Method of operating a tamping unit of a track maintenance machine, and a tamping device for ballast bed consolidation, and a track maintenance machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11834794-B2
Application number	US-201816763133-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 20, 2018
Priority date	Dec 21, 2017
Publication date	Dec 5, 2023
Grant date	Dec 5, 2023

Abstract

In a method of operating a tamping unit of a track maintenance machine, the track maintenance machine having the tamping unit is first provided on a track bed. The tamping unit is displaced relative to the track bed. A driving force, acting on the tamping unit and required for the displacement, and acceleration acting on the tamping unit are determined. A ballast force acting between the tamping unit and the track bed is determined by way of the driving force and the acceleration, and is evaluated.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of operating a tamping unit of a track maintenance machine, which comprises the steps of:
providing on a track bed the track maintenance machine having a tamping unit;
displacing the tamping unit relative to the track bed;
determining a driving force acting on the tamping unit and required for a displacement;
determining an acceleration acting on the tamping unit;
determining a ballast force, acting between the tamping unit and the track bed, by way of the driving force and the acceleration;
evaluating the ballast force, wherein the evaluating takes place in such a way that a strain acting on the tamping unit is determined by way of the ballast force; and
determining a wear condition of the tamping unit based on the strain.

2. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises determining the acceleration by measuring a temporal change of a position of the tamping unit.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein for determining the ballast force, an inertial force acting on the tamping unit is determined by means of the acceleration.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the displacement of the tamping unit occurs by means of a fluidically operated drive device, wherein at least one fluid pressure acting on the fluidically operated drive device is measured for determining the driving force.

5. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises determining the strain by way of a temporal progression of the ballast force.

6. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises determining the strain by means of ballast force amplitudes of the ballast force.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein for determining the strain, a load spectrum is determined by way of a cumulative frequency of the ballast force amplitudes.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein for determining the strain, a ballast work is determined from the ballast force and a change of a position of the tamping unit.

9. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises setting at least one process parameter for controlling the tamping unit in dependence on the strain.

10. A method of operating a tamping unit of a track maintenance machine, which comprises the steps of:
providing on a track bed the track maintenance machine having a tamping unit;
displacing the tamping unit relative to the track bed;
determining a driving force acting on the tamping unit and required for a displacement;
determining an acceleration acting on the tamping unit;
determining a ballast force, acting between the tamping unit and the track bed, by way of the driving force and the acceleration;
evaluating the ballast force, wherein the evaluating takes place in such a way that a strain acting on the tamping unit is determined by way of the ballast force;
setting at least one process parameter for controlling the tamping unit in dependence on the strain; and
changing the at least one process parameter when a threshold value of the strain is exceeded or fallen below.

11. A method of operating a tamping unit of a track maintenance machine, which comprises the steps of:
providing on a track bed the track maintenance machine having a tamping unit;
displacing the tamping unit relative to the track bed;
determining a driving force acting on the tamping unit and required for a displacement;
determining an acceleration acting on the tamping unit;
determining a ballast force, acting between the tamping unit and the track bed, by way of the driving force and the acceleration;
evaluating the ballast force, wherein the evaluating takes place in such a way that a strain acting on the tamping unit is determined by way of the ballast force;
setting at least one process parameter for controlling the tamping unit in dependence on the strain; and
setting the at least one process parameter such that the strain does not exceed a strain limit value.

12. A tamping device for track bed consolidation, the tamping device comprising:
a unit carrier;
a tamping machine supported on said unit carrier;
a driver for providing a driving force and for displacing said tamping machine relative to said unit carrier;
a driving force sensor system for detecting a first measuring value corresponding to the driving force;
an acceleration sensor system for detecting a second measuring value corresponding to an acceleration of said tamping machine; and
an evaluation unit for determining a ballast force, acting on said tamping machine by means of the first measuring value and the second measuring value, wherein said evaluation unit is configured to determine a strain acting on said tamping unit based on the ballast force, said evaluation unit further configured to determine a wear condition of said tamping unit based on the strain.

Assignees

• Plasser & Theurer Export Von Bahnbaumaschinen Gmbh

Inventors

• Philipp Thomas

Classifications

• E01B27/16 Primary

  Sleeper-tamping machines · CPC title

• E01B35/00

  Applications of measuring apparatus or devices for track-building purposes (apparatus on locomotives or cars to indicate or record bad track sections B61K9/00; measuring angles, linear dimensions, or irregularities in general G01B, G01C) · CPC title

• B06B1/183

  operating with reciprocating masses · CPC title

• E01B2203/127

  vibrating the track surface · CPC title

• E01B2203/16

  Guiding or measuring means, e.g. for alignment, canting, stepwise propagation · CPC title