Vibration control device for railroad vehicle

A vibration control device for suppressing a vibration of a vehicle body of a railroad vehicle disposed upon a truck, the vibration control device comprising an actuator including:

• a cylinder coupled to one of the truck and the vehicle body of the railroad vehicle;
• a rod inserted in the cylinder and being coupled to the other of the truck and the vehicle body;
• a piston slidably inserted in the cylinder with the rod being coupled to the piston, the piston partitioning the cylinder into a rod-side chamber and a piston-side chamber;
• a tank;
• a first on-off valve disposed at an intermediate position of a first passage communicating between the rod-side chamber and the piston-side chamber;
• a second on-off valve disposed at an intermediate position of a second passage communicating between the piston-side chamber and the tank;
• and
• a pump for supplying fluid to the rod-side chamber,
• wherein a warm-up operation of the actuator is performed by opening the first and second on-off valves and driving the pump after the vibration control device is first started from a stopped state where the railroad vehicle is not in service, and before any transition is made to a normal control mode for suppressing the vibration of the vehicle body after the vibration control device is first started.

A method of vibration control for suppressing a vibration of a vehicle body of a railroad vehicle disposed upon a truck, the method comprising:

• providing a vibration control device having an actuator including:
• a cylinder coupled to one of the truck and the vehicle body of the railroad vehicle;
• a rod inserted in the cylinder and being coupled to the other of the truck and the vehicle body;
• a piston slidably inserted in the cylinder with the rod being coupled to the piston, the piston partitioning the cylinder into a rod-side chamber and a piston-side chamber;
• a tank;
• a first on-off valve disposed at an intermediate position of a first passage communicating between the rod-side chamber and the piston-side chamber;
• a second on-off valve disposed at an intermediate position of a second passage communicating between the piston-side chamber and the tank;
• and
• a pump for supplying fluid to the rod-side chamber;
• controlling a warm-up operation of the actuator by opening the first and second on-off valves and driving the pump after the vibration control device is first started from a stopped state where the railroad vehicle is not in service, and before any transition is made to a normal control mode for suppressing the vibration of the vehicle body after the vibration control device is first started.