<b>Improvement of the Lateral Ride Comfort on Railway Vehicles by Application of Pneumatic Actuators for Centering</b>

Abstract

To improve the lateral ride comfort of vehicles, trials were conducted applying a pneumatic actuator with a displacement dependent control valve. The valve installed on the actuator rod controls the force generated by the actuator depending on the relative displacement between the vehicle body and the bogie. This control makes it possible to keep the vehicle body around the neutral position. The actuator was installed on a test vehicle. The results of the running tests show that the actuator has the ability to decrease impacts caused by collisions against the lateral bump stop. Reducing the impact leads to lower lateral vibrational acceleration of the vehicle, and thus, better ride comfort. The actuator can operate independently using only a compressed air supply, and therefore there is no need to equip the actuator with electrical sensors and control devices.