Abstract
In order to improve the curving performance of the conventional wheelset in sharp curves and resolve the steering ability problem of the independently rotating wheel in large radius curves and tangent lines, a differential coupling wheelset (DCW) was developed in this work. The DCW was composed of two independently rotating wheels (IRWs) coupled by a clutch-type limited slip differential. The differential contains a static pre-stress clutch, which could lock both sides of IRWs of the DCW to ensure a good steering performance in curves with large radius and tangent track. In contrast, the clutch could unlock the two IRWs of the DCW in a sharp curve to endue it with the characteristic of an IRW, so that the vehicles can go through the tight curve smoothly. To study the dynamic performance of the DCW, a multi-body dynamic model of single bogie with DCWs was established. The self-centering capability, hunting stability, and self-steering performance on a curved track were analyzed and then compared with those of the conventional wheelset and IRW. Finally, the effect of coupling parameters of the DCW on the dynamic performance was investigated.
Highlights
With the development of urban railway transportation, the metro and lower floor light rail vehicles have been widelyIt is well known that the self-steering capability of conventional wheelset mainly depends on the longitudinal creep forces of wheel and rail [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
The differential contains a static pre-stress clutch, which could lock both sides of independently rotating wheels (IRWs) of the differential coupling wheelset (DCW) to ensure a good steering performance in curves with large radius and tangent track
The clutch could unlock the two IRWs of the DCW in a sharp curve to endue it with the characteristic of an IRW, so that the vehicles can go through the tight curve smoothly
Summary
With the development of urban railway transportation, the metro and lower floor light rail vehicles have been widely. Goodall and coworkers [16,17,18] studied the active steering and optimized control strategy for IRWs. This paper presents a differential coupling wheelset (DCW) to solve the problems of poor curving performance for the conventional wheelset in the sharp curve and bad steering capability for the IRW in the large radius curve and tangent line. The clutch-type limited slip differential is used to couple the two IRWs to improve the steering capability of the bogie in large radius curves and tangent lines. In order to compare the steering performance of DCWs with other types of wheelsets, three types of single bogies, i.e., the bogies with the DCW, IRW, and conventional wheelset, are modeled in this paper, and their steering capabilities are compared in terms of wheel/rail lateral force, friction power, position of contact point on the wheel tread, and so on. The influence of clutch torque on wheelsets is analyzed
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
