Manual drive for crossroad adjustment device

Abstract

The invention relates to a manual drive for a turnout adjustment device, comprising a drive-side coupling part (19) for coupling a manual rocker (14), an output-side coupling part (16) for an input pinion (13) of a transmission (4), and a flexible shaft (15) extending between the drive-side coupling part (19) and the output-side coupling part (16), the flexible shaft is rotatably connected to the drive-side coupling part (19) and has an end part (17) on the output side, at least a part of the drive-side coupling part (19), the flexible shaft (15) and the end part (17) being guided together in a longitudinally displaceable manner between a disengaged position and an engaged position, the end part (17) is disengaged from the output-side coupling part (16) in the disengaged position and is engaged with the output-side coupling part (16) in the engaged position.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a manual drive for a switch adjustment device (Weichenstellvorrichtung), which has an electromechanical drive assembly with an electric motor and a spindle transmission driven by the electric motor with an intermediate transmission device, the spindle transmission device providing a linear adjustment movement, wherein the transmission device has an input pinion for connecting the manual drive.

[0002] Furthermore, the invention relates to a track switch adjustment device having a manual drive of this type. Background Art

[0003] In electric switch drives for railroad switches, there is a need to be able to temporarily and locally manually operate the switch, for example if the control current fails or a switching movement is to be carried out. The manual switchover is conventionally effected by turning the motor shaft or the transmission shaft by means of a manual crank. For this purpose, a housing opening is usually provided in the transmission housing, through which the manual crank can be plugged onto the corresponding shaft.

[0004] However, this type of embodiment of a manual drive is associated with a number of disadvantages. The manual crank must be connected to a location of the drive housing that is defined by the position of the motor shaft or transmission shaft to be manually driven. However, at least in some cases, this location corresponds to the optimal position from the user or manufacturer's point of view. A manual drive at the end can be difficult to crank due to spatial constraints, for example, due to the proximity to the foundation stone. Limited spatial conditions only allow a short lever arm length for the crank, so that such a manual drive cannot be used for a turnout drive with high adjustment forces.

[0005] Furthermore, a switch drive, in which the location of the crank coupling is fixedly predetermined due to the arrangement of the motor shaft or the transmission shaft on the drive housing, cannot be easily converted from a right-hand installation position to a left-hand installation position or vice versa. This conversion is carried out as follows: depending on whether the switch drive is to be installed on the right or left side of the switch, viewed in a particular direction of travel, the housing side from which the adjustment slide and any test slide exits the drive housing is changed.

[0006] With regard to the crank introduction into the drive housing, IP67 protection class should generally be ensured. For the crank introduction that is conventionally arranged laterally on the drive housing, IP54 is currently sufficient, since the sealing possibilities of the previously widely used adjustment levers with a quadrilateral cross section, which are to be sealed relative to the drive housing, limit the protection class of the drive housing to IP54.

[0007] Furthermore, conventional manual drives are not flexible with regard to adaptation to different drive types. If a manual drive is designed for a specific electric drive and the location of the crank coupling is correspondingly constrained to the arrangement of the motor shaft or transmission shaft, the manual drive cannot usually be used for other drive assemblies with different shaft positions or required locations of the crank coupling. However, it is desirable to design the turnout drive in a modular manner so that different electric drives can be selectively installed in the drive housing. Summary of the invention

[0008] The object of the present invention is therefore to improve a manual drive for a fork adjustment device of the type mentioned at the outset in such a way that the above-mentioned problems can be overcome. In particular, a design should be provided with which a switch between a left-hand installation position and a right-hand installation position can be achieved without having to rotate the drive housing by 180° and adapting to this rotation. Furthermore, a modular design should be achieved with respect to the drive types while retaining the housing and the manual drive.

[0009] In order to solve this task, in a manual drive of the type mentioned at the beginning, the present invention is basically configured such that the manual drive has a coupling member on the driving side for connecting a manual crank, a coupling member on the driven side for inputting a pinion, and a flexible shaft extending between the coupling member on the driving side and the coupling member on the driven side, the flexible shaft being rotationally connected to the coupling member on the driving side and having an end member on the driven side, wherein at least a portion of the coupling member on the driving side, the flexible shaft and the end member are jointly guided in a manner that allows longitudinal movement between a disengaged position and an engaged position, wherein the end member is disengaged from the coupling member on the driven side in the disengaged position and is engaged with the coupling member on the driven side in the engaged position.

[0010] The invention is based on the idea that a flexible shaft is provided between a hand crank and a transmission of a fork drive. The position of the hand crank coupling is thus no longer locally constrained to the motor shaft or the transmission shaft, but can be freely selected, and more precisely in particular in terms of the best operability of the hand crank and in terms of the simple conversion between the right and left mounting positions and / or in terms of the simple conversion between different drive types. Since the rotational movement of the hand crank in the interior of the drive housing can be flexibly introduced into the transmission connecting the motor to the spindle transmission according to the corresponding mounting position or other modifications by means of the flexible shaft, the position of the crank coupling at the housing can remain the same, so that the housing itself together with the crank coupling can remain unchanged. Preferably, the hand crank coupling is arranged at the upper side of the housing of the drive assembly, for example at the horizontal housing wall in the mounting position. In this case, the coupling for coupling the drive side of the hand crank is supported in a rotatable manner around a vertical rotation axis. The accessibility of the hand crank that can be coupled to the upper side of the housing is not affected by the mounting position of the drive housing, and thus the possible mounting positions of the drive housing are not restricted.

[0011] Compared to a rigid bevel gear drive, the rotation of the hand crank about a vertical axis can be transmitted in a versatile and space-saving manner to a particularly electromechanical drive assembly (with a generally horizontally arranged axis of rotation) by means of a flexible shaft within the drive housing.

[0012] In order to reduce friction and wear and increase service life, according to the present invention, the flexible shaft is not always engaged with the transmission, or with the input pinion of the transmission. Instead, it is provided that the flexible shaft and its end piece are guided together in a longitudinally movable manner between a disengaged position and an engaged position, wherein the end piece is engaged with the coupling piece on the driven side only in the engaged position.

[0013] In order to ensure that the access position can only be assumed when the hand crank has been connected to the manual drive according to the invention, a preferred improvement of the invention provides that at least a portion of the coupling on the drive side is spring-loaded in the direction of the hand crank. As long as no operating force acts on the flexible shaft or the coupling on the drive side, the mentioned spring force ensures that the flexible shaft remains in the disengaged position. The longitudinal movement of the flexible shaft into the access position is preferably carried out via the hand crank, and more precisely when the hand crank is connected. In this case, the hand crank is attached, for example, to the coupling on the drive side and then pushed forward against the spring force until the end piece of the flexible shaft is brought into rotationally fixed engagement with the coupling on the driven side. When the hand crank is pulled down, the spring force automatically ensures the resetting of the flexible shaft, so that the disengaged position is reached.

[0014] In order to achieve a form-fitting interaction between the end part and the coupling part on the driven side and thereby enable the transmission of high forces, it is preferably provided that the end part has a multi-rotationally symmetrical cross-section which can be brought into a form-fitting connection with a correspondingly formed receptacle of the coupling part on the driven side in the rotational direction.

[0015] In order to achieve a protective arrangement of the flexible shaft, to enable a wear-resistant structure and to allow the transmission of high torques, the flexible shaft is preferably guided in a bushing which is fastened on the one hand to a retaining element in which the coupling element on the drive side is guided longitudinally movably and on the other hand to a guide in which the end part of the flexible shaft is guided longitudinally movably.

[0016] According to another preferred embodiment, it is provided that the coupling element on the drive side can be longitudinally displaced against a stop defining the access position. Reaching this stop allows the user to infer that the access position has been occupied and that manual actuation of the divergence adjustment device can be started.

[0017] In order to prevent the electric motor of the drive assembly from accidentally starting up while the manual crank is coupled, the manual drive preferably has an actuating unit for a circuit breaker for the regulating current supply of the track adjustment device.

[0018] The actuating unit can advantageously be displaced by means of a hand crank in order to actuate the circuit breaker when the hand crank is coupled to the drive-side coupling piece.

[0019] For safety reasons and to minimize the risk of injury to operating personnel, a preferred embodiment of the invention provides that the actuating unit interacts with the hand crank in such a way that the circuit breaker is actuated before the engaged position of the drive-side coupling is reached. This design prevents the electric motor from being supplied with current as long as the hand crank is coupled to the transmission.

[0020] In a particularly simple structural manner, the actuation unit can be designed as a rocking lever, the first lever arm of which is arranged to be swung when the manual crank is coupled to the drive-side coupling, and the second lever arm of which actuates the circuit breaker. As a result, forced actuation of the circuit breaker is provided as soon as the manual crank is attached.

[0021] With regard to the transmission of torque from the hand crank to the flexible shaft, a preferred design configuration provides that the drive-side coupling part and the hand crank have interacting form-fitting elements which are in a form-fitting connection in the engaged position of the drive-side coupling part. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] The present invention will be explained in more detail below based on the exemplary embodiments schematically shown in the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 A perspective view showing the drive assembly of the switch adjustment device, Figure 2 Shows the Figure 1 The connection to the drive assembly, Figure 3 A cross-sectional view showing a manual actuator according to the invention in the disengaged state, and Figure 4 Shows the connected state Figure 3 Manual drive. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] exist Figure 1 1 shows an electromechanical drive assembly 1 of a fork adjustment device. The drive assembly 1 comprises an electric motor 2 and a spindle transmission driven by the electric motor 2 with an intermediate transmission 4, the spindle transmission having a spindle 9, which provides a linear adjustment movement according to the double arrow 11a via a driver 11, which is transmitted to an adjustment slide (not shown) of the fork adjustment device. The electric motor 2 is fastened to the transmission plate 3 and drives a pinion 5, the rotational movement of which is transmitted to the spindle 9 via the transmission 4 designed as a reduction transmission. The transmission 4 comprises mutually meshing gears 6 and 7, wherein an adjustment force clutch 8 is also provided, which limits the adjustment force that can be transmitted from the electric motor 2 to the spindle 9. The spindle 9 is rotatably supported on one side in the transmission plate 3 and rotatably supported on the other side in a bearing 10. Reference numeral 12 denotes a handle (Tragegriff), which facilitates the installation and removal of the drive assembly 1.

[0024] In order to be able to manually drive the main shaft 9 and thus cause a manual switch of the fork in the event of failure of the motor 2 or for other reasons, the transmission comprises an input pinion 13 meshing with the gear 7. As can be seen from the following figure, the input pinion 13 is used to couple the manual drive.

[0025] In accordance with Figure 2 The connection of the input pinion 13 to the transmission plate 13 is schematically shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. The input pinion 13 is rotatably supported in a bearing 18 and comprises a coupling 16 on the driven side, into which the end piece 17 of the flexible shaft 15 can be coupled as required. The flexible shaft 15 can in turn be driven in rotation by a manual crank 14, as shown in FIG. Figure 3 and Figure 4 As explained in more detail.

[0026] Figure 3The disengaged position of the manual drive is shown. The manual drive comprises a coupling member 19 on the drive side for connecting the manual crank 14, a coupling member 16 on the driven side and a flexible shaft 15 extending between the coupling member 19 on the drive side and the coupling member 16 on the driven side. The flexible shaft 15 is connected to the coupling member 19 on the drive side in a rotationally fixed manner at one end thereof and to the end member 17 in a rotationally fixed manner at the other end thereof. The flexible shaft 15 is guided in a bushing 20 which is fastened to a retaining member 21 on the one hand and to a guide member 22 on the other hand. Here, the flexible shaft 15 is guided not only in a longitudinally movable manner relative to the retaining member 21 but also in a longitudinally movable manner in the guide member 22 and therefore also in the bushing 20, so that the end member 17 can be moved between a disengaged position and an engaged position. In the disengaged position ( Figure 3 ), the end member 17 is disengaged from the coupling member 16 on the driven side and in the engaged position ( Figure 4 ), the end piece 17 is in engagement with the coupling piece 16 on the driven side. Here, the end piece 17 is configured to be received in a positively locking manner in a receiving portion 23 of the coupling piece 16 on the driven side. This can be achieved, for example, in that the end piece 17 and the receiving portion 23 have corresponding cross-sections, wherein the end piece 17 is configured, for example, as a quadrilateral or hexagon.

[0027] The end piece 17 is held in the disengaged position by the action of a compression spring 24, such as a helical spring, which presses the drive-side coupling 19 away from the retaining element 21 against the stop 25 of the bracket 26. The end piece 17 is now inserted or pushed onto the drive-side coupling 19 in the direction of the arrow 27. When pushing on, the hand crank 14 hits the stop 28 formed on the drive-side coupling 19 at the end, so that further movement in the direction of the arrow 27 leads to a longitudinal movement of the drive-side coupling 19 against the force of the spring 24. The stop 37 on the retaining element 21 defines the end position here.

[0028] The drive-side coupling 19 has a form-fitting element 29 protruding in the axial direction at its end facing the manual crank 14. When the manual crank 14 is pushed up, the form-fitting element cooperates with the corresponding matching element 30 in a form-fitting manner in the rotational direction to transmit the rotational movement of the manual crank 14 to the drive-side coupling 19 and thereby to the flexible shaft 15.

[0029] The drive-side coupling part 19 is associated with a rocking lever 31 which is pivotally supported on the bracket 26, and the lever arm 32 of the rocking lever facing the drive-side coupling part 19 is driven in the direction of the displacement movement when the manual crank 14 is pushed on and when the coupling part 19 is displaced longitudinally, so as to move the coupling part 19 from the drive-side coupling part 19 to the drive-side coupling part 19. Figure 3 Swing to the position shown in Figure 4 In this case, the lever arm 32 is dimensioned so that it is in the engagement position ( Figure 4 ) in contact with the manual crank 14, wherein the lever arm is Figure 4 In the end position shown in FIG. 1 , the lever arm 33 of the rocking lever 31 has been swung past its dead center, so that the lever arm holds the manual crank 14 in the end position against the force of the spring 24. When the rocking lever 31 is swung, the lever arm 33 of the rocking lever 31 simultaneously actuates a pressure plate 35 belonging to the circuit breaker 34. The pressure plate 35 actuates a plurality of electrical switches of the circuit breaker 34 in order to disconnect the adjustment current supply of the branch track adjustment device and in particular disconnect the motor 2 from the current supply. This prevents the motor 2 from being accidentally started when the manual crank 14 is connected, which would cause injuries to an operator who is near the manual crank.

[0030] When the manual crank 14 is pulled down, the coupling member 19 on the drive side reaches the position again due to the force of the spring 24. Figure 3 At the same time, the rocking lever 31 swings to Figure 3 In the position shown in , the circuit breaker 34 thereby reestablishes the previously disconnected electrical connection.

Claims

1. A manual drive for a turnout adjustment device, the turnout adjustment device having an electromechanical drive assembly (1), the drive assembly having an electric motor (2) and a spindle transmission driven by the electric motor (2) with an intermediate transmission (4), the spindle transmission providing a linear adjustment movement, wherein: The transmission device (4) has an input pinion (13) for connecting the manual drive, wherein the manual drive has a coupling member (19) on the drive side for connecting a manual crank (14), a coupling member (16) on the driven side for the input pinion (13), and a flexible shaft (15) extending between the coupling member (19) on the drive side and the coupling member (16) on the driven side, the flexible shaft being rotationally connected to the coupling member (19) on the drive side and having an end member (17) on the driven side, wherein at least a portion of the coupling member (19) on the drive side, the flexible shaft (15) and the end member (17) are jointly guided in a manner that allows longitudinal movement between a disengaged position and an engaged position, wherein the end member (17) is disengaged from the coupling member (16) on the driven side in the disengaged position and is engaged with the coupling member (16) on the driven side in the engaged position.

2. The manual actuator according to claim 1, characterized in that: At least a portion of the drive-side coupling element (19) is spring-loaded in the direction of the manual crank (14).

3. The manual actuator according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The end piece (17) has a multi-rotationally symmetrical cross section which can be brought into a positive connection with a correspondingly shaped receptacle of the output-side coupling part (16) in the direction of rotation.

4. The manual actuator according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that: The flexible shaft (15) is guided in a bushing (20), which is fastened to a retaining element (21) on the one hand and to a guide element (22) on the other hand, in which the drive-side coupling element (19) is guided in a longitudinally movably manner, and in which the end piece (17) of the flexible shaft (15) is guided in a longitudinally movably manner.

5. The manual actuator according to claim 4, characterized in that: The drive-side coupling element (19) can be longitudinally displaced against a stop (37) defining the access position.

6. The manual actuator according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The manual drive has an actuating unit for a circuit breaker (34) for supplying a regulating current to the track adjustment device.

7. The manual actuator according to claim 6, characterized in that: The operating unit can be displaced by the manual crank (14) in order to operate the circuit breaker (34) when the manual crank (14) is connected to the coupling piece (19) on the drive side.

8. The manual actuator according to claim 7, characterized in that: The actuating unit interacts with the manual crank (14) in such a way that the circuit breaker (34) is actuated before the engaged position of the drive-side coupling (19) is reached.

9. The manual actuator according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that: The operating unit is configured as a rocking lever (31), a first lever arm (32) of which is arranged to swing when the manual crank (14) is connected to the coupling member (19) on the drive side, and a second lever arm (33) of which operates the circuit breaker (34).

10. The manual actuator according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The drive-side coupling part (19) and the manual crank (14) have mutually cooperating form-fitting elements (29, 30) which are in a form-fitting connection in the engaged position of the drive-side coupling part (19).

11. A fork adjustment device, which includes an electromechanical drive assembly (1), the drive assembly has an electric motor (2) and a main shaft transmission device driven by the electric motor (2) with an intermediate connection transmission device (4), the main shaft transmission device provides linear adjustment movement, and the fork adjustment device also includes a manual drive according to any one of claims 1 to 10, the coupling member (16) on the driven side of the manual drive is rotationally connected or can be rotationally connected to the input pinion (13) of the transmission device (4).

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