Efficient Railway Turnout Design: Leveraging TRIZ-Based Approaches
This study focuses on the design and improvement of railway turnouts, which are critical yet complex parts of the railway infrastructure. As they are responsible for track discontinuity and potential derailments, turnouts pose significant challenges in terms of slack, misalignment and rail breakage....
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/17/9531 |
| _version_ | 1827728307213303808 |
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| author | Antonio J. Sala Jesus Felez Juan David Cano-Moreno |
| author_facet | Antonio J. Sala Jesus Felez Juan David Cano-Moreno |
| author_sort | Antonio J. Sala |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study focuses on the design and improvement of railway turnouts, which are critical yet complex parts of the railway infrastructure. As they are responsible for track discontinuity and potential derailments, turnouts pose significant challenges in terms of slack, misalignment and rail breakage. A new concept related to the design of turnouts, including switches and crossings, is presented in this paper. The application of TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) principles, specifically the use of the contradiction matrix, was instrumental to achieving these innovative designs for railway systems and represents the main contribution of the paper. Based on the systematic use of the TRIZ principles, the proposed design addresses the problems associated with switches and crossings by replacing the classic frog with a movable element that sits in the crossing gap and reduces the existing gap, thus minimising the length of the rail gap and, consequently, providing greater contact with the rail, minimising wheel impacts on the rail gap and, consequently, decreasing the risk of derailment. By reducing rail contact forces, which are a major contributor to derailments, the risk of derailment is reduced. This study also introduces a new design for the switch rail system using a piston mechanism with an up and down stroke, which is accompanied by a rotating motor at the top for controlled movement. Finally, numerical simulations were performed to validate the proposed designs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T23:28:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1d265f4b1d274d62adac9a6d917b08f4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T23:28:24Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-1d265f4b1d274d62adac9a6d917b08f42023-11-19T07:48:20ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172023-08-011317953110.3390/app13179531Efficient Railway Turnout Design: Leveraging TRIZ-Based ApproachesAntonio J. Sala0Jesus Felez1Juan David Cano-Moreno2Mechanical Engineering Department, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28006 Madrid, SpainMechanical Engineering Department, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28006 Madrid, SpainMechanical Engineering, Chemistry and Industrial Design Department, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28006 Madrid, SpainThis study focuses on the design and improvement of railway turnouts, which are critical yet complex parts of the railway infrastructure. As they are responsible for track discontinuity and potential derailments, turnouts pose significant challenges in terms of slack, misalignment and rail breakage. A new concept related to the design of turnouts, including switches and crossings, is presented in this paper. The application of TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) principles, specifically the use of the contradiction matrix, was instrumental to achieving these innovative designs for railway systems and represents the main contribution of the paper. Based on the systematic use of the TRIZ principles, the proposed design addresses the problems associated with switches and crossings by replacing the classic frog with a movable element that sits in the crossing gap and reduces the existing gap, thus minimising the length of the rail gap and, consequently, providing greater contact with the rail, minimising wheel impacts on the rail gap and, consequently, decreasing the risk of derailment. By reducing rail contact forces, which are a major contributor to derailments, the risk of derailment is reduced. This study also introduces a new design for the switch rail system using a piston mechanism with an up and down stroke, which is accompanied by a rotating motor at the top for controlled movement. Finally, numerical simulations were performed to validate the proposed designs.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/17/9531railway turnoutsswitches and crossingscrossingsfrogswitch railTRIZ |
| spellingShingle | Antonio J. Sala Jesus Felez Juan David Cano-Moreno Efficient Railway Turnout Design: Leveraging TRIZ-Based Approaches Applied Sciences railway turnouts switches and crossings crossings frog switch rail TRIZ |
| title | Efficient Railway Turnout Design: Leveraging TRIZ-Based Approaches |
| title_full | Efficient Railway Turnout Design: Leveraging TRIZ-Based Approaches |
| title_fullStr | Efficient Railway Turnout Design: Leveraging TRIZ-Based Approaches |
| title_full_unstemmed | Efficient Railway Turnout Design: Leveraging TRIZ-Based Approaches |
| title_short | Efficient Railway Turnout Design: Leveraging TRIZ-Based Approaches |
| title_sort | efficient railway turnout design leveraging triz based approaches |
| topic | railway turnouts switches and crossings crossings frog switch rail TRIZ |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/17/9531 |
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