Process for screwing and unscrewing the tie screws of a railroad and machine for implementing the process
AssigneeScheuchzer S.A.
InventorsAntoine Scheuchzer, Gerard Schelling, Christian Wenger, Gerard Sauterel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A process and vehicle for automatically screwing and unscrewing tie screws performed by the vehicle moving continuously along a track. This invention makes it possible to detect and determine the relative position of a tie screw with respect to a tie screw fastening head by optoelectronic devices and to set, if appropriate, the inclination of the tie screw fastening head. The tie screw fastening head is positioned above the tie screw and a tie screw fastening cycle is engaged for each tie screw. The tie screw fastening heads then hop from one work position to another, performing this process.
Claims11
A process for automatically screwing and unscrewing, a tie screw of a railroad according to which a vehicle advances continuously along a track and carries, a tie screw fastening head which can be moved with respect to said vehicle, as well as a tie screw detection device, wherein the relative position of the tie screw with respect to the tie screw fastening head is determined as follows:
- a. an orthogonal reference base XYZ is defined, X being parallel to a rail, Y parallel to a tie and Z perpendicular to the XY plane;
- b. the position of the vehicle on the track is measured continually with respect to the orthoqonal reference base;
- c. the relative position of the tie screw fastening head is measured continually with respect to the vehicle;
- d. the position of the tie screw is detected, calculated with respect to the orthogonal reference base and stored in memory;
- e. the deviation in position between the tie screw and the tie screw fastening head is calculated continually.
A vehicle for automatically screwing and unscrewing a tie screw of a railroad, comprising:
- means enabling said vehicle to move along a track;
- means for detecting, determining and storing in memory the position of the tie screw, as well as means for continually calculating the deviation in position between the tie screw and a tie screw fastening head;
- a module, equipped with the tie screw fastening head, said module being designed so as to be movable with respect to the vehicle in a direction parallel to a rail, said tie screw fastening head being furnished with means for being moved in an X direction parallel to the rail, in a Y direction parallel to a tie, in a Z direction perpendicular to a plane defined by the X and Y directions and angularly with respect to the Z direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.