Rail vehicle comprising snow plow

Abstract

A rail vehicle has a vehicle body supported in a sprung fashion on bogies. A snow plow has two blade plates that run to a point and a plow blade arranged vertically adjustably behind the blade plates. A projecting portion of the plow blade that projects downwards beyond a lower edge of the blade plates is adjustable. The blade plates rest with their lower edge on a base plate which forms a cutting edge that protrudes from the lower edge in the direction of travel. The snow plow is attached to an under frame of the vehicle body such that the base plate maintains a safety distance from the travel rails. The safety distance is predefined by a maximum spring compression of the vehicle body. The protruding portion of the plow blade is set as a function of the safety distance and of a wear of the wheels of the bogies.

Claims

1. A rail vehicle, comprising: a vehicle body supported in sprung fashion on bogies having rail wheels with wheel tires configured to travel along running rails, said vehicle body having an underframe; buffer elements arranged on a forward end of said underframe and configured for absorbing impact energy through elastic compression of a buffer spring along a first energy absorption path, and deformation elements connecting said buffer elements to said underframe and configured for absorbing impact energy through plastic deformation of a deformation structure along a second energy absorption path a snow plow mounted to said underframe, said snow plow having: two blade plates running to a point in a plow shape, said blade plates having a C-shaped profile and a lower edge, said snow plow being fastened to said underframe so that said point lies behind said first and second energy absorption paths in the direction of travel; a plow blade mounted behind said blade plates in a direction of travel of the rail vehicle, said plow blade being vertically adjustable and projecting downward beyond a lower edge of said blade plates with an adjustable projecting portion; a base plate forming a cutting edge that protrudes forward from said lower edge of said blade plates in the direction of travel, said blade plates resting with said lower edge on said base plate; said snow plow being fastened to said underframe of said vehicle body so that said base plate of said snow plow maintains a safety distance from the running rails, the safety distance being predefined by a maximum spring compression of the vehicle body, and said adjustable projecting portion of said plow blade being set in dependence on the safety distance and on a wear of said wheel tires of said rail wheels of said bogies.

2. The rail vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the rail vehicle is a locomotive and said snow plow is mounted to a forward end of said locomotive.

3. The rail vehicle according to claim 1, which comprises a deflection web integrally formed on an upper edge of said blade plates and projecting in the direction of travel.

4. The rail vehicle according to claim 1, which comprises a plurality of reinforcing ribs extending in the direction of travel and connecting said blade plates to a rear wall extending transversely to the direction of travel.

5. The rail vehicle according to claim 1, comprising lifting positions arranged laterally on said underframe for a lifting device, wherein said blade plates of said snow plow enclose an oblique point angle so that lateral outer edges of said blade plates terminate behind said lifting positions in the direction of travel.

6. The rail vehicle according to claim 1, comprising an antenna device arranged behind said snow plow, and a bracket arranged on a rear wall of said snow plow and disposed to cover said antenna device from above.

7. The rail vehicle according to claim 1, comprising a coupling element arranged on a front of said underframe, and wherein said snow plow is formed with a recess in the region of said point, through which said coupling element is guided.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

(1) Further attributes and advantages of the invention emerge from the following description of a concrete exemplary embodiment based on the drawings, in which

(2) FIG. 1 shows a perspective view from above of a snow plow of an inventive rail vehicle,

(3) FIG. 2 shows a perspective view from below of the snow plow according to FIG. 1,

(4) FIG. 3 shows the snow plow according to FIG. 1 with a blade plate (not shown) and

(5) FIG. 4 shows a schematic side view of the front of an inventive rail vehicle with mounted snow plow.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(6) According to FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 a snow plow 1 comprises, for an inventive rail vehicle 14, in particular for a locomotive, two plow-shaped blade plates 3 running to a point 2, which form a first clearance stage. The blade plates 3 have a C-shaped profile and are arranged in a swept-back manner such that their concave front sides point in the direction of travel 4 of the rail vehicle 14. The straight lower edges 6 of the blade plates 3 lie on a base plate 8 of the snow plow 1, wherein the base plate 8 forms a cutting edge 9 projecting from the lower edges 6 in the direction of travel 4. A deflection web 11 projecting in the direction of travel 4 is integrally formed on an upper edge 10 of the blade plates 3. The blade plates 3 arranged so as to sweep back encompass an obtuse point angle 23 which lies in the range between 110 and 120. At the point 2 both the blade plates 3 abut one another and form a common nose cutting edge 27. At their upper edges 10 the blade plates 3 are cut out in the region of the point 2, in order to form a central recess 26. The snow plow 3 has a rear wall 13 extending transversely to the direction of travel 4, which is connected to the blade plates via a plurality of laminar reinforcing ribs 12 extending in the direction of travel 4. According to FIG. 3 the reinforcing ribs 12 have a front edge following the convex C-profile of the rear sides of the blade plates 3 and a rectangular corner cutout, in order to match the stepped course of the base plate 8. According to the invention the snow plow 1 comprises a vertically adjustable plow blade 5 which is arranged behind the blade plates 3 in the direction of travel 4, for example on the step of the base plate 8. The plow blade 5 is arranged in a swept-back manner and has a series of vertical elongated holes 31, through which it is connected to the base plate 8 in a vertically adjustable manner by means of fastening screws 32. A protruding portion 7 of the plow blade 5 projecting beyond a lower edge 6 of the blade plates 3 is thereby adjustable. The plow blade 5 forms a second clearance stage which is arranged downstream of the first clearance stage and has an adjustable gap height 17 from running rails 15 traversed by the rail vehicle 14. A cover plate 28 lies on the upper edges of the reinforcing ribs 12, so that the snow plow 1 represents an intrinsically rigid structure in the form of a closed box. Arranged on the rear wall 13 of the snow plow 1 is a laminarly formed bracket 25, which projects horizontally backward. Also arranged on the rear wall 13 is a mounting base 29 for screw connections 30 for fastening the snow plow 1 to the rail vehicle.

(7) During snow clearance by the rail vehicle in service the cutting edge 9 of the base plate 8 divides the snow to be cleared into an upper layer of snow and a lower layer of snow. The upper layer of snow is lifted by the C-shaped profiled blade plates 3 of the first clearance stage and is made to rotate by planing on the C-profile of the blade plates 3, until it is deflected forward by the deflection web 11; at the same time the rotating snow is guided away laterally outward by the sweep of the blade plates 3. The plow blade 5 of the downstream, second clearance stage clears at least some of the lower layer of snow from the track, as well as smaller obstacles which were not caught by the first clearance stage.

(8) According to FIG. 4 the snow plow 1 is fastened to an underframe 16 of a vehicle body (not shown) of the rail vehicle 14. The vehicle body is supported via secondary suspension on bogies (likewise not shown) that can travel along running rails 15. The bogies have bogie frames which in turn are supported via primary suspension on wheelsets having rail wheels. Because of the primary and secondary suspension the vehicle bodyand with it the rigidly fastened snow plow 1in particular executes lifting motions along a vehicle vertical axis and pitching motions about a vehicle transverse axis. The snow plow 1 is now fastened to the underframe 16 such that the base plate 8 maintains a safety distance from the running rails 15 predefined by maximum spring compression of the vehicle body, wherein the protruding portion 7 of the plow blade 5 and thus the gap height 17 is set as a function of the safety distance and of wear of the wheel tires of the rail wheels.

(9) The rail vehicle 14 comprises buffer elements 18 arranged on the front of the underframe 16, which are designed to absorb impact energy through elastic compression of a buffer spring (not shown) along a reversible, first energy absorption path 19. A buffer element 18 comprises a buffer head 33, which is attached at the front end of a plunger 34. The plunger 34 can be plunged in the direction of travel 4 against the buffer spring in a buffer receptacle 35. The buffer elements 18 are connected to the underframe 16 via deformation elements 20, which are designed to absorb impact energy through plastic deformation of a deformation structure along a non-reversible, second energy absorption path 21. The deformation structure can be designed in the shape of a truncated pyramid and in the event of a collision is compressed in a controlled manner, forming a series of transverse folds. In order not to interfere with the collision management system consisting of buffer elements 18 and deformation elements 20, the snow plow 1 is fastened to the underframe 16 such that the point 2 lies behind the lined-up energy absorption paths 19 and 21 in the direction of travel 4. The rail vehicle 14 comprises lifting points 22 for a lifting device (not shown) arranged laterally on the underframe 16. So that the lifting points 22 are freely accessible without dismantling the snow plow 1, the blade plates 3 of the snow plow 1 encompass an oblique point angle 23 of for example 115, so that lateral outer edges 24 of the blade plates 3 terminate behind the lifting points 22 in the direction of travel 4. The rail vehicle 14 comprises an antenna device (not shown) which is arranged centrally behind the snow plow 1 and which is covered from above by the bracket 25. The rail vehicle 14 comprises a coupling element (not shown) which is arranged on the front of the underframe 16 and which is guided through the recess 26 arranged in the upper region of the point 2 of the snow plow 1.