Apparatus for improving adhesion of a railway vehicle
AssigneeMitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsJunichi Shigeura, Nobuyoshi Takahashi, Noriyuki Isoda
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Abstract
A sanding apparatus improves adhesion between a railcar wheel and a rail by supplying adhesion intensifying particles to the contact faces. Sand and/or quartz particles, having diameters such that at least 50% of the particles are 100 to 300 micrometers, are mixed with compressed air and jetted at high velocity through a U-shaped storage chamber, out a nozzle, to the wheel-rail contact area. In the nozzle, a compressed air supply pipe surrounds and projects beyond the end of the particle supply pipe to create an air curtain surrounding the jetted particles. A heater, a heat insulation member, or constantly leaking air may be used to prevent freezing in the pipes.
Claims12
An apparatus for supplying adhesion intensifying particles to contacting faces of a wheel and rail, comprising:
- a supply of adhesion intensifying particles, said particles comprising a material selected from the group consisting of silica sand, quartz and a mixture of silica sand and quartz, a diameter of at least 50% of said particles being within a range of 100 to 300 micrometers;
- a U-shaped storage chamber having an upper end of one leg of the U coupled to said supply of particles;
- a nozzle, said nozzle comprising an inner particle supply pipe surrounded by an outer compressed air supply pipe, said particle supply pipe having one end coupled to an upper end of the other leg of the U of said storage chamber, one end of said compressed air supply pipe projecting beyond the other end of said particle supply pipe by a distance within a range of 3 to 8 times an inner diameter of said particle supply pipe, a gap between said particle supply pipe and said air supply pipe being in a range of 0.5 to 1.5 mm;
- and
- a source of compressed air coupled to the other end of said air supply pipe, a pressure of said compressed air being such that a velocity of particles jetted by said nozzle is in a range of 200 to 300 m/sec.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.