The proper lubrication of the wheel flange ensures a more silent run of trains in curves, reduces the wear of the wheel-rail contact surface, reduces the risk of derailment and increases the life-expectancy of the tyre and, consequently, of the monobloc wheel. The new dry lubrication system using lubrication sticks is a modern and environmentally friendly solution carried out in conformity with environment protection rules.
Keeping the wheel flange lubricated is absolutely necessary for reducing the wheel and rail wear, a phenomenon emphasized especially by the traffic of trains on hauling sections with high percentage of curves, their wear being directly proportional with the speed and the axle load and in inverse ratio to the curve radius.
The liquid lubrication, currently used worldwide, is a system which requires complex equipments and still presents several disadvantages related to the high-cost maintenance operation and negative effects on the environment. The explanation of all this is the fact that the oil or petrolatum in the dynamics of the vehicle are not directed exclusively on the wheel flange and are driven by air currents to the bogie unit, locomotive case or even on the running track, with devastating effects consisting in the impregnation of these sub-assemblies with flammable substances, investing the environment and even reducing adhesion.
An eco-friendly and efficient alternative to the classic system is the dry lubrication using lubrication sticks, a modern solution which meets environment protection requirements. The eco-friendly character is also turned into account by noise-reduction in curves. According to manufacturers, this system requires a simple installation being compliant to a variety of conditions and has minimum maintenance costs. “The life-expectancy of a lubrication stick of 110 mm (the support being designed for 3 such lubrication sticks, totalling 330 mm) can reach around 15,000 km, but there can be great differences depending on the influence of the environment, the quality of the running track etc.”, declared Adrian Zanfir, Production Manager Schunk Romania. This system is successfully used for the trams in Saarbrücken (Germany), in Rome (Italy) and for several trains in Italy and Portugal. It is currently submitted to tests by DB.
In Romania, upon the demand of SNTFC “CFR Călători”, Softronic Craiova has locomotives on which they install the new dry lubrication sticks on its modernisation line. “These locomotives are the first ones for which we implement such a system. As we are the first company to implement the system, we are currently relying of the outcome of the research carried out by manufacturers and we will assess the effects of the system under domestic conditions. We will expand the implementation of the system as soon as we will evaluate exploitation results. Research results have shown that, for example, if in the case of the classical lubrication wear of the wheel flange for 1,000 km was of around 0.07 mm, when using lubrication sticks, the wear was of around 0.023 mm for the same distance, which means nearly 3 times less wear”, declared Sorin Dumitrescu, Technical Manager, Softronic.
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