1. Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Applications
/ HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

2. 15.11.2018 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

3. Content: Wheel Flange Lubrication
1 Introduction
2 Wheel/Rail contact
3 Requirements
4 Solutions
5 Application
6 Results
7 Future Aspects
8 Summary
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4. Lubricant consumption
World‘s lubricant consumption: tons
Consumption in Germany: tons
Total loss lubricants: tons
Railway Systems: tons
Total loss lubricants:
Concrete release agents
Two-stroke engine oils
Chain saw oils
Chain- and Wire rope lubricants
...
Switch lubricants
Wheel flange lubricants
Rail lubricants
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5. Wheel / Rail contact Wheel/Rail contact area fulfills several demands:
transmission of traction and braking forces between rail head and wheel surface
absorption of steering forces between wheel flange and
rail flange
transmission of electric signals
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6. Wheel / Rail contact Influence of Lubrication on Wheel flange wear
Wear area
Loss of Material when reprofiling
Lubricated
Not Lubricated
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7. Wear Effects on Rails and Wheel Flanges
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8. Wear Effects on Rails
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9. Requirements Generally: Environmentally harmless Low water pollution
High biodegradability
No toxic components
Should be solvent-free
etc.
These requirements are not yet homogeneously regulated. Regarding biodegradability, the test method according to CEC L-33-A-93 standard is commonly used. Additionally different OECD-guidelines are used.
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10. Requirements Wheel flange lubrication: primary:
Reduction of friction between wheel and rail flange to reduce the risk of derailment and to minimise rolling noises generated in these contact zones.
Reduction of wear of wheel and rail to minimise maintenance work and life cycle costs and to increase the availability of the rolling stock.
secondary:
High adhesion (gets more and more important for high speed trains)
Lubricity and sprayability should be independent from temperature
Independence from the lubricating system used
Good resistance against ageing
Long storage time
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11. Solution Basics of lubricant formulation:
In these applications normally soft free-flowing greases are used, which can contain special solid lubricants.
It is important, that all single components are checked with regard to their environmental potential, even though the base oil is by far the biggest portion of the lubricant.
Base oils:
Regarding biodegradability we can choose
from the following fluids:
Native esters
Synthetic esters
Low-viscous Polyglycols
Low-viscous synthetic hydrocarbons
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12. Solution
Beside the biodegradability the following properties have to be considered with the base oils:
Lubricity
Flow behaviour at low temperatures
Thermal resistance
Solubility / Miscibility of additives
Compatibility with materials
Following the thickeners, which can be used in biodegradable lubricants:
Lithium soap
Calcium soap
Li-/Ca-Mix soap
Inorganic thickeners, e.g. Bentonite
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13. Solution Additives and Solid lubricants:
EP additives play an important role, because wheel flange lubrication, as well as switch lubrication is working under boundary or extreme mixed friction conditions.
Static friction
Boundary friction
Boundary Frict.
Mixed friction
Fluid friction (hydrodynamic friction)
Coefficient of friction µ
Mixed Friction
Hydrodyn. Frict.
Speed (n)
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14. Solution Additives and Solid lubricants:
Selection of additives must be done also with regard to the strong requirements of environmental aspects and must fulfil all the tribological demands as well.
Long-term experience in practical applications has shown, that special solid lubricants can be extremely helpful in these applications. Mostly special graphite types as well as combinations of the so-called white solid lubricants are used.
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15. Solution
Synergetic combination of the mentioned components to ready formulations:
*AC = Anti-corrosion, AW = Anti-wear, AO = Anti-oxydant, EP = Extreme Pressure
**FSS = solid lubricants
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16. Application
to make sure that you have the right quantity of lubricant right in time at the right place
Application to the wheel flange with On-Board-Systems
Application to the rail flanks with Track-Side-Systems
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17. Application
with automatic lubricators, which spray extremely small quantities of lubricant onto the wheel flanges
normally only the first wheel set is lubricated, all the following axles are lubricated indirectly
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18. Rail and Wheel Flange Lubrication Systems
On-Board-Systems
Air-operated
Airless
On-board comp.
sep. compressor
Vogel SP 8
Vogel SP 9
DeLimon RE
DeLimon Railjet
ÖBB Sepuls
Secheron
Woerner
Beka Fluilub
Rebs
Saxonia SSL-3
Rebs
Beka Fluilub
Mannesmann Rexroth
Vogel-Brush
Rebs
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19. Controlling of Lubricating Systems
On-Board-Systems
path-controlled
time-controlled
curve-controlled
GPS-controlled
combined
Track-Side-Systems
mechanically
time-controlled
vibration-controlled
noise-controlled
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20. Application Wheel flange lubrication, example: Type Vogel SP 9
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21. Application Wheel flange lubrication, example: Type DeLimon RE
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22. Wheel flange lubricating systems, nozzles
mainly used nozzles at DB AG
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23. Wheel Flange Lubrication, Fitting Position of Spray Nozzles
Best position: L
with brake shoe: L2
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24. Application Wheel flange lubrication, calculation example:
Width of the spray jet on the wheel flange: 20 mm
Wheel diameter: 900 mm
Lubricant quantity per spray cycle: 30 mg
Thickness of lube film on the first wheel set: ca. 0,5 µm
Spray pattern from test rig trial
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25. Application Wheel flange lubrication, calculation example:
Lubricant quantity per cycle: 30 mg
Travelling distance per cycle: 500 m
Total distance: 1000 km
Lubricant consumption at each side: 60 g
Spray pattern from test rig trial
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26. Wear Effects on Rails
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27. Results: Field test
Result: Remarkably lower wear rates with the biodegradable lubricant
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28. Results: Field test
1991: Changing over from a conventional, mineral oil based grease to a high performance, biodegradable lubricant.
Causes for Wheel Flange Wear on Locomotive Wheels (source: Austrian Railway)
Flange wear
Flange/surface wear
Surface wear
Flat surfaces
Cracks
Others
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29. Rail and Wheel Flange Lubrication
Until 1991: conventional lubricant based on mineral oil
Since 1993: TRAMLUB F 234 MOD 1
Wear Rate on Wheel Flanges (source: Austrian Railway)
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30. Summary Biodegradable lubricants for wheel flange lubrication
have overrun their conventional ancestors and completely removed in many applications
perform much better and at the same time help our environment by:
Reduction of driving power (up to 15%)
Reduction of wear, noise and friction
Increase of the maintenance intervals
Reduction of maintenance works
Reduction of lubricant consumption
Reduction of the risk of derailment
Increase of Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, Safety (RAMS)
Decrease of Life Cycle Costs (LCC)
...
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31. Rail and Wheel Flange Lubrication Systems
Track-Side-Systems
Hi-Rail
Portec PL
SRS Clicomatic
Schreck-Mieves/Moklansa
Schörling
Portec
etc.
Portec PL on duty
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32. Rail flank lubrication
Portec lubricator
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33. Rail flank lubrication
Delimon track-side lubricator
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34. Rail flank lubrication
Schreck-Mieves track-side lubricator
Delimon track-side lubricator
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35. Hi-rail systems
Schoerling 2-way vehicle for cleaning and lubricating of rails and switches
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36. 15.11.2018 / HW / Biodegradable Lubricants for Railway Systems

37. Thank you very much for your kind attention.
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