Flow rate measurement in Intermittent jetting of Ceramic particle jetting device for Railway vehicles

Abstract

Wheel slide or wheel slip that occurs during railway vehicle operation is one of the most important problems because it causes damage to the wheels and rails. A solution to this problem is the use of a ceramic particle jetting device that jets ceramics at high speed from a nozzle between the wheels and rails using the air of the vehicle. This device has been used by domestic and foreign railway companies, but there are no detailed regulations on the jetting method used, and each railway operator has its own standards and uses its own jetting time and method. As a result, the jetting is performed in a variety of settings, such as the single-shot jetting for a relatively long period of time or the intermittent jetting with repeated jetting in a short period of time, and there are currently no clear guidelines or established methods. The author has been developing a technique for measuring the mass flow rate of ceramic particles jetted in the ceramic particle jetting device. However, the measurements have so far been performed only under test conditions assuming the single-shot jetting. In this study, the author focused on the intermittent jetting of the ceramic particle jetting device and compared it with the single-shot jetting and verified changes in jetting flow rate and air consumption under different jetting time conditions.