Monorail vehicle apparatus with gravity-augmented contact load

摘要

Apparatus and method for gravity-augmented preload of drive wheels in a monorail vehicle travelling along a guide rail with bearing and contact surfaces that are non-parallel with the gravity vector. The vehicle defines a pivot location against the bearing surface and a constraint point on the contact surface for engaging the rail on the bearing and contact surfaces, respectively. The vehicle is mounted so its center of gravity is at a rear longitudinal offset rrl from the pivot location and a vertical offset rvert from the guide rail. A force and moment balance thus created result in a normal load on a drive wheel engaged with the bearing surface at the pivot location, where the load value exceeds a standard normal load generated by the mass of the monorail vehicle alone.

主权项

1. A monorail system producing gravity-augmented load on a drive wheel, comprising:
a) a rail having a bearing surface and a contact surface; b) a monorail vehicle for traveling on said rail, said monorail vehicle having:
1) a structure defining a pivot location against the bearing surface;2) a first assembly for engaging said rail at said pivot location with at least one drive wheel;3) a second assembly for engaging said rail on said contact surface to produce a contact force at a point offset from the pivot location; and4) a center of gravity offset from the pivot location on an opposite side of the pivot location from the second assembly, wherein the center of gravity produces a moment about the pivot location that is resisted by the second assembly to produce a gravity-augmented load that is greater than the gravity force of the mass of the monorail vehicle at rest.