DE20115965U1 - Switch for a transport device - Google Patents

Description

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DIEHL · GLAESER HILTL & PARTNERS

Patent Attorneys ■ Augustenstrasse 46 · D - 80333 Munich

GLASSES · HILTL CIVIL LAW COMPANY

Joachim W. Glaeser · Graduate engineer* Dr. Elmar HiItI ■ Graduate chemist

Patent Attorneys ■ European Patent Attorneys Munich · Hamburg*

46358/01

28 September 2001

Peter Schin
93 049 Regensburg

Switch for a transport facility

Law firm ■ Office: Munich

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Telephone ■ Telephone "Telefax· FaxMike**· «tMAItrAslresse?"· ·** Ägjchrift·· Ajldfejss (089)17 86 36-0 · (<3&dgr;£)*1 78 4.&thgr;"3$ ·" jnfolgciienTcen.de?·: : : Augristerjstrfsse;46 *·(·08&thgr;>< 78*&Kgr;?&bgr;4· B"80333Mürr(!rTen

Postal address ■ Mailing address P.O. Box 34 01 15 D - 80098 Munich

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Description Switch for a transport facility

The invention relates to a switch for a transport device for the transport of people and/or goods, wherein the transport device essentially consists of conventional guide and support elements as well as of vehicles which can be moved along these and which are sufficiently constructed from a magnetizable material.

Such transport facilities are known. For example, underground transport facilities are described in DE 3904766 A1 and DE 19748671 C2. In order to exploit the advantages of such facilities and to be able to reach as many destinations as possible, the travel tubes for the vehicles that can travel in them must be arranged in different directions and, as with overground railways, partially connected to one another via branch points. Switches must therefore be installed at such branch points, where the direction of travel of the vehicles can be changed as required. In comparison to sections of track without switches, a switch is always more complex in terms of technology and costs. This also applies to magnetic levitation trains.

The invention is therefore based on the object of specifying a switch of the type mentioned at the beginning, e.g. for an above-ground or underground magnetic levitation railway, which has as few mechanical parts as possible that have to be set up and maintained, and nevertheless has a high level of operational reliability, in particular even when switching points follow one another in quick succession.

operations at high vehicle speeds.

The invention solves this problem by a switch of the type mentioned at the outset, which is characterized in that the switch is equipped with electromagnets on at least both sides of the lane, which can be selectively activated when a vehicle passes through the switch in the direction of the branch end of the switch, and by the magnetic attraction force created when the electromagnets are activated, the vehicle passing through the switch can be deflected to the corresponding side and then into the desired branch element of the switch.

The switch according to the invention has the advantage that it can be used, for example, in any rail-based above-ground or underground transport facility with movable vehicles. It is only necessary to ensure that the guide elements set up for the vehicles in the area of the switch allow the vehicles a sufficiently large amount of freedom of movement laterally to the direction of travel so that the vehicles can be diverted into the desired new lane by the magnetic attraction acting optionally in one direction or the other. In this new lane, the usual laterally limited freedom of movement exists again, as in the sections of track without switches.

A significant advantage of the switch according to the invention over conventional mechanical switches is that the electromagnets in the switch have a very short switching time, for example when switching from one direction of travel to the other in the case of vehicles following one another in quick succession and which are to be steered in different directions.

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Preferably, the switch according to the invention is designed for use in a magnetic levitation railway.

The switch according to the invention can also be advantageously installed in underground transport facilities, as known from DE 3904766 A1 and DE 19748671 C2.

In the switch according to the invention, the electromagnets can also be designed in the form of a ring magnet arrangement. This has the advantage that a vehicle driving through the switch does not require the usual guide and support elements in part or in full, but is supported and guided within the switch by the magnetic field of the ring magnet arrangement. Independently of this , a sideways magnetic attraction force can then also be exerted on the vehicle in the above-mentioned manner in order to divert it in the desired new direction of travel.

The invention is explained by drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of a switch with electromagnets on both sides of the track and central guide elements and

Fig. 2 shows a schematic cross-section through the travel tube of an underground transport facility in the area of the switch with a vehicle located therein.

0 In Fig. 1, a simplified schematic representation of a switch 1 according to the invention for a transport device for the transport of people and/or goods is shown. The switch 1 is, for example, in the direction of arrow 2 in Fig. 1 from left to right by a vehicle (not shown) from the entry end 3 to the branch end 4 of the switch 1

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Of course, switch 1 can also be passed in the opposite direction.

The usual guide and support elements 5 for the vehicle are arranged in front of the entry end 3 of the switch 1. They continue within the switch 1 in the direction of travel 2, with a transition element 5a and then a wide element 5b following first. The wide element 5b gives the vehicle a wider lateral range of movement than the elements 5 in front of the switch 1.

At the branch end 4 of the switch 1, two branch elements 5c, 5d are connected, at which the vehicle passing the switch 1 is optionally led away from the switch.

An electromagnet arrangement 6a, 6b extends along the transition element 5a and the wide element 5b on both sides of the lane.

Fig. 2 relates to a second embodiment of the switch 8 according to the invention and shows a cross section through a travel tube 7 of an underground transport facility in the area of a switch 8. In the switch 8 there is a vehicle 9, the outer wall 10 of which is separated from the inner wall 12 of the travel tube 7 by an air gap 11.

A ring electromagnet arrangement 13 is provided over the circumference of the travel tube 7.

In any case, the vehicles of the transport device are constructed from a magnetizable material to a sufficient extent so that the activation of the electromagnets 6a, 6b or ring electromagnet arrangement 13 exerts a sufficiently large magnetic force of attraction on the vehicles in order to deflect them in the new direction of travel and, if necessary, to keep them in suspension.

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The use of the switch 1, 8 according to the invention is carried out in the following way:

In the case of the first embodiment according to Fig. 1, a vehicle runs into the entry end 3 of the switch 1 with the help of the guide and support elements 5. If the vehicle is to change its direction of travel 2 when leaving the switch 1 in the direction of the branch element 5c, i.e. to the left in the direction of travel, the first electromagnet arrangement 6a is activated. The magnetic field thus created draws the vehicle on its way along the transition element 5a and along the wide element 5b to the left side of these two elements 5a, 5b and thus enters the branch element 5c branching off to the left towards the end of the wide element 5b. The switch 1 has thus caused the vehicle's direction of travel to change to the left.

In a corresponding manner, when the switch 1 is to change the direction of travel 2 to the right, the second electromagnet arrangement 6b is activated in the right direction of travel when the vehicle enters the entry end 3 of the switch 1. The corresponding magnetic field pulls the vehicle to the right on its way along the transition element 5a and the wide element 5b, whereby it is guided at the branch end 4 of the switch 1 into the branch element 5d leading to the right.

The switch 1 can of course also be driven through in the opposite direction, i.e. with an entry into the branch element 5c or the branch element 5d, as well as with a passing of the wide element 5b and the transition element 5a until the exit from the switch 1 into the guide and support elements 5. Even in this direction of travel opposite to the direction of travel 2 in Fig. 1, it can be expedient to use one of the two electromagnet arrangements 6a,

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6b to stabilize the vehicle along the wide element 5b and the transition element 5a against undesirable lateral movement.

In the case of the second embodiment according to Fig. 2, the vehicle 9 passes through the travel tube 7 in the area of the switch 8 in the direction of the branch end of the switch 8 (not shown). The ring electromagnet arrangement 13 is activated and keeps the vehicle 9 suspended by its magnetic field as it passes through the switch 8. No additional guide and support elements are therefore required within the switch 8 for the vehicle 9. However, such guide and support elements can be used in addition in the usual way.
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Similar to the branching elements 5c and 5d of the first embodiment of the switch 1 according to Fig. 1, the switch 8 according to Fig. 2 is also provided with branching travel tubes (not shown) at the branching end of the switch 8. By appropriately controlling the field strength of the ring electromagnet arrangement on one side, the vehicle 9 can be diverted to the right or left side on its way through the switch 8 and thus reaches the desired travel tube branching to the right or left at the end of the switch 8. 25

Of course, the switch 8 can also be passed in the opposite direction, that is, the vehicle enters the switch 8 via the aforementioned right or left branch travel tube and is stabilized in the switch 8 against excessive sideways movement by a corresponding one-sided activation of the ring electromagnet arrangement 13.

The switch 1, 8 according to the invention can also be designed in any embodiment such that the change in direction of travel caused by it is not to the right or left, but in another direction, e.g. upwards or

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down or up to the right or down to the right or up to the left or down to the left. If the switch 1, 8 and the connecting track sections are equipped with guide and support elements, transition elements, branch elements and the like, these can then be arranged at the appropriate points along the track or the travel tube or the vehicle. The same applies to the appropriate arrangement of the electromagnets.

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Claims (4)

1. Switch for a transport device for transporting people and/or goods, the transport device essentially consisting of conventional guide and support elements and of vehicles which can be moved along these and which are constructed to a sufficient extent from a magnetizable material, characterized in that the switch ( 1 , 8 ) is equipped with electromagnets ( 6a , 6b ; 13 ) on at least both sides of the lane, which can be selectively activated when a vehicle ( 9 ) drives through the switch ( 1 , 8 ) in the direction of the branch end ( 4 ) of the switch ( 1 , 8 ), and the magnetic attraction force generated when the electromagnets ( 6a , 6b ; 13 ) are activated can deflect the vehicle ( 9 ) driving through the switch ( 1 , 8 ) to the corresponding side and then into the desired branch element ( 5c , 5b ) of the switch ( 1 , 8 ). 2. Switch according to claim 1, characterized in that it is designed for a magnetic levitation railway. 3. Switch according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it is designed for an underground transport facility. 4. Switch according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the electromagnets are designed in the form of a ring electromagnet arrangement ( 13 ).