Locomotive Operation Research Articles

Substantiation of performance indicators of mine monorail locomotives

Mine transport is an integral part of mining process. The performed analysis of modern monorail autonomous locomotives indicates that this type of underground auxiliary transport is the most promising today due to a number of advantages that were identified in this study. To assess performance indicators of mine monorail locomotives, a number of characteristics are currently used, for instance, the dependences between several parameters of propulsion system operation. The type of characteristic is determined by an independent variable to be selected from the list of the operational or design parameters. To substantiate performance indicators of autonomous mine suspended monorail locomotives, the authors proposed the relationship between the characteristics of the traction energy chain equipment and the diesel locomotive propulsion system efficiency factor. To assess the efficiency of mine suspended monorail locomotive operation, a composite indicator for assessing efficiency of various types of traction was proposed: the operational efficiency factor. This indicator takes into account varying the efficiency factor of the energy chain units depending on their operating modes. When determining the functional dependencies of varying the efficiency factor of power and auxiliary units of monorail locomotives, a grouping of the main parameters according to the features depending on the economic characteristics of the propulsion system and its operating modes was proposed. The operational efficiency factor of the locomotive as a whole is determined both by the economic characteristics of all units of its energy chain and by the modes of their operation.

RESEARCH OF INFLUENCE OF LOCOMOTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM ON THE OPERATION ORGANIZATION OF LOCOMOTIVE DEPOT

Purpose. The work is aimed to assess the influence of locomotive service systems on the indicators of their use and operation organization of the locomotive depot. Methodology. To achieve this purpose the calculation of operational indicators of locomotives of series 2TE116 and TE33AS in the conditions of locomotive depot is performed. The simulation model of the locomotive repair shop has been improved. Using the methods of the queuing systems theory, simulation modeling of the locomotive repair shop with service and schedule preventive systems for locomotive service was performed. Findings. The program of locomotives repair at schedule preventive and service systems is calculated. Based on the simulation results of the repair shop operation, we compared the influence of operation and repair on the locomotive depot operation for two different approaches to the organization of locomotives maintenance. The simulation model of the locomotive repair shop allows further comparative analysis of the use of different series of locomotives in the depot. The analysis of the results obtained demonstrates that the proposed approach to modeling the maintenance and repair of a diesel locomotive fleet can be improved by determining the reliability indicators when locomotives arrive for scheduled and unscheduled repairs. Originality. We improved the simulation model of the locomotive repair shop, which allows analyzing the influence of operational factors on the system of locomotive repair, in order to select a rational system of the locomotive fleet maintenance. Practical value. The results obtained make it possible to analyze the influence of the operation and repair indicators of locomotives on the operation of the locomotive depot and to determine the feasibility of using the selected traction rolling stock at a given service area. The results obtained indicate that the use of TE33AS diesel locomotives with a service system should reduce the residence time for all types of maintenance and repairs.

EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PERSONNEL MOTIVATION SYSTEM AS A FACTOR TO ENSURE THE QUALITY OF OPERATIONS ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE RAILWAY TRANSPORT INDUSTRY

Employees motivated for high-quality work are very valuable for any company. This article is focused on evaluating the effectiveness of personnel motivation in railway locomotive operating depots. It reviews different approaches of Russian and foreign authors to the concept of “personnel motivation”. The authors offered economic and social analysis of the current personnel motivation system of the locomotive depot, which is a part of the Russian Railways holding company. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the personnel motivation system, the authors have chosen the methodology of researching the degree of the organization’s main economic and social objectives achievement. As a result, the authors identified problems in the personnel motivation system related to the conditions of labor organization: the low level of staff awareness of motivational programs, as well as the lack of a system for evaluating staff motivation. The third problem related to the socio-psychological labor conditions was the low level of staff loyalty and lack of involvement in labor and social activities within the organization. The authors proposed corrective measures to solve the above mentioned problems: using the digital platform “Scored” and HR Code service, which is based on artificial intelligence. The expected results of the implementation of these measures are:
 - increased productivity due to higher interest in the work of employees;
 - increased labor activity of the staff;
 - increased personnel financial interest in the development of their competencies;
 - increased staff motivation level;
 - maintaining the numeric and qualitative staff structure;
 - improving the effectiveness of the management strategy.
 The experience of personnel motivation system assessment may be useful in the regional divisions of the locomotive facilities of Russian Railways.

Методы приема и синхронизации сигналов автоматической локомотивной сигнализации

The article discusses the problems of existing methods of receiving automatic cab signalling on railway transport, an original method of receiving and processing data is proposed. The need to solve the problems is due to the requirement of a qualitative improvement in the reliability of receiving codes, and as a consequence, the capacity of existing lines. First of all, this refers to a significant increase in the quality of reception and processing of information flows from rail lines. Today it is difficult to imagine the organization of the movement of rolling stock without relying on automatic block systems with secondary sealing of tonal track circuits by frequency modulation signals or automatic cab signaling without the use of multivalued automatic cab signaling with phase-difference modulation. Taking into account the objective fact of noise emission from the operation of energy-intensive railway equipment and modern locomotives, the issues of reliability and noise immunity of receiving discrete information (including signals of traditional automatic cab signaling) are becoming more and more urgent. Analysis of the reasons for the decrease in the reliability and noise immunity of railway automation and telemechanics systems, and, consequently, traffic safety also comes to the fore.

Comparative analysis of conventional diesel-electric and hypothetical battery-electric heavy haul locomotive operation in terms of fuel savings and emissions reduction potentials

The paper considers a novel approach to heavy-haul of railway freight by means of combined operation of conventional diesel-electric and battery-electric locomotives either in single or joint (tandem) operation. A backward-looking quasi-static model of a battery-electric locomotive is proposed, based on the undercarriage of a decommissioned conventional diesel-electric locomotive equipped with a sufficiently-sized battery energy storage system. In order to facilitate power flow control from the battery-electric locomotive and to avoid deep battery discharges a suitable control rule is introduced aimed at modulating the driver power (throttle Notch) command in order to maintain the battery state-of-charge above the safe lower limit during discharging. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been verified by means of simulations for the considered mountainous railway route driving scenario, including realistic railway track slope and speed limitations. The results show that between 22% and 30% fuel cost savings may be achieved, along with reduced emissions of exhaust gases by using the proposed battery-electric locomotive in combination (tandem) with the conventional diesel-electric one.

Justification of the use of a vegetal additive to diesel fuel as a method of protecting underground personnel of coal mines from the impact of harmful emissions of diesel-hydraulic locomotives

Equipment with diesel engines is used in all mining enterprises. Monorail diesel transport is of great importance in coal mines, as it facilitates the heavy labor of workers when transporting materials and people, fixing mining workings, refueling and repairing equipment, which leads to an increase in the speed of tunneling operations. Reducing the concentration of harmful gases from diesel-hydraulic locomotives at the workplaces of coal mine locomotive drivers can be ensured by the use of additives to diesel fuel that reduce the volume of harmful gas emissions during the operation of diesel-hydraulic locomotives. Additive ester-based on vegetal oil in the amount of 5 mass % in a mixture with hydrotreated diesel fuel reduces the concentration of carbon monoxide by 19-60 %, nitrogen oxides by 17-98 %, depending on the operating mode of the engine, the smoke content of the exhaust gases is reduced to 71 %. There is an improvement in working conditions at the workplace of the driver of a diesel-hydraulic locomotive by the chemical factor due to the reduction of the class of working conditions from 3.1. to 2.

Evolution processes of the tribological properties in pantograph/catenary system affected by dynamic contact force during current-carrying sliding

DSA200 pantograph and CH160 catenary are being in service in China on SS7 electric locomotive. Dynamic study of the pantograph/catenary system found that the contact force between pantograph and contact wire vibrated periodically with the running of trains. Both of the amplitude and frequency of the dynamic contact force increased with the increase of running speeds. In this paper, the effects of dynamic contact force on tribological properties of the pure carbon strip were studied on a homemade pin-on-disk tribometer. A critical point of friction coefficient, wear rate and current-carrying quality at the velocity of 80 km/h was detected subjected to dynamic contact force. Tribological properties of the pure carbon strip deteriorated abruptly when the train ran faster than 80 km/h. Oxidation film on the surface of the strip was produced firstly, and then it grew slowly, at last it was destroyed rapidly with the increase of the running speeds. This transformation leaded to the sudden shift of friction coefficient and wear rate. Meanwhile, the critical point of arcing rate (2%) at 80 km/h was tested. Current-carrying quality of the strip deteriorated abruptly accompanied by the rapidly raised arcing rate. Simultaneously, cracks were generated and extended inner the strip. These cracks destroyed the strip's mechanical property and accelerated the arc erosion. The wear mechanism transferred from mechanical wear to arc erosion with the increase of arcing rate, which were proved to be the most important failure types for pure carbon strip. This study obtained the evolution processes of the tribological properties in pantograph/catenary system, expecting to provide some useful suggestions for the safe operation of locomotives.

Formation of new principles and models of operation of structural units of the industry under the conditions of implementation of digital technologies

The construction of a high-tech modern model “Digital Railroad” is currently a key element, the implementation of which is planned for the near future. The project will create new principles and models for the work of all structural divisions of the industry in the context of the widespread penetration of digital technologies. The emergence of digital technologies will make it possible to transfer the organization and technology of functioning of transport and other systems to a qualitatively new level, new information technologies will make it possible to optimize the operation of rolling stock. According to the results of the analysis of the performance indicators of the service locomotive depot Irkutskoye, according to the model of “full service” of the locomotive fleet, it was revealed that the indicators negatively affects the financial results of the depot and negatively affects the quality of the repair performed in general. To solve this problem, it is proposed to use an automated locomotive fleet reliability management system in the Irkutsk service locomotive depot, the implementation of which will increase the availability factor, reduce downtime in repair depots, and minimize resource consumption for all types of repair and maintenance. The main consumer of the services of the locomotive fleet reliability management system is, first of all, the Russian Railways holding company and the traction directorate. They are interested in the reliable operation of the rolling stock, since during the operation of locomotives there are risks: comments on the operation of the locomotive fleet, failures and malfunctions of various degrees of complexity, cases violations of train traffic safety.

ВОПРОСЫ СНИЖЕНИЯ НАГРУЗОК В УЗЛАХ ТЯГОВОГО ПРИВОДА ПРИ БОКСОВАНИИ

The purpose of this work consists in the development of constructive solutions decreasing loads in the units of the electric locomotive traction drive at boxing. The investigations carried out in the field of electric locomotive operation on domestic railways have shown that one of the basic directions in the decrease of non-sprung masses consists in the introduction of an elastic tie between a wheel pair and a drive motor armature. 
 The improvement mentioned results in the considerable load increase in the traction drive at friction self-oscillations arising in the mode of wheel slip on a rail. The analysis, carried out in the work, of methods to reduce similar dynamic loads has shown that approaches efficient enough are:
 - shock vibro-damping of wheel pair self-oscillations,
 - limitation of wheel slip rate on a rail with the control of friction factor by means of the impact upon a contact area of electric and magnetic fields,
 - changes of elastic-dissipative properties of dynamic systems in an electric locomotive running gear to control self-oscillation fashions. 
 To realize measures described there are offered constructive solutions limiting self-oscillation amplitudes in a boxing mode. In particular the system of instantaneous control with clutch amplifies based on the application of magnetic inductor in the form of a mounted unit upon a crew section of an electric locomotive. For realization of the method for the process control of the competition of self-oscillation fashions there is offered a design of the device changing forcibly a fashion of growing self-oscillations at the expense of the control of elastic-dissipative properties of dynamic system links in the traction drive. The innovation solutions developed are protected with the patent for invention, two patents for utility model.

Changes in the operation of locomotives on the railway sections of the Eastern polygon

Changes in the operation of locomotives on the railway sections of the Eastern polygon

Formation process, key influencing factors, and countermeasures of high-order polygonal wear of locomotive wheels

Two types of high power alternating current (AC) locomotive in China are prone to serious high-order polygonal wear, which has significant negative effects on the operation of locomotives. This study investigates factors influencing polygonal wear in locomotive wheels and determines methods of minimizing operation damage. We designed experiments to analyze the process of polygonization formation of wheels to identify the key influencing factors, finding that natural vibration of wheelsets is the central inherent factor of wheel polygonization and that these vibrations can be easily stimulated by wheel or rail irregularities. We found that poor re-profiling quality is the key external factor in these irregularities. The wheelset bending resonance is activated when the remaining wheel polygonal wear has a wavelength of 200 mm in the 1/3 octave band, in turn leading to significant increases of wheel polygonal wear. In this study, we review a new wheelset design that can mitigate and/or eliminate the polygonal wheel wear due to increased stiffness in wheel bending. We evaluate the potential capacity of the newly designed wheelset and propose two proven effective measures to further improve the wheel re-profiling quality for polygonal wear.

Train Wheels Eigenmodes on Effects of Vibration and Track Deterioration in the Belfast to Steelpoort Railway Line

In South Africa, one of the main lines situated in its Limpopo Province presents symptoms of excessive vehicle-track vibrations. A modal method is adopted to study the difference in dynamic response of corrugated rails resting on the Hytrel/6385 and High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) rail pads. The results for dynamic response of rails on these two types of rail pads are analysed in form of Frequency Response Functions (FRFs). Two positions are considered in obtaining these point FRFs; those are mid-span and on top of sleeper. Resonance modes of significance are excited in a frequency range of 0 – 500Hz on rails resting on both types of rail pads. In view of the entire vibration response window, the FRFs show a more damped vibration response by rail resting on the HDPE than that resting on the Hytrel/6358 rail pad. A Finite Element (FE) modal analysis method is used to investigate vibration mode shapes and corresponding frequencies of the wheelset used by the locomotive operating in the line. In the high frequency range of 350 – 500Hz, the gear-side wheel of a locomotive wheelset proves to be vibrating more erratically than the non-gear side wheel. Clearly pronounced mode shape excited at a frequency of 350Hz and higher are presented.

Ключевой показатель нового бизнес-процесса организации эксплуатации и ремонта как инструмент контроля технического состояния локомотивов

The revision of the business process of operation and repair of locomotives also led to revision of the indicators that characterize the quality of repairs and maintenance performed. The article considers a new indicator that characterizes the quality of work of locomotive repair enterprises of service companies. The components of the equation are investigated and the procedure for calculating the technical readiness coefficient is analyzed. The analysis of the order regulating the procedure for accounting for the time when the locomotive section is in the condition was made. According to the results of the analysis, all accounting conditions are collected in groups in accordance with the calculation formula. The source of obtaining the initial data on the location of the locomotive section in the accounting condition is determined. The initial data is analyzed and the results are presented. The actual value of the technical readiness coefficient is calculated with and without taking into account administrative costs. The term «locomotive technical readiness corridor» is defined. The actual availability of serviceable locomotives at the disposal of the operational locomotive depot along the upper and lower boundaries of the corridor is calculated. It is revealed that the new indicator can be used to characterize the quality and completeness of the work performed by the service company, but it is not enough to assess the actual availability of serviceable traction rolling stock.

Determination of rational locomotive operating modes and resource costs based on information from global positioning systems

The article is devoted to the study of energy-efficient use of traction rolling stock for driving trains. It deals with the optimal driving mode and the main parameters of traction calculations. Based on the use of GPS/GLONASS satellite navigation units, a method for determining the basic resistance of cars in real time is proposed. The possibility of using the results obtained on locomotives with analog devices and no movement tracking is analyzed. The “Traction Calculations” software package in the C# programming language was modified in order to reduce the time and facilitate calculations of the locomotive traction service. In the course of the study, the equation of the main resistance of the cars of train No. 3612 was determined. On the basis of the uncoupled rolling stock, the dependences of speed, time, heating and current of traction electric motors, fuel consumption by the CHME3 locomotive of the Kharkiv-Sortirovochny locomotive depot for the transportation of cars from the Kharkiv-Sortirovochny station to Merefa station were calculated, with recommendations for the driver to use the position of the driver’s controller in order to reduce costs and fulfill the train schedule.

MODEL FOR DETERMINATION OF CHARACTERISTICS OF RAILWAY TRAIN REGIME MAPS

The article considers the issues of determining rational approaches to the creation of train maps, the rational use of diesel modes and the use of automated computer simulation system. Based on the obtained results, an energy-efficient mode of train driving is proposed and a mathematical model of the locomotive operation character is created. There is a need to review obsolete regime and train locomotive crews in the latest methods of operation. The basic values and methods of calculation for specific operating conditions on the basis of the law of conservation of mechanical energy are established. It is proposed to create a passport of each locomotive to determine the rational weight norms on the existing service shoulders. After all, overloading or underutilization of the locomotive's resource is associated with loss of profit or the emergence of emergencies. The necessity of the offered methods within the limits of ecological requirements to traction rolling stock is proved. The possibility of forming a rational system of mileage between technical inspections and repairs for each locomotive as a whole on the basis of forecasting and statistics is determined. It is recommended to further implement mathematical modeling and digital means of monitoring the technical condition after repairs to achieve economic efficiency of railway transport.

Моделювання процесу механічної обробки профілю робочої поверхні колісних пар на верстатах КЖ20

In mechanical engineering, there is a class of parts with a wheel pairs or with a curved working surface, such parts include wheel pairs of rail vehicles. During the operation of locomotives of main and industrial railway transport, it is periodically necessary to restore the worn-out profile of the wheels without dismantling the wheel pairs. The article analyzes and notes the need to improve the process of repairing of locomotive wheel pairs in. The efficiency and reliability of special shaped cutters and rail vehicles depends on the quality and accuracy of the repair process. The methodology is described for studying the dynamics of cutting processes on special machines KZh20, it is necessary to take into account not only the cutting forces, but also the structural properties of shaped cutters (tools), as well as the workpiece (working surface of wheelsets). Based on the mathematical model of process of restoration of working profile of tools of wheel-cutting machines KZh20 zones of stable parameters of milling process dynamics can be determined in conditions of simultaneous presence of two non-rigid elements (machined part and special shaped cutter). The method for determination of torque value taking into account transmission ratio of mechanical transmission is proposed.

Conditional Adversarial Domain Adaptation With Discrimination Embedding for Locomotive Fault Diagnosis

Deep-learning-based methods have been widely applied to fault diagnosis for its capability of automatically extracting features from massive data. However, there are still two problems that limit the application of these methods to the locomotive fault diagnosis, which has practical significance for ensuring the safety and reliability of the locomotive. First, due to variation in the operating condition in locomotive operation, the distribution of the training data is different from the distribution of the test data, which degrades the performance of the deep-learning-based methods. Second, the existing domain-adaptation (DA)-based diagnosis models are not robust enough to diagnose locomotive with many disturbances in its vibration signals. To tackle these problems, conditional adversarial DA with discrimination embedding (CADA-DE) is proposed in this article. By adding the discriminative information conveyed in the label predictions to the domain classifier, the distribution discrepancy between the source and target domains is alleviated more sufficiently. Meanwhile, the center-based discriminative loss is introduced to enforce features more discriminative. The experimental results conducted on three different data sets demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed CADA-DE.

CONCEPT OF REGULATIONS FOR ACCESS OF PRIVATE LOCOMOTIVES TO PUBLIC RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE

Purpose. Scientific research is aimed at gaining new knowledge about the structure of a typical regulatory and technological document (regulation) of access for private-owned train locomotives to public railway infrastructure. Methodology. To obtain relevant empirical data, the authors performed a review of previous studies on the topic of work using full-text and abstract databases. In accordance with the principles of system analysis and mathematical logic, structural-logical models of the order of interaction between the units of the operator (owner) of the public railway infrastructure and representatives of the owner of private locomotives have been developed. Findings. The authors proved: 1) the regulation of access of private train locomotives to public infrastructure is a certain procedure (technological process) for the interaction of the owner (operator) of private locomotives with the units of the owner of the infrastructure (dispatch or operational personnel, employees of commercial and carriage facilities); 2) the structure of the typical regulation includes the following blocks: the technological process, the procedure for processing transportation documents and charging fees, the procedure for operating private locomotives and preparing of locomotive’s foot-plate staff for the tour; the procedure and responsibility of the parties in case of emergency situations. Originality lies in improving the models for the organization of railway carriage traffic volumes and the movement of trains on public railways, which, unlike the existing ones, imply the decentralized management of the locomotive fleet. Practical value lies in the possibility of direct practical application of the proposed models for the creation of standard recommendations for drawing up rules for the access of private locomotives to the hauling operations on the public railway infrastructure and their practical testing in the corresponding pilot project on one of the railway lines in Ukraine. According to the research results: 1) the necessary structure of the access regulation of private train locomotives to the public railway infrastructure was determined; 2) a logical order for interpreting the interaction between the relevant units of the owner (operator) of the public railway infrastructure and locomotive traction operators (owners of private locomotives) has been created.

Effectiveness assessment of diesel locomotives operation with the use of mobile maintenance points

Based on the example of 6Dg type diesel locomotives, the paper presents a new maintenance strategy concerning periodical checks at the P1 maintenance level. Currently, such locomotives are sent off to service points every 102 hours of operation or every 14 days for a P1 level check. Studies demonstrate that the average distance to be covered by a locomotive to arrive at a service point is in excess of 60.0 km, and the quantity of fuel consumed is more than 88 litres. It is costly and time consuming to have locomotives out of service and considerable resources of the railway carrier are engaged which could be made use of in the transport process. The aim of the newly developed strategy of P1 checks is to eliminate the need for locomotives to exit their routes to reach rolling stock maintenance points. The control/diagnostic and maintenance activities specified in the Maintenance System Documentation will be performed by so-called mobile maintenance points. The development of the new strategy required: identification of the current condition of the maintenance system, development of the concept of a new strategy of P1 maintenance checks, conduct of studies and operational analyses for SM42 series locomotives, performance of a durability, reliability analysis, assessment of safety together with an analysis of the risks involved in the proposed changes. In order to review and assess the efficiency of the new strategy, an observed operation of selected locomotives was conducted together with a railway carrier. During the study, the maintenance activities and processes were monitored and the costs of P1 checks were recorded. The analysis of efficiency of the new strategy of performing P1 checks without the need for a locomotive to exit its route to reach a rolling stock maintenance point demonstrated that depending on the distance covered by the locomotive to reach a maintenance point, the unit costs of a P1 level check are lower by up to 67.1% compared with the currently applied method.

The regression model of automated control of timely replacement of air diesel air filter

The article analyzes the literature sources and experience of four-year operation of the diesel locomotive of series 2TE116UM No. 016 on the Ulan-Bator railway (Mongolia). The results of the analysis show that the turbocharger does not exhaust its service life until regular preventive maintenance, due to the onset of such a phenomenon as surging, stability of its operation is disrupted. It has been established that the main causes of surge emergence are: flow stall from the diffuser walls, and/or from the guide vanes, and / or from the impeller blades and others. These deviations from the operating conditions are caused by various factors, the main among which is the contamination of the air filter. The dynamics of the onset of surging, the inspection and the replacement of the air filter are analyzed. An empirical dependence of the air flow on the degree of pressure increase in the turbocharger is obtained. In order to automate the control of the turbocharger’s unattended operation in the diesel locomotive operation mode set by the controller, the dependences of the pumping distance on the ambient temperature, the degree of pressure increase and the pressure at the inlet of the turbocharger, depending on the degree of air filter contamination, were investigated. The source data from the controller was processed in the Statgraphics Plus package and adequate regression equations were obtained to determine the running period magnitude before the surge start from each parameter individually and from the combined effect of all parameters. The coefficients of determination of the regression dependencies obtained are 92-99%.