Railway car

• US 6,712,007 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2002
• Issued: 03/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Takahisa, Makino, Toshiaki, Ina, Yoshihiko, Okuno, Sumio
• Primary Examiner(s): Morano, S. Joseph
• Assistant Examiner(s): McCarry, Jr., Robert J.
• Application Number:
  US10/237,663
• Publication Number:
  US 20040040463A1
• Time in Patent Office: 567 Days
• Field of Search: 105/238.1, 105/396, 105/397, 105/402, 105/392.5
• US Class Current: 105/392.5
• CPC Class Codes: B61D 15/06 Buffer cars; Arrangements or construction of railway vehicles for protecting them in case of collisions buffers B61G11/00
• CPC Class Codes: B61F 1/10 End constructions
• CPC Class Codes: B61F 19/04 Bumpers or like collision guards

Abstract

A front end portion 100 is disposed on the front end of a car body. The floor thereof consists of extruded hollow members 210 that constitute a shock absorber 200. The shock absorber 200 is divided into an upper shock absorber 200 and a lower shock absorber 200. Annealed extruded hollow members are used to form the hollow member 210. The hollow members 210 are disposed so that their direction of extrusion corresponds to the longitudinal direction of the car body. The hollow members 210 are divided longitudinally into two portions by a plate 220. At the width-direction ends of member 210, the face plates 211 and 212 are welded onto plates 223-226. Upon receiving impact load, members 210 fold up into concertinas, absorbing the impact force. Since members 210 are separated by a plate, they deform evenly and continuously into concertinas instead of being bent in half, capable of absorbing a large energy.

Claims

1. A railway car body, wherein

members constituting the ends of the car body in the direction of travel are shock absorbers;

each shock absorber is composed of plural extruded members having plural hollow portions;

said plural extruded members are disposed so that their extrusion directions correspond to the longitudinal direction of the car body, adjacent extruded members in a width direction of the railway car body being welded to each other by a friction stir weld, formed by performing friction stir welding along the longitudinal direction of the car body corresponding to a direction of impact;

a partition plate is disposed between two extruded members positioned adjacent to one another in the direction of extrusion of the members; and

longitudinal ends of said two extruded members are welded to said partition plate.

2. A railway car body according to claim 1, wherein

the thickness of said extruded members in the thickness direction is smaller than the size of said partition plate in the same direction; and

the longitudinal ends of said extruded members are fixed to said partition plate by fillet welding.

3. A railway car body according to claim 1, wherein

said plural extruded members are arranged vertically in multilayers;

and

the longitudinal end of the extruded member on the upper layer and the longitudinal end of the extruded member on the lower layer are both welded onto said partition plate.

4. A railway car body according to claim 1, wherein

the length of said extruded member disposed in front of said partition plate is longer than the length of said extruded member disposed in the rear of said partition plate.

5. A railway car body according to claim 4, wherein a cross-sectional area of said extruded member disposed in front of the partition plate is smaller than a cross-sectional area of said extruded member disposed in the rear of the partition plate.

6. A railway car body according to claim 1, wherein

said partition plate is sandwiched by said two extruded members in the direction of extrusion of the members, the partition plate having two main surfaces opposed to each other and the two extruded members respectively extending from the two main surfaces.

7. A railway car body according to claim 1, wherein

material of the extruded members forming the shock absorbers is softer than material forming an underframe of the railway car body.

8. A railway car body according to claim 1, wherein the extruded members have a length in the longitudinal direction of at most 600 mm.

9. A railway car body according to claim 1, further comprising plates at respective ends of said members.

10. A railway car body according to claim 9, wherein each extruded member has face plates and connecting plates therebetween, and wherein ends of the face plates are welded to the plates at the respective ends of said members.

11. A railway car body, wherein

members constituting the ends of the car body in the direction of travel are shock absorbers;

each shock absorber is composed of plural extruded members having plural hollow portions;

each extruded member comprises two face plates substantially parallel to one another and plural connecting plates that are connected to said face plates;

said plural extruded members are disposed so that their extrusion directions correspond to the longitudinal direction of the car body, adjacent extruded members in a width direction of the railway car body being welded to each other by a friction stir weld, formed by performing friction stir welding along the longitudinal direction of the car body corresponding to a direction of impact; and

a plate is provided to one end of each extruded member in the width direction to which said two face plates are welded.

12. A railway car body according to claim 11, wherein

the thickness of said extruded members in the thickness direction is smaller than the size of said plate in the same direction; and

the longitudinal ends of said extruded members are fixed to said plate by fillet welding.

13. A railway car body according to claim 11, wherein

said plural extruded members are arranged vertically in multilayers;

and

at least one end of the extruded member on the upper layer and at least one end of the extruded member on the lower layer are both welded onto said plate.

14. A railway car body according to claim 11, wherein

each shock absorber includes at least four extruded members disposed in quadrilateral arrangement in the cross-section orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of said shock absorber, and said two face plates disposed at one end of said extruded member in the width direction are welded to the face plate of the extruded member disposed substantially orthogonal thereto.

15. A railway car body according to claim 11, wherein

material of the extruded members forming the shock absorbers is softer than material forming an underframe of the railway car body.

16. A railway car body according to claim 11, wherein the extruded members have a length in the longitudinal direction of at most 600 mm.