On board fuel storage and supply in a rail vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9580083-B2
Application number	US-201414212406-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2014
Priority date	Mar 29, 2013
Publication date	Feb 28, 2017
Grant date	Feb 28, 2017

Abstract

A rail vehicle ( 10 ) with fuel consumers ( 20, 22, 30, 32, 34 ) and an on board fuel storage and supply system, characterized by a main fuel tank ( 24 ) adapted to be installed in a first railcar ( 12 ) of the rail vehicle ( 10 ), a buffer fuel tank ( 36 ) adapted to be installed in a second railcar ( 14 ) of the rail vehicle ( 10 ), and a fuelling device ( 38 ) for transferring fuel from the main fuel tank ( 24 ) to the buffer fuel tank ( 36 ).
Preferred application to internal combustion engine rail vehicles with multiple railcars equipped with multiple diesel engines.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A rail vehicle comprising:
a first railcar having a first passenger compartment for passenger transport;
a second railcar having a second passenger compartment for passenger transport; and
an on board diesel fuel storage and supply system,
the first railcar having first diesel fuel consumers and a main diesel fuel tank providing diesel fuel to the first diesel fuel consumers, the main diesel fuel tank being arranged underneath the first passenger compartment;
the second railcar having second diesel fuel consumers and a buffer diesel fuel tank providing diesel fuel to the second diesel fuel consumers, the buffer diesel fuel tank being arranged underneath the second passenger compartment;
the on board diesel fuel storage and supply system having a fuelling device for transferring diesel fuel from the main diesel fuel tank to the buffer diesel fuel tank, the fuelling device comprising:
a diesel fuel line network configured for conveying diesel fuel from the main diesel fuel tank to the buffer diesel fuel tank; and
a main diesel fuel supply pump located in the diesel fuel line network for installation in the second railcar and configured for sucking diesel fuel from the main diesel fuel tank to the buffer diesel fuel tank.

2. The rail vehicle as recited in claim 1 wherein the fuelling device further comprises an auxiliary diesel fuel supply pump located in the diesel fuel line network for installation in the first railcar and for pushing diesel fuel from the main diesel fuel tank to the buffer diesel fuel tank.

3. The rail vehicle as recited in claim 1 wherein the diesel fuel line network further comprises a diesel fuel supply pump bypass for the diesel fuel supply pump.

4. The rail vehicle as recited in claim 3 wherein the bypass has a check valve.

5. The rail vehicle as recited in claim 1 wherein the fuelling device further comprises a controller for controlling the main diesel fuel supply pump and an auxiliary diesel fuel supply pump located in the diesel fuel line network for installation in the first railcar, wherein the controller is adapted to switch the fuelling device between:
a normal fuelling mode, wherein the main diesel fuel supply pump supplies diesel fuel to the buffer diesel fuel tank while bypassing the idle auxiliary diesel fuel supply pump via a corresponding bypass, and
a fail-safe fuelling mode, wherein the auxiliary diesel fuel supply pump supplies diesel fuel to the buffer diesel fuel tank while bypassing the idle main diesel fuel supply pump via a corresponding bypass.

6. The rail vehicle as recited in claim 5 wherein the fuelling device further comprises a diesel fuel flow sensor in the diesel fuel line network upstream of the buffer diesel fuel tank for detecting diesel fuel flow to the buffer diesel fuel tank, the diesel fuel flow sensor being connected to the controller, wherein the controller is adapted to switch the fuelling device from the normal diesel fuelling mode to the fail-safe diesel fuelling mode if the diesel fuel flow sensor fails to detect diesel fuel flow to the buffer diesel fuel tank.

7. The rail vehicle as recited in claim 6 wherein the diesel fuel flow sensor comprises:
a diesel fuel chamber with a diesel fuel inlet and a diesel fuel outlet, the inlet and the outlet being dimensioned such that diesel fuel in the diesel fuel chamber is maintained at a predetermined level at normal diesel fuel flow to the buffer diesel fuel tank; and
a diesel fuel level switch for detecting whether the diesel fuel level in the diesel fuel chamber is at said predetermined level and thus indicating normal or abnormal diesel fuel flow to the buffer diesel fuel tank to the controller.

8. The rail vehicle as recited in claim 1 wherein the diesel fuel ling device comprises a low diesel fuel level switch and a high diesel fuel level switch inside the buffer diesel fuel tank, wherein the fuelling device is adapted to:
start diesel fuelling of the buffer diesel fuel tank when the low diesel fuel level switch indicates a low level of diesel fuel in the buffer diesel fuel tank, and
keep on diesel fuelling the buffer diesel fuel tank as long as the high diesel fuel level switch fails to indicate a high level of diesel fuel in the buffer diesel fuel tank.

9. The rail vehicle as recited in claim 8 the fuelling device has a second low diesel fuel level switch and a second high diesel fuel level switch inside the buffer diesel fuel tank.

10. The rail vehicle as recited in claim 1 wherein the fuelling device comprises a one-way diesel fuel flow member preventing diesel fuel from flowing from the buffer diesel fuel tank to the main diesel fuel tank.

11. The rail vehicle as recited in claim 10 wherein the one-way diesel fuel flow member is a spring-loaded check valve.

12. The rail vehicle as recited in claim 1 further comprising a third railcar with a secondary diesel fuel tank, wherein the fuelling device is adapted to transfer diesel fuel from the main diesel fuel tank via the secondary diesel fuel tank to the buffer diesel fuel tank.

13. The rail vehicle as recited in claim 12 wherein the fuelling device is adapted to stop the transfer of diesel fuel from the main diesel fuel tank to the secondary diesel fuel tank if the diesel fuel level in the main diesel fuel tank falls below a critical threshold.

14. The rail vehicle as recited in claim 1 wherein a pressure relief member is connected in anti-parallel to the diesel fuel supply pump such that the pumped diesel fuel circulates in a closed loop between the pressure relief member and the corresponding diesel fuel supply pump if the diesel fuel pressure inside the diesel fuel line network exceeds a predetermined threshold.

15. The rail vehicle as recited in claim 14 wherein the pressure relief member is a spring-loaded check valve.

16. The rail vehicle as recited in claim 1 wherein:
the first railcar has a single internal combustion engine as the first diesel fuel consumers; and
the second railcar has at least two further internal combustion engines as the second diesel fuel consumers.

17. A method for storing and supplying diesel fuel in a rail vehicle wherein the rail vehicle includes a first railcar with first diesel fuel consumers and a main diesel fuel tank providing diesel fuel to the first diesel fuel consumers, and a second railcar with second diesel fuel consumers and a buffer diesel fuel tank providing diesel fuel to said second diesel fuel consumers, the method comprising the steps of:
diesel fuelling the main diesel fuel tank to a desired main level;
operating the rail vehicle;
during operation of the rail vehicle, diesel fuelling the buffer diesel fuel tank to a desired buffer level and maintaining a diesel fuel level of the buffer diesel fuel tank at the desired buffer level by transferring diesel fuel from the main diesel fuel tank to the buffer diesel fuel tank by a fuelling device, the fuelling device including a diesel fuel line network conveying diesel fuel from the main diesel fuel tank to the buffer diesel fuel tank, the fuelling device including a main diesel fuel supply pump located in the diesel fuel line network for installation in the second railcar, the main diesel fuel supply pump sucking diesel fuel from the main diesel fuel tank to the buffer diesel fuel tank to transfer the diesel fuel from the main diesel fuel tank to the buffer diesel fuel tank, the first railcar having a first passenger compartment for passenger transport, the second railcar having a second passenger compartment for passenger transport, the main diesel fuel tank being ar

Assignees

• Alstom Transport Sa
• Alstom Transp Tech

Inventors

• Steindorff Konrad
• Scheller Klaus

Classifications

• F02M37/0088

  Multiple separate fuel tanks or tanks being at least partially partitioned · CPC title

• F02M37/007

  characterised by its use in vehicles, in stationary plants or in small engines, e.g. hand held tools · CPC title

• F02M37/18

  characterised by provision of main and auxiliary pumps · CPC title

• B61C5/00

  Locomotives or motor railcars with IC engines or gas turbines (characterised by power transmission B61C9/00; engines F02) · CPC title

• B60K15/03

  Fuel tanks · CPC title