JPS6044177B2 - Coupler automatic unlocking device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic device for unlocking a freight car coupler in a freight car operation yard where freight cars are disassembled and reassembled.

At the freight car operation yard, vehicle organization work is carried out to sort freight cars gathered from nearby freight handling stations by destination.

For this reason, in large-scale freight car operation yards, rental cars are conventionally pushed up a slightly elevated slope several meters in height by a push locomotive, where the freight car couplers are unlocked according to the sorting classification, and then each freight car is released. Vehicles are organized by rolling to the appropriate sorting line. The unlocking work of such freight car couplers has conventionally relied on the general public, but this work requires a high degree of skill as it must be completed while the freight car is running and within a limited time. In addition, the working environment is not good and it is dangerous. In addition, recently there has been a trend to increase the speed of work in order to increase the number of vehicles disassembled, but if the push-up speed is too high, it becomes difficult to manually unlock the coupler. This poses a risk. For this reason, a few attempts have been made to develop coupler unlocking devices for unlocking the coupler.

In this system, a long-arm robot device, which is freely suspended on a traveling rail installed above the freight car and parallel to the rail of the freight car, is brought to the position of the freight car coupler using a pusher, etc., and the coupler is operated by the robot. Some have a structure that allows them to be unlocked. However, with this type of unlocking device that is suspended from above the wagon, there are structural difficulties due to construction limits, and it is difficult to grasp the release lever for unlocking the coupler from above, making the operation process complicated and reducing the reliability of operation. In addition, the equipment was complicated and expensive.

For this purpose, an arm that can swing freely in the direction of the freight car and has a wrist for operating a release lever at the tip is attached to the bogie that runs on a running rail laid on the ground parallel to the freight car rail, and at a position on the side of the freight car connection part. Rotate the arm to a horizontal position
Attempts have also been made to create a device in which the arm is rotated in the opposite direction after the wrist is released and brought directly below the arm, thereby unlocking the coupler in which the wrist has actuated the release lever. However, even in the above device, the arm that moves the wrist up and down becomes long, and it is possible to avoid increasing the size of the cart on which the arm is mounted.Furthermore, the rotation of the arm causes the wrist to move in a circular motion, and although the wrist moves up and down accurately, the wrist moves up and down. There was a problem with the operability of the coupler release lever during operation.

Therefore, in view of these circumstances, the present invention aims to prevent danger and improve efficiency in the unlocking work of freight car couplers.
The present invention provides a device that automatically and reliably unlocks a coupler by having a compact configuration of a vertically foldable arm mechanism.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings. In FIG. 1, 3 is a running rail of the robot vehicle 2 equipped with a coupler unlocking device according to the present invention, and includes a coupler unlocking section laid parallel to the freight car rail 1 and a section from the end of the section. It consists of a loop-shaped return section that slopes down in a curve and reaches the lowest point, and a pull-up section that slopes rapidly up from the lowest point to the start point of the coupler unlocking section. . The robot vehicle 2 includes a wheel capture vehicle 2A (hereinafter referred to as a first vehicle) equipped with a wheel capture device A and a coupler unlocking vehicle 2B (hereinafter referred to as a second vehicle) equipped with a coupler unlocking device according to the present invention. It consists of a connected structure whose relative distance can be controlled freely.

As shown in the figure, the wheel catching device A has a pair of wheel catching devices 10 and 11 installed on the side end surface of the first vehicle 2A.

The catchers 10 and 11 have operating cylinders 10a and 11a that freely protrude in the direction of the wheels W of the freight car, and main rollers 10b and 11b that freely rotate in contact with the wheels W at the tips of the actuating cylinders 10a and 11a, and the main rollers 10b.
, 11b, a pair of guide rollers 10c provided on both sides below.
, 11c. Each roller 10b,
11b, 10c, and 11c are rotatably supported by rigid bodies 10d and 11d each having a supporting shaft at the apex of a triangle. The traps 10 and 11 having such a configuration are normally drawn to the end of the first car 2A, but when the traps are captured, the compressed air from the air compressor 13 stored inside the first car 2A is drawn to the front of the freight car in the direction of travel (Fig. 1). It is introduced into the operating cylinder 10a of the catcher 10 on the left side of A) and pushes the catcher 10 onto the running rail 1 in front of the wheel W of the freight car T, and as soon as the wheel W hits the main roller, the rear wheel catcher 11 is pushed out. is pushed onto the running rail 1 behind the wheel W, and the two main rollers 10b,
11b captures the wheel W from both sides. For this reason, the robot 2 is configured to follow the freight car T by rotating the main roller 10b in contact with the wheels W. Although not shown, a hydraulic shock absorber is incorporated in the operating cylinder 10a in order to absorb the collision energy when the wheel W comes into impactful contact with the main roller 10b.

The relative distance between the first vehicle 2A and the second vehicle 2B is controlled by a drive device of a positioning device.

That is, the drive device is an operating cylinder 14 mounted on the second vehicle 2B.
and the output rod 14a of the cylinder 14 is connected to the first wheel 2.
Connected to A. Therefore, the output rod 14a expands and contracts due to the operation of the actuating cylinder 14, so that the first wheel 2A and the second wheel 2B move relative to each other. Reference numeral 15 denotes an air vibrator that supplies air from the air compressor 13 mounted on the first vehicle 2A to various operating cylinders, such as the aforementioned operating cylinder 14, of the second vehicle 2B, which will be described later.

The air vibrator 15 is constituted by an expansion joint consisting of multiple vibrators that can be freely expanded and contracted in accordance with the relative movement of the first vehicle 2A and the second vehicle 2B. The positioning device further includes a coupler unlocking device B.
The second car 2B has a first detection device that detects that the second car 2B is located approximately in the middle of the two freight cars T and T'' and restricts the movement of the second car 2B to the left in the figure by the drive device.

In this embodiment, this detection device is configured as a connection surface detection device that detects the connection surfaces T and t'' of two freight cars T and 2. It is composed of two light transmitters and receivers 16 and 17, and a reflector plate 18 installed above the ground in front of the starting point of the robot vehicle 2B to block sunlight.
By operating the actuating cylinder 14, B moves to the left in the figure and increases the distance from the first vehicle 2A.
6 and 17 are located on the connecting surface of the freight cars T and T, the light projected from the light transmitters and receivers 16 and 17 is reflected by the reflector plate 18, and this reflected light is received. to ensure complete operation of coupler unlocking device B. Next, the coupler unlocking device B according to the present invention will be explained.

The coupler unlocking device B is composed of a dog-shaped arm mechanism that is rotatably supported on a fixed shaft of the second wheel 2B, and a release lever actuating wrist portion 33 that is pivotally supported on a support shaft at the tip of the arm. . In the arm mechanism, an upper arm 21 and a lower arm 22 are rotatably connected to each other by a connecting shaft 25 in a dogleg shape.

A base end of a rotating lever 24 that is rotatably connected to the output rod of an operating cylinder 23 is integrally fixed to the lower end of the lower arm 22. The lower arm 22 is rotated around the fixed shaft 31. The lower arm 22 is hollow and has a bevel gear mechanism inserted therein. and upper and lower arms 21
, 22 are always folded onto the second vehicle 2B, and the second vehicle 2B itself is extremely compact. As shown schematically in FIG. 2, the bevel gear mechanism has idle gears 27 and 28 fixed to both ends of a gear shaft 26 that passes through the lower arm 22, and a
One of the fixed gears 29 that meshes with the second wheel 2
The other driven gear 30 is pivotally attached to the upper arm 21 and then to the connecting shaft 25. Therefore, the lower arm 22 is moved to the fixed shaft 31 by the operation of the operating cylinder 23.
, the driven gear 30 rotates through the idle gears 27 and 28 with the same rotation angle as the rotation angle of the lower arm 22. Therefore, the angles α, α″ (α=α″) between the lower arm 22 and the upper arm 21 with respect to the horizontal direction are
) always match, and the wrist portion 33, which is pivotally supported by the upper support shaft 32 of the upper arm 21, always moves up and down in the vertical direction. That is, the bevel gear mechanism described above can be said to be a vertical drive device. The arms 21, 22 have a parallel movement mechanism that always keeps the wrist portion 33 in a constant direction regardless of the operation of the vertical drive device. The parallel movement mechanism consists of a link 34 installed on the upper arm 21 and a link 35 installed parallel to the lower arm 22. The link 34 is rotatably connected to a lever portion 33a that extends one end of the wrist portion 33 to the opposite side of the support shaft 32, and to one end of a bell crank 36 that is rotatably connected to the connecting shaft 25. Ru. One end of the other link 35 is rotatably supported by the other end of the bell crank 36, and the other end is slidably supported in the axial direction by a bracket (not shown) fixed to the second wheel 2A. A compression spring 38 is interposed between the bracket and a spring receiver 37 provided on the link 35. When the arm mechanism rotates, the wrist part 33 provided at the tip moves vertically up and down while always maintaining a constant direction unless an external force is applied to the wrist part 33 due to the action of the parallel movement mechanism, and the hook of the wrist part 33 moves up and down vertically due to the action of the parallel movement mechanism. Coupler release lever 40
can be gripped securely.

The link 35 releases the compression spring 38 only when an external force is applied.
By sliding in the bracket against the force of , rotation of the wrist portion 33 around the support shaft 32 is allowed. The positioning device further includes a second position detection device that detects when the second car 2B moves due to the operation of the actuation cylinder 14 and the wrist portion 33 of the coupler unlocking device B is located directly below the release lever 40 of the freight car coupler J. has.

In this embodiment, the detection device is installed on the underframe end surface 41 of the freight car T.
It is designed as an underframe end face detector that detects. The detection device has two parallel links 51 connected to a detector 50 at the upper end.
, 52 are rotatably supported at the distal end of the upper arm 21 (one is pivotally supported on the support shaft 32 of the wrist part 33), and an actuator fixed to the upper arm 21 is fixed to the intermediate part of one link 52. The output end of the cylinder 53 is rotatably supported.

The actuating cylinder 53 communicates with the links 34 and 35 of the vibrator-like parallel movement mechanism, and compressed air from the air compressor 13 is supplied through the links 34 and 35 and the inside of these connecting portions. The end face detector 50 is normally kept folded in parallel with the upper arm 21 and made compact by the operation of the actuating cylinder 53, but at the time of detection it is folded in parallel with the upper arm 21 and is made compact.
It is configured so that it is placed in an upright position. A contact 50a at the tip of the detector 50 has a coil spring shape and is configured to absorb collision energy when the detector 50 comes into contact with the frame end face 41. Next, the operating process of the robot vehicle 2 equipped with the coupler unlocking device according to the present invention will be sequentially explained.

The traveling rail 3 is lifted by the lifting device installed in the lifting section.
Robot car 2 waiting at the start point of the coupler unlock section
When a freight train passes by the side of the robot car 2 from behind, a control device (not shown) receives a passing signal of the freight car T to be disassembled and at the same time inputs a pusher power supply provided at the bottom of the traveling rail 3 at the starting point, The robot car 2 is started and accelerated to approximately the speed of a freight car. When the robot car 2 approaches the corresponding freight car T, it receives a control command built into the robot car 2 and outputs a signal to the wheel capture device A, and after the above-described operation process, the main rollers 10b and 11b move the corresponding freight car T.
The robot car 2 captures the wheels W of the freight car T, and thereafter moves forward following the freight car T. When the acquisition of the wheel W is completed in this way, the control section within the robot vehicle 2 is activated (the following robot operations are performed according to commands from this control section).

), the actuating cylinder 14 for positioning is driven, and the first wheel 2
A is moved away from the second car 2B, and the connection surface detection device B detects the connection surfaces T, t'' of the freight cars T and 2B with the above configuration,
When it is confirmed that there is no problem with the operation of the coupler unlocking device B, the operating cylinder 14 is stopped by the detection signal.
Subsequently, the vertical drive device of the coupler unlocking device B moves upward by driving the operating cylinder 23, and the hook portion of the wrist portion 33 at the tip of the upper arm 21 rises to the height of approximately the lower end of the release lever 40 of the freight car coupler J. Then, an arm position detection switch (not shown) built into the bearing of the lower arm 22 is activated to temporarily stop the arm from rising.

Simultaneously with the start of the above-mentioned vertical upward movement of the wrist portion 33, the underframe end face detector 50 attached to the upper arm 21 is raised by the actuation cylinder 53. Next, when the arm position detection switch detects that the wrist portion 33 has risen to the specified position, the positioning actuating cylinder 14 is driven (pull operation) in response to the detection signal to move the second wheel 2B to the first position.
The car 2A is approached, and the underframe end face detector 50 is brought close to the underframe end face 41 of the freight car and brought into contact with the end face 41. Underframe end face 4
The positioning actuating cylinder 14 is stopped by a signal that the contact 50a of the first detector 50 has come into contact, that is, a signal that the wrist has come directly under the coupler release lever 40, and the positioning is completed. When the end face detection is completed, the underframe end face detector 50 is folded in parallel to the upper arm 21 by the actuation cylinder 53.

The arms 21 and 22 start their upward movement again by the actuation of the operating cylinder 23, and as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the hook part of the wrist part 33 grips and lifts the tip lever part 40a of the release lever 40, and the freight car is lifted up. Remove the lever support bracket 55 installed on the end surface t from the lever rotation stopper portion 55b of the lever insertion hole 55a. When the arm further rises, the upper surface 40 of the release lever 40
b comes into contact with the inner surface 55c of the lever insertion hole 55a, and the vertical upward movement of the release lever 40 is stopped, so a component force is generated in a direction perpendicular to the end face of the freight car, and this component force acts on the wrist portion 33, so that the parallel movement mechanism The lever portion 40a of the release lever 40 is rotated clockwise (up to about 600 degrees) in the drawing against the spring force of the compression spring 38 via the links 34 and 5. (Figure 3 C, D). By turning the lever portion 40a, the lock pin of the coupler attached to the tip of the release lever is pulled up, and the coupler is unlocked. When the locking operation is completed in this manner, the lifting operation of the arm is stopped by a turning angle detection switch (not shown) provided on the wrist portion 33. Robot car 2 continues to run with the lock unlocked and travels approximately 20 minutes from starting point C.
When the robot vehicle 2 passes a ground element installed in the traveling rail 3 at a distance of meters, a signal indicating that the coupler has been unlocked is transmitted from the robot vehicle 2 to the control device. When the robot car 2 travels to the final point of the coupler unlocking section, that is, to the side of the junction with the freight car sorting line, it passes the ground element installed in the running rail 3, receives the signal, and the robot car The second coupler unlocking device B is compactly folded onto the second car 2B by an operation opposite to that described above, and at the same time, the wheel catching device A is retracted and separated from the freight car wheel. Since the traveling rail 3 in the return section from the final point of the unlocked section to the lowest point is provided with a downward slope, the robot vehicle 2 is able to self-propel back to the origin, that is, the lowest point. In the present embodiment, a wheel catching device is provided as a device for the robot car to follow the freight car, but the robot car may be configured to be hooked onto a part of the freight car to make it follow the freight car.

Although it is possible to provide the underframe end face detector separately from the coupler unlocking device, it is more rational to connect them as in this embodiment.

As described above, the present invention is equipped with a vertical vertical movement arm mechanism that can be folded freely on a trolley that travels on the ground, and is provided with a wrist part for actuating the lever for releasing the coupler, so that the device can be made compact and can only be used when unlocking. All you have to do is operate the arm mechanism, and the wrist part can be vertically moved up and down accurately, which has the advantage of not only safety but also high reliability and labor savings.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a front view, plan view, and side view of a robot vehicle equipped with a coupler unlocking device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the bevel gear mechanism of the arm, and Fig. 3 is a diagram of the wrist portion. It is a figure which shows the process of coupler unlocking operation. 1... Freight car running rail, 2... Robot car, 2A... Wheel catching car (first car), 2B
... Couple unlocking vehicle (second vehicle), 3... Robot vehicle running rail, 21... Upper arm, 2
2...lower arm, 23...operating cylinder, 24...rotating lever, 25...connecting shaft,
31... Fixed shaft, 32... Support shaft, 33...
... Wrist part, 33a... Rubber part, 34,
35... Link, 36... Bell crank, 38... Compression spring, 50... Frame end face detector, 50a... Contact, 53...
...Operating cylinder, B...Coupler unlocking device, T
, Ding... Freight car, W... Freight car wheel, J.
... Freight car coupler.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A vertical drive in which an arm mechanism is rotatably supported on a truck that runs parallel to the vehicle rail and can be freely bent in a dogleg shape on an operating cylinder, and the arm mechanism moves up and down vertically. and a wrist for operating the release lever, which is pivotally supported so that it can rotate against a spring force by receiving an external force from the upper end of the arm mechanism, and grips the release lever by raising the wrist. An automatic coupler unlocking device characterized in that the coupler is lifted and rotated, and the lock pin of the coupler is removed from the locked position in conjunction with this movement. 2. The arm mechanism consists of an upper arm and a lower arm that is rotatably supported by the upper arm and has a built-in bevel gear mechanism.
The bevel gear mechanism is constructed by fixing two idle gears to both ends of the gear shaft, each meshing with a driven gear fixed to the upper arm and a fixed gear fixed to the truck, and the operation of the bevel gear mechanism causes the upper arm to move. 2. The automatic coupler unlocking device according to claim 1, wherein the lower arm rotates at an angle equal to the rotation angle of the lower arm. 3. A vertical drive device that is rotatably supported on a trolley that runs parallel to the vehicle rail, and has an arm mechanism in which the upper arm and lower arm can be freely bent into a dogleg shape by an operating cylinder, and the arm mechanism moves up and down vertically. a wrist for operating a release lever rotatably supported on a support shaft at the upper end of the arm mechanism; a parallel movement mechanism forming two parallelograms with each of the upper arm and the lower arm as one side; A link on one side parallel to the arm is substantially supported to freely slide in the axial direction against the spring force, and a parallel movement mechanism of the upper and lower arms including a connecting support shaft of the upper and lower arms is formed. a wrist part direction determining device which rigidly connects the links on each side and constitutes the wrist part; and grips, lifts and rotates the release lever by raising the wrist part;
An automatic coupler unlocking device characterized in that the locking pin of the coupler is removed from the locked position in conjunction with this. 4. A vertical drive device configured to include an arm mechanism that is rotatably supported on a trolley that runs parallel to the vehicle rail and can be freely bent in a dogleg shape by an operating cylinder, and that the arm mechanism moves up and down vertically; a wrist for operating a release lever, which is pivotally supported at the upper end so as to be able to rotate against a spring force by receiving an external force; and a wrist for operating a release lever that is connected to the vertical drive device and comes into contact with the end surface of the vehicle underframe; An underframe end face detector for detecting the distance to the wrist;
After the end face detector detects the end face of the vehicle underframe, the vertical drive device is activated to raise the wrist part, which grasps the release lever, lifts it, and rotates it, and in conjunction with this, the coupler An automatic coupler unlocking device characterized in that the locking pin is removed from the locked position. 5. Claim 4, characterized in that the underframe end surface detector has a detection tip formed in the shape of a coil spring and is configured to detect when the tip comes into contact with the end surface of the underframe of the vehicle. The coupler automatic unlocking device described. 6. The underframe end face detector is attached to the end of the upper arm, and is configured to take an operating position only when detection is activated by an operating cylinder, and to take a stored position at other times. The coupler automatic unlocking device according to item 5.