Rim oil and gas lubrication system

The rim and track lubrication system is one of the oil and gas lubrication systems with the most significant investment return ratio. The system is small and simple, and the purchase cost is low, but the return obtained after adoption is tens or even hundreds of times higher than the investment cost.

Installing a rim oil and gas lubrication system on a locomotive has the following benefits：

01 Greatly reduces the risk of the wheels detaching from the track.

02 Reduces noise, especially in corners and tunnels.

03 The fuel consumption is very small, and the average fuel consumption of a locomotive traveling 1,000 kilometers is only 500ml.

04 There is no environmental pollution. Due to the fine coverage of lubricants, no dirty oil was found along the railway.

05 The wear of the rim of the wheel is greatly reduced, and the number of times and maintenance costs of the wheel are ground due to the wear of the rim are reduced.

06 The amount of maintenance is small, and the rim lubrication device has as few moving parts as possible, so there is almost no need for maintenance, just regular refueling.

The system uses a pneumatic plunger pump to pump lubricant into the oil-gas mixing block. At the same time, the lubricant and compressed air are mixed in the oil-gas mixing block. By means of compressed air, the lubricant is transported along the inner wall of the pipeline and distributed through the distributor to the nozzle, and the lubricant is sprayed from the nozzle to the rim.Due to the limited capacity of compressed air on the locomotive, the injection is not continuous, but every once in a while-of course, each injection process is continuous and lasts for 6 to 10 seconds.

In the system, the intermediate pipeline between the pump and the nozzle contains about 10% lubricant and 90% compressed air. This ratio enables the compressed air to act on the lubricant during the injection process and form a fine oil film layer. The closer the nozzle, the smaller the thickness of the oil film layer and the finer it is. The thickness of the oil film layer sprayed on the rim is less than 0.001mm, and its width is

The amount of lubricant of 10~15mm and 10~30mm is sprayed on the rim in the finest particles within a few seconds.

During the injection process, the wheels can turn many times; at the same time, due to the action of compressed air, the lubricant transported in the pipeline with a high proportion of pressure-resistant solid particles accelerates from the nozzle and is sprayed onto the rim at a high speed of 150~200m/s. The injection process is clean and tidy, and it ensures that the lubricant ejected by the locomotive at high speed can also break through the air flow and driving wind around the wheels, and finely cover the rim of the locomotive.There is lubricant throughout the injection process. The longer the injection time, the finer the lubricant ejected from the nozzle.

When the locomotive is traveling at a speed of 5 to 10 kilometers per hour, centrifugal force will be generated on the rim of the wheel. When the lubricating film is thickened and the driving speed is accelerated, the centrifugal force will reduce the adhesion of the lubricant. Therefore, it is very important that the particles of the ejected lubricant should not be too large. Tests have shown that when the particle diameter is greater than 0.4mm, that is, when the area is greater than 0.03mm>2, the centrifugal force will cause the lubricant to splash.

There are the following control methods for rim lubrication：

Distance control

The system works at a set distance.A tachometer is used to measure the driving distance. Once the locomotive has traveled a certain distance, the “lubrication contact” on the tachometer sends a signal to put the rim lubrication system into work.

Time control

The locomotive travels slower in corners than on straights, so the time control method can ensure that the time interval between every two lubrication in corners is shorter than on straights, that is to say, based on the time control method, the rims get more lubrication on corners than on straights.

Curve control

The rim lubrication system provides a new solution. The curve sensor is installed on the front of the car, while the other parts of the lubrication system are assembled on the bogie that enters the curve with the front of the car, thus ensuring that the lubricated rim is in contact with the track head at the curve and the lubricant is transmitted to the rear rim and the rim of the next locomotive.Of course, in some cases, the curve sensor can also be assembled with the electronic control device of the rim lubrication system.

Hybrid control

Practice has proved that the time control method is a simple and reliable control method.Therefore, time control is often used as the basis of hybrid control, while curve control is used as an auxiliary control method.On straights, the time control method can realize that some lubricant is sprayed every once in a while to lubricate the rim, so there will always be some lubricating oil film on the rim, as well as when entering the curve; during the curve, changes in centrifugal force can cause the system to increase the number of injections and the amount of lubrication.At the end of the curve-when leaving the curve, the bogie of the locomotive will return to the center position. At this time, the rim and the track head will come into contact on the inside of the curve, so the inner rim needs to be lubricated at this time; on the contrary, the outer rim needs to be lubricated when entering the curve.In short, the hybrid control method can effectively provide lubrication for the left and right rims.