Fast and economical cleaning of heavy components
Often underrated: cleaning as a key factor for smooth maintenance
Cleaning of railway components plays an important role for fast and smooth processing of repairs, crack testing, maintenance and service. Long service lives and high mileage leave strong contamination on bogies, wheelsets, wheel bearings and motors of the trains. These substantial contaminations, oil and rust often pose great challenges for the service providers who clean these parts. In addition, the railway parts are often real heavyweights that many cleaning systems cannot handle.
Modern cleaning of drive bogies and wheel bearings with maximum precision
A fast and economical cleaning solution was found for a maintenance plant of an Austrian railway company. The maintenance plant decided to purchase two cleaning systems from the German manufacturer BvL Oberflächentechnik GmbH in Emsbüren. BvL specialises in the development of cleaning systems in different sizes for maximum cleanliness requirements. The company offers a variety of solutions for cleaning components as part of maintenance and quality testing for transport companies. BvL especially impressed with more than 30 years of experience, proven quality and international references in the railway sector. The cleaning requirements and the local conditions were clarified during intensive exchanges between the representatives of the purchaser, the manufacturer and the Austrian sales partner Glogar Umwelttechnik GmbH. After conducting extensive washing trials at the BvL Technology Centre, a decision was made in favour of the Pacific spray system for cleaning large parts and the Niagara spray flood system for cleaning bearings.
Large parts system Pacific: washing, rinsing and drying bogies in one chamber
Once the electronic system control has been individually programmed and the electric lifting gates are closed, the bogies, whellsets and frames are cleaned in the treatment chamber by an integrated spraying device with an oscillating special nozzle system with wide spray nozzles. Two powerful circulation pumps supply the wide spray nozzles with water. After this intensive treatment, the parts are rinsed in the same chamber by a separate spraying system. The high washing temperatures up to 75 °C ensure energy efficient drying of the cleaned parts using intrinsic heat.
Niagara bearing washing system: Joint cleaning of bearings and bearing housings in one washing chamber
Fine sand on the bearings are removed without residue. This can prevent premature wear of axle bearings. The bearings are attached to special parts baskets and cleaned in a washing chamber. Intensive cleaning is achieved with a special nozzle system with flat spray nozzles while the parts basket rotates around its horizontal axis and by completely flooding the cleaning chamber.
Clean components with adapted filters and bath sensors
The condition of the washing and rinsing water is of great importance for reliable, constant cleanliness of the cleaned parts. To achieve this, the medium is transported on a belt filter to remove any solids. Tank rinsing in the pressure line of the washing and rinsing pump and a ring line above the tank floor swirl up these solids in both tanks as a preparatory measure. A plate phase separator additionally provides oil separation. All BvL systems are equipped with a sensor system as a standard (Libelle Fluid Control) to permanently measure the contamination level of the cleaning fluid by measuring light absorption. This allows the user to immediately identify when a bath change is required.
Environmentally friendly and energy efficient cleaning
After filtering, the wastewater is reintroduced into the system, saving as much energy and water as possible in addition to ensuring a long bath life. The additional flexible insulation material on the pipes, filters and tank covers increases the output of thermal energy. In addition to reducing energy costs, the BvL systems meet the environmental protection requirements. This safeguards the investment in the future.
Ideal cleaning solution
With the BvL Pacific and Niagara systems, the Austrian maintenance plant receives a cleaning solution that meets all its requirements: Both systems achieve very good cleaning results, the fully automatic function makes handling user-friendly. Because of the positioning of the large-parts system in a pit, the system can be feeding easy and offers easy maintenance access. 100 per cent availability of the systems as well as linking all washing cycles to other data interfaces also play an important role.
Online alternative to postponed InnoTrans 2020:
Free BvL webinar “e-learning for innovative cleaning technology”
As an alternative to the postponed InnoTrans trade fair, BvL offers anyone who is interested a free speed webinar on the topic of “Innovative cleaning technology” in September and October. In just 60 minutes, participants will receive an overview of possible systems for cleaning bogies, wheelsets, wheel bearings, motors, etc. and important information for selecting the right cleaning solution.
Dates:
German webinar:
23 September 2020, 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. Europe/Berlin Central European Time
English webinar:
21 October 2020, 08:00 to 09:00 a.m. Europe/Berlin Central European Time
and 09:30 to 10:30 a.m. New York City Time
Register now for free by sending an email to info@bvl-group.de
