Nippon Steel Corporation

Shotaro Kadokawa

Hiroshi Nogami

Kenji Imanishi

Hiroyuki Yamaguchi

Takuya Fujita

An eddy-current rail brake device includes a row of magnets, a supporting member, a case, and a lifting device. The row of magnets includes a plurality of permanent magnets that are arranged in a traveling direction of a railroad car. To the supporting member, the row of magnets is mounted. The supporting member has magnetism. The case houses the row of magnets and the supporting member and includes a bottom portion that faces the row of magnets and is non-magnetic. The lifting device raises and lowers the supporting member inside the case while the row of magnets is kept facing the bottom portion. The eddy-current rail brake device can prevent or reduce adhesion of a foreign object and can be reduced in size in a right-left direction.

Eddy-current rail brake device

An eddy current retarder includes a brake drum, a magnet retention ring, and a switch mechanism. The brake drum is fixed to a rotating shaft. The magnet retention ring is arranged inside the drum and retains magnets at regular intervals entirely in a circumferential direction such that the magnets face the inner peripheral surface of the drum. The switch mechanism includes switch plates that switch, during braking, to a state in which magnetic circuits develop between the magnets and the drum, and switch, during non-braking, to a state in which no magnetic circuits develop. Protrusions are provided on an end face of the drum at regular intervals entirely in the circumferential direction. Electricity generating coils are provided in a non-rotating part of a vehicle at regular intervals entirely in the circumferential direction such that the electricity generating coils face the regions of the end face of the drum.

Growing community of inventors

Amagasaki, Japan

Shotaro Kadokawa