AU2018385667A1

AU2018385667A1 - Electrical insulators in overhead conductor rails

Info

Publication number: AU2018385667A1
Application number: AU2018385667A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Urs Wili
Original assignee: Furrer and Frey AG
Current assignee: Furrer and Frey AG
Priority date: 2017-12-15
Filing date: 2018-12-13
Publication date: 2020-07-02
Also published as: WO2019116305A1; CN111465527A; DE102017130205B3; KR20200095553A; EP3724025A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a conductor rail (4) for supplying an electrical current to a current collector (30) of a rail vehicle moving in a direction of travel (1) on entering a section insulator (19, 31), comprising: a rail body (10, 12, 13) having a contact track (14) which extends in the direction of travel (1) and conducts the electrical current and is arranged on the rail body (10, 12, 13) in such a manner that the current collector (30) can be applied to the contact track (14) in a contacting direction (9); and an auxiliary wire (70), which is held on the rail body (10, 12, 13) at a transverse direction distance (76) from the contact track (14) as viewed in a transverse direction (11) at an angle to the contacting direction (9) and to the direction of travel (1), wherein the auxiliary wire (70) is arranged at a contacting direction distance (75) from the contact track (14) as viewed in the contacting direction (9), said contacting direction distance decreasing in the direction of travel (1).

Description

Electrical insulators in overhead conductor rails

Description

The present invention relates to a conductor rail for supplying an electrical current to a current collector of a rail vehicle moving in a direction of travel on entering a section insulator.

A section insulator is known from DE 1 163 894 B. The section insulator comprises two conductive runners extending parallel to one another which are electrically interrupted in the direction of travel by insulating runners. The electrical interruption is designed so that the conductive runners overlap in the direction of travel over a section of the track. According to DE 1 163 894 B, the section insulator has the disadvantage, however, that it has to be passed by trains with speeds of significantly less than 120 km/h, because the current collector of a train applies a torque around the direction axis to the section insulator due to the never exactly adjustable insulating and conductive runners, which negatively influences the quality of the current collection.

It is the object of the invention to improve the entry into the section insulator in such a way that the aforementioned torque is minimised in order to minimise the negative influence on the quality of the current collection when a train passes the section insulator with at least 100km/h.

The task is solved according to the characteristics of claim 1 by the conductor rail. Preferred embodiments of the invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

According to one aspect of the invention, a conductor rail for supplying an electrical current to a current collector of a rail vehicle moving in a direction of travel on entering a section insulator comprises a rail body having a contact track which extends in the direction of travel and conducts the electrical current and is arranged on the rail body in such a manner that the current collector can be applied to the contact track in a contacting direction; and an auxiliary wire, which is held on the rail body at a transverse direction distance from the contact track as viewed in a transverse direction at an angle to the contacting direction and to the direction of travel, wherein the auxiliary wire is arranged at a contacting direction distance from the contact track as viewed in the contacting direction, said contacting direction distance decreasing in the direction of travel.

The indicated conductor rail is based on the consideration to prevent the torques mentioned at the outset by slowly lowering the auxiliary wire to the height of the contact track as viewed in the contacting direction. In this way, the current collector can be adapted slowly to the parallel double contacts of conductive runner and insulating runner in front of the section insulator in a kind of lead section as viewed in the direction of travel, and the effect of any torque applied can be reduced significantly. This, in turn, reduces the negative influence on the quality of the current collection when a rail vehicle passes the section insulator connected to the specified conductor rail with at least 100km/h.

In one embodiment of the specified conductor rail, the contact track and the auxiliary wire are arranged in the contacting direction at an approach angle to each other so that the contacting direction distance between the contact track and the auxiliary wire is constantly reduced. With regard to assembly, this approach angle can be realised in a simple way with a high precision.

In a preferred embodiment of the specified conductor rail, the approach angle is between 0.10 and 50, preferably between 0.20 and 1°, particularly preferred 0.5°. Within the intervals for the specified approach angle, torques on the current collector can be damped without subjecting the auxiliary wire to excessive mechanical stress.

In another embodiment of the specified conductor rail, the auxiliary wire has a length of at least 4 metres when viewed in the direction of travel. At the speeds indicated above, this track allows sufficient time to damp torques on the current collector.

In another embodiment of the specified conductor rail, the auxiliary wire is mounted on the rail body with a form fit acting in the contacting direction. In this way, the auxiliary wire can be mounted on the rail body by simply hanging it up, which makes installation particularly easy.

In a particular embodiment of the specified conductor rail, the form fit comprises an adjustment means to adjust a height distance of the auxiliary wires from the rail body in the contacting direction.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the specified conductor rail, the adjustment means comprises a nut which can be placed on the rail body and into which a thread is screwed, on which the auxiliary wire is held.

In a further embodiment of the specified conductor rail, the auxiliary wire is supported on the rail body in the contacting direction to reset against the form fit. In this way, the abovementioned damping of the applied torques can be increased. In an appropriate embodiment of the specified conductor rail, the contacting direction is aligned in the direction of gravity, so that resetting is effected by gravity. In this way, extra resetting means, such as springs, can be saved.

In an additional embodiment, the specified conductor rail comprises a further auxiliary wire held on the rail body, the two auxiliary wires being arranged symmetrically to one another with respect to a plane of symmetry defined by the contacting direction and the direction of travel and running through the contact track. Damping of the torques mentioned at the outset can be further increased by the symmetrically running auxiliary wire.

In a further embodiment, the specified conductor rail comprises a connection interface for a section insulator, with the auxiliary wire, viewed in the direction of travel, being bent on a side opposite the connection interface against the contacting direction. Further bending of the auxiliary wire beyond the approach angle mentioned above reduces edges that the current collector can hit when entering the auxiliary wire.

In another embodiment of the specified conductor rail, the auxiliary wire is held to the rail body by a plate which is held in a plane defined by the transverse direction and the contacting direction. On the one hand, the plate is low in weight, but nevertheless allows effective absorption of forces in and against the contacting direction and thus effective damping of the torques mentioned at the outset.

The above-described properties, features and advantages of this invention, as well as the manner in which they are achieved, will become clearer in connection with the following description of the embodiments, which are explained in more detail in connection with the drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a track section for a train,

Fig. 2 is a schematic plan view of a section insulator for the track section of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a schematic plan view of the neutral section for the track section of Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of a connection piece for the section insulator of Fig. 2 or the neutral section of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a schematic exploded view of a holding element for the connection piece of Fig. 4,

Fig. 6a is a schematic bottom view of a conductor rail entering the connection piece of Fig. 3,

Fig. 6b is a schematic side view of the conductor rail entering the connection piece of Fig. 3,

Fig. 7a is an enlarged schematic top-down view of a conductor rail entering the connection piece of Fig. 3,

Fig. 7b is an enlarged schematic side view from the conductor rail entering the connection piece of Fig. 3,

Fig. 8a is a sectional view of the conductor rail entering the connection piece of Fig. 3 at a first point, and

Fig. 8b is a sectional view of the conductor rail entering the connection piece of Fig. 3 at a second point.

In the drawings, the same technical elements are provided with the same reference signs, and are only described once. The drawings are purely schematic and, in particular, do not reflect the actual geometric proportions.

Reference is made to Fig. 1 showing a track section 2 extending in a direction of travel 1 with a track 3, on which a train not shown here can move electrically driven on track 3. For the electrical power supply of the train, a conductor rail 4 is arranged at a not further referenced height above track 3, also extending in the direction of travel 1, from which the train with a not further referenced current collector can draw electrical current in a manner known per se.

The conductor rail 4 is suspended from a carrier, which is shown in Fig. 1 in the form of a ceiling 5. Ceiling 5 could, for example, be part of a tunnel or a bridge. The conductor rail 4 can be held at a very short suspension distance 6 from the ceiling 5 by means of suspension which are not shown here in any further detail in Fig. 2.

Fig. 1 shows an enlargement of the profile 7 of the conductor rail 4.

When viewed in profile 7, the conductor rail 4 is axisymmetrical to a profile axis 8. The profile axis 8 runs parallel to a height direction 9 of track section 2. Viewed in height direction 9, there is a transverse arm 10 on the upper side of the conductor rail 4, from which two tension arms 12 extend at a distance from each other in a transverse direction 11 running at a right angle to the direction of travel 1, and at a right angle to the height direction 9, against the height direction 9. A clamping arm 13 is connected to the end of each tension arm 12 opposite the transverse arm 10, between which a contact track in the form of a contact wire 14 is held clamped by the tension arms 12.

The conductor rail 4 shown in Fig. 1 is usually made up of a large number of conductor rail sections which, as seen in profile 7 of Fig. 1, are laid against each other at the front end and exactly aligned with each other via fishplates 15. The mutual alignment takes place via an engagement in the height direction 9 between the fishplates 15 and the conductor rail sections, which is designed in Fig. 1 as a tongue and groove connection 16. To fix the individual conductor rail sections against each other, screws 17 can be screwed into the fishplates 15.

In order to clamp the contact wire 14 between the clamping arms 13, track sections 18 extending at a connection point between the clamping arms 13 and the tension arms 12 are connected in or against the transverse direction 11, on which a threading carriage not shown in more detail can move. Since this is no longer necessary for understanding the embodiment, a more detailed introduction to this is not intended.

Reference is made to Fig. 2 showing a schematic plan view of a section insulator 19.

It is known to electrically separate the overhead contact line 14 from Fig. 1 in the direction of travel 1 into different sections, whereby the abovementioned train must be able to pass these electrical insulation points. The section insulator 19 shown in Fig. 2 connects the conductor rail 4 of a first line section 20 with the conductor rail 4 of a second line section 21.

Seen in the direction of travel 1, the section insulator 19 comprises a first connecting device 22 with an entry edge 23 and an exit edge 24 opposite the entry edge 23 seen in direction of travel 1. The entry edge 23 and the exit edge 24 are connected by side edges 25. In the plan view, seen against the height direction 9, the first connecting device 22 has an essentially triangular or trapezoidal shape.

The conductor rail 4 of the first line section 20 is connected to the entry edge 23 of the first connecting device 22. The contact wire 14, which is led through the conductor rail 4 of the first line section 20, is led into the area of the first connecting device 22. The exit edge 24 is followed by special conductor rails arranged at a distance apart from one another in the transverse direction 11, which are designated below by the reference sign 4'. The special features of these special conductor rails 4' will be discussed in more detail later. Each special conductor rail 4' is connected to a corresponding insulating runner 26 in the direction of travel 1, positioned with an offset 27 in relation to each other in the direction of travel 1. Each insulating runner 26 is in turn connected to a special conductor rail 4', whereby the exit edge 24 of a second connecting device 28 is then connected to these special conductor rails 4'. The second connecting device 28 is mirror-symmetrical to the first connecting device 22 when viewed in direction of travel 1. The conductor rail 4 of the second line section 21 is connected to the entry edge 23 of the second connecting device 28.

When viewed in the height direction 9 below the connecting devices 22, 28, in the area of each side edge 25 a contact wire is routed, which is referred to as connection wire 28 in distinction to the contact wires 14 held in the conductor rails 4. The individual connection wires 29 are indicated by dashed lines in Fig. 2. Likewise, when viewed in the height direction 9, contact wires are held below the special conductor rails 4', which are marked with the reference sign 14' in the line sections 20, 21 to clearly distinguish them from the contact wires 14 below the conductor rails 4. The contact wires 14' of the special conductor rails 4' are also shown as dashed lines in Fig. 2.

The connection wires 29 together with the contact wires 14' of the special conductor rails 4' form conductive runners 14', 29, which are electrically connected to the contact wires 4 of the two line sections 20, 21.

The insulating runners 26 interrupt the conductive runners 14', 29 electrically. If a current collector 29 indicated by a dashed line in Fig. 2 enters the section insulator 19 in the direction of travel 1, the current collector 30 remains electrically connected to the first section of the line 20 until the first insulating runner 26 is reached when viewed in direction of travel 1. When passing the first insulating runner 26, the current collector 40 remains in electrical contact with the first line section 20 and, after leaving the first insulating runner 26, makes electrical contact with the second line section 21 within offset 27. However, as soon as the current collector 30 has also passed the second insulating runner 26 when viewed in the direction of travel 1, it loses electrical contact with the first line section 20 and only has electrical contact with the second line section 21.

The section insulator 19 of Fig. 2 has the disadvantage that in the area of offset 27 the current collector 30 contacts both line sections 20, 21 simultaneously. If the two line sections 20, 21 have different voltage potentials, such as at a transition between two different electrical power supply systems, arcs can occur between the two line sections 20, 21 in the area of the offset 27.

To prevent arcing between the two line systems 20, 31 in the event of different voltage potentials in the area of the offset 27, the section insulator 19 can be easily reconfigured to a neutral section 31 shown in Fig. 3.

Starting from the first line section 20 up to the two insulating runners 26, the neutral section 31 has the same configuration as the section insulator 19. However, the two insulating runners 26 are connected to two conductor rails with earthing connections 32, which earth the contact wire 14' carried under the conductor rail. These conductor rails are therefore referred to below as earthing rails 33. Here, the earthing rail 33, which projects into the area of the offset 27 of the two insulating runners 26, is longer than the other insulating runner 26 when viewed in the direction of travel 1.

The earthing rails 33 then continue in the direction of travel 1 up to a symmetry axis 34, in relation to which the neutral section 31 is arranged axisymmetrically.

The current collector 30 entering the neutral section 31 in the direction of travel 1 passes the same elements as in section insulator 19 until it reaches the area of the first offset 27 when viewed in the direction of travel 1. In the area of the offsets 27, however, the line systems 20, 21 do not overlap, but each line system 20, 21 overlaps with one of the earthing rails. In this way it is avoided that the abovementioned arc passes between the two line systems 20, 21.

The section insulator 19 and the neutral section 31 in the area of the connection devices 22, 28 are described in more detail below. For this purpose, reference is made to Fig. 4, which shows the section insulator 19 and the neutral section 31 in the area of the connecting device 22 when viewed in the direction of travel 1.

The connection device 22 has a plate 35 which is limited by the entry edge 23, the exit edge 24 and the two side edges 25. At the entry edge 23 and at the exit edge 24, plug-in elements 36 are attached by means of screws 41, which are inserted into the conductor rails 4, 4' to hold the conductor rails 4, 4' to the connection device 22. The plug-in element 36 on the entry edge 23 is not visible in the perspective view in Fig. 4.

The plate 35 has a recess 42 in the middle, through which three struts 43 run to connect the side edges 25. Furthermore, the plate 35 is reinforced at the exit edge 24 by a transverse rib 44 running between the side edges 25. This transverse rib 44 can be attached to the plate 35 in any way, for example by welding. The transverse rib 44 runs at an angle to the longitudinal direction 1, in the present embodiment perpendicular to it. Furthermore, two longitudinal ribs are attached to the plate 35 on the side opposite the transverse rib 44 which are not shown in Fig. 4. The struts 43, the transverse rib 44 and the longitudinal ribs make it possible to realize the connection device 22 with a low weight on the one hand and a high mechanical stability on the other.

Seen in the height direction 9, the connecting wires 29 and the contact wire 14 are held below the plate 37 by means of holding elements 48. The holding elements 48 are guided through openings in the plate 37, and are held on the top of the plate 37 with holding nuts 50. In particular, the holding elements 48 carrying the connection wires 29 and thus their corresponding openings through the plate 35 are arranged along the side edges 25, while the holding elements 48 carrying the contact wire 14 coming from the first line section 20 and thus their corresponding openings are arranged centrally between the two side edges 25. In this way, the effects by leverage forces around an axis extending in the direction of travel 1 are reduced. In order to further reduce these effects by leverage forces, the plate 35 is designed axially symmetrical to a plate symmetry axis 51 aligned in driving direction 1.

An example of the holding elements 48 is shown in detail in an exploded view in Fig. 6.

The holding element 48 clamps the contact wire 4, 29 between a first clamping jaw 52 and a second clamping jaw 53. For this purpose, both clamping jaws 52, 53 each have on their underside,when viewed in the height direction 9, an engagement tooth 54 extending in the direction of the contact wire 4, 29, which can engage in contact wire grooves 55 of the contact wire 4, 29 known per se in order to keep the contact wire 14, 29 in a form fit manner against the height direction 9. To achieve the form fit, the two clamping jaws 52, 53 are screwed together via two lock screws 57 and two lock nuts 57' which can be passed through corresponding duct openings 56 in the clamping jaws 52, 53. The duct openings 56 extend at right angles to the contact wire 4, 29, so that the engagement of the engagement teeth 54 in the grooves 55 is correspondingly at right angles to the form fit.

To fix the holding element 48 to the plate 35, a connecting rod 58 is provided in the holding element 48. The connecting rod 58 is placed in a depression 59 on the first clamping jaw 52. When viewed in the height direction 9, on the left and right of the depression 59, engagement slots 60 are passed through the first clamping jaw 52, in which engagement feet 62 formed on a counterpart 61 can engage. If the engagement feet 62 engage in the engagement slots 60, the counterpart 61 closes the depression 59 in the first clamping jaw 52 to form a circular channel. So that the counterpart 61 can be brought close enough to the first clamping jaw 52, a recess 63 is formed in the second clamping jaw 53, in which the counterpart 61 can be accommodated.

The connecting rod 58 has a circumferential notch 64 on its underside seen in the height direction 9. Furthermore, the counterpart 61 has a through slot 65 extending in the direction of the contact wire 4, 29. The notch 64 and the through slot 65 are arranged in such a way that when the connecting rod 58 is placed on a bottom of the depression 59 at the first clamping jaw 52, and the counterpart 61 is inserted with its engagement feet 62 into the engagement slots 60 at the first clamping jaw 52, the through slot 65 lies flat on the circumferential notch 64. In this way, a retaining spring 66 can be passed through the through slot 65 and the notch 64, which holds the clamping jaws 52, 53 in a form-fit manner on the connecting rod 58 in the height direction 9. The retaining spring 66 has spring struts 67 which can be directed towards the first clamping jaw 52 and which can be directed away from the connecting rod 58 when the retaining element 48 is mounted. In order to guide these spring struts 67 through the first clamping jaw 52, corresponding mounting grooves 68 are formed in the engagement slots 60. When the retaining element 48 is mounted, the spring struts 67 of the retaining spring 66 thus push the engagement feet 62 away from the connecting rod 58 as seen from the latter, thereby securing the counterpart 61 to the first clamping jaw 52.

To install the section insulator 19 or the neutral section 31, the holding elements 48 are first placed against the overhead contact line 14, 29 in the manner described above and assembled. The two clamping jaws 52, 53 remain loose, so that although the contact wire 14, 29 can no longer be detached from the two engagement teeth 54 in and against the height direction 9, it can still be moved in and against the direction of the contact wire 14, 29. Then the connecting rods 58 of the retaining elements 14, 29 are guided through the openings 49 from the underside of the plate 35 to the top, where they are screwed together with the retaining nuts 50. In this state, the holding elements 48 can be positioned with millimetre accuracy and the distance of the contact wire 14, 29 to the plate 35 can be adjusted with millimetre accuracy and fixed with the holding nuts 50 and the lock nuts 57'. However, since the connecting rods 58 can rotate in the circumferential direction in the holding elements 48 due to a lack of form fit, a tool form locking element 69 is formed at the opposite end of each connecting rod 58 for screwing to the notch 64. A tool such as a screwdriver or wrench can engage with this tool form locking element 69.

Coming back to the connecting wires 29 of the first connecting device 22, it can be seen from Figs. 2 and 3 that they split the contact wire 14, seen in direction of travel 1, into the two contact wires 14' in the section insulator 19 and in the neutral section 31 respectively. The connecting wires 29 diverge on the connecting device 22 in and against the transverse direction 11. As long as the connecting wires 29 run absolutely level in a plane spanned by the direction of travel 1 and the transverse direction 11, this diverging is not problematic. However, due to manufacturing tolerances and other mechanical inaccuracies, unevenness of the connecting wires 29 in height direction 9 cannot be avoided. If the current collector 30 passes the connecting wires 29 at a very high speed, the uneven and transversely diverging connecting wires 29 partly act with very high torques on the current collector 30, which causes it to vibrate and significantly reduces the quality of current collection.

The concept of the present embodiment with auxiliary wires 70 shown in Figs. 6a and 6b, which run in front of the first connecting device 22, seen in the direction of travel 9, and in front of and behind the contact wire 14, seen in the transverse direction 11 takes effect here. The task of the auxiliary wires 70 is to lie down slowly on the current collector 30, as seen in the direction of travel 1, even before the first connecting device 22, and then to support it when the connecting wires 29 diverge in and against the transverse direction 11. If torques are applied to the current collector 30 due to the abovementioned uneven course of the connecting wires 29, the auxiliary wires 70 can absorb the torques and prevent the abovementioned vibrations. In this way, the quality of power collection is improved significantly.

For slow laying of the auxiliary wires 70 on the current collector 30, the auxiliary wires 70 should approach each other at a speed of the current collector 30 of 100 km/h in the direction of travel 1 contrary to the height direction 9 with considerably less than 300 cm/s. Sufficiently good results regarding the quality of current collection were achieved when the auxiliary wires 70 approached the current collector 30 at less than 30 cm/s under the conditions mentioned above. For this purpose, an approach angle 71 of significantly less than 50 between the auxiliary wires 70 and the contact wire 14 of the conductor rail 4 should be selected. An approach angle 71 below 1° ensures a good current collection quality.

However, the auxiliary wires 70 are not arbitrarily long and have an entry-side end 72 and an exit-side end 73 opposite the entry-side end 72 in the direction of travel 1. In the direction of travel 1, the current collector 30 passes the auxiliary wires 70 from the entry-side end 72 to the exit-side end 73. The lower the entry side end 72 is above the contact wire 14, when viewed in the height direction 9, the higher is the probability of a frontal impact of the current collector 30 on one of the auxiliary wires 70, because the current collector 30 can in principle enter under the auxiliary wires 70 twisted around the contact wire 14. For this reason, the entry-side 72 of the auxiliary wires 70 should be positioned sufficiently high above the contact wire 14 when viewed in the height direction 9, although this means that the auxiliary wires 70 must extend over a correspondingly large auxiliary wire section 74 when viewed in the direction of travel 1. In order to keep this auxiliary wire section 74 at an economically reasonable level, the approach angle 71 should not be chosen arbitrarily small.

Below an approach angle 71 of 0.10 the auxiliary wire 74 is clearly too long. Such angles of approach should only be used in exceptional and justified cases. If the approach angle 71 is above 0.20, an economically reasonable relationship is established between the necessary auxiliary wire section 74 and the achievable quality of current collection. An approach angle 71 of 0.5° showed an optimal relationship between an economical realisation of the construction and a high quality of current collection by the current collector 30.

The approach angle 71 can basically be varied over the travel section when viewed in the direction of travel 1. However, no clear advantages could be achieved here compared with an unchanging approach angle 71 seen over the travel section in the direction of travel 1, where a contacting direction distance 75 between the auxiliary wires 70 and the contact wire 14 changes constantly.

As already explained, the auxiliary wires 70 start the auxiliary wire section 74 with their entry-side end 72 in the direction of travel 1 before the first connecting device 22. Seen in the transverse direction 11, the auxiliary wires 70 are arranged at an auxiliary wire transverse distance 76, also referred to as transverse direction distance 76, from the contact wire 14. In order to best implement the idea of torque absorption by the auxiliary wires 70 explained above, the auxiliary wire transverse distance 76 should be greater than a contact wire transverse distance 77 of the contact wires 14' in the contact wires 14' adjoining the exit edge 24 of the first connecting device 22 as seen from the contact wire 14 entering the entry edge 23 of the first connecting device 22 in the direction of travel 1. However, in order to realize such a large auxiliary wire transverse distance 76, a sufficiently long arm or the like would have to be arranged in the area of the first connecting device 22, which would increase the complexity of the entire structure. A sufficient damping of vibrations on the current collector 30, necessary for the mentioned high quality of current collection, is also possible if the auxiliary wire transverse distance 76 is chosen slightly smaller than the contact wire transverse distance 77. The lower limit for the auxiliary wire distance 76 should not be less than 75% of the contact wire transverse distance 77.

To attach the auxiliary wires 70, an unstrutted bridge 78, several strutted bridges 79 and two double clamps 80 are attached to the conductor rail 4. The unstrutted bridge 78 holds an initial end of each of the auxiliary wires 70 seen in direction of travel 1. The unstrutted bridge 78 holds the entry-side ends 72 of the auxiliary wires 70. At a distance to the auxiliary wire section 74 the double clamps 80 are held, with which the auxiliary wires 70 are mounted mechanically and if necessary also electrically directly to the connection wires 29. Within a distance of an entry distance 81 to the unstrutted bridge 78 and an exit distance 82 to the double clamps 80, the strutted bridges 79 are held to the conductor rail 4 at evenly spaced intervals 83 to each other.

While the unstrutted bridge 78 and the two double clamps 80 hold the auxiliary wires 70 at an unadjustable auxiliary wire distance 76 relative to the contact wire 14, the holding elements 48 from Fig. 5 are arranged on the strutted bridges 79, with which the connection wires 29 could already be levelled in the height direction 9 in their distance relative to their connecting devices 22, 28. The same principle can also be used to set a height distance 76' of the auxiliary wires 70 from the transverse arm 10 of the conductor rail 4 at the individual strutted bridges 79. This is indicated in Fig. 7a and 7b.

As shown in Fig. 8a, each strutted bridge 79 comprises a base plate 84 which can be placed on the transverse arm 10 of the conductor rail 4 and extends in a plane defined by the direction of travel 1 and the transverse direction 11. Seen in the height direction 9, clamping angles 85 are arranged under the base plate 84, whereby the transverse arm 10 of the conductor rail 4 is located between the clamping angles 85 and the base plate 84. A screw connection 86 is used to pull the clamping angles 85 against the base plate 84, so that the transverse arm 10 is held between the clamping angles 85 and the base plate 84 in a form-fit manner.

A strut 87 is arranged at a right angle on the base plate 84, which extends in a plane defined by the height direction 9 and the transverse direction 11. Within the auxiliary wire transverse distance 76, a support plate 88 is held at each end of the strut 85, seen in the transverse direction 11, on which a holding element 48 is held in the same way as on the plates 35 of the connecting devices 22, 28. The installation of the holding elements 48 on the support plates 88 does not differ from this either, which is why no further explanation is given for the sake of brevity.

In contrast to the strutted bridge 79, the unstrutted bridge 78 has a base plate 84' which extends to the auxiliary wires 70. These are attached to the base plate 84' by means of U-clamps 89. The attachment of the base plate 84' of the unstrutted bridge 78 to the conductor rail 4 is executed in the same way as the attachment of the base plate 84 of the strutted bridge 79 to the conductor rail 4.

Claims

1. Conductor rail (4) for supplying an electrical current to a current collector (30) of a rail vehicle moving in a direction of travel (1) on entering a section insulator (19, 31), comprising a rail body (10, 12, 13) having a contact track (14) which extends in the direction of travel (1) and conducts the electrical current and is arranged on the rail body (10, 12, 13) in such a manner that the current collector (30) can be applied to the contact track (14) in a contacting direction (9); and an auxiliary wire (70), which is held on the rail body (10, 12 13) at a transverse direction distance (11) from the contact track (14) as viewed in a transverse direction (11) at an angle to the contacting direction (9) and to the direction of travel (1), wherein the auxiliary wire (70) is arranged at a contacting direction distance (75) from the contact track (14) as viewed in the contacting direction (9), said contacting direction distance (75) decreasing in the direction of travel (1).

2. Conductor rail (4) according to claim 1, whereby the contact track (14) and the auxiliary wire (70) are arranged to each other in the contacting direction (9) at an approach angle (71) so that the contacting direction distance (75) between the contact track (14) and the auxiliary wire (70) is constantly reduced.

3. Conductor rail (4) according to claim 2, wherein the approach angle (71) is between 0.10 and 5, preferably between 0.20 and 1°, particularly preferably 0.5°.

4. Conductor rail (4) according to one of the above claims, the auxiliary wire (70) being mounted on the rail body (10, 12, 13) with a form closure (50) acting in the contacting direction (9).

5. Conductor rail (4) according to claim 4, wherein the form closure (50) comprises an adjustment means (50) for adjusting a height distance (76') of the auxiliary wire (70) from the rail body (10, 12, 13) in the contacting direction (9).

6. Conductor rail (4) according to claim 5, wherein the adjustment means (50) comprises a nut (50) which can be placed on the rail body (10, 12, 13) and into which a thread (58) is screwed, on which the auxiliary wire (70) is held.

7. Conductor rail (4) according to one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the auxiliary wire (70) is mounted on the rail body (10, 12, 13) in the contacting direction (9) so as to reset against the form closure.

8. Conductor rail (4) according to claim 9, whereby the contacting direction (9) is aligned in the direction of gravity, so that resetting is effected by gravity.

9. Conductor rail (4) as claimed in one of the preceding claims, comprising a further auxiliary wire (70) held on the rail body (10, 12, 13), the two auxiliary wires (70) being arranged symmetrically to one another with respect to a plane of symmetry defined by the contacting direction (9) and the direction of travel (1) and running through the contact track (14).

10. Conductor rail (4) according to one of the above claims, characterized in that the auxiliary wire (70) is held on the rail body (10, 12,13) via a plate-shaped strut (87), which is held in a plane defined by the transverse direction (11) and the contacting direction (9).