Device for cleaning axle bearings for rail vehicles

Abstract

To provide a washing device of an axle bearing for a rolling stock capable of efficiently removing grease of the axle bearing without using chemicals.SOLUTION: A cleaning apparatus for cleaning a hollow portion of an axle bearing for a railcar includes a nozzle having an injection port at a tip end portion, a stage on which the axle bearing is placed, a moving mechanism that moves at least one of the nozzle and the stage such that the tip end portion of the nozzle is accommodated in the hollow portion of the axle bearing at a predetermined cleaning position, and a pump that injects hot water from the injection port of the nozzle to the hollow portion of the axle bearing disposed at the cleaning position.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning hollow portions of axle bearings for railway vehicles. [Background technology]

[0002] Railway vehicles are fitted with axle bearings that support the ends of the axles (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The axle bearings hold the axles rotatably and support the weight of the railway vehicle. Rolling elements such as rollers or balls, and a lubricant such as grease are sealed in the space formed between the outer and inner rings of the axle bearing. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2024-87583 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Because the grease packed into axle bearings deteriorates as railcars travel, the grease must be replaced periodically at railcar depots. To replace the grease, the axle bearings must be removed from the railcar, disassembled, and the old grease removed. Traditionally, workers manually scraped off the old grease, then washed away any remaining grease in the packed areas with solvents, detergents, or other chemicals.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device for axle bearings for railway vehicles that can efficiently remove grease from axle bearings without using chemicals. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The present invention is a cleaning device for cleaning the hollow portion of axle bearings for railway vehicles, and comprises a nozzle having an injection port at its tip, a stage for placing the axle bearing, a moving mechanism for moving at least one of the nozzle and the stage so that the tip of the nozzle is accommodated in the hollow portion of the axle bearing at a predetermined cleaning position, and a pump for injecting warm water from the injection port of the nozzle into the hollow portion of the axle bearing positioned at the cleaning position. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a cleaning device for axle bearings for railway vehicles that can efficiently remove grease from axle bearings without using chemicals. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] A front view showing an example of an axle bearing for a railway vehicle [Figure 2] Right side view of the axle bearing shown in Figure 1 [Figure 3] Schematic diagram showing a cleaning device for axle bearings for railway vehicles according to an embodiment. [Figure 4] View from line IV-IV shown in Figure 3 [Figure 5] Schematic diagram showing the tip of the nozzle DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] FIG. 1 is a front view showing an example of an axle bearing for a railway vehicle, and FIG. 2 is a right side view of the axle bearing shown in FIG.

[0010] A railway vehicle axle bearing 1 (hereinafter referred to as "axle bearing") is attached to a bogie of the railway vehicle and supports the end of an axle 2 (see the two-dot chain line in Figure 2). The axle bearing 1 comprises a case 3 with a cylindrical hollow portion, a cylindrical inner ring (not shown) housed inside the case 3, and a plurality of rolling elements (not shown) held between the case 3 and the inner ring. The case 3 is a component that constitutes the outer ring of the axle bearing 1. The plurality of rolling elements may be either rollers or balls, or both. Grease, a lubricant, is sealed in the space for housing the rolling elements formed between the case 3 and the inner ring.

[0011] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a cleaning device for axle bearings for railway vehicles according to an embodiment, FIG. 4 is a view taken along line IV-IV shown in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the tip of a nozzle.

[0012] The cleaning device 100 is installed in a railroad vehicle depot or the like, and is used to clean and remove old grease when replacing the grease in the axle bearings shown in Figures 1 and 2. The cleaning device 100 includes a nozzle 11, a stage 12, a moving mechanism 13, a pump 14, a rotating mechanism 15, an upper spray 16, a lower spray 17, an oil-water separation tank 18, and a heater 19.

[0013] Nozzle 11 has a nozzle at its tip and sprays warm water to clean the hollow portion of axle bearing 1. Nozzle 11 is attached to stand 10 so that its central axis is horizontal. Nozzle 11 is provided with a rotary joint for connection to piping leading to pump 14, which will be described later.

[0014] The stage 12 is a portion on which the axle bearing 1 is placed and is installed on the frame 10 via a movement mechanism 13. The movement mechanism 13 is composed of, for example, a pair of rails 21a and 21b extending in a direction parallel to the central axis of the nozzle 11 and a plurality of wheels 22 attached to the bottom of the stage 12 and engaging with the rails 21a and 21b. The wheels 22 roll on the rails 21a and 21b, allowing the stage 12 to move horizontally in a direction parallel to the central axis of the nozzle 11. The stage 12 may be moved horizontally manually, or may be moved horizontally by a separate drive device such as a motor. The stage 12 is preferably formed in a frame shape or has a plurality of through-holes so that wastewater after cleaning can fall into the oil-water separation tank 18 below.

[0015] The pump 14 is connected to the rotary joint of the nozzle 11 via piping (not shown), and supplies high-temperature hot water to the nozzle 11, causing the hot water to be sprayed from the nozzle outlet of the nozzle 11. The pump 14 is connected to an oil-water separation tank 18 via piping (not shown), and supplies hot water stored in the oil-water separation tank 18 to the nozzle 11. The pump 14 is also connected to an upper spray 16 and a lower spray 17 (described later) via piping (not shown), and supplies hot water to the upper spray 16 and the lower spray 17 as well.

[0016] The rotation mechanism 15 rotates the nozzle 11 around the central axis. The rotation mechanism 15 is composed of, for example, a motor 23, a reducer 24 that adjusts the rotation speed of the motor 23, a sprocket 25 attached to the output shaft of the reducer 24, a sprocket 26 attached to the nozzle 11, and a chain 27 that connects the sprockets 25 and 26, and rotates the nozzle 11 by the rotational force of the motor 23.

[0017] The upper spray 16 and the lower spray 17 are positioned above and below the cleaning position of the axle bearing 1 (position indicated by the dotted line), respectively, and clean the outer surface of the axle bearing 1 by spraying high-temperature hot water supplied from the pump 14.

[0018] The oil-water separation tank 18 collects the wastewater that has been sprayed onto the axle bearings 1 from the nozzles 11, upper spray 16, and lower spray 17 and used for cleaning, and separates the oil (grease) contained in the wastewater. The water from which the oil has been separated is heated by a heater 19 and supplied to the pump 14. The separated oil is collected and disposed of as waste.

[0019] The cleaning device 100 is equipped with a control device (not shown) including a computer, which controls the operation of the pump 14, motor 23, valves provided in the cleaning water flow path, etc. A mist tracer 20 is also provided on top of the stand 10, which can collect splashes generated during cleaning.

[0020] A method of using the cleaning device according to the embodiment will be described below.

[0021] First, the axle bearing 1 removed from the railway vehicle is disassembled, the inner ring, seal, etc. are removed, and the axle bearing 1 is placed on the stage 12. The axle bearing 1 has a hollow portion for inserting the end of the axle, and the position of the axle bearing 1 is adjusted so that the opening of this hollow portion faces the tip side of the nozzle 11 and the center of rotation of the axle bearing 1 and the central axis of the nozzle 11 are approximately aligned.

[0022] Next, the stage 12 is moved horizontally from the position shown in FIG. 3 to the position shown by the two-dot chain line. When the axle bearing 1 is in the cleaning position shown by the two-dot chain line, the tip of the nozzle 11 is inserted into the hollow portion of the axle bearing 1, as shown in FIG.

[0023] Next, pump 14 is operated to spray the hot water stored in oil-water separation tank 18 from the nozzle opening of nozzle 11. The temperature of the hot water used for cleaning is preferably 55°C or higher. If the temperature of the hot water is 55°C or higher, the liquefied grease can be easily removed. In addition, the discharge pressure of the hot water from nozzle 11 is preferably high, and by setting the pressure at a certain level or higher, the grease can be easily removed.

[0024] It is preferable to operate the rotation mechanism 15 to rotate the nozzle 11 around the central axis while spraying hot water from the pump 14. By spraying hot water while rotating the nozzle 11, the water flow can reach every corner of the case 3 of the axle bearing 1, so cleaning can be completed in a short time without leaving any grease inside the case 3.

[0025] Warm water is also supplied from the pump 14 to the upper spray 16 and the lower spray 17, and sprayed from the upper spray 16 and the lower spray 17 to clean the outer surface of the axle bearing 1.

[0026] The wastewater after washing is collected in an oil-water separator tank 18 located below the washing position. After the oil contained in the wastewater is separated in the oil-water separator tank 18, the washing water is supplied to the pump 14 and reused.

[0027] Conventionally, grease removal from axle bearings 1 has been done manually. Because axle bearings 1 for railway vehicles are large in size, they are filled with a large amount of grease, which makes the removal work time-consuming and inefficient. In addition, after the grease has been removed manually, the remaining grease has to be completely removed by cleaning using chemicals such as solvents and detergents, which results in the generation of large amounts of wastewater containing chemicals, leaving room for improvement in terms of reducing the environmental impact.

[0028] In contrast, the cleaning device 100 according to this embodiment can liquefy and remove grease by spraying high-temperature hot water from the nozzle 11 into the hollow portion of the axle bearing 1. This allows for extremely efficient removal of grease compared to manual work. Furthermore, no chemicals are used to remove the grease, reducing the burden on the environment. Grease is viscous and insoluble in water. For this reason, as described above, grease is typically removed by physically scraping it off and then chemically removing it using chemicals. The technical concept of spraying only hot water on viscous grease to remove it has not existed in the past.

[0029] Furthermore, in the cleaning device 100 according to this embodiment, the tip of the nozzle 11 is rotated around the central axis while hot water is sprayed from the nozzle 11. As shown in FIG. 5 , the grease-filled area inside the axle bearing 1 contains multiple rolling elements such as rollers 30 and balls 31, and therefore there are many shielded spaces and small gaps. By rotating the tip of the nozzle 11 as in this embodiment, the water jet sprayed from the nozzle 11 can reach every corner of the hollow part of the axle bearing 1, allowing cleaning to be performed in a short time without leaving grease in small areas.

[0030] Furthermore, the cleaning device 100 according to this embodiment is provided with upper sprays 16 and lower sprays 17 above and below the cleaning position. Using the upper sprays 16 and lower sprays 17, the outer surface of the case 3 of the axle bearing 1 can be cleaned simultaneously, and grease-containing wastewater washed out from the hollow portion of the case 3 onto the stage 12 can be discharged into the oil-water separation tank 18.

[0031] Furthermore, the cleaning device 100 according to this embodiment is provided with an oil-water separation tank 18 that collects wastewater below the cleaning device and separates the oil (grease) from the wastewater. With this configuration, only the collected grease is discarded and the cleaning water can be recycled and reused, which reduces the amount of water used for cleaning and also reduces the burden on the environment.

[0032] In the above embodiment, the stage 12 is configured to be moved via the moving mechanism 13, but since it is only necessary to be able to change the relative position between the stage 12 and the nozzle 11, a moving mechanism for moving the nozzle 11 may be provided instead of the moving mechanism 13 for moving the stage 12, or in addition to the moving mechanism 13 for moving the stage 12. Furthermore, the moving mechanism may be configured to be able to move the stage 12 or the nozzle 11 not only in the direction of the central axis of the nozzle 11, but also in horizontal and vertical directions perpendicular to the central axis.

[0033] In the above embodiment, the stage 12 or the nozzle 11 may be moved to change the relative position between the tip of the nozzle 11 and the axle bearing 1 during cleaning, i.e., the insertion amount of the tip of the nozzle 11 into the hollow portion of the axle bearing 1. With this configuration, grease can be removed more efficiently throughout the entire depth direction of the hollow portion of the axle bearing 1. [Industrial Applicability]

[0034] The present invention can be used to clean axle bearing devices that support the ends of axles of railway vehicles at railway vehicle depots and the like. [Explanation of symbols]

[0035] 1 Axle bearing 2 axles 3 Cases 11 nozzles 12 stages 13 Moving mechanism 14 Pump 15 Rotation mechanism 16 Top Spray 17 Lower Spray 18 Oil-water separation tank 19 Heater 100 Cleaning device for railroad vehicle axle bearings

Claims

1. A cleaning device for cleaning a hollow portion of a railway vehicle axle bearing, a nozzle having a jet port at its tip; a stage for placing the axle bearing; a moving mechanism that moves at least one of the nozzle and the stage so that a tip end of the nozzle is housed in the hollow portion of the axle bearing at a predetermined cleaning position; a pump that injects warm water from the injection port of the nozzle into the hollow portion of the axle bearing that is positioned at the cleaning position.

2. The cleaning device according to claim 1 , further comprising a rotation mechanism that rotates the tip of the nozzle around a central axis of the nozzle while spraying warm water from the nozzle.

3. an upper spray positioned above the cleaning position; a lower spray positioned below the cleaning position; The cleaning device of claim 1 , wherein the pump further sprays hot water from the upper spray and the lower spray.

4. an oil-water separation tank that collects wastewater below the cleaning position and separates oil contained in the wastewater; a heater for heating the water in the oil-water separation tank, The cleaning device according to claim 1 , wherein the pump injects, from the nozzle, the hot water from which oil has been separated in the oil-water separation tank.

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