COMPARISON OF CONSTRUCTIONAL ASPECTS OF DIFFERENT RAILWAY POINT MACHINES A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY ORÇUN OVALI IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING JANUARY 2019 Approval of the thesis: COMPARISON OF CONSTRUCTIONAL ASPECTS OF DIFFERENT RAILWAY POINT MACHINES submitted by ORÇUN OVALI in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering Department, Middle East Technical University by, Prof. Dr. Halil Kalıpçılar Dean, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences Prof. Dr. M. A. Sahir Arıkan Head of Department, Mechanical Engineering Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ergin Tönük Supervisor, Mechanical Engineering Dept., METU Prof. Dr. Eres Söylemez Co-Supervisor, Mechanical Engineering Dept., METU Examining Committee Members: Prof. Dr. Reşit Soylu Mechanical Engineering Dept., METU Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ergin Tönük Mechanical Engineering Dept., METU Prof. Dr. Eres Söylemez Mechanical Engineering Dept., METU Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Bülent Özer Mechanical Engineering Dept., METU Assist. Prof. Dr. Kutluk Bilge Arıkan Mechanical Engineering Dept., TEDU Date: 03.01.2019 I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Surname: Orçun Ovalı Signature: iv ABSTRACT COMPARISON OF CONSTRUCTIONAL ASPECTS OF DIFFERENT RAILWAY POINT MACHINES Ovalı, Orçun Master of Science, Department of Mechanical Engineering Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ergin Tönük Co-Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Eres Söylemez January 2019, 224 pages In the last years, railway systems are becoming more popular all over the world, especially in the European Union. Turkey has also started to develop completely domestic products and systems for the railway trains, signaling and infrastructure. Point machines are one of the critical safety devices for the railway signaling and infrastructure. They play an important role in the safe running of rail services. Hence, they have to be quick for the throwing and reliable for the locking of point blades. This study contains research about modern point machines commercially available in the market and investigations on some of these machines used by Turkish State Railways (TCDD) the major authority running the infrastructure in Turkey. The main objective of this study is to compare different railway point machines in terms of their constructional aspects. This assessment includes three main steps. The first step is to perform research about modern point machines and their operational characteristics. The second step is the detailed investigation of four different point machines that are currently used at the railways operated by TCDD in Turkey. The final step is about comparison of mainly constructional aspects of these investigated point machines for v the purpose of preparing background and guidelines for the development of a novel and domestic point machine. Keywords: Point machines, railway, electro-mechanical, electro-hydraulic, electro- pneumatic. vi ÖZ FARKLI DEMİRYOLU MAKAS MOTORLARININ YAPISAL YÖNDEN KARŞILAŞTIRILMASI Ovalı, Orçun Yüksek Lisans, Makina Mühendisliği Bölümü Tez Danışmanı: Doç. Dr. Ergin Tönük Ortak Tez Danışmanı: Prof. Dr. Eres Söylemez Ocak 2019, 224 sayfa Raylı sistemler son yıllarda Avrupa Birliği başta olmak üzere bütün dünyada gittikçe popüler olmaktadır. Türkiye de raylı taşımacılık alanında ulusal tasarım ve üretim demiryolu araçları, sinyalizasyonu ve altyapıları için ürün ve sistemler geliştirmeye başlamıştır. Makas motorları, demiryolu sinyalizasyonu ve altyapı sistemleri için güvenlik açısından kritik cihazlardan biridir. Bu cihazlar raylı ulaşım sistemlerinin güvenli olarak sürdürülmesi konusunda önemli rol oynamaktadır. Bu nedenle makasların konumlandırılması sırasında hızlı, kilitlenmesi açısından da güvenilir olmaları gerekmektedir. Bu çalışma, piyasada mevcut, çağdaş makas motorlarının araştırılmasını ve Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryolları (TCDD) tarafından kullanılan dört farklı makas motorunun incelenmesini kapsamaktadır. Çalışmanın esas amacı farklı makas motorlarının yapısal özelliklerinin karşılaştırılmasıdır. Çalışma temelde üç ana adımdan oluşmaktadır. Birinci adım, çağdaş makas motorlarının ve işlevsel özelliklerinin araştırılmasıdır. İkinci adım, TCDD tarafından hali hazırda Türkiye’deki demiryollarında kullanımı devam eden dört farklı makas motorunun incelenmesidir. vii Son adım ise özgün ve yerli bir makas motoru geliştirilebilmesi için gerekli altyapı ve prensiplerin ortaya çıkarılması için, makas motorlarının yapısal özelliklerinin karşılaştırılmasıdır. Anahtar kelimeler: Makas motorları, demiryolu, elektro-mekanik, elektro-hidrolik, elektro-pnömatik viii To My Loved Parents and My Handsome Brother… ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ergin Tönük and co-supervisor Prof. Dr. Eres Söylemez for their endless and invaluable support, guidance, advice, criticism, and encouragements throughout the research and writing of this thesis. In addition, I would like to thank TCDD, specifically branch manager Kadir Ökesli of Railway Maintenance Department at TCDD, for supplying different kinds of point machines. I would also like to express sincere appreciation to deputy service director Mustafa Ercan, engineer Erdinç Çeliker in Ankara 2nd Regional Directorate and technical chief Asım Karagöz of High Speed Train Signalization Department at TCDD for sharing the information and their personal experiences about the point machines. Moreover, I would like to acknowledge ASELSAN that is my employer company for guiding and encouraging me to work on this thesis study. Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my family for their eternal trust, love and unfailing support throughout the process of researching and writing this thesis. Even more, this accomplishment would not have been possible without them. x TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. v ÖZ .............................................................................................................................. vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... x TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ xi LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................... xiv LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................... xv LIST OF SYMBOLS ................................................................................................ xxi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................. xxii NOMENCLATURE ................................................................................................ xxiii CHAPTERS 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................... 3 POINT MACHINES .................................................................................... 3 HISTORY OF POINT MACHINES ............................................................ 6 MARKET RESEARCH ............................................................................. 17 2.3.1. SIEMENS POINT MACHINES ............................................................ 19 2.3.2. VOESTALPINE POINT MACHINES .................................................. 25 2.3.3. VOSSLOH POINT MACHINES ........................................................... 36 2.3.4. THALES POINT MACHINES .............................................................. 44 2.3.5. ALSTOM POINT MACHINES ............................................................. 48 PATENT REVIEW .................................................................................... 53 xi MOTIVATION OF STUDY ...................................................................... 54 3. INVESTIGATIONS OF DIFFERENT RAILWAY POINT MACHINES ....... 57 INVESTIGATIONS ON POINT MACHINE A ........................................ 57 INVESTIGATIONS ON POINT MACHINE B ........................................ 86 INVESTIGATIONS ON POINT MACHINE C ...................................... 112 INVESTIGATIONS ON POINT MACHINE D ...................................... 144 4. COMPARISON OF INVESTIGATED RAILWAY POINT MACHINES ..... 173 TYPE OF POWER ................................................................................... 173 CASING MATERIALS AND WEIGHTS .............................................. 175 NUMBER OF DRIVING AND DETECTOR RODS.............................. 175 ELECTRIC MOTORS AND POWER UNITS ........................................ 177 POWER TRANSMISSIONS ................................................................... 179 DRIVING MECHANISMS AND PROMINENT FEATURES .............. 180 THROWING TIMES, FORCES AND STROKES.................................. 183 LOCKING FUNCTIONS .......................................................................