Undercarriage Maintenance Vehicle With Retractable Rail Support Arms
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing undercarriage maintenance vehicles for trains are prone to collisions with rail attachments and fixing members on conventional track sections, leading to damage and hindered movement, and require costly and time-consuming maintenance in purpose-built sections.
Innovation Solution
The undercarriage maintenance vehicle features retractable support arms with active and support wheels that contact the rail at different points, allowing the vehicle to avoid obstacles by retracting arms individually or in pairs, ensuring safe propulsion and enabling passage through conventional track sections with attachments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the maintenance vehicle uses fixed support arms to contact the rail for propulsion, then sufficient contact and traction are achieved, but collisions with rail attachments and fixing members occur causing damage and movement hindrance
Solution Approach 1:
The support arms are made dynamically adjustable through retraction mechanisms that allow them to extend and retract based on track conditions. When rail attachments are detected, the support arms can be retracted to avoid collision, and extended when clear of obstacles, transforming a static structure into a dynamic one that adapts to environmental hazards
Solution Approach 2:
The propulsion system is segmented into multiple independent support arms, each capable of individual retraction and extension. This segmentation allows selective retraction of specific arms when encountering obstacles while maintaining contact with other arms, enabling the vehicle to navigate around attachments rather than suffering complete propulsion failure
2Object-affected harmful factors
If purpose-built track sections with few attachments are used for maintenance, then collisions are avoided, but construction time and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The maintenance vehicle is designed with universal adaptability to operate on conventional track sections rather than requiring dedicated maintenance tracks. The retractable support arms enable the vehicle to function safely on standard tracks with numerous attachments, eliminating the need for specialized infrastructure and allowing use of existing track networks for maintenance operations
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of avoiding conventional tracks with their numerous attachments, the invention embraces them by using the retractable support arms to navigate around attachments. The presence of attachments on conventional tracks becomes manageable rather than prohibitive, converting what was previously a harmful condition into an acceptable operating environment
3Adaptability or versatility
If the support arms are made retractable to avoid obstacles, then passage through conventional track sections is enabled, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The support arms incorporate retraction mechanisms that transform them from static to dynamic structures. Each support arm can independently adjust its position, allowing the vehicle to adapt its configuration to navigate around rail attachments while maintaining propulsion capability through coordinated extension and retraction of different arms
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to an undercarriage maintenance vehicle (1, 100) for the maintenance of the underbody of trains, wherein the undercarriage maintenance vehicle (1, 100) is configured to be movable on a rail track (2) having two rails (10) which extend parallel to each other and are spaced apart by a gauge (g). The undercarriage maintenance vehicle (1, 100) comprises: a platform (3) having a width (w), a maintenance unit (4) coupled to the platform (3) and configured to perform service operations at the underbody of trains, and located along a length (I) of the platform (3) at least two pairs of support arms (5) extending substantially in the width direction, which is when used in a track system (6) perpendicular to the rail track (2). Each support arm (5) comprises: a support wheel (7) that is configured to freely rotate around a rotational axis, an active wheel (8) that is configured to rotate around a rotational axis, wherein the support arms (5) are arranged to couple the support wheels (7) and the active wheels (8) to the platform (3), wherein at least two active wheels (8) are motorized driven wheels. The undercarriage maintenance vehicle is characterized in that the active wheels (8) are configured to contact a foot (9) of a rail (10) of the rail track (2), the support wheels (7) are configured to contact an underside of a rail head (11) of the rail (10), and in that a retraction mechanism (12) is provided for each support arm (5) configured to retract the support arms (5) towards the platform (3).