Railway vehicle collision mitigation device

Abstract

To provide a railway vehicle collision mitigation device that is attached to the front end part of a railway vehicle and absorbs the impact at the time of collision in order to minimize damage when an accident occurs in a station premises or at various railroad crossings. [Solution] This device is an impact absorbing device 9 to be attached to the front end of a vehicle, with a storage container 1 made of polystyrene foam 2 as the base, on which commercially available mattresses or sponge mattresses are stacked from the first to third layers 4, 5, and 6, with coupler impact absorbing material 3 placed between them. In particular, the second and third layers 5 and 6 are double-layered as a coupler countermeasure. The whole is then wrapped in sponge 7, and the whole device 9 is covered with a sheet of the same color as the vehicle body, or a yellow and black sheet to improve safety visibility. At this time, a foldable storage container handle is installed to make it easier to attach and remove the impact absorbing device 9.

Description

Technology Areas

[0001] This device is a shock absorbing device attached to the front and front end of a railway vehicle. It minimizes damage from accidents that cannot be prevented even by ATS, ATS-P, etc.

[0002] Most accidents involving trains and vehicles occur in the form of train stations, and as a countermeasure, platform doors have been installed in all stations in recent years, but the cost of the equipment is high, and it will take time to install them in all stations. Also, unlike automobiles, it seems that there are almost no measures in place to mitigate collisions at the front of trains and vehicles. [Prior art documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Real total 02-068264

[0004] [Non-patent literature] [Non-patent literature] None of the railway-focused magazines, such as "Train" and "Travel and Railways," nor "Complete Guide to Railways in the Capital Region 2024 Edition, JR Edition," contain articles about railway vehicle collision mitigation devices. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Currently, the number of suicides in Japan has dropped significantly from 30,000 to 20,000 per year, but some of these people still jump into train tracks at train stations and die. As a countermeasure, they are trying to install "platform doors" on train tracks to prevent people from falling onto the tracks. However, installing these on all train tracks is costly, and it will take time and money to fully implement. There are likely to be problems, especially at stations with few passengers and unmanned stations. (For reference, there were 686 railway accidents in 2017, of which 287 were fatalities.) It appears that most of the front ends of current vehicles are made of metal, and there are no devices to absorb impact in the event of a collision, so it appears that no measures have been taken to reduce the risk of accidents. So, with the goal of minimizing vehicle accidents, we came up with the idea for the "Railway Vehicle Collision Mitigation Device." It was specifically devised to help save lives and minimize schedule delays. This proposal was considered 3 or 4 years ago, but there were many similar registrations, but none of them were put to practical use due to cost issues, etc., and it seems that we have ended up relying on platform screen doors. This invention is lightweight, inexpensive, and easy to remove, and is designed to place a small burden on railway companies.

[0006] This invention is basically a method of attaching a pad that absorbs shock to the front end of a vehicle. However, the specifications of the vehicle vary widely depending on the railway company, so we have summarized the outline of the method. One is the position of the headlights. If they are located at the top, there is no problem, but if they are located at the same position as the installation position of this device, you will need to cut that part to accommodate. The second issue is the coupler, which is the biggest problem. The frequency with which the front of the carriages are coupled together varies depending on the railway company, but we designed it assuming that this is not the case, and we designed it so that the device can be easily attached and detached when coupled. This is the specification. In addition, since each company's vehicle design and shape are different, we will deal with these details on a case-by-case basis.

[0007] As described above, by installing a shock mitigation device on the front end of railway cars, even if some kind of accident occurs at stations without platform doors, unmanned stations, railroad crossings, etc., this device will be able to reduce damage to train drivers, people who fall onto the platform, etc., even if only a little, and we hope to save lives, and also prevent schedule delays for many passengers and crew members. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a cross-sectional view of a shock absorbing device according to the present invention; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a storage container for mounting the device of the present invention; [Diagram 3] 1 is a diagram of a metal fitting for mounting the device of the present invention to a vehicle. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a front view of the device of the present invention installed. [Diagram 5] This is a first-level view of the storage container and shock absorbing material. [Figure 6] This is a picture of the second layer of absorbent material being installed to mitigate damage at the joints. [Figure 7] This is a diagram of a third tier on top of the second tier to further absorb shock. [Figure 8] This is a diagram showing the device with a sponge attached to cover the entire device. [Figure 9] The entire device is covered with a sheet or other material, and is depicted in a two-tone yellow and black color scheme to improve safety visibility. [Figure 10] This is a diagram depicting a panda on the cover of the entire device to help users feel more familiar with it. [Figure 11] Same as above, this is a diagram depicting Snoopy. The ability to realize ideas

[0009] To install this device, metal fittings for attaching the shock absorbing container are attached to the front of the vehicle at four locations (top, bottom, left and right), and metal fittings for attaching the device to the vehicle are attached at two locations each on the left and right and top and bottom. This is to make the device easy to attach and detach. The shock absorbing container is made to be lightweight and inexpensive, and is made by first laying polystyrene foam as a base, then stacking three layers of commercially available absorbent material on top of that, covering the whole with sponge, and finally covering it with a weather-resistant sheet.The four metal fittings on the container are inserted into the four metal fittings on the vehicle, and the container is fixed to the vehicle with bolts at two metal fittings on each side.To make this operation easier, two handles are installed on each side of the container. This device uses the shock absorbing materials shown in Figures 5 to 8, but considering weight and cost, two types have been devised: one equipped with a commercially available mattress and the other combined with a commercially available sponge mattress. The mattress type is thought to have a high shock absorption rate, but taking into consideration weight and cost, a lightweight and inexpensive sponge mattress type has also been devised.Furthermore, as a measure against personal injury accidents, the sponge mattress type is thought to be suitable for routes with a large number of passengers.

[0010] This invention was conceived with the basic idea of ​​something cheap, light, and easy to install and remove, primarily for passenger cars, to save lives. Since the designs of cars differ from one railway company to another, it was devised as a specification that could be used across them all. For example, there are lighting fixtures, but for different parts, it is necessary to cut the absorbent material to accommodate them. However, we thought that this specification would be easy to accept for as many cars as possible, and as the examples cannot actually be installed on cars, we investigated the dimensions of the cars, mattresses, etc. and devised it.

[0011] An embodiment will be described below with reference to the attached drawings. Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of the entire device, with 1 to 8 being shock absorbers, 9 being a shock absorbing device, and 1 being a container for storing the shock absorbers, the details of which are shown in Figure 2. A steel band of about 15 cm is cut into a square shape and reinforced vertically and horizontally in the center. 10 is a method of attaching the storage container to four places and inserting it into the vehicle. To make it easier to attach and remove the storage container, 11 is attached to two places on the left and right, and is foldable. This storage container 1 It is fixed to the vehicle with two bolts at each of four points on the left and right, top and bottom, and mounting nuts are provided on the vehicle side. Figure 3 shows that vehicle mounting brackets 12 for attaching container 1 are attached to four points on the front, and mounting bracket 10 is inserted into these 12 to facilitate attachment and detachment. Figure 4 is a front view of the vehicle with 9 device removed. Furthermore, in order to further increase the survival rate, survival rate improving absorbent material 8 in Figure 1 is attached to the lower part of the device, making it possible to install absorbent material that reduces the gap with the rail.

[0012] Details will be explained for each drawing below. Figures 5 to 8 are drawings showing the procedure for installing the absorbent material. Figure 5 shows how to install the encapsulated polystyrene material 2, about 30 cm thick, in the storage container as the base part of the absorbent material, and then stack the absorbent material 4 on top of it. TIFF0003249874000002.tif11170In order to minimize damage to the coupler, metal plates of about 30 cm x 50 cm are stacked on top of each other to absorb the shock. A single-size mattress or sponge mattress is used as the shock absorbing material 5, but as the overall length is too long, each is cut to 50 cm. In Fig. 7, the third layer of absorbent material 6 is layered on the center as a countermeasure against the coupler, and these absorbents are fixed with plastic bands used for packaging, etc. In Fig. 8, absorbents 1 to 6 are all wrapped in sponge to form shock absorbing device 9. The mattresses or sponge mattresses of absorbents 4, 5, and 6 each come in soft, medium, hard, etc. thickness and hardness, so it is thought that a device that absorbs shock more appropriately can be made by combining each of them. Finally, we considered the method of covering this device with a color sheet that is the same as the body color, or the highly visible two-tone yellow and black color of Fig. 9, and the familiar design of Figs. 10 and 11. Furthermore, this device will also be installed in the rear vehicle to enable quick response in emergencies. [Explanation of symbols]

[0013] 1. Storage container 2. Packing styrofoam 3. Coupler shock absorbing plate 4. First layer absorbent material (double size mattress or 2 sponge mattresses) 5. Second layer absorbent material (single size mattress or 2 sponge mattresses) 6. Third layer absorbent material (single size mattress or sponge mattress, 1 piece) 7. Sponge 8. Absorbent material to improve survival rate 9. Shock absorbing device 10. Storage container mounting bracket 11. Storage container handle 12. Vehicle mounting bracket

Claims

[Claim 1] A shock absorbing device is attached to the front end of a railway vehicle, and this device is lightweight, inexpensive, and easy to install and remove, utilizing a commercially available bed mattress or sponge mattress, and is a railway vehicle collision mitigation device that minimizes damage and injury to the other party when it collides with a person, object, etc.

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