to the thin layer of ice on the top surface of the rail T to break it up before snow and ice removal. Applying pressure to the thin layer of ice on the top surface of the rail T breaks up the melted ice that has detached from the rail T, allowing for a more thorough removal of snow and ice. This pressure compaction can be done before or between the snow and ice scraping and snow removal processes.

[0024] like Figures 1-3 A locomotive track de-icing vehicle is shown, comprising a vehicle body that can travel on the track, characterized in that: a track surface pretreatment unit 1 is provided at the bottom along the direction of travel of the de-icing vehicle for preliminary removal of snow on the track; a track heating unit 2 for melting the ice and snow on the track surface and causing it to detach from the top surface of the track; an ice and snow scraping unit 3 for scraping off the ice and snow on the track surface that has detached from the track; and an ice and snow sweeping unit 4 for sweeping away residual debris from the top surface of the track.

[0025] One embodiment of the rail surface pretreatment unit 1 is a roller pressing device or scraper device connected to the bottom of the car body to clean and break up the thick snow and ice layer on the top surface of the rail, leaving only a small amount of thin ice layer on the top surface of the rail. The rail heating unit 2 can be an electromagnetic induction heating device disclosed in the prior art, or other devices such as hot air devices. The snow and ice scraping unit 3 is a shovel 31 connected to the bottom of the car body, and the snow and ice sweeping unit 4 is a rotatable sweeping roller 41 connected to the bottom of the car body. The sweeping roller 41 can be powered by a drive unit commonly used in the prior art, which will not be described in detail here. The rotating sweeping roller 41 can remove the remaining snow and ice layer. After the rail surface pretreatment unit 1 removes the thick layer of snow on the top surface of the rail, the subsequent rail heating can fully melt the thin layer of snow and ice adhering to the rail surface.

[0026] Based on the above implementation of the de-icing method, another implementation of the rail surface pretreatment unit 1 includes a rail side scraper 11 and a rail side preheating wheel set 12. The rail side scraper 11 scrapes away the snow on the side of the rail in close contact with the rail side. The rail side preheating wheel set 12 has heating wires inside, which can roll and move along the side of the rail and melt and remove the remaining ice chips on the side of the rail, so that the side of the rail is exposed. The rail heating unit 2 includes a copper brush 21 that contacts the exposed side of the rail. After the copper brush 21 is energized, it forms a circuit with the rail to heat the rail, so that the ice and snow on the top surface of the rail melt and detach from the top surface of the rail.

[0027] Specifically, in this embodiment, the copper brushes 21 consist of five sets, each including positive and negative copper brushes 21. The copper brushes 21 introduce current from inside the vehicle body to the exposed side of the rail, forming a current loop with the ground, thus heating the rail. Obviously, before the copper brushes 21 contact the rail side to energize it, the snow and ice layer on the rail side needs to be cleared to expose it and make it conductive. The rail side scraper 11 can then scrape away the snow on the rail side. After the snow is removed, the rail side preheating wheel set 12, which has heating wires inside, is used to roll and heat the rail side, completely removing the snow and exposing it. It is understood that since the snow on the rail side is not very thick, the above pretreatment device can completely remove the snow from the side.

[0028] More preferably, the current of each of the five sets of copper brushes 21 is individually controllable. This is not difficult to achieve in existing circuit control technology. The copper brushes 21 near the side of the rail preheating wheel assembly 12 receive a lower current than the copper brushes 21 behind them. The slightly smaller current of the first one or two sets can further clean the side of the rail.

[0029] To ensure that the rail side preheating wheel assembly 12 and the copper brush 21 are in close contact with the rail side, they are connected to a fixed bracket 122 via a spring 121. The fixed bracket 122 is connected to the car body. The elasticity of the spring 121 ensures that the rail side preheating wheel assembly 12 and the copper brush 21 are in close contact with the rail side, guaranteeing complete removal of snow from the rail side. The fixed bracket 122 is preferably a movable bracket that can be raised and lowered from the bottom of the car body to approach the rail surface, and its lateral spacing is adjustable. Before de-icing operations, the fixed bracket 122 is in a retracted state. After de-icing operations begin, the fixed bracket 122 is lowered below the top plane of the rail surface using a lifting device connected to the car body. The lateral spacing of the fixed bracket 122 is then adjusted so that the rail side preheating wheel assembly 12 and the copper brush 21 contact and are in close contact with the rail side. The device for adjusting the lateral spacing of the fixed bracket 122 and the lifting device can be implemented using a telescopic cylinder.

[0030] Behind the track heating unit 2 and at the bottom of the vehicle body, a rail top surface compaction wheel set 5 is also provided to apply pressure and compact the thin ice layer on the top surface of the rail. In this embodiment, the rail top surface compaction wheel set 5 has two sets of two wheels each, which can travel and roll on the rail surface. Preferably, the surface of the rail top surface compaction wheel set 5 has concave and convex teeth to improve the rolling and crushing effect of the heated and melted ice layer on the rail surface. The rail top surface compaction wheel set 5 can be located behind the track heating unit 2 and before the ice and snow scraping unit 3, or it can be located between the ice and snow scraping unit 3 and the ice and snow clearing unit 4.

[0031] In the above embodiments, the implementation scheme for vehicle movement, as well as the connecting structure components of the snow scraping unit 3, the snow sweeping unit 4, and the vehicle body, are not improvements of the present invention and can be achieved by adopting relevant technical solutions disclosed in the prior art. For example, the implementation scheme for vehicle movement can use the driving wheels (6) provided by the vehicle body to provide driving power for its vehicle body.

[0032] It should be noted that, in this document, relational terms such as "first" and "second" are used only to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Furthermore, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes said element.

[0033] Although embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method for de-icing locomotive tracks, characterized in that: Includes the following processes; Rail surface pretreatment involves pretreating the rail surface before clearing ice and snow to initially remove snow from the rail surface; the rail surface pretreatment is to pretreat the side of the rail to remove snow from the side of the rail and expose the side of the rail. Track heating involves heating the track after removing snow from the track surface. The exposed side of the rail is used as the access point, and an external circuit is formed by connecting the rail and the ground to the track. Electricity is then applied to heat the rail, causing the ice and snow on the top surface of the track to melt and detach. Ice and snow removal involves scraping away the melted ice and snow from the track surface that has derailed. Snow and ice removal: Remove any remaining snow and ice from the top surface of the track to complete the de-icing process.

2. The locomotive track de-icing method as described in claim 1, characterized in that: After heating the side of the rail with electricity, pressure is applied to the thin ice layer on the top surface of the rail to crush the ice layer before the ice and snow are cleared.

3. The locomotive track de-icing method as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The pretreatment of the rail side involves first removing the thick layer of ice and snow from the rail side, and then heating the rail side to remove any remaining ice debris, thus exposing the rail side.

4. A locomotive rail de-icing vehicle, comprising a vehicle body capable of traveling on rails, characterized in that: Along the direction of travel of the de-icing vehicle, a rail surface pretreatment unit (1) is provided at its bottom for preliminary removal of snow from the rail surface; a rail heating unit (2) is provided for melting the ice and snow on the rail surface so that it is removed from the top surface of the rail; an ice and snow scraping unit (3) is provided for scraping the ice and snow off the rail surface that has been removed from the rail; and an ice and snow cleaning unit (4) is provided for cleaning the remaining residue on the top surface of the rail. The track heating unit (2) includes a copper brush (21) that contacts the side of the exposed rail. When the copper brush (21) is energized, it forms a circuit with the rail to heat the rail, causing the ice and snow on the top surface of the rail to melt and detach from the top surface of the rail. The rail surface pretreatment unit (1) includes a rail side scraper (11) and a rail side preheating wheel assembly (12). The rail side scraper (11) scrapes away the snow on the side of the rail, and the rail side preheating wheel assembly (12) has heating wires inside, which can roll and move on the side of the rail and melt and remove the remaining ice chips on the side of the rail, so that the side of the rail is exposed.

5. The locomotive track de-icing vehicle as described in claim 4, characterized in that: The copper brush (21) has multiple sets, and the current of each set of copper brushes is individually controllable. The copper brush (21) near the side of the rail preheating wheel set (12) has a smaller current than the copper brush (21) behind it.

6. The locomotive track de-icing vehicle as described in claim 5, characterized in that: The rail side preheating wheel assembly (12) and copper brush (21) are connected to the fixed bracket (122) by spring (121), and the fixed bracket (122) is connected to the car body.

7. The locomotive track de-icing vehicle as described in claim 6, characterized in that: Behind the track heating unit (2) and at the bottom of the car body, there is also a rail top surface rolling wheel group (5) for applying pressure to roll the thin ice layer on the top surface of the rail.

8. The locomotive track de-icing vehicle as described in claim 7, characterized in that: The snow and ice removal unit (4) is a rotatable cleaning roller (41) connected to the bottom of the vehicle body.

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