Transportation means with water supply device
AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft
InventorsRalph Gaertner, Christian Schneider
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A transportation device, such as a rail vehicle, has a water supply device with a freshwater tank, at least one used water device connected to the freshwater tank and a collecting container connected to the used water device. The collecting container collects and stores used water which comes from the used water device The water supply device includes a control device which, by way of at least one control signal, can predefine one of at least two different operating modes, specifically a normal operating mode and an economy operating mode in which, compared to the normal operating mode, at least one operational resource which is necessary to operate the water supply device is consumed to a lesser extent than in the normal operating mode.
Claims12
A transportation device, comprising:
- a water supply device including a fresh water tank, at least one water usage device connected to said fresh water tank, and a collection container connected to said water usage device for collection and storage of used water from said water usage device;
- said water supply device including a compressed air device that produces compressed air as an operating resource, and wherein pressure generated by said compressed air device forces water from said fresh water tank towards said water usage device and/or from said water usage device towards said collection container;
- said water supply device further including a control device configured to set one of at least two different operating modes by way of a control signal, the operating modes including a normal operating mode and a saving operating mode;
- wherein in the saving operating mode, in comparison with the normal operating mode, compressed air is consumed to a lesser extent than in the normal operating mode;
- and wherein:
- said water supply device includes a control valve connected to said control device, said control valve enabling a working pressure of said compressed air device acting on said fresh water tank and hence a flow of compressed air to be adjustable;
- and
- said control device is configured to cause the control valve to reduce the working pressure from a specified normal pressure to a lower saving pressure if a supply of compressed air reaches or falls below a specified minimum threshold.
A method of operating a water supply device in a transportation device, the water supply device having a fresh water tank, at least one water usage device connected to the fresh water tank, and a collection container connected to the water usage device for collecting and storing used water from the water usage device, the method comprising:
- producing compressed air with a compressed air device and using a pressure generated by the compressed air device to force water from the fresh water tank towards the water usage device and/or from the water usage device towards the collection container;
- issuing a control signal for setting the water supply device to one of at least two different operating modes in dependence on available resources, the different operating modes including a normal operating mode and a saving operating mode;
- and
- operating the water supply device in the saving operating mode by consuming the compressed air to a lesser extent than in the normal operating mode;
- and
- selectively adjusting a flow of compressed air by way of a control valve and causing the control valve to reduce a working pressure from a specified normal pressure to a lower saving pressure if a supply of compressed air reaches or falls below a specified minimum threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.