The Development Of Tight-lock Coupler & Draftgear In Metro Vehicle

With the development of urbanization and people’s growing demand for transport and traveling, urban rail traffic is stepping into a golden era of development. As one of the key parts on railway vehicles, draft gear promises substantial market prospects, and thus is worthy to be researched upon and further expanded in market.Based on the dynamics theory of railway vehicles and dynamics software of multi-body systems- ADAMS/Rail, second development has been done in light of the practical working conditions of railway vehicles in motion, and furthermore, the crashing model of multi-body dynamics about vehicle has been done too. With the help of the simulation program, it is confirmed that the technic indexes of coupler and draft gears can meet its needs for development and practical running.The working principles of tight-lock coupler and draft gear in metro has been analyzed and studied. The development of structure and process for coupler and draft gear has been done with the 3D software Proe and the casting simulation software-MAGMA. The calculation of disc springs in centering device has also been done with the software- Mathcad. The type and assembling height of disc springs have been determined. So the cycles of the development and manufacturing have been shortened.With the FEM software ABAQUS, the static analysis of the key pieces of coupler and draft gear has been done. The stress distribution of the key pieces in different working conditions is obtained. The simulation shows that the structural strength and selected materials meet the requirement of development, and furthermore, the allowance for safety has been taken into consideration and thus lays the foundation for further experiment and verification.Based on the strength-analysis result of the key pieces, some verification by test are done, including the strength test, the static compress test, the dropping hammer test and the duration test. The result of the strength test shows that the selected materials meet the requirement of development, which substantiate the validity of FEM calculation and the rationality of structure. The testing result about polymer shows that the selected polymer springs meet the requirements of intended use.It is intended that the development, analysis and the method of verification by test should be of some reference value for the design of coupler and draft gear in metro vehicle.