Analysis about the Difficulties of Railway Vehicle Roof Beam Bending

As we progress into the future, railway’s influence in our daily lives continues to grow. Railways not only make our life more convenient, but also more efficient. As a result, city development and growth have come to rely more and more on railway construction. This construction is not simple though, and railway car body’s construction in particular is very complicated. In this analysis we will discuss the difficulties that we normally encounter in building curved roof beams in railway vehicles.

First, the parts of the curved roof beams are asymmetrical. The parts are made of stainless steel plates. They normally have thin walls and they are mixed with multiple radius of curvatures. The minimum radius of curvature is R=350mm.

Second, curved roof beams in railway vehicles require high tech equipment. As discussed above, the parts are mixed with multiple radius of curvatures. So it is difficult to curve without any wrinkles during the process.

Third, the stableness during the curving process is very important. Because of its asymmetrical feature, maintaining the flatness of the whole parts require higher technology and more professional process.

Our solution to these difficulties is to use an adjustable mold that can be split to different parts. To reduce the chance of wrinkling, we adjust the tension force and, at the same time, use ancillary force. As for the asymmetrical feature of the parts, we control the clamping force so that all the parts are evenly pressured. We also adopt a molding surface on top of our machines to reduce the damages to the parts. Finally, to enhance the flatness of the whole parts, we increase the accuracy of our molds and machines. We also adjust the clamping force to make it more even as a whole.

Accordingly, when developing these type of parts, we need to be aware of the unique feature of the parts, and then adopt necessary adjustments. We may also need to make some corrections and amendments after the bending process, if necessary.