EP1897775B1

EP1897775B1 - Railway vehicle with energy absorbing structure

Info

Publication number: EP1897775B1
Application number: EP07250099A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Takeshi Hitachi Ltd. IP Group Kawasaki; Toshihiko Hitachi Ltd. IP Group Mochida; Toshiharu Hitachi Ltd. IP Group Miyamoto; Hideyuki Hitachi Ltd. IP Group Nakamura; Takashi Hitachi Ltd. IP Group Yamaguchi
Original assignee: Hitachi Ltd
Current assignee: Hitachi Ltd
Priority date: 2006-09-08
Filing date: 2007-01-11
Publication date: 2012-07-04
Anticipated expiration: 2027-01-11
Also published as: KR100836090B1; JP2008062817A; JP5092323B2; EP1897775A1; KR20080023086A; US20080060544A1; CN101138981A; CN101138981B

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to an energy absorbing structure of railway vehicles such as railway cars and monorail cars.

Description of the related art

A railway vehicle may collide unexpectedly with objects during normal operation. Possible objects that the vehicle may unexpectedly collide with include large objects such as road vehicles, trees and railway cars, and small obj ects such as rocks, snowballs and parts from oncoming vehicles. Further, the speed during collision may range from high speed to low speed.
We will now consider a case in which the railway vehicle collides with a large object at high speed. When the railway vehicle collides with a large object at high speed, a large load is applied on the railway car with a large impact. In order to protect the crew and passengers on board the transport machine from such impact, it is necessary to absorb the energy of collision by allowing a portion of the structure of the transport machine to be easily deformed.
The above concept provides in the structure of the railway vehicle a space where the crew and passengers exist and which is aimed at preventing the structure of the railway vehicle from crushing during collision with an object (hereinafter called a survival zone), and a space aimed at absorbing the energy of collision by allowing the structure of the railway vehicle to be easily deformed during collision with an object (hereinafter called a crushable zone), which are provided in a separate manner.
On the other hand, we will consider a case in which the railway vehicle collides with a large object at low speed. If the railway car collides with a large object at low speed, the impact acting on the car body is very small compared to when the railway car collides at high speed. Therefore, unlike the collision occurring at high speed, the safety of the crew and passengers can be ensured without having to intendedly absorb the energy acting on the car body during collision. On the contrary, it is preferable for the car body not to have a too rigid structure so that it will be deformed by the load acting on the car body during high speed collision.
Furthermore, when beam members are subjected to deformation, it is preferable for the direction of deformation or the starting point of deformation to be controlled.
Amar Ainoussa; A crashworthy high speed aluminum train: the west coast main line class 390 tilting train, Proc. Imech E Conf., "What can we realistically expect from crashworthiness?", (2001) (non-patent document 1) discloses an example of a structure in which an incoming object protector panel is disposed at a front end in the longitudinal direction or the direction of the rail of a car body, and having an energy absorbing member arranged adjacent to the protector panel.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-168218 (patent document 1) teaches that an energy absorbing structure having hollow extruded shape members made of aluminum alloy disposed on four sides is capable of absorbing energy efficiently.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-67952 , No. 2001-88698 and No. 2001-26268 ( patent documents 2, 3 and 4) teach the art of absorbing energy by forming holes on the face plate of the energy absorbing member.
EP-A-0581707 shows a railway vehicle having an energy-absorbing structure at one end of the vehicle, which end is to be attached to another vehicle. The deformable energy-absorbing structure has a mobile frame at the vehicle end having upper and lower transverse members joined by vertical members, and a fixed frame spaced therefrom and having a rigid arch conforming to the vehicle shape and a lower transverse member. The frames are joined by longitudinal beams connecting the lower transverse members and two longitudinal beams joining the upper transverse member of the mobile frame to the arch of the fixed frame. These beams have double-web I profile and have oblong holes spaced along each web, so that the beams can collapse in their longitudinal direction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

As described, it is desirable to provide a structure capable of absorbing the energy by allowing to be easily deformed when a load greater than a certain level is applied, while not deforming when a load smaller than a certain level is applied.
The above object can be achieved by a railway vehicle as set out in claim 1.
According to the arrangement of the invention, when a collision load is applied on the front end of a vehicle, the load is applied via a strength member to rib members. The rib members are buckled at the notched portions. The buckled rib members will not be bent toward the outer panel, so that the collision energy can be absorbed without having the outer panel interfere with the buckling.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the railway vehicle;
FIG. 2 is a side view showing an end portion of the car body of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a rib member according to one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a view taken from arrow IV of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 shows a deformed view of the rib member of FIGS. 3 and 4;
FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a hole 21b according to another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the rib member utilizing the hole of FIG. 6; and
FIG. 8 is a view taken from arrow IX of FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Now, the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[Embodiment 1]

A first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a railway vehicle is described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 6.
First, the structure of a railway vehicle is described with reference to FIG. 1. According to FIG. 1, a car body structure 1 of a railway vehicle is composed of a roof structure 2 constituting the roof thereof, end structures 3 constituting the sides closing the longitudinal ends of the car body, side structures 4 constituting the left and right side walls with respect to the longitudinal direction of the car body, and an underframe strength member 5 constituting the floor of the car body. The side structure 4 has windows Wand openings for exists.
The car body structure 1 is composed of a survival zone 10 for protecting the lives of passengers and crews during collision, and a crushable zone 11 for absorbing the energy generated during collision. The survival zone 10 is disposed at the longitudinal center of the vehicle.
The crushable zones 11 are formed at both longitudinal ends of the vehicle, arranged so as to sandwich the survival zone.
In the present drawing, the car body structure is explained using as an example a middle car that does not have a driving device, but also in a car having a driving device, the relative arrangements of the crushable zones 11 and the survival zone 10 are the same.
FIG. 2 shows a side view of the crushable zone 11. This crushable zone 11 is disposed at the rear end of a leading car, and at longitudinal ends of a middle car of a railway car formation (or at connecting portions facing front and rear cars).
The main components constituting the crushable zone 11 include front and rear strength members 15 and 16 constituting the crew cabin of the crushable zone 11 (so-called a corner strut, a post or the like), rib members 17 connecting the front and rear strength members 15 and 16, and an outer panel 18 covering the outer side of the strength members 15, 16 and rib members 17.
The rib members 17 are disposed along the longitudinal direction of the car body. They are not slanted. The strength members 15 and 16 are disposed along the perpendicular direction on the sides of the car body, and also disposed along the roof.
In FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, the rib member 17 has a U-shaped cross-section, and an outer panel 18 is attached via fillet welding to the web 17b of the U-shaped cross-section. The fillet welding can be performed either continuously or discontinuously. Flanges 17c and 17d are disposed on both sides of the web 17b. Notches 21 are provided on flanges 17c and 17d at the longitudinal center area of the rib member 17. The notches 21 are formed to open on the ends of the flanges 17c and 17d.
Further, holes 22, 22 are formed near the longitudinal ends of the web 17b (on the surface facing the outer panel).
According to such configuration, when a load greater than a certain level (impact load) is applied on the strength member 15 along the longitudinal direction of the car, the strength member 15 and the outer panel 18 on the outer side thereof are deformed to absorb the energy, but on the other hand, when a load smaller than the certain level is applied, they are not deformed.
When a load greater than a certain level (hereinafter referred to as excessive load) is applied, the rib members 17 start to deform from the portion having the notches 21 provided at the longitudinal center thereof. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the deformation is progressed so that the side having the notches 21 is valley-folded. Since the outer panel 18 is disposed on the opposite side from the valley-folded side, the outer panel will not interfere with the valley-fold even if the notches 21 are folded, so that the deformation results in absorbing the energy.
Since openings 22 and 23 are provided on the web 17b near the longitudinal ends of the U-shaped rib member 17, the whole rib member 17 deforms so that the web 17b is gabled, as shown in FIG. 5. Therefore, the outer panel 18 deforms in a protruded shape with respect to the outer side of the car. If such deformation does not occur and local buckling occurs continuously, according to which the deformation direction cannot be controlled, a large uncrushed area may remain, and it will not be possible to ensure an effective crush. Even further, if the car deforms toward the inner side of the car body, it may affect the crew and passengers. Therefore, it is very effective to control the deformation so that the deformed portion projects toward the outer side of the car body.

[Embodiment 2]

According to the first embodiment, the web 17b of the rib member 17 having a U-shaped cross-section is welded to the outer panel 18, but as illustrated in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, it is also possible to weld the outer panel 18 onto the ends of the flanges 17c and 17d. This way, the welding can be performed easily.
In this case, a long hole 22b corresponding to the notch 21 of Fig. 3 provided at the longitudinal center area of the rib member 17 is formed at the connecting portion between the web 17b and the flange 17c (17d). This is because the connecting portion has intense strength.
In FIG. 6, the rib member 17 is formed by bending the member at the width-direction center of the long hole 22b, so as to create the web 17b and the flange 17c or the flange 17d. For example, the width of the long hole 22b is approximately 40 mm.
FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate the rib member 17 formed by the above method. The holes 22b correspond to the notches 21 of FIG. 3. The notches 21b and 21c correspond to the holes 22 and 23 of FIG. 3. The notches 21b and 21c are formed to open from the end of flanges 17c and 17d.

Claims

A railway car, for connecting to another railway car in a railway car formation, said railway car having:
a car body (1), having side walls and a roof (2), and having
a survival zone (10), for protecting the lives of passengers and crew during collision, disposed at the longitudinal centre of the car body, and
a crushable zone (11), for absorbing the energy of collision, the crushable zone being easily deformed relative to the survival zone, and being at an end of the car body intended to be connected to another railway car,

wherein the crushable zone has:
two strength members (15, 16), each disposed along the side walls of the car body perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the car body and along the roof, a first strength member (15) being disposed toward the end of the car body intended to be connected to another railway car, and a second strength member (16) disposed toward the longitudinal centre of the car body relative to the first member;

a plurality of rib members (17), each rib member being welded to both the first and second strength members, wherein the longitudinal direction of each rib member is disposed along the longitudinal direction of the car body, and wherein each rib member is composed of two flanges (17c, 17d) and a web (17b) connecting the two flanges; and

an outer panel (18) covering the rib members and the two strength members; and wherein
(a) the web of each rib member is welded via fillet welding to the outer panel and
at the longitudinal centre area of the rib member each flange has a notch (21) that opens to the edge of the flange; and
between the longitudinal centre area and each longitudinal end of the rib member, the web has a hole (22, 23).
or

(b) the edge of each flange of each rib member is welded via fillet welding to the outer panel; and
the longitudinal centre area of each rib member has a hole (22b) at a connecting portion between the web and the flange;
between the longitudinal centre area and each longitudinal end of each rib member, each flange has a notch (21b, 21c) which opens to the edge of the flange.