Dellner Bubenzer Patente

A rail vehicle (100) braking system has a magnetic track brake controller (160) that receives a brake command (cmd<B>) and in response thereto sends a first control signal (M) to a magnetic track brake unit (170). As a result, an electrically operated drivetrain (171, 172) causes a magnetic track brake device (173) to move from an idle position (PI) to an engaged position (PE) in which the magnetic track brake device (173) either has a zero-distance to the rail (110) upon which the rail vehicle (100) travels, or has a non-zero distance thereto and a magnetic flux (F<M>) is produced through the magnetic track brake device (173) and the rail (110) so that an attractive force between the rail vehicle (100) and the rail (110) is increased.

A rail vehicle brake assembly (100) acts on a rotating member (110) via first and second friction members (121; 122) movable between a respective engaged position (P_ENG) in which the friction members (121; 122) contact the rotating member (110), and a respective disengaged position (P_DIS) in which the friction members (121; 122) are at an idle distance (d_IDL) from the rotating member (110). An actuator (120) obtains a control signal (CS) and in response thereto controls the friction members (121; 122) to attain the respective engaged position (P_ENG). An adjuster mechanism (130) controls the friction members (121; 122) such that they in the disengaged position (P_DIS) are positioned within a joint margin range (d_m) from the idle distance (d_IDL) notwithstanding any wear (w). The adjuster mechanism (130) has a probing arrangement (131) controlling the friction members (121; 122) such that an activated distance (d_a) separating them from one another in the engaged position (P_ENG) decreases according to a monotonic function as the first and second friction members (121; 122) are worn (w). The probing arrangement (131) sets the activated distance (d_a) by an interaction between a slidable member (133) and a fixed-position member (135) that interact with one another along a contact profile containing an angled segment (T).

A rail vehicle brake system includes a brake unit (200) that receives an electric brake-force signal (BF) designating a set force value (F_set). The brake unit (200) contains: pressing members (211, 212), a rotatable member mechanically linked a wheel of the rail vehicle, a gear assembly (220) that operates mechanically on the pressing members (211; 212) so as to move them towards or away from the rotatable member, an electric motor (230) that, in response to the electric brake-force signal (BF), acts on the gear assembly (220) to cause the gear assembly (220) to operate the pressing members (211; 212), a load-cell sensor (250) produces a sensor signal (F) representing the force applied by the pressing members (211, 212), and a locking mechanism that locks the pressing members (211; 212). The brake actuator (120) obtains the sensor signal (F). When the magnitude of the applied force matches the set force value (F_set), the brake actuator (120) controls the locking mechanism to lock the pressing members (211; 212). The locking mechanism is self-locking, included in and forms an integral part of the gear assembly (220).

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An electrically operated brake assembly (200) for a rail vehicle contains: a rotating member mechanically linked to a wheel axle of the rail vehicle, at least one friction member (221; 222) movable between an engaged position in which the at least one friction member (221; 222) contacts the rotating member, and a disengaged position in which the rotating member is freely rotatable without contacting the at least one friction member (221; 222), a gear assembly (220) arranged to operate mechanically on the at least one friction member (221; 222), an electric motor (230) controllable via a control signal (CS) and configured to cause the gear assembly (220) to operate on the at least one friction member 221; 222) to move between the engaged and disengaged positions, a force sensor (225) configured to produce a pressure signal (F) indicating a magnitude of a force at which the at least one friction member (221; 222) contacts the rotating member, an angular position sensor (237) configured to produce a pulse-count signal (PC) where each pulse count reflects a particular angular movement of an output shaft of the electric motor (230) and a controller (120) configured to obtain the pressure signal (F) and the pulse count signal (PC), and based thereon define a home position for the electric motor (230).

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In a rail vehicle (100), a brake actuator (120) receives a brake command (BC) specifying a target force. In response to the brake command (BC), the brake actuator (120) control an electrically operated brake unit (130) to perform a braking operation. The brake actuator contains a control unit that generates a brake control signal (BS) based on the brake command (BC). The brake control signal (BS), in turn, controls an electric motor (131) in the electrically operated brake unit (130), such that an output shaft of the electric motor (131) attains a specified angular position (P) in which at least one pressing member (135) is caused to apply a force against a rotating member (136) being mechanically connected to a wheel axle (141) of the rail vehicle (100). The control unit also obtains first and second sensor signals (P_m, FS). The first sensor signal (P_m) reflects a measured position of the output shaft of the electric motor (131), which measured position constitutes an indication of the specified angular position (P). The second sensor signal (FS) reflects a magnitude of the applied force. The control unit checks the second sensor signal (FS) against a force-to-position mapping describing a linear relationship between the specified angular position (P) and an estimated magnitude of the applied force. Thus, the control unit may verify the relationship between the specified angular position (P) and the estimated magnitude.

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A rail vehicle (100) obtains a basic parameter (µ) reflecting an initial value of a friction coefficient (µ_e) relating to a rail segment (310) in a rail-way network (300) and validates the basic parameter (µ) through a procedure involving: measuring individual rotational speeds (ω₁, ω₂, ω₃, ω₄) of the axels to which the wheels (151, 152, 153, 154) of the rail vehicle (100) are connected while applying a gradually increasing brake force (BF) to a specific one of said axles; determining, while applying the gradually increasing brake force (BF), an absolute difference between the rotational speed (ω₂) of the specific one of said axles and an average rotational speed of said axles except the specific one of said axles; and in response to the absolute difference exceeding a threshold value deriving a parameter (µ_m) reflecting a measured value of the friction coefficient (µ_e); checking whether the measured value of the friction coefficient (µ_e) lies within an acceptance interval from the basic parameter (µ); and if so, assigning the validated value of the friction coefficient equal to the measured value of the friction coefficient (µ_e). Then, a friction data message (M(µe)) is emitted that contains the validated value of the friction coefficient.

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Zusammenfassung wird geladen …

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Zusammenfassung wird geladen …

A rail vehicle brake controller (100) receives a brake command (BC), and in response thereto, produces a master control signal (CTRL) that controls an electrically operated brake unit (140) to perform a braking operation. The brake controller (100) contains first and second control units (110; 120) and a gatekeeper unit (130). The first control unit (110) includes a processing circuitry (111) arranged to process the brake command (BC) to produce a first control signal (CTRL1) as a result of running a computer program on the processing circuitry (111). The second control unit (120) includes a state machine (121) arranged to take the brake command (BC) as an input state and produce a second control signal (CTRL2) as an output state resulting from said input state being fed into the state machine (121). The gatekeeper unit (130) receives the first and second control signals (CTRL1; CTRL2), and in response thereto, produces the master control signal (CTRL) if and only if the first and second control signals (CTRL1; CTRL2) fulfil an identity criterion. If the identity criterion is not fulfilled, the gatekeeper unit (130) produces no master control signal (CTRL).

A rail vehicle (100) has a number of wheel axles (131, 132, 133, 134) and a set of brake units (101, 102, 103, 104) applying respective brake forces to the wheel axles. A power signal (P<m>) indicates the power needed to accelerate the rail vehicle (100) between first and second speeds (v<1>; v<2>) indicated by a speed signal. Based thereon an overall weight (m<tot>) of the rail vehicle (100) is estimated. Wheel speed signals indicate respective speeds (ω<1>, ω<2>, ω<3>, ω<4>) of the wheel axles (131, 132, 133, 134). A brake unit (101) gradually applies an increasing brake force to a specific wheel axle (131). During braking, an absolute difference (| ω<1> - ω<a> |) is determined between the rotational speed of the specific wheel axle (131) and an average rotational speed (ω<a>) of the other wheel axles and in response to the absolute difference exceeding a threshold value, a friction parameter (µ<m>) is determined reflecting a friction coefficient (µ<e>) between the wheels (121a, 121b) on the specific wheel axle (131) and the rails (181, 182) upon which the rail vehicle (100) travels. The braking procedure is repeated for each of the wheel axles to estimate a respective fraction (m<1>, m<2>, m<n>) of the overall weight (m<tot>) carried by each of said wheel axles.

A rail vehicle (100) has a brake system containing a brake actuator (120) and a brake unit (200). The brake actuator (120) receives a brake command (cmdp) and produces a resulting electric brake-force signal (BF). The brake unit (200) contains first and second pressing members (211) and a rotatable member (110) being mechanically linked to at least one wheel (105) of the rail vehicle (100). When receiving the electric brake-force signal (BF), the brake unit (200) causes the first and second pressing members (211) to apply a braking force to the rotatable member (110). A gear assembly (220) in the brake unit (200) operates mechanically on the first and second pressing members (211). A stepper motor (230), in turn, acts on the gear assembly (120) in response to the electric brake-force signal (BF), thus causing the first and second pressing members (211) to move towards or away from the rotatable member (110) and attain a specified position interrelationship. Based on a position signal (P) indicating an angular position of the stepper motor's (230) power transmission shaft, the brake unit (200) determines if the specified position interrelationship has been attained; and if so, it stops producing the electric brake-force signal (BF) to allow a self-locking mechanism to lock the first and second pressing members (211).

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In a rail vehicle (100) a control unit (140) controls a set of brake/ traction units (101, 161; 102, 162; 103, 163; 104, 164) by control signals (B1, A1; B2, A2; B3, A3; B4, A4) to apply a respective brake/traction force to a respective wheel axle (131, 132, 133, 134 to cause retardation/acceleration of the rail vehicle (100). The control unit (140) obtains a first wheel speed signal (ω₁) indicating a rotational speed of at least one first wheel (121), and obtains a second wheel speed signal (ω_a) indicating an average rotational speed of at least one second wheel (122, 123, 124). The control unit (140) produces a first control signal (BF; A1) to the first brake/ traction unit (101, 161) such that this unit applies a gradually increasing brake/traction force to the first wheel axle (131) until an absolute difference (|ω₁ - ω_a|) between the first and second wheel speed signals (ω₁; ω_a) exceeds a threshold value. In response to the absolute difference (|ω₁ - ω_a|) exceeding the threshold value, the control unit (140) determines a parameter (µ_m) reflecting a friction coefficient (µ_e) between the wheels (121, 122, 123, 124) and a set of rails (181, 182) upon which the rail vehicle (100) travels.

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