VEHICLE FOR PASSENGER TRANSPORT WITH A PRESSURE PROTECTION DEVICE

Abstract

A passenger transport vehicle includes an air opening connecting an environment having external pressure, to a vehicle interior for people having interior pressure. A flap opens or closes the opening and a pressure protection facility controls the flap. The pressure protection facility has a measuring apparatus detecting pressure difference between external pressure at an external pressure connection and interior pressure at an interior pressure connection, of the measuring device. A pressure evaluation facility, which monitors pressure difference values from the measuring apparatus, closes of the flap when the pressure difference reaches a predefined closing threshold value, and opens the flap if the pressure difference reaches a predefined opening threshold value. When the flap is opened, the pressure differential is formed at the measuring apparatus from the external pressure and a reference interior pressure provided by a reference apparatus simulating interior pressure behavior of the vehicle with the flap closed.

Claims

1.-9. (canceled)

10. A vehicle for passenger transport, the vehicle comprising: at least one air opening connecting an environment of the vehicle having an external pressure, to an interior of the vehicle having an internal pressure and being provided for accommodating passengers; at least one pressure protection flap for opening or closing said air opening; a pressure protection facility for controlling said at least one pressure protection flap, said pressure protection facility having a measuring apparatus including an external pressure connection and an internal pressure connection, said measuring apparatus configured for detecting a pressure differential between the external pressure prevailing at said external pressure connection and the internal pressure prevailing at said internal pressure connection, and said pressure protection facility having a pressure evaluation facility for monitoring pressure differential values supplied by said measuring apparatus; said pressure evaluation facility configured to trigger a closing of said at least one pressure protection flap upon the pressure differential reaching a predetermined closing threshold value and configured to trigger an opening of said at least one pressure protection flap upon the pressure differential reaching a predetermined opening threshold value; a reference apparatus providing a reference internal pressure simulating an internal pressure behavior of the vehicle upon said at least one pressure protection flap being closed; and said pressure protection facility configured to cause the pressure differential to be formed at said measuring apparatus from the external pressure and the reference internal pressure, upon said at least one pressure protection flap being open.

11. The vehicle according to claim 10, wherein said reference apparatus includes an external air connection connected to the environment of the vehicle for simulating the internal pressure, an air reservoir for simulating the interior of the vehicle and a throttle valve for simulating a leakage of the interior of the vehicle, said air reservoir having one side connected via said throttle valve to said external air connection and another side connected to said internal pressure connection of said measuring apparatus.

12. The vehicle according to claim 11, which further comprises a filter disposed between said throttle valve and said external air connection.

13. The vehicle according to claim 11, wherein said throttle valve is constructed as a capillary having at least one of an adjustable effective length or an adjustable effective inner diameter.

14. The vehicle according to claim 13, wherein said adjustable effective inner diameter is 0.13-0.75 mm and said adjustable effective length has a total length of 2-30 cm.

15. The vehicle according to claim 10, which further comprises a switchable solenoid valve connecting said inner pressure connection of said measuring apparatus to the interior of the vehicle, said pressure evaluation facility being configured to open said switchable solenoid valve upon said at least one pressure protection flap being closed, to form the pressure differential at said measuring apparatus from the external pressure and an actual internal pressure in the interior of the vehicle.

16. The vehicle according to claim 15, which further comprises a sound damper disposed between said switchable solenoid valve and the interior of the vehicle.

17. The vehicle according to claim 10, wherein said air opening is constructed as a fresh air opening or an exhaust air opening.

18. The vehicle according to claim 10, wherein said at least one air opening includes a plurality of air openings, said at least one pressure protection flap includes a plurality of pressure protection flaps each associated with a different respective one of said air openings, and said pressure protection flaps are jointly controlled by said pressure protection facility via a control line.

19. The vehicle according to claim 10, wherein said measuring apparatus is one of two measuring apparatuses each disposed on a respective one of two sides of the vehicle, and a connecting line connects said external pressure connection of said measuring apparatus on one side of the vehicle in terms of flow to said external pressure connection of said measuring apparatus on another side of the vehicle.

Description

[0026] FIG. 1 shows a schematic circuit diagram of a pressure protection facility for a vehicle and

[0027] FIG. 2 shows a schematic side view of the pressure protection facility of FIG. 1.

[0028] FIG. 1 illustrates a pressure protection facility, wherein a right-hand side of FIG. 1 is assigned to a right-hand side and a left-hand side of FIG. 1 is assigned to a left-hand side of a vehicle for passenger transport. The vehicle may in particular be a rail vehicle, for example a high-speed train. The central element of the pressure protection facility is a pressure evaluation facility 1 which is common to both sides of the vehicle and has the task of detecting critical pressure events, such as those that occur when a high-speed train enters a tunnel to the extent that the external pressure of the vehicle increases abruptly. In order to prevent pressure surges in an interior I of the vehicle, which is provided for accommodating passengers, the pressure evaluation facility 1 controls pressure protection flaps 2. The pressure protection flaps 2 are each assigned to air openings of the vehicle which enable an exchange of air between the environment of the vehicle U and the vehicle interior I. For example, the air openings are fresh air openings, via which fresh air can typically be drawn in for an intended air conditioning system of the vehicle, or exhaust air openings, via which air originating from the interior I can be discharged from the vehicle. All of these air openings must be closed when a critical pressure event occurs.

[0029] In order to detect a critical pressure event, in the present exemplary embodiment the pressure evaluation facility 1 is connected to two measuring apparatuses 3, which can be designed as pressure differential sensors and transmit via signal lines 4 currently measured pressure differential values to the pressure evaluation facility 1 shared by both sides of the vehicle.

[0030] On the open route, the pressure protection flaps 2 are open so that an air conditioning arrangement, which is provided on the vehicle and comprises the air conditioning system, various air conditioning ducts, supply and exhaust fans, can work in normal operation.

[0031] On the open route with the pressure protection flaps 2 fully open, the pressure protection facility operates as follows: on one respective side of the vehicle, the measuring apparatus 3 is connected to the environment U of the vehicle via an external pressure connection 5. A reference apparatus 7, which comprises an air reservoir 8, an adjustable throttle valve 9 and a filter 10, is arranged between an internal pressure connection 6 of the measuring apparatus 3 and the environment U of the vehicle. One side of the air reservoir 8, which simulates the interior I, is connected to the internal pressure connection 6 of the measuring apparatus 3 via lines 11 and 17, while the other side of the air reservoir 8 is connected to the environment U via the throttle valve 9 and the filter 10. The adjustable throttle valve 9 simulates a typical leakage of the interior I, while the filter 10 has the task of keeping impurities originating from the environment U of the vehicle away from the throttle valve 9. The throttle valve 9 is preferably designed as a capillary, the length and/or diameter of which can be adjusted so that it can reproduce very low leakage values, such as those found in modern high-speed trains, which are essentially pressure-tight. As a result, the pressure differential values provided by the measuring apparatus 3 with the pressure protection flaps 2 open are based on the actually prevailing external pressure in the environment U of the vehicle and an internal pressure simulated with the aid of the reference apparatus 7 under the boundary condition that the pressure protection flaps 2 are closed. This allows higher pressure differentials to be measured when the pressure protection flaps 2 are (still) open.

[0032] When entering a tunnel, the pressure differential values measured by the measuring apparatus 3 rise abruptly so that a predefined closing threshold value for the pressure protection flaps 2 is reached. The pressure evaluation facility 1 detects this and triggers the closing of the pressure protection flaps 2 on both sides of the vehicle. With the critical pressure event that is detected in this way, the value which is used in the pressure differential measurement for the internal pressure at the internal pressure connection 6 changes. Solenoid valves 13 assigned to a particular side of the vehicle are opened via an electrical control line 12. These solenoid valves 13 have an interior connection 14 which is assigned to the interior I and is connected in terms of flow to the interior I via a sound damper 15. A connection 16 of the solenoid valves 13 facing away from the interior I is connected both via lines 19 and 11 directly to the air reservoir 8 and via lines 19 and 17 to the internal pressure connection 6 of the measuring apparatus 3. In this respect, when the solenoid valve 13 is open, the pressure actually prevailing in the interior I is present at the interior connection 6, so that the pressure differential value supplied by the measuring apparatus 3 is based on a real external pressure in the environment U of the vehicle and a real internal pressure in the passenger compartment I of the vehicle.

[0033] As the pressure equalization progresses, the values for the pressure differential provided by the measuring apparatus 3 decrease. When a predefined opening threshold value for the pressure differential is reached, the pressure evaluation facility 1 triggers an opening of the pressure protection flap 2 and automatically closes the solenoid valves 13 via the electrical control line 12.

[0034] In a modified embodiment of the invention, the external pressure connection 5 of the measuring apparatus 3 on one side of the vehicle can be connected in terms of flow to the external pressure connection 5 of the measuring apparatus 3 on the other side of the vehicle via a connecting line 18 shown in FIG. 1. Since this compensates for one-sided pressure events (such as a train being encountered on an open track) and therefore no false triggering of the pressure evaluation facility 1 occurs, a measuring apparatus 3 can be omitted or provided as redundant.

[0035] It should be emphasized that, as described in FIG. 1, the pressure evaluation facility 1 can be designed to control multiple pressure protection flaps 2. However, it is also possible that a separate pressure evaluation facility 1 is provided for each individual pressure protection flap, irrespective of which type of air opening between the environment U and the interior I it is assigned to.

[0036] FIG. 2 shows a part of the pressure protection facility explained with reference to FIG. 1 in its spatial configuration. The air reservoir 8, one side of which is connected to the environment U of the vehicle via the throttle valve 9 and the filter 10, is located in a central position. The other side of the air reservoir 8 is connected to the internal pressure connection 6 of the measuring apparatus 3 via the line 11. Furthermore, the latter side of the air reservoir 8 is connected to the solenoid valve 13 in terms of flow, and namely via line 19.

[0037] The design of the throttle valve 9 as a capillary should be emphasized. The internal diameter and length of the capillary 9 are selected depending on the volume of the air reservoir 8 used so that the leakage area per volume corresponds to the behavior of the actual volume of the interior of the vehicle I with the characteristic leakage areas when the pressure protection flaps 2 are closed.