Enklare korglutning

Sammanfattning

This project was led on behalf of Bombardier Transportation in Västerås, Sweden, in

collaboration with KTH Stockholm and EPFL Lausanne. This project is connected to the

development of a new and simplified tilt system for rail vehicles.

Growing competition from other means of transportation has forced railway companies

throughout the world to search for increased performances.

Travelling time is the most

obvious performance indicator that may be improved by introducing high-speed trains.

They require very large curve radii and long transitions curves not to impair

ride

comfort

, another performance indicator. Building new tracks adapted to high speed

trains is very costly and can only be justified where the passenger base is large.

Trains with the capability to tilt the carbodies inwards the curve is a more cost efficient

alternative. The tilt inwards reduces the

lateral force felt by the passengers allowing the

train to pass curves at enhanced speed with maintained ride comfort but increases the

frequency of

motion sickness.

The benefits of tilting trains are improved speed capability in curves and enhanced

passengers comfort, but at higher buying and maintenance cost. As the conventional

trains increase their speed in curves, the performance advantage of tilting trains is

reduced while their prize is still kept significantly higher and constant. Moreover, tilting

trains often suffer from bad reputation regarding reliability and motion sickness.

This work presents a

state of the art of tilting trains mainly focused on their

mechanisms

, but also taking in consideration control and activation. New and

simplified solutions have been researched and are presented in comparison with

existing embodiments.

Existing solutions are expected to stay advantageous and available on the market. A

new possible solution is proposed and requires further investigations to verify its

feasabilty. No change is expected concerning activation. It is foreseen that complex

control algorithms using onboard track data and train position are going to be usual

technology.