ŽĎAS: Railway wheel manufacture
Railway wheel manufacture: wheels and components for rolling stock
ŽĎAS offers a complete line for forming ra-
ilway wheels, which consists of a rotary fur-
nace, four hydraulic presses with indepen-
dent drives, one rolling mill, handling
equipment, marking equipment, and in-
struments for measuring the dimensions of
wheel blanks. Furthermore, the line is equ-
ipped with an automatic tool change featu-
re in the hydraulic presses, including tool
preheating. At the start of the technological
process, the cut semi-finished input materi-
al is fed into the rotary furnace. After hea-
ting, the manipulator places the material in-
to scale washing. After scale washing, the
manipulator moves the heated block into a
CKZW 5600 pull-down press, where the
block is centred in the axis of the press with
a centring device. In the press, the block is
formed into a disc shape and another ma-
nipulator takes it into a CKVZ 8000 push-
down press, where it is centred and sha-
ped. The next operation is punching the
shaped blank in a CKVD 1000 punching
press. The rolling mill is then used to roll the
final shape of the wheel. A CKVP 4000
bending press is then used to calibrate and
dish the wheel disc. The finished wheel is
marked on a marking press and its shape is
then measured to check whether it mat-
ches the specified parameters. The compa-
ny can also add remote data management,
diagnostics, and collection to provide input
information for predictive maintenance
and integration as part of Industry 4.0.
The axles are forged from billets of vacu-
um-treated steel of the required grade. Af-
ter heating to forming temperature, the ba-
sic shape of the axle is formed on an
integrated forging system consisting of a
CKNV 1000 push-down forging press, a
QKK1.5 forging manipulator, and a rotary
lifting table. As a standard, the basic design
of the axle is forged on three shaped dies
that allow forging to within ±1.5 millimetres
of the required parameters with a high for-
ging effect. The high mechanical properties
of the axles are also achieved by the high
degree of forging in areas where the dia-
meter values change. After forging, the ax-
le undergoes computer-controlled heat tre-
atment to achieve optimum mechanical
properties. The bending and shape defor-
mation resulting from the heat treatment
process is then adjusted on an RL 400 stra-
ightening press.
A railway bogie wheel must have diffe-
rent properties at different points of its sur-
face; it must be compliant and stiff at the sa-
me time. The required hardness is paid for
by reduced compliance, for which reason
only the wheel surface that runs on the
track is hardened. A CDRA hydraulic press
is used for assembling railway wheelsets
and for cold pressing. The press also ena-
bles the parts between the wheels to be
pressed on and the pressing and inspection
of the pressed-on joints. A press roller pla-
ced in a fixed crossbeam applies the selec-
ted force to the parts being pressed against
the supporting crossbeam. The supporting
crossbeam includes hydraulic wheel cent-
ring; the rear crossbeam includes hydraulic
axle centring. The control system provides
press control and diagnostics of the opera-
tion and fault conditions, if any. The CDRM
press is designed for pressing wheelsets
and axles together. The system enables the
assembly and disassembly of wheelsets for
locomotives and railway vehicles and re-
cords the pressing force curve on the basis
of the length of the pressing process. Upon
the completion of the pressing-on operati-
on, a report on the process is printed out to
be filed. The press roller rests on a suppor-
ting crossbeam, which travels on two be-
ams. Depending on the wheelset type, the
pressing force is captured by the suppor-
ting crossbeam at predefined positions.
The advantages of the two devices include
precise pressing force control, ease of ope-
rations, and high performance. p
www.zdas.cz
Railway Wheel Manufacture
ŽĎAS makes high-quality, reliable equipment
for applications in the railway industry supported
by cutting-edge technology and significant references
www.technikaatrh.cz
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rail transport
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components
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