Rail milling vehicle
OwnerRobert R. Schrunkinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure relates to a rail vehicle that includes a chassis and a rail milling assembly coupled to the chassis. The rail milling assembly includes a bracket for coupling the rail milling assembly to the chassis and a milling workhead forming a portion of the rail milling assembly. The milling workhead including a spindle and a cutter depending downwardly from the spindle. The spindle and cutter are driven by a spindle motor. The milling workhead further includes a cylinder rod disposed between the spindle motor and the spindle to thereby bias the cutter towards the rail during operation.
Claims20
A rail vehicle, comprising:
- a floating rail milling assembly configured to be coupled to a chassis, the floating rail milling assembly floating in relation to a rail, via a pin configured to move both vertically and laterally within a slot defined in a front frame member, the floating rail milling assembly including:
- a plurality of milling workheads, each milling workhead of the plurality of milling workheads forming a portion of the floating rail milling assembly, each milling workhead including:
- a spindle;
- a cutter depending downwardly from the spindle, the spindle and cutter configured to be driven by a spindle motor;
- and
- a cylinder rod disposed between the spindle motor and the spindle and configured to move the cutter towards the rail during operation;
- wherein:
- each cutter of the plurality of milling workheads is independently moveable, via the cylinder rod, towards the rail relative to other cutters of the plurality of milling workheads;
- and
- at least one milling workhead of the plurality of milling workheads is fixed at an angular position relative to the rail.
A rail milling assembly configured to be coupled to a chassis of a rail vehicle, the rail milling assembly comprising:
- a plurality of milling workheads, each milling workhead of the plurality of milling workheads comprising:
- a spindle;
- a cutter depending downwardly from the spindle, the spindle and cutter configured to be driven by a spindle motor;
- and
- a cylinder rod coupled to the spindle motor and the spindle and configured to extend the cutter towards a rail from a stowed position to an extension position, during operation;
- and
- a processor configured to:
- receive a rail profile template corresponding to a desired rail shape;
- based on the rail profile template, calculate an extension distance between the stowed position and the extension position associated with each cutter of the plurality of milling workheads;
- and
- actuate the cylinder rods of the plurality of milling workheads to move a respective cutter of the plurality of milling workheads to the extension positions associated with each cutter;
- wherein each of the plurality of milling workheads is fixed at a unique angle relative to the rail, no two milling workheads being positioned at the same angle.
A method for performing milling operations on rail, the method comprising:
- selecting a rail profile template that corresponds to a desired rail profile of a rail;
- actuating, by a processor, a plurality of milling workheads coupled to a rail vehicle, each milling workhead of the plurality of milling workheads including a spindle and a cutter depending downwardly from the spindle, and a spindle motor coupled to the spindle through a cylinder rod;
- operating the spindle motors of the plurality of milling workheads to drive the spindles and the cutters;
- actuating a first cylinder rod of a first milling workhead relative to the plurality of milling workheads to move a first cutter to a first predetermined position at a first angle relative to the rail that corresponds to the desired rail profile of a rail;
- actuating a second cylinder rod of a second milling workhead of the plurality of milling workheads to move a second cutter to a second predetermined position at a second angle relative to the rail that corresponds to the desired rail profile of a rail;
- and
- performing a rail cutting operation with the first cutter to thereby remove a portion of the rail to form the desired rail profile
- where the first cylinder rod is fixed at the first angle relative to the rail;
- and
- the second cylinder rod is fixed at the second angle relative to the rail.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.