Switch

Abstract

To provide a technique that can suppress so-called "galling", which may occur between a partial pinion gear and a rack gear teeth, without adding any structural elements.SOLUTION: A lock rotating plate 160 that rotates coaxially with a partial pinion gear 150 has: a large diameter part 162 that can be engaged with a lock fixing plate 180; and a small diameter part 164 that cannot be engaged with the lock fixing plate 180. In the lock rotating plate 160, a first boundary 166 between the large diameter part 162 and the small diameter part 164 is located at a tooth tip intermediate portion at one end of five gear teeth 151 of the partial pinion gear 150, and a second boundary 167 between the large diameter part 162 and the small diameter part 164 is located near the tooth tip intermediate portion of the gear tooth at the other end. When the partial pinion gear 150 is disengaged from a rack 170, the large diameter part 162 and the lock fixing plate 180 face each other with a gap g.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a transfer machine.

Background Art

[0002] A transfer machine is a mechanism in which after the conversion is completed, a lock piece is inserted into the notch of a locking lever, the circuit controller detects that the insertion is complete, and sends a signal to the interlocking device to notify the completion of the conversion lock. A certain amount of time is required from the start to the completion of the conversion. If the conversion time can be shortened, it is beneficial in various ways, such as realizing an increase in the number of trains per unit time.

[0003] For example, in the case of a transfer machine for the Shinkansen, as shown in FIG. 13 of Patent Document 2, it is a mechanism in which a branch is converted and locked via two escape cranks by the power of one transfer machine. This escape crank has a function of converting and locking the branch, and performs a conversion locking operation by the conversion operation of the transfer machine. A conventional transfer machine converts the branch through a series of operations of unlocking, converting, and locking. However, when passing through the escape crank, the conversion locking of the escape crank is performed during the conversion period, and the conversion time is almost doubled compared to the case where the escape crank is not interposed. If the motor is powered up to increase the conversion force or rotate it at high speed in order to shorten the conversion time, changes will occur in the strength of the reduction gear and the housing, and the capacity of the power supply and power cable, etc., resulting in more demerits than merits for the railway operator. Railway operators desire to shorten the conversion time without changing the conventional auxiliary equipment or making major changes, further reduce the size and weight of the transfer machine, and reduce power consumption.

[0004] In order to realize these demands, technologies are known from Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, such as a transfer machine technology (Patent Document 1) that shortens the conversion time by using the operation of the escape crank to lock the transfer machine without changing the motor power, and a transfer machine technology (Patent Document 2) that aims to reduce the size and weight.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 01-192901 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-262371 [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0006] The switch described in Patent Document 2 has a rack and pinion mechanism that moves the operating rod 40 in a straight line in the switching direction, consisting of a rack 30 provided on a part of the operating rod 40 and a partial pinion (partial pinion gear) 20. A semicircular stopper 26 is fixed coaxially with the partial pinion 20, and a contact member 90 is provided on the operating rod 40. Then, around the time the engagement between the rack 30 and the partial pinion 20 is released, the stopper 26 and the contact member 90 come into contact, restricting the operating rod from moving in the reverse switching direction and maintaining the locked state. At this time, "galling" may occur between the partial pinion 20 and the gear teeth of the rack 30.

[0007] While it is possible to prevent "gnawing" by providing a separate mechanism, there is a demand for switch technology that does not require ancillary mechanisms compared to conventional switch machines in order to achieve miniaturization and weight reduction. The same applies to switch machines that can handle turnouts containing relatively high load elements, such as escape cranks.

[0008] The problem that this invention aims to solve is to provide a technology that can suppress "galling" that may occur between a partial pinion gear and the gear teeth of a rack without adding any components. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] A first aspect for solving the above problems is a tumbler having a rack and a lock plate fixing member, a toothed portion in which N (N ≧ 2) gear teeth of the same shape meshing with the rack are arranged, and a partial pinion gear having a toothless portion with a smaller diameter than the toothed portion, and a lock rotation plate having a large diameter portion engageable with the lock plate fixing member and a small diameter portion not engageable with the lock plate fixing member, and co-rotating coaxially with the partial pinion gear. In the lock rotation plate, a first boundary between the large diameter portion and the small diameter portion is at a position reaching the intermediate portion of the tooth tip of one end gear tooth among the N gears, and a second boundary between the large diameter portion and the small diameter portion is at a position reaching the intermediate portion of the tooth tip of the other end gear tooth among the N gears, so that when the partial pinion gear disengages from meshing with the rack, the large diameter portion and the lock plate fixing member can face each other with a gap, which is a tumbler.

[0010] More preferably, as a second aspect, the lock plate fixing member has an engagement surface with which the large diameter portion engages, and the engagement surface is a concave curved surface having a curve radius X mm (0 < X ≦ 5) larger than the large diameter portion, and a tumbler can be configured.

[0011] Furthermore, as a third aspect, the rack has (N - 1) rack teeth, and among the (N - 1) rack teeth, the rack teeth with which the gear teeth at one end contact and the rack teeth with which the gear teeth at the other end contact have chamfered tooth tip portions, and a tumbler can be configured.

[0012] Also, as a fourth aspect, N is 5, and a tumbler can be configured.

Advantages of the Invention

[0013] According to this embodiment of the present invention, at the start of shifting, the rack teeth engage with the gear teeth of the partial pinion gear before the locking plate and the large-diameter portion begin to face each other. Therefore, since the rack always moves first in the shifting direction during shifting, the locking plate and the large-diameter portion do not slide against each other until the last gear tooth of the partial pinion gear disengages from the rack teeth. When the partial pinion gear disengages from the rack, the large-diameter portion and the locking plate come into contact with each other with a gap between them. Therefore, without adding any components, the sliding between the locking plate and the large-diameter portion is suppressed more than in the conventional design, and the resulting "galling" between the partial pinion gear and the rack gear teeth can be suppressed. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0014] [Figure 1] A schematic top view diagram showing an example of the configuration of the conversion mechanism. [Figure 2] A schematic side view diagram showing an example of the configuration of the conversion mechanism. [Figure 3] Top view of the partial pinion gear and locking rotating plate. [Figure 4] A diagram showing an example of the configuration around the conversion mechanism and the rack configuration. [Figure 5] Operation diagram (part 1). [Figure 6] Operation diagram (part 2). [Figure 7] Operation diagram (part 3). [Figure 8] Operation diagram (part 4). [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0015] The embodiments of the present invention will be described below, but it goes without saying that the embodiments to which the present invention can be applied are not limited to the following embodiments.

[0016] FIG. 1 is a view of the internal structure of the transfer machine of the present embodiment as seen from above, showing the main part related to the present embodiment among the structures around the operation can. FIG. 2 is a view of the transfer machine in the positive Y-axis direction in FIG. 1. However, the illustration of some elements is omitted for ease of understanding. In addition to FIGS. 1 and 2, in each figure, to show the common direction, an orthogonal three-axis with the X-axis as the conversion direction and the positive Z-axis direction as the upward direction is shown.

[0017] The transfer machine 100 of the present embodiment has the same configuration as a transfer machine for converting and locking a diverter via two escape cranks by the power of one transfer machine, and as one of the characteristic configurations of the present embodiment, it has a conversion mechanism unit 140 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0018] The conversion mechanism unit 140 converts the rotational power decelerated by the speed reduction mechanism unit 120 into a linear motion of the operation can 102. Specifically, the conversion mechanism unit 140 (1) a rotary shaft 122 coaxial with the final gear of the speed reduction mechanism unit 120, (2) a partial pinion gear 150 fixed to the rotary shaft 122, (3) a locking rotary plate 160 fixed to the rotary shaft 122 on the upper surface side (positive Z-axis side; the front side toward FIG. 1) of the partial pinion gear 150, (4) a rack 170 composed of a tooth row partially provided on the side end surface of the operation can 102, (5) a locking fixed plate 180 fixed side by side with the tooth row on the upper surface of the rack 170, and has.

[0019] FIG. 3 is a top view of the partial pinion gear 150 and the locking rotary plate 160. The partial pinion gear 150 has a toothed part 152 with a tooth number N = 5 in which gear teeth 151 (first gear teeth 151a, second gear teeth 151b, third gear teeth 151c, fourth gear teeth 151d, fifth gear teeth 151e) meshing with the rack 170 are arranged, and a toothless part 154 with a smaller diameter than the toothed part 152 and in which gear teeth 151 meshing with the rack 170 are not arranged. Each gear tooth 151 is basically of the same shape.

[0020] The number of teeth N and tooth height of the gear teeth 151 of the toothed portion 152 are set to achieve a specified operating rod stroke in the rack 170 and operating rod 102 (see Figure 1) at the assumed rotation angle of the partial pinion gear 150 (angle of 180 degrees or more). Compared to conventional partial pinion gears (Patent Documents 1 to 3), the tooth height of the gear teeth 151 is set to be larger than in conventional designs.

[0021] The dentless portion 154 is, for example, the same diameter as or smaller than the pedicle circle of the dented portion 152. Alternatively, the dentless portion 154 can be said to be smaller in diameter than the pitch circle of the dented portion 152.

[0022] The locking rotating plate 160 is a partially different-diameter plate in which the diameter of the disc is partially reduced, and has a large-diameter portion 162 that can engage with the locking fixing plate 180 (see Figure 1) and a small-diameter portion 164 that cannot engage with the locking fixing plate 180, and rotates coaxially with the partial pinion gear 150.

[0023] Specifically, the large-diameter portion 162 has a curve radius R1 with respect to the rotation axis 122. The large-diameter portion 162 has a larger diameter than the tip circle of the toothed portion 152 of the partial pinion gear 150 and has a roughly crescent shape when viewed from above. The small-diameter portion 164 has a smaller diameter than the root circle of the toothed portion 152 of the partial pinion gear 150.

[0024] Focusing on the relative positional relationship between the large-diameter portion 162 and the small-diameter portion 164 and the gear teeth 151 of the partial pinion gear 150, (when viewed from above) the first boundary 166 between the large-diameter portion 162 and the small-diameter portion 164 is located at a position where it reaches the middle of the tooth tip of the first gear tooth 151a, and the second boundary 167 between the large-diameter portion 162 and the small-diameter portion 164 is located at a position where it reaches the middle of the tooth tip of the fifth gear tooth 151e. It can also be said that the end of the large-diameter portion 162 is located midway between the final teeth of one end and the other end of the partial pinion gear 150, and the large-diameter portion 162 forms an arc shape on the side of the toothless portion 154.

[0025] Figure 4 shows an example of the configuration around the switching mechanism 140 of the operating lever 102 and the configuration of the rack 170. The rack 170 constitutes a partial pinion gear 150 and a rack & pinion mechanism. The rack 170 has four rack teeth 171 (the first rack tooth 171a, the second rack tooth 171b, the third rack tooth 171c, the fourth rack tooth 171d), two incomplete teeth on both outer sides of the four rack teeth 171, and five valleys. The number of teeth and pitch of the rack 170 are set corresponding to the specifications of the gear teeth 151 of the toothed portion 152 of the partial pinion gear 150. In the example of this embodiment, corresponding to the number of teeth N = 5 of the partial pinion gear 150, in order to have five valleys in the rack 170, the number of teeth of the rack 170 is set to 4 (= N - 1).

[0026] Note that each of the tooth tips on the first conversion direction X1 side of the first rack tooth 171a and the tooth tips on the second conversion direction X2 side of the fourth rack tooth 171d has a chamfered tooth tip portion 173.

[0027] The locking fixing plate 180 is a plate-like member having the same or slightly thinner plate thickness as the locking rotating plate 160, and at each corner in the moving direction (the first conversion direction X1, the second conversion direction X2) of the operation groove 102, it has concave curved surfaces 182 (182a, 182b) with a curvature slightly larger than that of the large diameter portion 162 of the locking rotating plate 160.

[0028] Specifically, (when viewed from above) the concave curved surface 182a on the first conversion direction X1 side is located above the fourth rack tooth 171d and has a curve radius R2 based on the relative position (122h) of the rotation axis 122 in the reverse position. The concave curved surface 182b on the second conversion direction X2 side is located above the first rack tooth 171a and has a curve radius R2 based on the relative position (122t) of the rotation axis 122 in the normal position.

[0029] The curve radius R2 of the concave curved surfaces 182 (182a, 182b) is slightly larger than the curve radius R1 of the large diameter portion 162 (see FIG. 3) of the locking rotating plate 160. Specifically, it is X mm (0 < X ≤ 5) larger.

[0030] Next, the operation around the conversion mechanism portion 140 of the turning machine 100 in this embodiment will be described in detail. FIG. 5 shows the normal locking state. In the normal position locking state, the large-diameter portion 162 of the locking rotating plate 160 faces the concave curved surface 182a of the locking fixing plate 180 on the first turning direction X1 side. Therefore, it is in a locked state. The outer peripheral surface of the large-diameter portion 162 with a curve radius R1 is slightly separated from the concave curved surface 182a with a curve radius R2 (>R1) by a gap g, and the two do not slide against each other. However, when the operating lever 102 receives an external force in the second turning direction X2, the gap g disappears, the two come into contact, and the locking effect is achieved.

[0031] Figure 6 shows the state in which the lock is initially released. To switch from the normal position to the reverse position, the rotation shaft 122 is driven counterclockwise. The first gear tooth 151a contacts the incomplete tooth of the fourth rack tooth 171d of the rack 170, which is further on the X1 side of the first switching direction, and meshing begins.

[0032] As the gear teeth 151 of the partial pinion gear 150 continue to rotate while pressing against the rack teeth 171, the outer peripheral surface of the large diameter portion 162 with a curvature radius R1 is slightly separated from the concave curved surface 182a with a curvature radius R2 (>R1) by a gap g, and the two do not slide against each other.

[0033] As the rotating shaft 122 continues to rotate counterclockwise, the teeth of the first gear 151a and beyond sequentially engage with the rack 170, and the operating lever 102 moves in the first switching direction X1. In other words, it is in the reverse position switching phase. During the reverse position switching, the locking fixing plate 180 and the small diameter portion 164 of the locking rotating plate 160 face each other, but they do not slide against each other.

[0034] Figure 7 shows the end of the reverse reversal and the state in which reverse locking has begun. Because the fifth gear tooth 151e of the partial pinion gear 150 has a higher tooth height than conventional gears, it continues to push the first rack tooth 171a of the rack 170 in the first turning direction X1. As a result, even when the large diameter portion 162 of the locking rotating plate 160 approaches the concave curved surface 182b of the locking fixing plate 180, sliding does not occur.

[0035] Figure 8 shows the state immediately before the reversal is completed, a further progression from Figure 7. As the fifth gear tooth 151e of the partial pinion gear 150 disengages while pressing against the first rack tooth 171a of the rack 170, the large diameter portion 162 of the locking rotating plate 160 and the concave curved surface 182b of the locking fixing plate 180 do not slide against each other.

[0036] Furthermore, since the first rack tooth 171a is provided with a tooth tip chamfer 173, it is possible to prevent "biting" when the fifth gear tooth 151e pulls out while holding the first rack tooth 171a.

[0037] The rotation of the rotating shaft 122 stops when the partial pinion gear 150 has rotated further counterclockwise than the state shown in Figure 8, completing the reverse locking. In the reverse locking state, the large diameter portion 162 of the locking rotating plate 160 faces the second turning direction X2 side of the concave curved surface 182b of the locking fixing plate 180. Therefore, it is in a locked state. The outer peripheral surface of the large diameter portion 162 with a curve radius R1 is slightly separated from the concave curved surface 182b with a curve radius R2 (>R1) by a gap g, and the two do not slide against each other. However, when the operating lever 102 receives an external force in the first turning direction X1, the gap g disappears and the two come into contact, exhibiting a locking effect.

[0038] Furthermore, even when transitioning from the reversed position to the normal position, the same phenomenon occurs and the same effect can be obtained, although there may be differences in the direction of the transition.

[0039] Thus, with the switch machine 100 of this embodiment, the large-diameter portion 162 of the locking rotating plate 160 and the concave curved surface 182 of the locking fixing plate 180 do not slide against each other during the switching operation. Even if sliding occurs due to some external force or dimensional changes in each part due to changes in environmental conditions, the time during which this occurs is very short. By reducing the opportunities for the locking rotating plate 160 and the locking fixing plate 180 to slide against each other, "galling" between the partial pinion gear 150 and the rack 170 caused by sliding wear between the two is prevented.

[0040] Although an example of an embodiment to which the present invention is applied has been described above, the application of the present invention is not limited thereto, and components can be added, omitted, or modified as appropriate, as long as they do not depart from the spirit of the invention.

[0041] For example, in the above embodiment, the number of teeth N (number of teeth in the arrangement) of the gear teeth 151 of the partial pinion gear 150 was set to "5," but the number of teeth N (N≧2) of the gear teeth 151 can be appropriately changed according to the specified value of the operating rod stroke. For example, if the specified value of the operating rod stroke is between 165 mm and 200 mm, the number of teeth N of the gear teeth 151 may be set to "6."

[0042] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the switch 100 is a switch that switches and locks the turnout via two escape cranks using the power of one switch, but it may also be a so-called NS type switch. The above-mentioned effect of preventing "gnawing" can be obtained with any type of switch. [Explanation of symbols]

[0043] 100... Point machine 140...Conversion mechanism 150... Partial pinion gear 151... Gear teeth 151a...First gear teeth 151b...Second gear tooth 151c...Third gear tooth 151d... Fourth gear tooth 151e... Fifth gear tooth 152...Toothed part 154...Dentless areas 160... Locking Rotating Plate 162...Large diameter section 164...Small diameter section 166... ​​The first boundary 167... The second boundary 170... Rack 171... Rack teeth 171a...First rack tooth 171b...Second rack tooth 171c...Third rack tooth 171d...4th rack tooth 173...Tooth tip chamfer 180…Lock fixing plate 182... Concave surface R1…Curve radius R2…Curve radius X1…First turning direction X2...Second turning direction g...gap

Claims

1. An operating rod having a rack and a locking fixing plate, A partial pinion gear having a toothed portion with two or more N gear teeth of the same shape arranged to mesh with the rack, and a toothless portion with a smaller diameter than the toothed portion, A locking rotating plate having a large diameter portion that can engage with the locking fixing plate and a small diameter portion that cannot engage with the locking fixing plate, and which rotates coaxially with the partial pinion gear, Equipped with, In the locking rotating plate, the first boundary between the large diameter portion and the small diameter portion is located at a position where it reaches the middle of the tooth tip of one of the N gear teeth, and the second boundary between the large diameter portion and the small diameter portion is located at a position where it reaches the middle of the tooth tip of the other of the N gear teeth, so that when the partial pinion gear disengages from the rack, the large diameter portion and the locking fixing plate can face each other with a gap between them. The locking fixing plate has an engagement surface into which the large diameter portion engages, The engagement surface is a concave curved surface that is larger than the large diameter portion in a range of greater than 0 mm and less than or equal to 5 mm in curvature radius. A railway switch.

2. The rack has (N-1) rack teeth, Of the (N-1) rack teeth, the rack tooth that the gear teeth at one end abut against and the rack tooth that the gear teeth at the other end abut against have a chamfered tooth tip. The switch machine according to claim 1.

3. The above N is 5. A switch machine according to claim 1 or 2.

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