RAIL TREATMENT MACHINE ABLE TO BE MOVED ON RAILS

Abstract

A rail-mounted rail processing machine has at least one traction motor and with at least one working unit for processing tracks, a permanent energy source, an electrical energy storage and a current collector. The components are connected to a common direct current network via power converters. In order to create a rail-mounted rail processing machine that allows low-maintenance and environmentally friendly operation of working aggregates with strongly varying peak loads without having to accept losses in the processing quality, the permanent energy source is a fuel cell which feeds at least one base load of the working unit into the direct current network via one of the power converters. To cover peak loads of at least the working unit, buffer energy of the energy storage acting as a buffer store is feedable into the direct current network via an associated one of the power converters.

Claims

1. Rail-mounted rail processing machine, comprising: at least one traction motor; at least one working unit for processing tracks; a permanent energy source; an electrical energy storage; and a current collector that provides traction current to the traction motor, and the working unit, the permanent energy source, the energy storage, the current collector, the traction motor and the working unit being connected to a common direct current network via power converters, wherein the permanent energy source is a fuel cell, which feeds at least a base load of the working unit into the direct current network via one of the power converters, and wherein, to cover peak loads of at least the working unit, buffer energy of the energy storage acting as a buffer store is feedable into the direct current network via an associated one of the power converters.

2. Rail-mounted rail processing machine according to claim 1, wherein the base load is a value stored on a memory, which can be adapted via a control unit as a function of travelling speed of the rail processing machine, a process temperature and required aggregate power.

3. Rail-mounted rail processing machine according to claim 1, wherein the working unit includes at least one tool, the tool being at least one of: a milling and/or grinding tool, a tool for machining, a tool for forming, a rolling, beating or laser tool, or a tool of a rail head of a rail.

4. Rail-mounted rail processing machine according to claim 1, wherein the traction current provided by the current collector from an overhead line and/or a conductor rail is provided for charging the energy storage and/or for electrically supplying the at least one traction motor.

5. Rail-mounted rail processing machine according to claim 1, wherein connection of the buffer energy or the traction current provided via the current collector uses a battery management system as a function of required power of at least the working unit.

6. Rail-mounted rail processing machine according to claim 1, wherein the rail processing machine is assigned an electrolyser which is suppliable by the traction current provided by the current collector and/or by the buffer energy.

7. Rail-mounted rail processing machine according to claim 1, wherein the electrical energy storage is chargeable via an electromotive brake of the traction motor.

8. Rail-mounted rail processing machine according to claim 7, wherein a heating resistor is associated with the electromotive brake, and wherein waste heat of the heating resistor is supplied to a rail to be processed for pre-tempering the rail.

9. Rail-mounted rail processing machine according to claim 1, wherein waste heat of the fuel cell is supplied to a rail to be processed for pre-tempering the rail.

10. Method for controlling the energy supply of a rail-mounted rail processing machine, having a base load of a working unit covered by a permanent energy source, comprising: connecting an energy storage in order to cover a peak load exceeding the base load of a permanent energy source designed as a fuel cell; and determining a threshold value representing a limit between base load and peak load for a time n predictively as a function of process variables and required aggregate power of a preceding time n-1.

11. Method for controlling the energy supply of a rail-mounted rail processing machine, according to claim 10, wherein the working unit-includes at least one tool, the tool being at least one of: a milling and/or grinding tool, a tool for machining, a tool for forming, a rolling, beating or laser tool, or a tool of a rail head of a rail.

12. Method for controlling the energy supply of a rail-mounted rail processing machine, according to claim 10, wherein the energy storage is chargeable via an electromotive brake of the traction motor.

13. Method for controlling the energy supply of a rail-mounted rail processing machine, according to claim 12, wherein a heating resistor is associated with the electromotive brake, and wherein waste heat of the heating resistor is supplied to a rail to be processed for pre-tempering the rail.

14. Method for controlling the energy supply of a rail-mounted rail processing machine, according to claim 12, wherein waste heat of the fuel cell is supplied to a rail to be processed for pre-tempering the rail.

15. Rail-mounted rail processing machine according to claim 2, wherein the working unit includes at least one tool, the tool being at least one of: a milling and/or grinding tool, a tool for machining, a tool for forming, a rolling, beating or laser tool, or a tool of a rail head of a rail.

16. Rail-mounted rail processing machine according to claim 4, wherein connection of the buffer energy or the traction current provided via the current collector uses a battery management system as a function of required power of at least the working unit.

17. Rail-mounted rail processing machine according to claim 16, wherein the rail processing machine is assigned an electrolyser which is suppliable by the traction current provided by the current collector and/or by the buffer energy.

18. Rail-mounted rail processing machine according to claim 17, wherein the electrical energy storage is chargeable via an electromotive brake of the traction motor.

19. Rail-mounted rail processing machine according to claim 18, wherein a heating resistor is associated with the electromotive brake, and wherein waste heat of the heating resistor is supplied to a rail to be processed for pre-tempering the rail.

20. Rail-mounted rail processing machine according to claim 19, wherein waste heat of the fuel cell is supplied to a rail to be processed for pre-tempering the rail.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The drawing shows a block diagram of the system described herein.

[0014] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a rail-mounted rail processing machine according to the system described herein.

[0015] FIG. 2 a block diagram of a method for controlling an energy supply of a rail-mounted rail processing machine according to the system described herein.

DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

[0016] A rail processing machine that is movable on rails according to the system described herein has a working unit 1 for the processing of rails. A basic load of the working unit 1 is covered by a fuel cell 2. Since mainly machining and forming working units 1, such as milling or grinding tools and rolling, impact or laser tools have strongly varying peak loads, an energy storage 3 acting as a buffer storage is provided for covering peak loads. Although the nominal output of the fuel cell 2 is designed in such a way that the fuel cell 2 may supply both the working unit 1 and traction motors 4 with electricity, additional traction current may be obtained from a conductor rail 5 or an overhead line 6 if the infrastructure is available. The various energy sources (the fuel cell 2, the energy storage 3, the conductor rail 5, the overhead line 6) and consumers (the working unit 1, the traction motors 4, a heating resistor 7) may be connected to a direct current network 9 via power converters 8. Depending on the energy source 2, 3, 5, 6 or consumers 1, 4, 7, different power converters 8 may be used, so that a desired voltage of the direct current network 9 may be achieved. For example, if the overhead line 6 has an AC voltage of 25 kV/50 Hz, for example, the voltage must first be transformed by a transformer 10 to an AC voltage of 400 V/50 Hz, for example, before the voltage is brought to a desired DC voltage, for example 750 V, of the direct current network 9 by the power converter 8. It is advantageous that the fuel cell 2 supplies the working unit 1 without intermediate storage or actuators, which minimizes efficiency losses caused by storage or conversion.

[0017] In order to be able to charge the energy storage 3 during a transfer or working trip, traction current of the conductor rail 5 and/or the overhead line 6 may be provided by a current collector C.

[0018] Since the fuel cell 2 may not immediately provide rated power of the fuel cell 2 when starting up, any base or peak loads may be covered by the energy storage 3 used as a buffer storage unit, by the conductor rail 5, or by the overhead line 6 until the rated power is reached. In order to achieve a continuous and coordinated transition of these energy sources 2, 3, 5, 6, a battery management system 11 may be used, which is connected, for example via a bus system, to the energy sources 2, 3, 5, 6 and to the consumers 1, 4, 7 under constant power measurement. The battery management system 11 may switch various connected components on or off without interruption. This automatic switchover is provided for, for example, in the event of failure of the fuel cell 2, the conductor rail 5, or the overhead line 6 if one of the energy sources 2, 3, 5, 6 fails.

[0019] The base load may be a variable value stored in a memory 12, which may be adapted via a control unit 13 depending on the travel speed of the rail processing machine, the process temperature and the required aggregate power. The control unit 13 may be actively connected to the battery management system 11 or may be the battery management system 11 itself.

[0020] Advantageously, the traction motors 4 may act as an electromotive brake and thus charge the energy storage 3. If the energy storage 3 is already fully charged, the excess energy may be diverted to the heating resistor 7 and the waste heat may be used to temper the rail.

[0021] FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a method for controlling the energy supply of the rail-mounted rail processing machine. In order to be able to calculate an optimum ratio between the energy provided by the fuel cell 2 and the energy provided by the energy storage 3 with regard to a maximum overall efficiency, a predictive model calculation 14 may be carried out on the control unit 13. The predictive model calculation 14 calculates a threshold value, which represents the limit between base load and peak load, for a time n. This means that at a certain required actual load, by changing the threshold value, the ratio between the proportion of energy provided by the fuel cell 2 and that provided by the energy storage 3 may be adjusted. The threshold value at time n may be calculated depending on process variables 15 and an aggregate power 16 at time n-1. Disturbance variables 17 may also be included in the model calculation 14, which is continuously optimized using a machine learning algorithm 18. The machine learning algorithm 18 compares measured data 19 with the data calculated by the model calculation 14. In a particularly preferred design, a traction current 20 provided by the overhead line 6 or the conductor rail 5 may also be added to the electrical supply.

[0022] The system described herein is not restricted to the described embodiments. It may be varied within the scope of the claims, taking into account the knowledge of the relevant person skilled in the art. Other embodiments of the system described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the specification and/or an attempt to put into practice the system described herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as illustrative only, with the true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.