Equipment Mountable Bearing Adapters and Techniques for use to Retrofit Railcars

Abstract

Example embodiments relate to custom bearing adapters and techniques for retrofitting a railway vehicle with a bearing adapter to enable one or more accessories to be coupled to the axle of the railway vehicle. An example bearing adapter can include an upper structure configured to extend over an upper portion of a rail bearing coupled to an axle of the railway vehicle and one or more mounting elements located on the upper structure that are configured to enable the accessory to be coupled onto the railway vehicle. In some cases, the bearing adapter can further include a lower structure configured to extend below a lower portion and a set of fasteners configured to couple the structure and the lower structure in a fixed position around the rail bearing to form a mount for coupling the accessory to the drive axle of the railway vehicle. In some instances, the accessory is a motor, sensor, or braking component.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.