Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

National Research Council of Canada

Robert Thomas Scott

Harinder Singh Lamba

Joseph Kalousek

Steven Dallas Johnson

Xiaoying Sean Ma

William Ellis Darnaby

Keping Hou

The adhesion between a locomotive drive wheel and supporting rail can be substantially increased by application of a powder mixture that contains a hard particle constituent preferably including alumina, a soft particle constituent preferably including titania, and an iron oxide constituent. The mixture may be in the form of a dry powder, a paste with water or alcohol vehicle, or a metal composite that includes the powder.

Locomotive adhesion enhancing material mixtures

An axle sprung motor assembly for driving a locomotive includes a motor selectively driving a rotatable drive gear. A wheelset assembly includes a pair of flanged wheels mounted on an axle with an axle bearing housing rotatably supported on the axle. A set of resilient bushings is carried between the axle bearing housing and the motor housing. The motor assembly is resiliently secured to the wheelset through the interposed resilient bushings. A resilient gear has a hub fixed to the axle and includes a ring gear that engages the drive gear and is mounted to the hub through a set of flex bushings and a set of snubber bushings. Loads transferred from the motor to the wheelset are reduced by relative rotation between the ring gear and the hub that compresses elastomeric material of the flex bushings, with movement limited by the snubber bushings.

Axle sprung motor

At least one powered disc is suspended from a locomotive and applied to a rail surface for treating the rail surface ahead of driven locomotive wheels to increase adhesion between the driven wheels and the rail surface. Torque applied to the disc varies the rate of rotation of the disc away from that of a freely-rotating disc so that a significant level of creep may be maintained between the disc and the rail surface with substantially no angle of attack between the disc and the longitudinal axis of the rail. The torque may be generated through a second disc contacting the rail and coupled to the first disc with the first and second discs rotating with differing rates of rotation, or may be generated through a passive or active actuator coupled directly to the disc. The amount of creep between the disc and the rail surface and the direction of the creep may be varied in accordance with the level of contamination of the rail and the disc may be disengaged from the rail when cleaning is not required.

Locomotive adhesion enhancing slipping discs

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Lockport, IL, United States of America

Robert Thomas Scott