RU2366550C1 - Rail contact butt-seam welding machine - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: process engineering.

SUBSTANCE: proposed machine comprises housing with rail clamping mechanism, flashing-off and settling mechanism incorporating two welding transformers and weld trimmer. It incorporates also hydraulic system and control unit with the process follow-up system. The rail clamping mechanism represents two tongs clamps fitted on common axle to allow on of them to displace along the rail. The electrohydraulic process follow-up system comprises indicator to record exact position of the housing movable part and generate control signal for welding process. Clamping mechanism hollow axle accommodates aforesaid indicator.

EFFECT: higher welding quality, higher welding rate.

7 cl, 3 dwg

Description

The invention relates to welding equipment, and in particular to equipment for flash butt welding by fusion of steel rails.

A known machine for flash butt welding of rails, containing a welding transformer, contact clamping jaws, a clamping mechanism with a hydraulic drive and a hydraulic draft, equipped with a device for implementing a given program to change the speed of movement and draft of the welded rails, made in the form of an electromechanical tracking system. The machine body is made in the form of two clamp clamps mounted on a common axis and put on the welded rails from above in a suspended state (USSR author's certificate No. 129758 for the invention "Machine for flash butt welding of rails", CL 21h 29/10, publ. BI No. 13, 1960).

Known machine for resistance welding, containing two clamp clamping devices for installing and securing the welded products, welding transformers with current-carrying clamping jaws and hydraulic clamping and moving products during reflow and draft. The clamping devices are interconnected using three rods, one of which serves as the axis of rotation of the levers of the clamping clamping devices and is a guide for the relative movement of the clamping devices. The machine is equipped with an electromechanical follow-up system (USSR author's certificate No. 201561 for the invention of “Butt welding machine”, class 21h 29/10, 32/11, publ. 08.09.1967). A disadvantage of the known machine is the low quality of the weld and the need for additional processing in order to remove burrs from the welded joints of the rails.

Known welding unit for performing mobile electric contact welding on a rail track, consisting of a control unit and two halves, made with the possibility of movement using crimp cylinders in the longitudinal direction of the rails and having one pair of clamping blocks made with the ability to move to each other using clamping cylinders when oscillating in the plane of rotation from a landing position suitable for introducing the rail head into the welding position when the clamping blocks are adjacent necks of both rails for welding. The machine contains an indicator device for recording the exact position of the clamping blocks for welding, determined at the end of the oscillating movement and the clamping blocks fit to the rail neck, made to provide a control signal necessary for further welding (RF patent No. 2237556 for the invention of the “Welding unit”, IPC B23K 11/04, published on 10/10/2004). The known unit does not provide high accuracy and guaranteed reproduction of the technological process in draft. In addition, the known welding unit requires additional equipment for stripping.

A known machine for flash butt welding of rails, closest to the claimed technical solution for the combination of essential features and selected as a prototype. A known machine comprises a housing with a clamping mechanism for welded rails, a mechanism for fusion and precipitation, welding transformers and a device for removing burrs; hydraulic system; control unit with an electromechanical tracking system for the implementation of a given technological program. The clamping mechanism of the welded rails contains two tick clamps mounted on a common axis with the possibility of moving in the longitudinal direction of the rails. Each of the clamp clamps consists of two cheeks pivotally connected to each other by a common axis and a clamping cylinder through a beam with a system of articulated levers. The machine contains two welding transformers embedded in the cheeks of one of the clamp clamps, and a device for removing burrs mounted on the cheeks of another clamp clamp. The cheeks of the clamp clamps are made with the possibility of moving to each other with the help of clamping cylinders when oscillating in the plane of rotation (RF patent No. 2206436 for the invention "Machine for flash butt welding of rails", IPC 7 B23K 11/04, publ. 06/20/003) . The known machine also does not guarantee the reproduction of the technological process and the accuracy of determining the allowance for welding, which is of particular importance when welding by partial bending of the rail lash. In addition, the use of a mechanical worm gear in the tracking system, which converts the rotation of the electric motor into the longitudinal movement of the moving part of the housing, reduces the speed of the system.

The task to which the invention is directed is to improve the quality of flash butt welding of rails, in particular when welding by the method of partial bending of a rail whip.

The technical result that can be obtained by carrying out the claimed invention is to ensure the accuracy of reproduction of the process and welding and increase the speed of the tracking system.

The specified technical result is achieved by the fact that the machine for flash butt welding of rails includes: a housing with a clamping mechanism of the welded rails by the mechanism of fusion and precipitation, welding transformers and a device for stripping; hydraulic system; a control unit with an electro-hydraulic tracking system for the implementation of a given technological program; indicator device for registering the exact position of the moving part of the housing and supplying the control signal necessary for further conducting the welding and upsetting process.

It is preferable that the clamping mechanism of the welded rails be made in the form of two clamp clamps mounted on a common axis with the possibility of moving one of them in the longitudinal direction of the rails, while the axis was hollow, and an indicator device was installed inside it to record the exact position of the movable part housing and the supply of the control signal necessary for further conducting the welding and upsetting process.

It is also preferable that each of the clamp clamps is made in the form of two box-shaped cheeks hinged together by a common axis, having one pair of clamping blocks, arranged to move to each other by means of clamping cylinders when oscillating in the plane of rotation from a landing position suitable for introducing the rail head into the welding position when the clamping pads are adjacent to the necks of both rails to perform welding.

It is also preferable that the machine contains two welding transformers embedded in the cheeks of one of the tong clamps, and a device for stripping was installed on the cheeks of another clamp clamp.

It is preferable that an analog resistive measuring system be used as an indicator device for recording the exact position of the moving part of the housing and supplying the control signal necessary for the further process of upsetting and welding.

In some cases, when performed as an indicator device for registering the exact position of the moving part of the housing and supplying the control signal necessary for the further process of upsetting and welding, a resistance-type displacement transducer can be used, which transmits an electrical signal directly to the controller.

Preferably, the machine contains an electro-hydraulic follow-up hydraulic valve that controls the movement of the movable part of the housing.

It is preferable that the cheeks of each of the clamp clamps are pivotally connected to each other by a common axis and a clamping cylinder through a yoke with a system of articulated levers.

A comparative analysis of the claimed invention with the prototype showed that in all cases it is different from the known, closest technical solution:

- the presence of an electro-hydraulic servo system;

- the presence of an indicator device for registering the exact position of the moving part of the housing and supplying a control signal necessary for further conducting the welding and upsetting process.

In some cases, the execution of the claimed invention differs from the well-known, closest technical solution:

- the implementation of the indicator device installed inside the axis on which the clamp clamps are mounted;

- using an analog resistive measuring system as an indicator device for registering the exact position of the moving part of the housing and supplying the control signal necessary for further conducting the welding and upsetting process;

- using a resistive type displacement transducer that transmits an electrical signal directly to the controller as an indicator device for registering the exact position of the moving part of the housing and supplying the control signal necessary for further welding and upsetting;

- the presence of an electro-hydraulic tracking hydraulic valve to control the movement of the moving part of the housing.

The use of an electro-hydraulic tracking system eliminates the presence of a mechanical worm gear, which significantly increases the speed of the system and the reliability of the device as a whole. The presence of an indicator device for recording the exact position of the movable part of the housing and supplying the control signal necessary for further conducting the welding and upsetting process provides the organization of feedback on the movement, making it possible to carry out the embedded technology with high accuracy by tracking the distance traveled and controlling the amount of upsetting. All this, in the end, provides a guaranteed reproduction of the welding process according to a given technology and high quality welding.

Placing the indicator device inside the axis on which the clamp clamps are mounted provides protection of the device from various kinds of damage. The use of an analog resistive measuring system as an indicator device and the presence of an electro-hydraulic follow-up hydraulic valve increase the accuracy of tracking the movement of the movable body of the welding machine, which ensures high quality welding of rails, especially from steel of the electric furnace production, and avoids the formation of oxides in the weld, ensuring reproducibility of the process.

The proposed machine for flash butt welding of rails is illustrated by the drawings shown in figures 1-3.

Figure 1 presents a schematic drawing of a machine for flash butt welding of rails, General view.

Figure 2 presents a schematic drawing of a machine for flash butt welding of rails, section AA in figure 1.

Figure 3 presents a schematic drawing of a machine for flash butt welding of rails, section BB in figure 2.

A machine for flash butt welding of rails comprises: a housing 1 with a mechanism 2 for clamping the welded rails 3, a mechanism 4 for fusion and precipitation, welding transformers 5 and a device 6 for stripping; a hydraulic system (not shown in the drawing) with a hydraulic panel 7; a control unit (not shown) with an electro-hydraulic system 8 for monitoring the implementation of a given technological program. The clamping mechanism 2 of the welded rails 3 contains two clamp clamps 9, 10, mounted on a common axis 11 with the ability to move one of the clamps (9) in the longitudinal direction of the rails 3. The axis 11 is hollow, and an indicator device 12 is installed inside it, registering the exact position the movable part of the body - the movable clamp clamp 9 and the supply of the control signal necessary for the further process of upsetting and welding. Each of the clamp clamps 9, 10 is made in the form of two box-shaped cheeks 13 pivotally connected to each other by a common axis 11, having one pair of clamping pads 14, made with the possibility of moving to each other using clamping cylinders 15 when oscillating in the plane of rotation from the landing position suitable for introducing the head of the rail 3 into the weld position when the jaws 14 are adjacent to the necks of both rails 3 to perform welding. The machine for flash butt welding of rails contains two welding transformers 5 built into the cheeks 13 of one of the clamp clamps (fixed) 10. The device 6 for removing the burr is installed on the cheeks 13 of another (movable) clamp clamp 9. As an indicator device 12 for registering the exact the position of the movable part of the housing and the supply of the control signal necessary for the further process of upsetting and welding, it is preferable to use an analog resistive measuring system, for example, a displacement sensor p resistive type, transmitting an electric signal to the controller directly. The machine contains an electro-hydraulic follow-up hydraulic valve (not shown in the drawing) that controls the movement of the movable part of the housing. It is preferable that the cheeks 13 of each of the clamp clamps 9, 10 are pivotally connected to each other by a common axis 11 and a clamping cylinder 15 through a cross-arm 16 with a system of articulated levers 17. The fusion and precipitation mechanism 4 contains two draft cylinders 18.

The machine operates as follows.

When the tram rail 3 is clamped under the action of the clamping cylinder 15, the traverse 16 lowers down, turning to the horizontal position the system of articulated levers 17, which, in turn, rotate the cheeks 13 of the corresponding clamp clamps 9, 10 around the common axis 11 until the rail 3 is clamped by clamping blocks 14 At the same time, the device for removing burr 6 covers the rail 3 around the perimeter. After clamping the rails 3 by means of an electro-hydraulic system 8 and hydraulic melting and precipitation cylinders 18, welding is performed using welding transformers 5 and the cutting of the burr with the device 6 for stripping. After welding and cutting the burr under the action of the clamping cylinder 15, the yoke 16 rises up, turning the hinge levers 17 to a vertical position, releasing the weldable rail 3 from the clamp clamps 9, 10. The yoke 16 is designed to suspend the machine to lifting devices that move the machine to the place of welding and lowering it onto the rail to the area of the welded joint.

Management of the clamping and uncleaning of the cheeks 13 of the welding machine and their movement during the welding process is carried out using valves (not shown), installed on the hydraulic panel 7. Welding is performed automatically. The welding machine is controlled by a controller (not shown in the drawing) in accordance with the software recorded in its memory and according to the technological program of the welding process transmitted to it via communication channels from a computer (not shown in the drawing), designed to program the welding process and provide functions of tolerance control of the main parameters of the welding process, diagnostics and visualization of the state of sensors and actuators and mechanisms. The guaranteed reproducibility of the welding process is provided by the electro-hydraulic tracking system 8 using the indications of the indicator device 12, which can be used, for example, a displacement sensor of the resistive type. The electrical signal from the sensor is transmitted directly to the controller and provides automatic control of the movement of the movable part of the body of the welding machine. During welding, the controller monitors using the indicator device 12 the path traveled by the moving part of the machine body and the amount of draft, organizes feedback on the movement, providing with a high degree of accuracy the implementation of the embedded welding technology.

Claims (7)

1. A machine for flash butt welding of rails, including a housing with a clamping mechanism for welded rails, a fusion and precipitation mechanism, two welding transformers and a device for stripping, a hydraulic system and a control unit with a tracking system for monitoring the implementation of a given technological program, while the clamping mechanism for welded rails made in the form of two tick clamps mounted on a common axis with the possibility of moving one of them in the longitudinal direction of the rails, characterized in that the tracking system for about the existence of a given technological program is made electro-hydraulic and equipped with an indicator device for registering the exact position of the movable part of the housing and supplying the control signal necessary for conducting the welding and upsetting process, while the axis of the clamping mechanism is hollow and the indicator device is installed inside it. 2. The machine according to claim 1, characterized in that each of the clamp clamps is made in the form of two box-mounted cheeks hinged together by a common axis, having one pair of clamping blocks made with the possibility of moving to each other with the help of clamping cylinders when oscillating in plane of rotation from the landing position of the introduction of the rail head to the position for welding, when the clamping pads are adjacent to the necks of both rails to perform welding. 3. The machine according to claim 2, characterized in that the welding transformers are built into the cheeks of one of the tong clamps, and the device for removing burrs is installed on the cheeks of another tong clamp. 4. Machine according to any one of paragraphs.2 and 3, characterized in that an analog resistive measuring system is used as an indicator device. 5. The machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it comprises a controller, and a resistive type displacement transducer is used as an indicator device, which transmits an electrical signal directly to the controller. 6. Machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it contains an electro-hydraulic follow-up valve for controlling the movement of the moving part of the housing. 7. Machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the cheeks of each of the clamp clamps, pivotally connected to each other by a common axis, are pivotally connected to each other by a clamping cylinder through a beam with a system of articulated levers.

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