Railroad Car Roller Bearing Temperature Measurement and Analysis

摘要

This report describes a series of field measurements of the operating temperatures of railcar roller bearings. These measurements included operating temperatures at train speeds of 30 mph and 50 mph with loaded and unloaded cars. Also included are measurements taken when all the lubrication was removed from the bearing and the bearing was allowed to fail due to overheating. These measurements were taken in support of the Department of Transportation System for Train Accident Reduction (DOT-STAR) Program. DOT-STAR was designed by the Naval Surface Weapons Center to detect overheated bearings and minor derailments and to stop the train. Various overheated bearing (thermal) sensor locations were evaluated. A 300F bearing surface temperature was established as the temperature at which to stop the train. A computer model was developed to predict railroad car roller bearing temperatures. This model was adjusted to agree with measured data. The model was used to predict bearing temperature at a train speed of 80 mph in an ambient temperature of 125F. This prediction was discussed with roller bearing experts and was thought to be too high. Adjustments were made to the computer model.