摘要:
An autonomous ballast consist for unloading ballast along a railway and methods for unloading ballast thereby. The consist 10 includes a plurality of ballast cars and at least one control car 16. The control car 16 includes a controller, a navigation system, and electric, hydraulic, or pneumatic generators that power the hopper cars 18. The controller employs the navigation system to determine the location of the consist 10 relative to a track survey indicating locations and amounts of ballast to be unloaded. The controller instructs the hopper cars to open/close ballast doors to dump appropriate amounts of ballast in desired locations. The controller also monitors the status of the hopper cars 18 and the accuracy of the navigation system to automatically adjust the operational state of the consist relative thereto. The unloading operation is carried out automatically, without need for operator intervention, and without risk of damage to railroad facilities.
摘要:
A rail guide for loading railroad rails onto a rail train. The rail guide includes a guide beam disposed to depend vertically downward over each shelf in a rack on a rack car. The guide beam extends substantially the length of the rack car and is coupled to a corresponding guide beam of an adjacent car via a bridge that is configured to accommodate relative movement between the cars. A shoe is provided that is coupled to a leading end of a rail to be loaded. The shoe includes a follower that engages the guide beam to guide a rail being loaded along a path defined by the guide beam. The guide beam can provide vertical and lateral support to the leading end of the rail during loading.
摘要:
A system (100) and method for operating a ballast car hopper door (20) includes logic and control circuitry (26), a hydraulic actuator (22), a door position sensor (126), and one or more sensors operable to measure system operational parameters. During normal operation of the hopper door the logic and control circuitry records the system operational parameters.
摘要:
A method of surveying a section of a railway to determine amounts of ballast to be replaced keyed to position coordinates of track locations includes moving a survey vehicle along the railway, optically scanning the track at selected intervals to obtain optical data points with associated position coordinates, recording images at the intervals with position coordinates, recording position coordinates of no-spread zones, processing the optical data points to derive ballast unit weights associated with locations along the track, detecting anomalous unit weights, accessing images associated with the locations of the anomalous unit weights, accessing the anomalous unit weights to adjust as necessary, and loading the adjusted data into a computer of a ballast train to control the application of replacement ballast along the track according to the detected position of the ballast train.
摘要:
A rail-lifting and ballast-spreading apparatus (10) that may be employed to rehabilitate damaged tracks or aid rough in of new tracks, is described. The apparatus includes a track-lifting unit (32) at a forward end thereof that includes an arm (34) that is pivotable to extend forwardly and over a section of track in need of repair or ballast replenishment. Rail clamps (38) are provided on a distal end of the arm (34) that engage and travel along the rails as the apparatus moves forward. A conveyor (16) provides a stream of ballast across the width of the tracks while the tracks are lifted and as the apparatus moves forward onto the now repaired tracks.
摘要:
An articulated rail-transport car for transporting long sections of ribbon rail is described. The car includes a plurality of segments arranged end-to-end and coupled and supported at their adjacent ends by shared trucks. Dedicated trucks are provided near each terminal end of the car and couplers configured to couple to an adjacent rail car are provided at the respective terminal ends. Rail stands are disposed along the length of the car with a spacing that is independent of the locations of the shared and dedicated trucks and that provides a greater number of rail stands than trucks. The segments may be configured to enable interchangeability and to allow any number of the segments to be included in the car. A plurality of the cars can be coupled to enable transport of ribbon rails of any length.
摘要:
A guide box for a rail loading and unloading machine. The guide box guides a rail from a ground location toward a drive unit and can be provided with actuators to enable steering of the rail. The guide box includes a base roller that underlies a rail path through the guide box. An arm extends upwardly along each side of the rail path and carries a guide roller. The arms are pivotable toward one another to abut the guide rollers over the rail path and thereby capture the rail between the guide rollers and the base roller or away from one another to enable insertion of a rail therebetween. The guide rollers are vertically pivotable to enable obstructions on the rail to pass through the guide box.
摘要:
A material transport and distribution consist including an offloading car, a generator car, and hopper cars. The offloading car includes a rotatable conveyor that can offload materials forward of and to the sides of the car. The generator car powers a plurality of hopper car conveyors. The hopper cars include a longitudinal conveyor that overlaps with conveyors of forward- and aft-located cars to enable transport of materials between cars and while the cars are negotiating a turn in the tracks. The hopper car hoppers are divided into chutes with respective guillotine-style gates. Each gate includes a resilient panel that flexes to enable closure of the gate without binding on materials exiting therefrom. A control system is provided to manage the gates and conveyors during offloading based on sensed characteristics of the operation thereof. An interlock system is also provided to initiate a cascading shutdown routine when a fault is detected.
摘要:
A material transport and distribution consist including an offloading car, a generator car, and hopper cars. The offloading car includes a rotatable conveyor that can offload materials forward of and to the sides of the car. The generator car powers a plurality of hopper car conveyors. The hopper cars include a longitudinal conveyor that overlaps with conveyors of forward- and aft-located cars to enable transport of materials between cars and while the cars are negotiating a turn in the tracks. The hopper car hoppers are divided into chutes with respective guillotine-style gates. Each gate includes a resilient panel that flexes to enable closure of the gate without binding on materials exiting therefrom. A control system is provided to manage the gates and conveyors during offloading based on sensed characteristics of the operation thereof. An interlock system is also provided to initiate a cascading shutdown routine when a fault is detected.