Wheel set Assembly:

The wheels are profiled and marked. They are then lined up to be fitted to an axle. The axles are also turned to have the exact diameter where the wheels are to be fitted. The axle is turned to fit only one specific wheel. Both the wheels and the axle are marked to be identified as a set by the fitting team. Now the centre point of the axle is determined to ensure that no one wheel is pushed on too much or too little. The wheels are now loosely fitted to the axle. The hole in the wheel has a circumference of approx. 1mm less than that of the outer diameter of the axle. Now the wheel is heated which results in the expansion of the wheel and now the axle fits into the wheel and now the wheel is cooled so that it contracts and fits tightly to the axle. This type of fitting is called shrink fitting. This results in a pretty tight fit. Now the wheel set assembly is sent for balancing to check whether it is perfectly balanced or not.

UIC Classification of bogie:

It is classified based on the number of driving axes for a bogie and whether each axle is driven individually by traction motors or not. Upper case axles indicate the number of driving axles starting from A for single axle and B for two consecutive pair of axles. A suffix o is given if the axles are individually driven by motors.

Roller bearing Assembly:

Roller bearings are used on the ICF bogies. These bearings are press fitted on the axle by heating the bearings at a temperature of 80 to 100C in an induction furnace. Before fitting the roller bearing, an axle collar is press fitted. The collar ensures that the bearing does not move towards the centre of the axle. After pressing the collar, a rear cover for the axle box is fitted. The rear cover has two main grooves. In one of the grooves, a nitrile rubber sealing ring is placed. The sealing ring ensures that the grease in the axle box housing does not seep out during the running of the wheels. A woollen felt ring is placed in another groove. After the rear cover, a retaining ring is placed. The retaining ring is made of steel and is a press fit. The retaining ring ensures that the rear cover assembly is secured tightly between the axle collar and the retaining ring and stays at one place. The roller bearing is pressed after the retraining ring. Earlier, the collar and the bearings were heated in an oil bath. But now the practice has been discontinued and an induction furnace is used to heat them before fitting on the axle. The axle box housing, which is a steel casting, is then placed on the axle. The bearing is housed in the axle box housing. Axle box grease is filled in the axle box housing. Axle box housing is approximately filled with 2.5kg of grease. The front cover for the axle box is placed on a housing which closes the axle box. The front cover is bolted by using torque wrench.

CH. P.R. Sandeep(09MEB043)

Alternators and their drives

An alternator is an electromechanical device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. In principle, any AC electrical generator can be called an alternator, but usually the word refers to small rotating machines driven by automotive and other internal combustion engines. The generator is a DC machine driven by the diesel engine or, on electric locomotives, by a motor powered from the traction current supply. On a coach, this was often driven directly by the axle (a dynamo), batteries providing power for lighting when the train was stationary. Alternator provides AC voltages for auxiliary supplies. AC is better than DC because it is easier to transmit throughout a train, needing smaller cables, and suffering reduced losses. Advancement in semiconductor industry allowed the use of Si based rectifiers to change the AC output of the alternator to DC for battery charging and control circuits. The introduction of solid state electronics also saw the old mechanical voltage regulators replaced. The modern diesel locomotive is a self-contained version of the electric locomotive. Like the electric locomotive, it has electric drive, in the form of traction motors driving the axles and controlled with electronic controls. It also has many of the same auxiliary systems for cooling, lighting, heating, braking and hotel power (if required) for the train. It can operate over the same routes (usually) and can be operated by the same drivers. It differs principally in that it carries its own generating station around with it, instead of being connected to a remote generating station through overhead wires or a third rail. The generating station consists of a large diesel engine coupled to an alternator producing the necessary electricity. A fuel tank is also essential. It is interesting to note that the modern diesel locomotive produces about 35% of the power of an electric locomotive of similar weight. Power Transmission Power transmitted between a belt and a pulley is expressed as the product of difference of tension and belt velocity: P = (T1 T2)*v; where, T1 and T2 are tensions in the tight side and slack side of the belt respectively. They are related as: T1/T2 = e^ { * }; where, is the coefficient of friction, and is the angle subtended by contact surface at the centre of the pulley. Currently different alternators are also being used to serve different purposes. In the early 1960s, the motor alternator appeared. The appearance of silicon rectifiers allowed the AC output of the alternator to be converted to DC for battery charging and control circuits. The introduction of solid state electronics also saw the old mechanical voltage regulators replaced. - 09MEB042 Shubham Mishra

A bearing is a device to allow constrained relative motion between two or more parts, typically rotation or linear movement. Bearings may be classified broadly according to the motions they allow and according to their principle of operation as well as by the directions of applied loads they can handle. A rolling-element bearing is a bearing which carries a load by placing round elements between the two parts. The relative motion of the parts causes the round elements to roll with very little rolling resistance and with little sliding. There are five types of rollingelements that are used in rolling element bearings: Ball bearings use balls instead of cylinders. Ball bearings can support both radial (perpendicular to the shaft) and axial loads (parallel to the shaft). For lightly loaded bearings, balls offer lower friction than rollers. Ball bearings can operate when the bearing races are misaligned. Precision balls are typically cheaper to produce than shapes such as rollers; combined with high-volume use, ball bearings are often much cheaper than other bearings of similar dimensions. Ball bearings may have high point loads, limiting total load capacity compared to other bearings of similar dimensions. Common roller bearings use cylinders of slightly greater length than diameter. Roller bearings typically have higher load capacity than ball bearings, but a lower capacity and higher friction under loads perpendicular to the primary supported direction. If the inner and outer races are misaligned, the bearing capacity often drops quickly compared to either a ball bearing or a spherical roller bearing. Needle roller bearings use very long and thin cylinders. Often the ends of the rollers taper to points, and these are used to keep the rollers captive, or they may be hemispherical and not captive but held by the shaft itself or a similar arrangement. Since the rollers are thin, the outside diameter of the bearing is only slightly larger than the hole in the middle. However, the small-diameter rollers must bend sharply where they contact the races, and thus the bearing fatigues relatively quickly. Tapered roller bearings use conical rollers that run on conical races. Most roller bearings only take radial or axial loads, but tapered roller bearings support both radial and axial loads, and generally can carry higher loads than ball bearings due to greater contact area. Taper roller bearings are used, for example, as the wheel bearings of most wheeled land vehicles. The downsides to this bearing is that due to manufacturing complexities, tapered roller bearings are usually more expensive than ball bearings; and additionally under heavy loads the tapered roller is like a wedge and bearing loads tend to try to eject the roller; the force from the collar which keeps the roller in the bearing adds to bearing friction compared to ball bearings. Spherical roller bearings use rollers that are thicker in the middle and thinner at the ends; the race is shaped to match. Spherical roller bearings can thus adjust to support misaligned loads. However, spherical rollers are difficult to produce and thus

expensive, and the bearings have higher friction than a comparable ball bearing since different parts of the spherical rollers run at different speeds on the rounded race and thus there are opposing forces along the bearing/race contact.

Spherical roller bearings are used in ICF all coil coaches. These are also called self-aligning roller bearings. When either due to curve or side oscillations the rollers get displaced, the rollers automatically align themselves to their central position. These bearings are press fitted on the axle journal by heating the bearings at a temperature of 80 to 100 C in an induction furnace. Before fitting the roller bearing, an axle collar is press fitted. The collar ensures that the bearing does not move towards the centre of the axle. After pressing the collar, a rear cover for the axle box is fitted. The rear cover has two main grooves. In one of the grooves, a nitrile rubber sealing ring is placed. The sealing ring ensures that the grease in the axle box housing does not seep out during the running of the wheels. A woollen felt ring is placed in another groove. After the rear cover, a retaining ring is placed. The retaining ring is made of steel and is a press fit. The retaining ring ensures that the rear cover assembly is secured tightly between the axle collar and the retaining ring and stays at one place. The roller bearing is pressed after the retraining ring. Earlier, the collar and the bearings were heated in an oil bath. But now the practice has been discontinued and an induction furnace is used to heat them before fitting on the axle. The axle box housing, which is a steel casting, is then placed on the axle. The bearing is housed in the axle box housing. Axle box grease is filled in the axle box housing. Each axle box housing is filled with approximately 2.5 kg. of grease. The front cover for the axle box is placed on a housing which closes the axle box. The front cover is bolted by using torque wrench.

Defects: 1. Indentation: Causes: Ingress of small solid foreign objects as dust Trapping of flaked particles Impact due to careless handling Corrective Measures: Improve sealing performance Improvement in handling and mounting practice Check involved bearing for flaking if dents produced by metal particles Always use clean grease 2. Smearing and Scuffing Causes: Improper lubrication Ingress of foreign matter Roller skew due to excessive misalignment Excessive surface roughness Excessive sliding of rolling elements Corrective Measures: Check the quality/quantity of grease Improve sealing performance Check operating conditions Improve method of assembly and handling Check for any grease contamination 3. Discoloration: Causes: Temper color by overheating Deposition of deteriorated grease on surface Improper lubrication Corrective Measures Use good quality grease Replacement of grease after recommended intervals Do not allow heating of bearing beyond 120 oC during mounting

4. Rust and Corrosion: Causes: Improper storage Improper packaging Insufficient rust preventing oil Invasion of moisture, acid, etc. Handling with bare hands Corrective Measures Take measures to prevent rusting while in storage Improve sealing performance Improve method of assembly and handling Soak felt seal in warm oil before installation 5. Flaking/Spalling: Causes: Excessive loads, metal fatigue, improper handling Improper mounting Insufficient precision of journal or housing Insufficient clearance Contamination Rusting Passing of electrical current through bearing Corrective Measures Find the cause of heavy load Check internal clearance regularly Improve precision of journal and housing Improve operating conditions Improve method of assembly and handling Check grease and greasing method 6. Cracking: Causes: Rapid heating during mounting Excessive shock load Improper handling, use of steel hammering, ingress of large foreign particles Surface deformation due to improper lubrication Excessive interference Over sized housing bore.

Corrective Measures: Avoid rapid heating of bearing during mounting Reconsider operating condition Improve method of assembly and handling Prevention of creep Do not use excessively worn out or deformed housing

7. Case Damage: Causes: Excessive moment load Excessive fluctuation of speed Trapping of foreign objects Excessive Vibration Improper mounting (misalignment) Corrective Measures: Investigate rigidity of system Reconsider operating conditions Improve method of assembly and handling Improve sealing efficiency Check for any grease contamination -Sumant Laxmeshwar (09MEB044)