DEVELOPING THE PROCEDURE OF DIESEL FUEL CONSUMPTION AND TIMING CALCULATION FOR A SHUNTING HALF-RUN IN FLAT MARSHALLING YARDS

Abstract

By today, the prerequisites for the design of marshalling devices have hardly changed in comparison with the standards applied in the last century. These standards were determined by comparing the reduced costs of design solutions with the prices that existed at that time. Current pricing policies and operating conditions are dramatically different. This is especially the case with the structure of the car fleet, the technical means used for car handling, and, most importantly, the cost of idle time of cars at stations, as well as the cost of fuel and energy resources. Thus, determining the amount of handling when it is advisable to use flat marshalling yards is an urgent scientific and applied problem, which cannot be solved without developing a procedure for calculating the duration of shunting half-runs and the diesel fuel consumption for shunting movements. In order to determine the amount of handling for which it is economically feasible to use flat marshalling facilities together with backward movement, diesel fuel consumption and the duration of shunting half-runs should be primarily calculated. These indicators are decisive in the feasibility study of the use of a sorting facility. To develop a procedure for calculating diesel fuel costs and duration of shunting half-runs, the type of shunting half-run is selected, which contains the following elements: acceleration, steady predetermined speed, inertia motion, and braking (if necessary). To estimate the diesel fuel consumption and the duration of a shunting half-run, an estimated train was made up. Rational positions of the driver’s controller and the rational length of the path the train passes by inertia and with braking are determined for the movement of this train.The developed procedure for calculation of diesel fuel consumption and timing of a shunting half-run can be used to determine the range of handling volumes, for which the use of flat sorting facilities and uncoupling of trains only by backward movement is economically justified. It should also be noted that in order to minimize operating costs for the execution of technological operations, the rational position of the driver’s controller for each shunting half-run and the path to be travelled by the shunting train by inertia and with braking should be determined. The substantiated design conditions for flat marshalling devices can be applied in the new edition of the Ukrainian industry building codes.