EP1401694B1

EP1401694B1 - Head structure for the body shell of rail vehicles

Info

Publication number: EP1401694B1
Application number: EP02780769A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Heinz Klamka; Gunter Ziche
Original assignee: Bombardier Transportation GmbH
Current assignee: Alstom Transportation Germany GmbH
Priority date: 2001-06-19
Filing date: 2002-06-19
Publication date: 2008-08-06
Anticipated expiration: 2022-06-19
Also published as: ATE403584T1; WO2002102638A1; EP1401694A1; DE60228086D1; DE10129420A1

Abstract

A head structure for wagon bodies of rail vehicles is described. It is manufactured as a large cast part from a light alloy by conventional casting.

Description

The invention relates to a head structure for connection to the base plate of the wagon body structure of a railway vehicle; to form the body shell structure of the rail vehicle.
Usually, according to the prior art head structures for rail vehicles are embodied as a welded part. Structures have also been implemented in which plates or profile structures which are screwed underneath form the main transverse beam - sometimes even one or two central longitudinal beams - or form the coupling plate. They are prefabricated as one large assembly comprising sectional structures and are then connected to the base plate by means of screwed attachment lines.
Such welded structures are highly complex welded assemblies because there is a multiplicity of force application points in the region of the head structure and to pass on the forces induced there in an optimized structural fashion requires supporting structures to be formed in a multiplicity of different directions of action and within different planes of action. This requires an extremely high fabrication expenditure as each discrete element of the supporting structure has to be welded on individually. As these elements are additionally composed of normal semi-finished products or individually formed extrusion profiles, there is a significant disadvantage that, owing to their prismatic structure, they have the same cross section over their entire length, which cross section has to be configured in accordance with the maximum stress occurring - which is possibly very limited locally. In addition, with light alloy elements, greatly reduced residual strength properties have to be allowed for in the region of the weld seams. The result of all of this is that such welded structures have a cross section which is much too large over wide areas with respect to the forces which actually have to be conducted, resulting in a relatively large weight and ultimately in less economical operation of such vehicles. In addition, such designs require a high degree of post-processing work as the multiplicity of necessary welding steps results in thermal warping of the component. At the same time, there are hardly any possible ways of economically automating these processing steps. A quite different further disadvantage of the previously customary structures is that they are integrated into the underbody by means of relatively tight interfaces. For this reason, these interfaces must be realized by means of correspondingly thick welded seams or screw lines or the like connected by very high clamping force. In the case of welded structures, warping therefore occurs again as a result of the thick welded seams when the mechanically finished assembly is connected, with the result that the interfaces have to be post-processed again to compensate the traction and the load-bearing connection to the bogey. Because of the bulkiness of a wagon body shell, this renewed postprocessing is particularly costly. It is carried out in practice by what is referred to as shim application, a method in which these interfaces are adjusted to the predetermined dimensions after precision measurement of the wagon body shell by means of mobile devices by applying specific high-strength hardening two-component plastic sealing compounds. When conventional structures are screwed on, the same disadvantages occur because the interfaces were also previously very narrow there so that the head structure is also warped by the high local clamping forces. The welded seams are partially over-dintensiuned as, specifically with light alloy elements in the region of the weld seams, greatly reduced residual strength properties have to be allowed for.
A cast steel main frame for a locomotive formed by a single casting including bolsters, end frame members and a centre supporting member is known from US 1 659 361 .
The object of the invention is thus to provide a structure which is easy to manufacture, optimized in terms of weight and comparatively easy to mount for the body shell structure of the base group of a rail vehicle. This object is achieved according to the invention if the head structure of the base group is fabricated as a large light alloy cast part, in accordance with Claim 1.
The inventors have surprisingly not only detected that, counter to the previous assumption and practice, such a complex construction of a respective head structure for the body shell of the base group of a rail vehicle can advantageously be manufactured as a light alloy cast part, but according to the invention they also propose doing this using conventional light alloy casting methods. The light alloy cast part which is produced and mechanically finished in an optimum way in terms of propagating technology in the regions of mechanical interfaces in order to connect the draw and buffer equipment and the interfaces with the bogey, including the support points of the wagon body in an optimized way in terms of fabrication technology, is integrated into the rest of the wagon body shell according to the invention optionally by means of welding, screwing, riveting, connection by bolts, bonding or compatible combinations of these methods.
The essential advantages of the invention over the prior art are the comparatively low fabrication expenditure, even with complex cast parts. The manufacture and processing can be automated to a much greater extent than the manufacture and processing of welded structures. The head structure which is manufactured according to the invention hardly has any thermal warping and requires only a small amount of post-processing. The wall thicknesses can be adapted to the local variable necessary cross-sectional requirements with relatively little expenditure by simply changing the cast shape. It is particularly advantageous here that the invention provides the possibility of connecting the part to the rest of the wagon body structure by bonding owing to the large surfaces of the interfaces, despite the very high forces which are applied to the large cast part.
Further details, features and advantages of the invention emerge from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention and with reference to the schematic drawing which shows the head structure according to the invention in a perspective view.
The head structure according to the invention is designated in its entirety by 1. It has essentially a base plate 2, a head plate 3, a longitudinal support 4 and one or more local reinforcing elements 5. A main transverse beam 6 is provided adjoining the base plate 2, the head structure according to the invention being connected by means of said main transverse beam 6 to the base plate 7 of a wagon body of a rail vehicle. This connection can be made, as mentioned at the beginning, for example by means of welding, screwing, riveting, connection by bolts, bonding or the like. The head structure according to the invention is defined in that it is fabricated in its entirety of a large cast part made of light alloy, for example an aluminium alloy.
In addition to the longitudinal support 4 provided in the region of the base plate 2, further supports 8, which, for example, run obliquely and which can support the actual head plate 3 essentially over its entire height, are possible.
The base plate 2 of the head structure 1 can be bonded here over a large area, possibly the entire area, to a wagon body-mounted base plate in a thick bed method by means of an adhesive with defined oscillation-damping properties. Here, it acts on the wagon body as a novel tertiary spring stage.
It is also possible co connect the base plate 2 to the wagon body-mounted base plate by means of a plurality, possibly a large number, of attachment points, each individual screw connection or retaining ring bolt connection being configured such that it also clamps a cushion which is composed of a metal mesh and which has defined oscillation-damping properties and thus acts on the wagon body as a tertiary spring stage.

Claims

Head structure (1) for connection to the base plate (7) of the wagon body structure of a railway vehicle to form the body shell structure of the rail vehicle, characterized in that it is fabricated as a large light alloy cast part.
Head structure (1) according to Claim 1 characterized in that it is manufactured with virtually completely finished interfaces.
Head structure (1) according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it comprises a head plate (3), transverse beam (6), reinforcing elements (5), longitudinal supports (4) and/or a base plate (2).
Head structure (1) according to Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the base plate (2) is bonded over a large area, possibly the entire area, onto the base plate (7) of the wagon body structure of the vehicle, in a thick bed method by means of an adhesive with defined oscillation-damping properties and thus acts on the car body as a tertiary spring stage.
Head structure (1) according to Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the base plate (2) is connected to the base plate (7) of the car body of the vehicle by means of a plurality of attachment points, each individual screw connection or retaining ring bolt connection being configured such that it also clamps a cushion which is composed of a metal mesh and which has defined oscillation-damping properties, and thus acts on the wagon body structure as a tertiary spring stage.