Technical Field

[0001 ] The invention relates to a carbody module for a rail vehicle and a rail vehicle comprising a plurality of such carbody modules.

Background Art

[0002] Rail transportation can provide us with various benefits, such as high transporting capacity, high speed, safe, high time precision, comfortable, environment protection, energy efficiency, economical use of land, benefit to the economy and technology progress, and so on. It is now widely recognized in many countries that giving priority to the development of rail transportation systems may be a key measure for solving city traffic problems.

[0003] A rail transportation system mainly comprises a rail and rail vehicles running on the rail. The rail vehicles generally comprise a chain of carbodies connected in serial in the direction of travel. The carbodies are configured for accommodating passengers and drivers as well as mounting or connecting with other equipments. Each carbody is formed as a tube like structure by an underframe, side walls, a top wall, end walls and the like.

[0004] The carbodies are supported on the rail by bogies for guiding the carbodies to run along the rail. According to current development trend, bogies may be provided under only some of the carbodies, while other carbodies are not equipped with a bogie. A carbody with a bogie may be referred to as a first type carbody, while a carbody without a bogie may be referred to as a second type carbody. Each second type carbody may be carried at its opposite longitudinal (front-back) ends by neighboring first type carbodies. In this way, the total number of the bogies can be reduced.

[0005] In the prior art, carbodies are generally connected by a connection portal comprising a crossbeam, wherein opposite longitudinal ends of each carbody are mounted with a connection portal respectively by means of screws, rivets or the like, and the connection portals at opposing ends of neighboring carbodies are adjoined with each other to connect the two neighboring carbodies together. However, in the manufacturing procedure of the rail vehicles, connection portals are mounted to the ends of the carbodies, and then the pairs of opposing connection portals are adjoined to each other for connecting neighboring carbodies together. Such a manufacturing manner is inconvenient, and the total weight of the whole rail vehicle is significantly increased by such connection portals. In addition, connection portals assembled to carbodies by means of screws, rivets and the like are not strong enough. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The invention is aimed at solving the problems, such as increased weight,

inconvenient assembling step and low strength, existed in the rail vehicles of the prior art in which carbodies are connected together via separate connection portals with crossbeams.

[0007] For this end, the invention provides a carbody module for a rail vehicle, the rail vehicle comprising a plurality of carbody modules that are connected in serial to form a chain of consecutive modules extending in the direction of travel, wherein the carbody module comprises an underframe having an longitudinal end in the direction of travel, a laterally extending crossbeam welded to the longitudinal end of the underframe, and a hinge carrier integrally formed with the crossbeam or welded or connected to the crossbeam, the hinge carrier projecting towards a neighboring carbody module for carrying a connecting member which is provided for connecting the carbody module to the neighboring carbody module.

[0008] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the carbody module may further comprise wall elements and a roof element, and the underframe, the wall elements and the roof element are welded together to form an integral carbody.

[0009] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the crossbeam may be further welded to the wall elements at its opposite lateral ends, the distance between the opposite lateral ends being corresponded to the width of the carbody.

[0010] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the hinge carrier may be adapted to carry a hinge for articulated connection to the neighboring carbody module.

[0011 ] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the hinge carrier may be adapted to carry a ball-socket type joint for connection to the neighboring carbody module.

[0012] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the underframe may be composed of a top layer and a bottom layer with reinforcing ribs extending therebetween.

[0013] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a jacking part may be formed on each of opposite lateral ends of the crossbeam, the jacking part being adapted to be engaged by a plug-in jacking bracket.

[0014] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, opposite longitudinal ends of the underframe of the carbody module may each be provided with a crossbeam respectively, each crossbeam being provided with a corresponding hinge carrier. [0015] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the carbody module may be either a first type carbody module which comprises a bogie or a second type carbody module which does not comprise a bogie.

[0016] The invention further provides a rail vehicle comprising a plurality of carbody modules described above, wherein the carbody modules comprise first type carbody modules each comprising a bogie and second type carbody modules which do not comprise a bogie, the first type carbody modules and the second type carbody modules being arranged in alternate, wherein the weight of each second type carbody module is at least partly carried by a neighboring first type carbody module.

[0017] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the rail vehicle may be a tram.

[0018] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, opposite longitudinal ends of the underframe of each carbody module may each be provided with a crossbeam respectively, each crossbeam being provided with a corresponding hinge carrier, and each second type carbody module is supported at its opposite hinge carriers by corresponding hinge carriers of opposite neighboring first type carbody modules.

[0019] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, each pair of facing hinge carriers or crossbars of the first and second type of modules may be provided with bump stops mating with each other for limiting the maximum relative turning angle between the facing hinge carriers.

[0020] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the bump stops may comprise a slot provided in one of the pair of facing hinge carriers and a protrusion provided on the other of the pair of facing hinge carriers and adapted to be protruded into and slidable in the slot.

[0021 ] According to the invention, the carbody module of the rail vehicle comprises a crossbeam integral with the carbody, for example, welded to the carbody, thus the carbody module has increased rigidity and strength, which results in increasing of the safety of the rail vehicle. Further, neighboring carbody modules are interconnected via hinge carriers on the crossbeams by a connecting member, without any connection portal comprising a crossbeam as used in the prior art, thus the carbody module of the invention has a simple structure and a reduced weight and is easy to be assembled. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0022] Figure 1 is a schematic view of a rail vehicle according to the invention.

[0023] Figure 2 is a schematic view showing how carbody modules are added into the rail vehicle of the invention.

[0024] Figure 3 is a schematic view of a first type carbody module according to the invention.

[0025] Figure 4 is a schematic view of a second type carbody module according to the

invention.

[0026] Figure 5 is a schematic view of an underframe and a crossbeam welded together in the first type carbody module according to the invention.

[0027] Figure 6 is a schematic view of an underframe and a crossbeam welded together in the second type carbody module according to the invention.

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments

[0028] Some preferred embodiments of a rail vehicle of the invention will be described now with reference to the drawings.

[0029] It is noted that, in the present disclosure, a longitudinal direction refers to the direction of travel of the rail vehicle, and a lateral direction refers to the right-left direction which is perpendicular to the direction of travel of the rail vehicle.

[0030] As shown in Figure 1 , a rail vehicle according to the invention comprises a chain of carbody modules connected in serial, which are shown in Figure 1 from right to left as a cab module CM1 , a first type carbody module BM1 with a bogie 10, a second type carbody module SM2 without a bogie, another first type carbody module BM3 with a bogie 10, another second type carbody module SM6 without a bogie, yet another first type carbody module BM7 with a bogie 10, and a cab module CM7. The cab modules CM1 and CM7 are attached to the first type carbody modules BM1 and BM7 respectively. The second type carbody modules SM2 and SM6 are interposed between the first type carbody modules BM1 , BM3 and BM7 respectively.

[0031 ] The carbody modules are interconnected via crossbeams and hinge carriers by means of a connecting member. Further, bellows GM1 , GM2, GM3 and GM6 are disposed between the carbody modules.

[0032] Each carbody module of the rail vehicle according to the invention has an integral structure, so that the carbody module is easy to be added into the rail vehicle in the form of a module or to be removed from the rail vehicle to change the number of the carbody modules in the rail vehicle and thus change the length and the transporting capacity of the rail vehicle. [0033] As an example, in the embodiment shown in Figure 2, the rail vehicle is added by a pair of carbody module, i.e., a first type carbody module BM5 and a second type carbody module SM4 adjoined with it. After the existing second type carbody module SM6 of the rail vehicle is separated from the first type carbody module BM3, the first type carbody module BM5 is adjoined with the second type carbody module SM6, and the second type carbody module SM4 is adjoined with the first type carbody module BM3. Newly added bellows GM4 and GM5 are disposed between the second type carbody module SM4, the first type carbody module BM5, and the second type carbody module SM6 respectively. Similarly, for decreasing the number of the carbody modules in the rail vehicle, one or more pairs of neighboring first and the second type carbody modules can be removed. In this manner, the length of the rail vehicle can be changed in a simple way.

[0034] As mentioned above, a second type carbody module is not equipped with a bogie, thus its weight shall be carried by neighboring first type carbody modules. Preferably, the first type carbody modules and the second type carbody modules are arranged in alternate, so that the weight of each second type carbody module is carried at least by two neighboring first type carbody modules.

[0035] Further, neighboring carbody modules are connected by a connecting member which allows relative turn, preferably a hinge type element or a ball-socket type joint, so that neighboring carbody modules are able to turn with respect to each other when the rail vehicle is running through a curved path.

[0036] Figure 3 schematically shows an embodiment of the first type carbody module according to the invention, and Figure 5 schematically shows an underframe and a crossbeam welded together in this embodiment.

[0037] The first type carbody module 1 comprises an underframe 12 which is formed by a single piece or adjoined pieces of sheets of a high strength material such as a metal, and is formed with bogie mounting portions 14 for mounting bogies. The sheet for forming the underframe may comprises a composed sheet, such as a sheet comprising a top layer, a bottom layer, and reinforcing ribs extending between the top and bottom layers.

[0038] The first type carbody module 1 further comprises wall elements 16 and a roof element 18. Preferably, the underframe 12, the wall elements 16 and the roof element 18 are welded together to form an integral carbody. [0039] The first type carbody module 1 further comprises a laterally extending crossbeam 20 welded to one or each of opposite longitudinal ends of the underframe 12, and a hinge carrier 22 formed integrally with the crossbeam 20 or welded or connected to the crossbeam. The hinge carrier 22 extends in a direction towards a second type carbody module neighboring to the first type carbody module, so that it can cooperate with a corresponding hinge carrier, as described later, of the second type carbody module to support a connecting member for connecting neighboring carbody modules.

[0040] The crossbeam 20 is welded to a corresponding one of the longitudinal ends of the underframe 12. Thus, as shown in Figure 5, a welding connection (for example, a welding seam) 24 between the crossbeam 20 and the underframe 12 extends substantially along the lateral direction of the carbody which is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the carbody.

[0041 ] Preferably, the dimension of the crossbeam 20 in the lateral direction of the carbody is substantially equal to the width of the carbody. In this condition, opposite lateral ends of the crossbeam 20 are preferably welded to the wall elements 16 disposed on opposite lateral sides of the carbody. Reinforcing members 15 may be provided for increasing the connection strength between the crossbeam 20 and the wall elements 16.

[0042] As shown in Figure 5, the crossbeam 20 is configured as a single piece having the hinge carrier 22 extending in a longitudinally outward direction (towards the neighboring carbody module). The hinge carrier is formed with a socket and a hole 26 for receiving the connecting member.

[0043] Further, the opposite lateral ends of the crossbeam 20 may each be provided with a jacking part 28 which is configured to be engaged by a plug-in jacking bracket for lifting the carbody module. The jacking part 28 may be formed by a portion of the crossbeam 20, or formed as a separate part which is then attached to the crossbeam 20, for example, by welding. Once the first type carbody module 1 is assembled, the plug-in jacking bracket of a jacking equipment may engage the jacking parts 28 to lift the whole first type carbody module 1 , so that the first type carbody module can be transferred to other locations, such as a storage location or a rail vehicle assembling site.

[0044] Further, a pair of brackets 30 extending in a longitudinally outward direction (towards the neighboring carbody module) may be provided on a longitudinally outward edge of the crossbeam 20. Hunting dampers and/or bump stops for maximum turning of the connecting member may be mounted to the brackets 30 as described below. [0045] Figure 4 schematically shows an embodiment of a second type carbody module according to the invention, and Figure 6 schematically shows an underframe and a crossbeam welded together in this embodiment. The second type carbody module 2 comprises an underframe 42 which is formed by assembling a main gird extending in the longitudinal direction with cross bars and supporting bars extending in the lateral direction. The second type carbody module 2 further comprises wall elements 46 and a roof element 48. Preferably, the underframe 42, the wall elements 46 and the roof element 48 are welded together to form an integral carbody.

[0046] The second type carbody module 2 further comprises a laterally extending crossbeam 50 welded to one or each of opposite longitudinal ends of the underframe 42, and a hinge carrier 52 formed integrally with the crossbeam 50 or welded or connected to the crossbeam. The hinge carrier 52 extends in a direction towards a first type carbody module neighboring to the second type carbody module, so that it can cooperate with a corresponding hinge carrier 22 of the second type carbody module to support the connecting member for connecting neighboring carbody modules together.

[0047] As shown in Figure 6, the underframe 42 comprises a longitudinal main gird 62 and laterally extending cross bars 64 and supporting bars 66 connected to the main gird. The cross bars 64 are configured to be welded to the wall elements 46. The supporting bars 66 are configured to carry a bottom plate of the carbody of the second type carbody module. The number and positions of the cross bars 64 and the supporting bars 66 may be designed according to real need. The main gird 62 may be formed of a composed sheet, such as a sheet comprising a top layer, a bottom layer, and reinforcing ribs extending between the top and bottom layers.

[0048] The crossbeam 50 is welded to a longitudinal end of the underframe 42, thus the welding connection (for example, welding seam) 54 between the crossbeam 50 and the underframe 42 extends in the lateral direction of the carbody which is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the carbody.

[0049] Preferably, the dimension of the crossbeam 50 in the lateral direction of the carbody is substantially equal to the width of the carbody. In this condition, opposite lateral ends of the crossbeam 50 are preferably further welded to the wall elements 46 disposed on opposite lateral sides of the carbody. Reinforcing members (not shown) may be provided for increasing the connection strength between the crossbeam 50 and the wall elements 46. [0050] As shown in Figure 6, the crossbeam 50 is configured as a single piece having a hinge carrier 52 extending in a longitudinally outward direction (towards the neighboring carbody module), a hole 56 for receiving the connecting member being formed through the hinge carrier. When the first and second type carbody modules are to be connected, the hinge carriers 22 and 52 on their opposing longitudinal ends are aligned with each other, wherein the hinge carrier 22 is located under the hinge carrier 52 for supporting the hinge carrier 52. The connecting member is inserted through the holes 26 and 56 of the two carriers to connect them with each other, so that first and second type carbody modules are assembled together.

[0051 ] The connecting member is preferably a hinge type connecting member so as to allow a certain relative turning movement in a right-left direction between the hinge carriers 22 and 52. According to a preferred embodiment, the connecting member comprises a ball-socket type joint which allows both a certain relative turning movement in the right-left direction and a certain relative turning movement in an up-down direction between the hinge carriers 22 and 52.

[0052] During the running of the rail vehicle, the connecting member is subjected to both an impact force between two connected carbody modules in the lateral direction and an impact force therebetween in a vertical direction.

[0053] In addition, opposite lateral ends of the crossbeam 50 may each be provided with a jacking part 58. The jacking parts 58, which may be similar to the jacking parts 28 of the first type carbody module 1 , are configured for lifting the whole second type carbody module 2 so that it can be transferred to other locations.

[0054] Further, a pair of brackets 60 extending in a longitudinally outward direction (towards the neighboring carbody module) may be provided on a longitudinally outward edge of the crossbeam 50. The brackets 60 are configured to be corresponding to the brackets 30 of the first type carbody module 1 , for mounting hunting mating dampers and/or bump stops for maximum turning of the connecting member which are to be cooperated with the hunting dampers and/or bump stops for maximum turning of the connecting member on the brackets 30 to decrease various impact forces between two connected carbody modules and to restrict the maximum relative turning angle between two opposing hinge carriers or crossbeams.

[0055] It is contemplated that the cooperating hunting dampers and/or bump stops for maximum turning of the connecting member may be alternatively provided on the hinge carriers 22 and 52, or even provided in the hinge type connecting member or the ball-socket type joint. [0056] According to a preferred embodiment, the bump stops comprise a restriction slot provided in the bracket or the hinge carrier of one of the carbody modules and a restriction protrusion provided on the bracket or the hinge carrier of the other one of the carbody modules, the restriction protrusion being inserted into the restriction slot and being able to slide along the restriction slot.

[0057] The crossbeam structure of the invention, which is formed integrally with the carbody, is different from the structure used in the prior art. In the prior art, connection portals (each comprises an across beam) on opposing ends of neighboring carbodies are connected to the carbodies by screws, rivets and the like, and then the two connection portals are adjoining to each other to provide a certain structural strength between the two carbodies.

[0058] On the contrary, according to the invention, the first type carbody module (carbody module with a bogie) comprises an integral carbody formed by welding wall elements, a roof element and an underframe together. Thus, separate connection portals which comprise crossbeams can be omitted. By omitting the connection portals, the weight of the carbody module can be reduced, and the assembling procedure of the rail vehicle can be simplified.

[0059] Further, according to the invention, the crossbeam is welded to the underframe, and the wall elements, the roof element and the underframe are welded together to form an integral carbody. Thus, the carbody module of the invention is overall integral, and thus provides a structure having increased rigidity and strength.

[0060] It should be note in this aspect that, although the invention utilizes a crossbeam which is welded together with the carbody to achieve connection between carbody modules, without using a separate connection portal which comprises a crossbeam and which is connected to the carbody by screws or rivets, the invention does not exclude the case of using portals which do not comprise a crossbeam and which are not used for connecting carbody modules, especially reverse U-shaped portals without a crossbeam. Such portals may be disposed between carbody modules as additions or alternatives to bellows.

[0061 ] The carbody module of the invention may be applicable in various rail vehicles, in particular in trams.

[0062] While certain preferred embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Those skilled in the art can understand that the attached claims and their equivalents are intended to cover all the modifications, substitutions and changes as would fall within the scope and spirit of the invention.