Cradle for railway wheelsets

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of railway transport. A cradle for railway wheelsets comprises a pair of support members made in the form of one-piece molded structures made of an elastic non-metallic material. The structural members geometrically following the shape of the rim of the railway wheel are formed in a recess arranged on an upper surface of the support member, the recess has a radial stepped geometric profile of a complex shape. A protrusion geometrically following the shape of a brake shoe or two protrusions geometrically following the shape of the brake shoe are formed in the profile of the recess. The invention reduces labor intensiveness of loading and mounting the wheelsets onto a flatbed of the vehicle, ensures reliability of fixing a wheelset, spark safety, reduces noise emission, vibrations, eliminates shock loads and collisions during the mounting and handling of the wheelsets.

Description

[0001] CRADLE FOR RAILWAY WHEELSETS

[0002] Technical Field.

[0003] The invention relates to the field of railway transport and is intended for placing, fastening, transporting railway wheelsets on vehicles, as well as storing and marking the railway wheelsets at storage areas in accordance with the requirements of Section 10 of the “Guidelines for the Formation, Repair and Maintenance of Wheelsets of Traction Rolling Stock for 1520 mm Track Gauge Railways” No. TsT-329 and Section 8 of State Standard (GOST) 11018-2011.

[0004] Background.

[0005] A technical solution according to the patent of the Russian Federation for a utility model No. 111819, Liverko Aleksandr Andreevich (RU), B60P 7 / 06 (2006.01), published on 27.12.2011 is known from the prior art, which provides a description of a device for mounting wheelsets and traction motors onto a flatbed, the device comprising V-shaped cradles for the wheelsets, rectangular compartments for the traction motors, guy wires and ties for securing against longitudinal and transverse movements, the device being equipped with three reusable cell-type frames formed of channel bars, metal wedges being arranged in two of the frames to form the V- shaped cradles for the wheelsets, and the rectangular compartments for the traction motors being arranged in the third frame, the device being further equipped with connecting inter-frame and thrust adapters. Common features that coincide with the essential features of the claimed invention are as follows: the device for mounting wheelsets onto a flatbed, the device comprising cradles for wheelsets.

[0006] A technical solution according to the patent for an invention US4551049 (A), KLOSK LAWRENCE, B60P7 / 12, C02F11 / 00, published on 05.11.1985 is known from the prior art, which provides a description of a rack for transporting railway car wheel and axle assemblies on the flatbed of a vehicle, the assemblies being of the type where each wheel includes an outwardly extending flange, the rack comprising first and second substantially parallel elongated parts, means extending in a first direction generally parallel to the axles of the assemblies for spacing said parts a distance sufficient to receive the flanges therebetween, so as to prevent relative movement between the assemblies and said parts in said first direction, means for fastening said spacing means to the vehicle bed, each of said parts comprising first and second spaced members, each of said members comprising a base, a rigidity enhancing member mounted to said base, and extending in said first direction, and an upstanding element mounted on and extending from said rigidity enhancing member, in a second direction substantially perpendicular to said first direction, said element comprising a surface contoured in accordance with the curve of the wheel, said elements on adjacent members being oppositely oriented along said second direction and cooperating to form a wheel receiving recess therebetween so as to prevent relative movement between the assemblies and said elements in said second direction, said member has a substantially triangular shape, said base comprises an outwardly extending portion to which said member is mounted, said outwardly extending base portion is located adjacent the portion of the base to which said elements are mounted. Common features that coincide with the essential features of the claimed invention are as follows: the device for transporting wheels of a railway car on a flatbed of a vehicle, each wheel including the outwardly extending flange, the device comprising spaced members, each of said members comprising a base, said element comprising a surface contoured in accordance with the curve of the wheel.

[0007] A technical solution according to the patent of the Russian Federation for a utility model No. 148752, Technocom Limited Liability Company (RU), B60P7 / 12, B60P3 / 14, published on 10.12.2014 is the closest to the claimed technical solution, the technical solution providing a description of a device for mounting and fastening wheelsets of railway cars, the device comprising a frame having sequentially mounted cradles, each cradle being made in the form of a pair of supports having inclined surfaces arranged towards each other and fastening members, each of the cradles being made in the form of two support prism pairs, the longitudinal axes of each pair being parallel to each other and arranged at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis of the frame, and each of the fastening members being made in the form of a guide prism pair, the longitudinal axis of which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the support prism pair. Common features that coincide with the essential features of the claimed invention are as follows: the device for mounting and fastening wheelsets of railway cars, the device comprising a cradle made in the form of a pair of support members.

[0008] A technical problem that could not be solved when implementing and using the above-described analogous solutions of the invention consists in the fact that loading wheelsets onto a flatbed of a vehicle in the above-described analogous solutions (RU111819, RU148752) takes a lot of time and manual labor, occurs in several stages, first, a bulky frame designed to receive a plurality of wheelsets (or several frames) is (are) mounted onto the flatbed, then, in order to eliminate longitudinal and transverse displacements of the frame along the flooring of the flatbed, the frame(s) is / are fastened to the vehicle using a large number of fastening members: the thrust adapters that fit tightly to the sides of the flatbed are attached using bolts (RU111819), or the frame is fastened to the flatbed through hinges using bolted connections (RU148752). In order to eliminate the use of the operation of mounting and removing the rack for housing wheels each time, according to the specification under the patent US4551049, it is proposed to utilize a plurality of vehicles. In order to secure the wheels in the frame (rack), a large number of fasteners or rigidity enhancing members must be provided in all the designs: for example, in the design according to the patent RU111819, each wheelset is secured against the longitudinal displacement with the wedges using the bolts, the wheelsets are secured against translational movements by means of the guy wires to rack-mountable cramps and to working apertures in the wheels, the wheelsets are tied together with the ties; in the design according to the patent RU148752, in addition to the support prisms, in order to eliminate the possibility of displacement and damage to the wheelsets during handling, the guide prisms are provided; in the design according to the patent US4551049, the rigidity enhancing member, which are separately attached structural members, are additionally mounted for the reliable fixation of the wheelsets.

[0009] A common shortcoming for all the analogous solutions is that they are adapted for transporting a plurality of wheelsets at once, since it is not economically feasible to transport one wheelset or several wheelsets (2 or 3) with such above-described designs for transportation, since it is associated with costs caused by the downtime of the flatbed while it is being equipped or while emergency wheelsets are being stacked up at their storage area. Furthermore, the aforementioned analogous solutions do not solve the problem of visually marking wheelsets at storage areas.

[0010] Summary.

[0011] A technical result provided by the invention is reduced labor intensiveness of loading and mounting wheelsets onto a flatbed of a vehicle, ensured reliability of fixing the wheelset, ensured spark safety, reduced noise emission, vibrations, eliminated shock loads and collisions during mounting and transportation of the wheelsets, which is achieved by implementing a cradle for railway wheelsets, the cradle comprising a pair of support members having structural members geometrically following the shape of a rim of a railway wheel, wherein the support members are made in the form of one-piece molded structures made of an elastic non-metallic material, wherein the structural members geometrically following the shape of the rim of the railway wheel are formed in a recess arranged on an upper surface of the support member, the recess has a radial stepped geometric profile of a complex shape, wherein a protrusion geometrically following the shape of a brake shoe or two protrusions geometrically following the shape of the brake shoe are formed in the profile of the recess.

[0012] The support members may be made in the form of right-angle prisms in the shape of a parallelepiped with a mirror-symmetrical structure of recesses formed in them.

[0013] The proposed design of the cradle, which is configured for it to be mounted directly onto the flatbed of the vehicle for transporting wheelsets, eliminates the operation of mounting a frame (a rack) for receiving generally a plurality of wheel sets on the support members on the vehicle and, correspondingly, eliminates the operation of fastening the support members to the frame, the fixation of the support members relative to the flatbed is carried out to a greater extent by making the support members of a material having a high coefficient of friction, which will prevent the cradle with the mounted wheelset from moving in any direction during transportation. During transportation, the wheel set can additionally be fixed due to an additional protrusion following the shape of the brake shoe or two protrusions geometrically following the shape of the brake shoe, the protrusions being formed in the profile of the recess, in addition to the structural members formed in the profile of the recess and geometrically following the shape of the rim of the railway wheel, additional structural members for fixing the position of the wheels in the support members due to the compaction of the elastic material of the cradle under the weight of the wheelset in such a way that the protrusion or protrusions geometrically following the shape of the brake shoe securely fit to the rim of the railway wheel at the point of contact, eliminating the possibility of displacement of the wheel sets during handling.

[0014] Recesses for rigging devices, which are mostly safety devices, are provided in the cradle in order to comply with the requirements of State Standard (GOST) 11018-2011 when transporting cargo such as railway wheel sets.

[0015] In the manufacture of the support members in the form of one-piece molded structures made of an elastic non-metallic material having a high coefficient of friction, for example, porous, in particular, of an elastomer containing granulated rubber crumb as a filler, which has vibration-, shock- and noise-absorbing properties, collision of the wheels with each other and with the sides of the vehicle is eliminated, which prevents the spark formation and reduces the noise emission, vibration and shock loads on the wheelsets during their transportation, which also meets the requirements of State Standard (GOST) 11018-2011.

[0016] In order to transport wheel sets, it is not necessary to mount a frame having a plurality of support members onto the flatbed of the vehicle for transporting a plurality of wheelsets, since the cradle in the quantity of one or more than one is mounted directly onto the flatbed in accordance with the required number of the wheelsets to be transported in the corresponding vehicle, for example, one wheelset can be transported in a motor vehicle that is not a special vehicle for transporting wheelsets, which is more economically feasible, since the costs caused by the downtime of the flatbed while it is being equipped or while emergency wheelsets are being stacked up at their storage area are reduced. Furthermore, no additional mechanisms or appliances for fixing the wheelset in the cradle are required, which eliminates possible breakdowns and increases the reliability of transport equipment.

[0017] In order to ensure the possibility of marking wheel sets and improving their storage procedure, the cradle is designed to be painted in different colors, thus, it is possible to identify the wheelsets when marking them depending on their standard size, technical state, type of damage, wear, mileage, need for repairs, etc.

[0018] Brief Description of the Drawings.

[0019] The invention is illustrated by the drawings, where FIG. l is a general view of the cradle in which a wheelset is mounted (an isometric projection), FIG.2 is a view of the support members (prisms) of the cradle with an additional protrusion formed in the recess (an axonometric projection), FIG.3 is a view of the cradle in which the wheelset is mounted (a sectional front view taken on line 3-3 in FIG. 1), FIG.4 is a view of the cradle in which the wheelset is mounted (a sectional right view taken on line 4-4 in FIG. 1), FIG.5 is a view of one support member (a prism) of the cradle with the recess for rigging devices formed therein (an axonometric projection); FIG.6 is a view of a plurality of cradles with the wheelsets mounted in them.

[0020] The following are designated with reference numbers in the drawings:

[0021] 10 is the cradle,

[0022] 20 is the support members of the cradle (the prisms),

[0023] 30 is the profiled recess in an upper plane of the support member with the structural members geometrically following the shape of the rim of the railway wheel,

[0024] 40 is the protrusion following the geometric shape of the brake shoe, 50 is the recess for rigging devices,

[0025] 60 is the wheel set,

[0026] 70 is the rim of the wheel.

[0027] Detailed Description of the Embodiments.

[0028] A cradle 10 for transporting (placing and fastening during transportation) and storing railway wheelsets 60 (hereinafter referred to as the cradle) comprises a pair of support members 20 spaced a distance from each other, which may be symmetrical, as shown in the drawings. The support members 20 are made in the form of right-angle prisms in the shape of a parallelepiped, on an upper horizontal surface of which profiled recesses 30 are made to form the right and left support members (prisms). The profiled recesses 30 have, in particular, mirrored structure, as shown in the drawings. The recess 30 has a radial stepped geometric profile of a complex shape, which includes members of a geometric shape following the geometric shape of a rim 70 of a railway wheel, with taking a height and a thickness of a tire into account. The support members 20 in the form of the prisms in the shape of the parallelepiped have a one-piece molded structure and are made of an elastic resilient non-metallic material (for example, porous) consisting, for example, of an elastomer containing granulated rubber crumb as a filler. This material has a high coefficient of friction of 80 to 100 units on a dry surface in accordance with State Standard (GOST) R ISO 5904-95. The material of the support members has high strength indicators: a coefficient of residual deformation of a product is at least 80%*, a tensile strength is at least 0.9 mPa. Said values are given for the elastomer containing the granulated rubber crumb as the filler by testing samples having a thickness of 10 mm in accordance with State Standard (GOST) 270- 75 “Rubber. Method for determination of elastic and tensile stress-strain properties” and State Standard (GOST) 11529-2016 “Polyvinylchloride materials for floors. Control methods”.

[0029] The cradle is designed to be mounted directly onto the flatbed of the vehicle for transporting wheelsets and to be painted in different colors (generally contrasting colors). The cradle 10 is configured so that the recess 30 in addition to the structural members formed in the profile of the recess and geometrically following the shape of the rim of the railway wheel, additional structural members for fixing the position of the wheels in the support members in the form of a protrusion (or in the form of two protrusions, for example, two symmetrical protrusions) 40 geometrically following the shape of the brake shoe additionally fixing the position of the wheels during their transportation can be formed in the profile.

[0030] Recesses for rigging devices 50 are formed in the support members 20 of the cradle 10, which are required in accordance with the provisions of State Standard (GOST) 11018-2011 when transporting massive cargo, including railway wheelsets.

[0031] The cradle for railway wheelsets is operated as follows.

[0032] In order to mount wheelsets in the proposed cradle, either one cradle for transporting one wheelset or several cradles for simultaneously transporting a plurality of wheelsets (more than one) can be used. The appropriate vehicle having a flatbed is selected depending on the number of the wheelsets to be transported. In accordance with the requirements for the placement of cargo and the rational use of placement locations on the flatbed, the cradle 10 (cradles 10) is / are mounted onto the flatbed of the vehicle. In order to mount the wheelset 60, the support prisms 20 (the right and left ones) of the cradle 10 are arranged parallel to each other at a distance corresponding to the distance between the rims of the wheels 70. The wheelset 60 is mounted into the support prisms 20 arranged on the flatbed. The fixation of the position of each wheel of the wheelset 60 in the support prisms 20 is ensured by the coincidence of the geometric shape of the internal profile of the recess 30 and the contour of the wheel rim 70. The fixation of the position of the wheelsets with the cradle relative to the flatbed of the vehicle is carried out using safety tie-down belts of the CP 50 type or similar rigging products being widely available for sale.

[0033] The dimensions and profile of the cradle prevent the wheels of the railway set from coming into contact with hard surfaces and also prevent adjacent wheelsets from colliding with other members. The wheelsets retain their ready-for-sale condition, and the risk of their damage is reduced. After the wheelsets are delivered to their destination, the wheelsets are removed from the cradle.

[0034] The material of the cradle, which has a high coefficient of friction and, correspondingly, a high level of adhesion with the contacting surface of the floor of the flatbed of the vehicle (usually the floor is metal), ensures high stability and fixation of the position of the cradle relative to the surface of the flatbed. The elastic structure of the material of the cradle is compressed and compacted under the weight of the railway wheel, securely fits to the rim at the point of contact and is in a tight contact with the reverse side with the surface at the same time, reliably fixing the transport structure, eliminating the possibility of displacement and damage to the wheel sets during transportation. The translational movement of the wheelset during the transportation will be counteracted, on the one hand, by the inner surface of the cradle and, on the other hand, by the floor surface on which the product is mounted. Owing to the vibration-, shock- and noiseabsorbing properties of the cradle, metal wheels do not create noise while being mounted onto the flatbed of the vehicle and transported, increasing acoustical comfort when mounting and transporting the railway wheelsets. The damping of the movements of the wheelset and the absence of metal-to-metal contact prevent the spark formation.

[0035] The fixation of the wheel sets during their transportation can be additionally ensured by a protrusion 40 following the contour of the brake shoe, which creates an additional support and reliably holds the wheel in the cradle 10.

[0036] By the color of the cradles painted in different colors, the wheelsets can be marked during their storage and transportation depending on their standard size, technical state, type of damage, wear, mileage, need for repairs, etc., which facilitates and speeds up the engineering process.

[0037] The proposed design of the cradle is a multi-turn durable product, makes it possible to transport a wheelset in a single quantity on a transport that is convenient for the transportation and to replace only one support prism when the one support prism goes out of working condition.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A cradle for railway wheelsets, comprising a pair of support members having structural members geometrically following the shape of a rim of a railway wheel, characterized in that the support members are made in the form of one-piece molded structures made of an elastic non- metallic material, wherein the structural members geometrically following the shape of the rim of the railway wheel are formed in a recess arranged on an upper surface of the support member, the recess has a radial stepped geometric profile of a complex shape, a protrusion geometrically following the shape of a brake shoe or two protrusions geometrically following the shape of the brake shoe being formed in the profile of the recess.

2. The cradle according to claim 1, characterized in that the support members are made in the form of right-angle prisms in the shape of a parallelepiped with a mirror-symmetrical structure of recesses formed in them.

3. The cradle according to claim 1, characterized in that the cradle is designed to be painted in different colors.

4. The cradle according to claim 1, characterized in that the support members are made of an elastomer containing granulated rubber crumb as a filler.

5. The cradle according to claim 1, characterized in that recesses for rigging devices are formed in the support members of the cradle.

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