Track-tamping machine with tamping units

Abstract

The invention relates to a tamping unit (W1) for a track-tamping machine (A), the tamping unit comprising tamping tool pairs (7, 8), which are disposed on a carrier (4) height-adjustably guided in a tamping unit frame and are in the form of oscillating levers (13) and the lower tamping tine ends (10) of which are driven in opposite directions by means of a linear oscillatory drive (2) and can be hydraulically fed toward each other, which tamping tine ends are intended to be plunged into a ballast bed. According to the invention, in order to provide advantageous tamping conditions, for each tamping unit (W1) two planes (1), which are mutually spaced at a track sleeper distance and are arranged on both sides of an associated carrier (4) perpendicularly to the tamping-unit longitudinal axis (L), span a working space (R), in which the oscillating levers (13) and tamping tool pairs (7, 8) describe movement paths by means of the tamping tine ends (10) during an oscillating feed movement (14), the envelope of which movement paths lies exclusively in the working space (R), and the linear oscillatory drives (2) of a tamping unit (W1) are disposed one over the other in an oscillation plane running perpendicularly to the planes (1) and are inclined with respect to the tamping-unit longitudinal axis (L) at least approximately in parallel with each other.

Description

Technical field

[0001] The invention relates to a track tamping machine with tamping units (W1) comprising linear vibration drives, each tamping unit with two pairs of tamping tools arranged as rocker arms on a support guided in a height-adjustable manner within a tamping unit frame, the lower tamping pick ends of which, intended for immersion in a ballast bed, can be driven in the opposite direction to the linear vibration drives and can be hydraulically adjusted relative to each other, wherein at least two tamping units are arranged one behind the other in a tamping unit longitudinal axis parallel to the track tamping machine, and at least two, preferably four, tamping units are arranged side by side transversely to the tamping unit longitudinal axis, wherein for each tamping unit two planes spaced apart from each other at a sleeper spacing and arranged on both sides of an associated support, perpendicular to the tamping unit longitudinal axis, define a working space.in which the rocker arms and tamping tool pairs with the tamping pick ends describe paths of motion during an oscillating lateral movement, the envelope of which lies exclusively in the working space, and wherein the linear vibration drives of a tamping unit are arranged one above the other in a plane of vibration extending transversely to the planes. State of the art

[0002] Such a tamping unit is known from the subsequently published AT 522456 B1, wherein the linear vibration drives are arranged in the direction of the tamping unit's longitudinal axis. This known arrangement results in lever arms of different lengths for the corresponding rocker arms. A similar arrangement is disclosed in CN101775765A.

[0003] Tamping units (DE 24 24 829 A) penetrate the ballast of a track bed with tamping tools in the area between two sleepers (intermediate space), in the area of ​​the sleeper bearing in the ballast under the rail, and compact the ballast through dynamic vibration of the tamping tines between the opposing tamping tines that can be positioned relative to each other. Tamping units can be designed and arranged to tamp one, two, or more sleepers in a single work cycle.

[0004] The use of one auxiliary cylinder per tamping pick together with a separate vibration output, an eccentric or camshaft, is known, for example, from WO-A-2020083590, US-A-3589297 and EP 0909852 A1.

[0005] Special tamping units exist for tamping turnouts. There are single-sleeper and double-sleeper tamping units specifically adapted for turnout tamping, such as so-called split-head tamping units. To tamp under the sleeper on one side of the track, two tamping tools are inserted lengthwise to the left and right of the rail, one in front of and one behind the sleeper, to compact the material. In a tamping unit that is not a split-head design, all eight tamping tools are located on a common tamping box, along with a rocker arm and drive mechanism. Split-head tamping units are divided into two sections. One section tamps on the inside left side of the rail, and the other on the right. Each of these split-head tamping units has four tamping tools. On fully functional turnout tamping units, these four tamping tools are laterally pivotable.This offers the advantage that the tamping units can be swung into suitable positions or even completely removed during tamping, which proves beneficial when tamping turnouts due to the numerous obstacles (sword, frog, turnout drives, diverging rail). The tamping units can be mounted on both cyclic tamping machines and continuously moving machines.

[0006] The more sleepers that can be tamped in a single tamping cycle, the faster the machine can work. For track tamping, up to four sleepers are tamped per cycle on continuous tamping machines. Single- and double-sleeper tamping machines are used for turnouts. This allows for universal application of turnout tamping machines, as they also achieve high working speeds when tamping main lines or sidings. To ensure maximum flexibility in turnout applications, split-head tamping units are arranged in series along the track. A two-sleeper turnout tamping machine therefore has a total of eight split-head tamping units (four on each side) that can operate independently.In some tamping machines, the front split-head units on one side are designed as "normal" track tamping units, which are unusable in many sections of the turnout and therefore remain in standby position. The rear split-head units are equipped with pivoting tamping picks. The front picks of the rear split-head unit and the rear picks of the front split-head unit must be able to engage in the same intermediate slot and, after the engagement, also be able to adjust their position. This severely limits the available space for the split-head units in the intermediate slot. Eccentric shaft drives are often used to generate the vibration, which sets the rocker arms into an oscillating motion. In this design, the hydraulic cylinders for the adjustment movement must be centrally connected to the eccentric shaft drive via connecting rods.This means that the drive cylinders operating in the intermediate section must be very short and operate with different lever arms and force transmission ratios. Consequently, the required pressures in these short auxiliary cylinders increase significantly, and due to the shorter strokes, the stress on the piston seals, pistons, and cylinder bores increases. This reduces their service life. In a fully functional single-sleeper split-head switch tamping unit, all four tines are pivotable. This gives such a unit maximum flexibility during switch operation.

[0007] In arrangements designed as two-sleeper tamping units, due to space constraints and limitations imposed by the eccentric shaft drive, only the outermost tamping picks on each side are pivotable in the intermediate space between the front and rear splithead units. The inner picks are rigidly attached to the rocker arm. This results in significant limitations in the turnout, especially since it is standard practice for the front and rear splithead units to be mounted on a common frame. Even if the tamping frames can be shifted laterally, the problem often arises that one of the non-pivotable picks would encounter an obstacle in the turnout and therefore could not be lowered, thus reducing the turnout's flexibility and operating speed.

[0008] The movements of a tamping unit comprise the vertical insertion of the tamping picks into the ballast, the closing movement in which the tamping pick ends are closed together, and the superimposed dynamic vibration that causes the actual compaction of the ballast grains. It is known to use hydraulic cylinders for the closing movement, which are connected via connecting rods to a vibratory shaft with eccentricity and which superimpose the vibratory oscillation on the closing movement (AT 369 455 B). These vibratory shafts and connecting rods are mounted on rolling bearings, which require regular, expensive maintenance. The magnitude of the resulting vibration is determined mechanically and by the hydraulic excitation. The amplitude cannot be freely adjusted. Other known solutions use linear excitation via hydraulic cylinders. In this case, two hydraulic cylinders are mechanically coupled in series.One hydraulic cylinder performs the filling motion, the other the vibratory motion. Newer applications use so-called hydraulic tamping drives in which proportional valves, forming a unit with the hydraulic cylinder, simultaneously generate the compression vibration and the linear filling motion (EP 2770108A1).

[0009] Optimal tamping frequencies for compaction are known to be between 25-40 Hz, whereby penetration of the tamping picks into the gravel is easier with higher frequencies, as only a smaller immersion shock occurs and thus the stress on the bearings of the tamping pick assembly can be reduced. Description of the invention

[0010] The invention is therefore based on the objective of further developing tamping units of the type described above using simple means in such a way that all tamping picks of splithead units arranged one behind the other in the longitudinal direction of the track can be pivotably designed, that the opening width of all rocker arms can be controlled independently of each other, and that the rocker arms can be designed with the same transmission ratios and the linear drives do not have to be shortened, thus achieving a long service life.

[0011] The invention solves the problem by arranging the linear vibration drives of a stuffing unit at least approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis of the stuffing unit at an angle (α 1 , α 2 ) of 5 to 45°.

[0012] This ensures that, during an adjustment movement, the working space spanned by two planes towards a tamping unit tamping an adjacent threshold is not violated by any part of the tamping unit.

[0013] Instead of conventional eccentric drives, linear drives are used, arranged one above the other or side by side in such a way that their length is not limited. The geometry of the rocker arms and pivot arms is designed to maintain an outer boundary formed by the planes towards the adjacent unit. The linear drive extending to close the tamping picks also adheres to this limiting space, allowing both the inner and outer tamping picks of the split-head tamping unit to pivot. In particular, the tamping tool pairs can be pivoted transversely to the longitudinal direction of the track tamping machine using pivot cylinders. An additional advantage of the invention is the modular design, which allows any number of tamping units to be arranged in a row along the track.The linear vibration drives are preferably designed as identical components to achieve symmetrical tamping results, specifically as hydraulic cylinders of the same overall length, stroke, and nominal piston diameter. The linear vibration drives are preferably inclined at an angle of 5 to 20° (optionally up to 15°) relative to the longitudinal axis of the tamping unit. This is particularly true in the open position, where the tamping pick ends are at their maximum distance from each other. In the closed position of the tamping pick ends, the angles of the two linear vibration drives relative to the longitudinal axis of the tamping unit may, due to design constraints, differ slightly from one another, or vice versa.However, the linear vibration drives are inclined in every position with respect to the tamping unit longitudinal axis, even if the angles of the vibration drives to the tamping unit longitudinal axis of the associated tamping unit can differ from each other by up to 15°, in particular up to 10° over an entire working stroke.

[0014] The key advantages are the simple design, the use of the highly beneficial linear drive (where the linear vibratory drives are preferably fully hydraulic linear drives controlled by proportional valves), the flexibility in turnouts due to the swiveling of all tamping picks, the increased service life of the drives, the uniform stress distribution and design of the rocker arms, and the ability to connect multiple identical units in series – the modular design. If the individual frames of the split-head units are also designed to be laterally displaceable independently, maximum flexibility and machine performance in turnout operation are achieved. A further advantage is the symmetrical design, which reduces the number of components required and offers cost benefits to the user. Brief description of the invention

[0015] The invention is illustrated in the drawing as an example. It shows Fig. 1 A tamping unit according to the invention in side view. Fig. 2 The tamping unit according to the invention in view. Fig. 3 A turnout tamping unit with linear drives for tamping individual sleepers according to the prior art. Fig. 4 Schematic of a continuous tamping machine with two tamping units arranged longitudinally one behind the other, which are mounted on tamping frames that can be moved independently of one another transversely to the track longitudinal direction. Fig. 5 Schematic of various arrangements and designs of tamping units. Ways to implement the invention

[0016] Tamping unit W1 for a track tamping machine A with tamping tool pairs 7, 8 arranged on a carrier 4, which is guided in a height-adjustable manner in a tamping unit frame and designed as rocker arms 13, the lower tamping pick ends 10 of which are intended for immersion in a ballast bed are driven in opposite directions by a linear vibration drive 2 and can be hydraulically adjusted to each other, wherein at least two tamping units W1 H , W1 V are arranged one behind the other in a tamping unit longitudinal axis L parallel to the track tamping machine, and at least two, preferably four tamping units are arranged next to each other transversely to the tamping unit longitudinal axis L.Each tamping unit W1 is formed by two planes 1 spaced apart from each other at a rail distance a, arranged on both sides of an associated support 4, perpendicular to the longitudinal axis L of the tamping unit, creating a working space R in which the rocker arms 13 and tamping tool pairs 7, 8 with the tamping pick ends 10 describe paths of movement during an oscillating positioning movement 14, the envelope H of which lies exclusively in the working space R.

[0017] The linear vibration drives 2 of a tamping unit W1 are arranged one above the other, and in particular inclined at least approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis L of the tamping unit, in a vibration plane extending transversely to the planes 1. In addition, all tamping tool pairs 7, 8 are pivotable transversely to the longitudinal direction of the track tamping machine by means of swivel cylinders 6, 9.

[0018] Figure 1 shows a tamping unit W1 designed according to the invention for tamping turnouts with rocker arms 13 and a front pivoting tamping pick holder 7 and a rear pivoting tamping pick holder 8 with tamping picks 10. Two tamping units W1 arranged side by side with respect to a track tamping unit longitudinal axis L parallel to the track tamping machine form a split-head unit and penetrate the ballast bed to the left and right of the rail 12 to compact the ballast under the sleeper 11 with the tamping picks 10 by means of a vibrating closing motion. The linear actuators 2 are arranged obliquely one above the other so that their length can be optimized for durability. Hydraulic linear actuators 2 with proportional valves 3 are used for this purpose.The rocker arms 13 are designed such that the pivot points 17 lie sufficiently within the permissible operating space 1 that the extension of the linear drives 2 does not collide with the movements of the next tamping unit arranged in the longitudinal direction of the track. The pivot points 18 of the linear drives are supported on the tamping box 4. The tamping unit boxes 4 are lowered and raised via guides on vertical guide rods 5. The tamping pick holders 7, 8 are pivoted by means of swivel cylinders 6, 9. The swivel cylinders 6, 9 are attached at one end to the tamping pick holders 7, 8 and are supported at the other end by the rocker arm 13. The linear tamping drives 2 are arranged obliquely one above the other as shown in the drawing 17, 18. The linear vibration drives 2 are preferably inclined at an angle α1, α2 of 5° to 45°, and in particular up to 20°, with respect to the longitudinal axis L of the tamping unit. Furthermore, the linear vibration drives 2 are preferably designed as identical components.

[0019] Figure 2 shows the tamping unit W1 according to the invention in a side view. The rocker arm 13 carries the joint with the tamping pick holders 7, 8 and the tamping picks 10. The inner pick holder 8 can be pivoted via the swivel cylinder 6. The rocker arms are moved via the linear drive 2, 3. The stuffing box 4 is moved up and down along the vertical guide columns 5.

[0020] Figure 3 shows a standard, state-of-the-art split-head unit C. The bounding area 1, which is occupied by adjacent tamping units, is shown. Figure 15 shows the intrusion of the area by the projecting swivel arms. Figure 16 is the area where the rocker arms in the plunge position already intrude the area and also the area that would move further into the blocked area 1 due to the extension 14 of the linear drive during positioning.

[0021] Figure 4 schematically shows a continuous tamping machine A with two tamping units W1 arranged one behind the other in the longitudinal direction, which can be moved independently of each other in the transverse direction of the track.

[0022] Figure 5 schematically shows the arrangement and design of the prior art. S1 schematically shows a split-head single-sleeper tamping unit with non-pivoting inner INand outer AS tamping picks. The picks are located next to each other in the transverse direction of the track – however, for simplicity, they are generally shown next to each other in the illustration. W1 schematically shows a fully functional turnout tamping unit (as shown in Figure 3 – prior art) with inner IS and outer AS pivotable picks. This type of unit cannot be mounted one behind the other in the longitudinal direction of the track, as they would collide with each other in the space between the sleepers. W2 schematically shows a standard two-sleeper turnout tamping unit (SdT) which is driven by an eccentric shaft, with outer and inner pivotable picks. Due to space constraints, it is not possible to make the inner picks pivotable in the area of ​​the inner space between the sleepers. The arrangement D, known from the prior art, shows a turnout tamping unit WO.5 H at the rear, which has inner and outer pivotable picks at the rear, but non-pivotable inner picks in the common space between the sleepers.A track tamping unit S1 V with generally non-swiveling picks is positioned upstream. Arrangement E shows two turnout tamping units WO.5 H and WO.5v, which are mirror-symmetrical. Arrangement F shows the embodiment of two fully functional turnout tamping units W1 H and W1 V made possible by the invention. In this embodiment, with turnout tamping units positioned one behind the other in the longitudinal direction of the track, all picks can be swivelled – a unique arrangement. Furthermore, due to its modular design, this arrangement can be extended to simultaneously tampe additional sleepers (to create a 3- or 4-sleeper tamping machine).

Claims

1. Track tamping machine (A) with tamping units (W1) comprising linear vibration drives (2) , each tamping unit (W1) with two pairs of tamping tools (13) arranged on a carrier (4), which carrier is guided in a height-adjustable manner in a tamping unit frame, and designed as vibrating levers (7, 8), the lower tamping pick ends (10) of which tamping tools (13), which tamping pick ends (10) are intended for immersion in a ballast bed, can be driven in opposite directions by the linear vibration drives (2) and can be hydraulically adjusted relative to one another, wherein at least two tamping units (W1H , W1V ) are arranged one behind the other in a tamping unit longitudinal axis (L) parallel to the longitudinal direction of the track tamping machine, and at least two, preferably four tamping units are arranged next to each other transversely to the tamping unit longitudinal axis (L), wherein each tamping unit (W1) has two planes (1) spaced apart from each other by a rail sleeper distance (a), arranged on both sides of an associated carrier (4) perpendicular to the tamping unit longitudinal axis (L), which planes (1) enclose a working space (R) in which the oscillating levers (13) and tamping tool pairs (7, 8) describe movement paths during the oscillating tamping movement (14) with the tamping pick ends (10), the envelope of which movement paths lies exclusively within the working space (R) and wherein the linear oscillation drives (2) of a tamping unit (W1) are arranged one above the other in an oscillation plane running transversely to the planes (1) characterised in that the linear vibration drives (2) of a tamping unit (W1) are arranged at least approximately parallel to the tamping unit longitudinal axis (L) and inclined by an angle (α1, α2) of 5 to 45 °.

2. Track tamping machine (A) according to claim 1, characterised in that the linear vibration drives (2) are fully hydraulic linear drives (2) controlled by proportional valves (3).

3. Track tamping machine (A) according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that pairs of tamping tools (7, 8) with swivel cylinders (6, 9) can be swivelled transversely to the longitudinal direction of the track tamping machine.

4. Track tamping machine (A) according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the linear vibration drives (2) are inclined by an angle (α1, α2) of 5 to 20° relative to the longitudinal axis (L) of the tamping unit.

5. Track tamping machine (A) according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the linear vibration drives (2) are designed as identical parts.

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