RAILWAYS INTERESTING FACTS AND KNOWLEDGE

MECHANICAL TIPS AND STUDY MATERIAL

Richard Travithick of Great Britain introduced first ever steam locomotive in the year 1894. We are presenting some interesting facts on failways that you should know.

OLDEST RAILWAY	DO YOU KNOW ?
	The first rail used horse as engine which used to pull the cart along the railway track during 1780's. The first steam locomotive was named as "PUFFING EAGLE". "Surry iron railway" was the first passanger carrying railway between Wansworth and Croydon in Britain.

Longest railways in world

On the path of development presently we have enormous railway network all round the world. Here is some facts on world largest railway network. 

LONGEST RAIL	DO YOU KNOW ?
Trans - Siberian railway is the longest railway in the world.	It covers the total distance of 9258 kilometers.  It operates between Vladivostok to Moscow. It is also connected with China, Mongolia, Korea and Japan with connecting link. The project was started in year 1891 and till it is expanded wherever required. It covers two trips in one month.

United states has the longest railway network which is around 2,60,000 km wide spread.

China has railway network of 1,10,000 km which is the second largest in world.

Russia has the third largest railway connectivity of 87,000 km.

India stands fourth in network with more than 66,000 km tracks.

Indian railways facts

Mascot - Guard elephant

INDIAN RAILWAYS

DO YOU KNOW ?

Three types of rail is witnessed in India. 1) Broad gauge 2) Meter gauge 3) Narrow gauge

Started in the year 1853 from Bombay to Thane. The fastest train till present day operates at speed 195 km/hr between Delhi - Agra  Non stop train operates between Kota - Vadodara which is 530 km. Longest train is Vivek express (Dibrugarh - Kanyakumari) has length of 4275 km. World longest platform is in Gorakhpur ( U.P) having length of 1.35 km. Indian railways carry over 30 million passangers every day which is more than Australia's population. The oldest steam engine FAIRY QUEEN still runs on rails.   State wise Uttar Pradesh has longest railway lines followed by Rajasthan.

• Japan to invest 33.58$ billion in India for bullet trains in coming five years.
• India declared to invest 60,000 crore on new project of high speed trains.
• The only time a train has been run by fish in Turkestan in year 1919. The train used dried fish caught in the Aral sea as fuel. This was done because of coal shortage in Turkestan.
• The first underground railway was opened in London (U.K) on 10^th January 1863.

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TESLA MODEL3 LAUNCHED AT $35,000

MECHANICAL TIPS AND STUDY MATERIAL

TESLA MOTORS on Thursday unveiled the most awaited electric car of the year. The Model 3 sedan, has became the most affordable luxury car from TESLA which is priced only $ 35,000. The earlier models (Model S, Model X) are priced above $70,000, this means company has launched the model at half of its earlier model price without compromising luxury. 

This will be huge competition to Audi A4 and BMW 3-Series cars. Other companies producing electric models like Chevrolet Bolt EV etc may feel the heat of Tesla Model-3.

Till day 1,30,000 orders has been placed so far even though it will take atleast one year for the car to hit the ground. The company's expected delivery will lie somewhere around end of 2017.

The American automaker has confirmed that along with America, the car will be launched in India, South America, South Korea, Brazil, Newzeland, Ireland and Singapore.

ABOUT CAR

The super sporty car is designed to accommodate 5 passengers and categorized under 4 door luxury sedan. The roof is made of panoramic pane of glass from front to back side. The sporty alloys and LED tail lamp adds to the look of model. The 15 inches touchscreen panel on the dashboard gives it a luxury touch. The car can roar up to 345 kmph .

The booking has already begun on the companies official website. You can book your Tesla Model 3 with initial token amount of $ 1000 (66,000 INR). This is completely refundable amount if you want to cancel your order at later stages.

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WORLD'S FIRST CAR MADE BY HENRY FORD ALSO KNOWN AS FORD QUADRILATERAL

MECHANICAL TIPS AND STUDY MATERIAL

HENRY FORD

FORD 1904 MODEL

FORD 1933 MODEL

FORD GT 2016

He was a son of a mechanic. His father had a small workshop at 58 Bagley street, Detroit. Those were the days of 1894 when people had no options other than horse cart and Bullock carts. Henry Ford wrote a new story which proved to be revolution in history of automobiles. He was curious in his mind and started working on a concept that could produce a machine which could produce power and torque of its own. 

He started turning his imaginations into reality since early days of 1894. He conducted 100's of experiments in the next two years before invention of first ever car named "Ford Quadricycle". The name was derived because of four wheels. Not like today's car, it looked like a toy for adults. 

Henry Ford along with his four friends namely Edward Huff, David Bell, George Cato, Jim Bishop set the platform which eventually turned out to be benchmark of establishing today's million dollar company called Fords motor company. The first experimental modal  consisted of four bicycle wheels and iron frame. Most of the body parts were wooden. The car consisted of only two gears and could only provide maximum speed of 32 km/hour. As the engine could only develop 4 horsepower and could be used with petrol, kerosene and even ethanol. On the initial runs Henry Ford found difficulty in shifting the gears due to inefficient torque and also has limitation of reverse gear but who cares, it was for the first time that a cart was moving self powered without horse. Another difficulty was excess heating of air cooled engine which ultimately was eliminated by introducing water cooled jackets around the engine. This technique became very popular and till day water cooled engines are in use.

The quadricycle consisted of a brass handle to give direction instead of round steering. It had 11 liter fuel tank which was placed below the seat designed for sitting of two persons.

DO YOU KNOW ?

• In the year 1896 the very first quadricycle that Henry Ford made was sold at $ 200 to Mr. Charles Ainsley (an American) .

• Later on he purchased back that car for just $60 and kept with him for life time which is still kept in Henry Ford museum, Michigan.

•  In 1899 and 1901 he made two more quadricycles.

• In the year 1903, when Henry Ford established his own motor company and named it as Ford motor company.

• During 1903-1904 Company produced more than 1700 cars. It was more advanced and could run at speed 45 km/hour and the car cost around $750.

• Ford came up with model A, model B, C in its successive years and each version was improved and reliable than earlier. These models came up between 1904-1933.

• The most costliest Ford car to be sold ever in an auction was Ford GT 40 at price of $ 11 million in year 1968.

• Ford company sells 1 new vehicle every 10 second.

• Ford GT is the fastest car from Ford motor company.

• Ford GT is also the most expensive car ford ever made. It is priced around $ 4,00,000. It is likely to be launched in 2016 according to reports.

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SINGLE PLATE CLUTCH,CONE CLUTCH AND CENTRIFUGAL CLUTCH

              SINGLE PLATE CLUTCH

DESCRIPTION 

• In the general arrangement it consists of a disc which has frictional material on both its side,this is called clutch plate.
• The clutch plate is held between the engine flywheel and pressure plate.
• The friction material on the friction plate is made up of asbestos (fiber).
• These friction material are used to transmit power from engine flywheel to clutch shaft.
• The friction plate hub is attached to the clutch shaft by splines.
• As in this case the driven assembly has only one clutch plate, it is called single plate clutch.

OPERATION

 As the clutch pedal is applied the the the pressure plate is pulled against the spring pressure, this causes DISENGAGEMENT OF CLUTCH.

When the clutch pedal is released the spring pressures the pressure plate to attach to frictional lining of clutch plate, this connects the transmission of engine and power is delivered.

ADVANTAGE

• Reliable and less pedal movement is needed.

           CONE CLUTCH

1) Friction plates

2) Shaft

3) Frictional lining

4) Spring

5) Pressing the paddle engages or disengage the clutch

6) Rotation of the plates

FIG:-CONE CLUTCH

• In these type of clutches the friction surfaces are in form of cone as indicated in figure.
• In engaged condition cone is completely engages in the other or say one cone is completely inside the other.
• The driving shaft or say engine shaft transmits engine torque to splined gear box through inner cone.
• When the clutch pedal is applied or pressed,the inner and outer cone disengages and hence transmission of power is stopped.
• The springs keeps the inner cone pressed against the outer cone under normal condition.

ADVANTAGES

• Normal force is greater than axial force, hence engagement is excellent of clutch.

DISADVANTAGE

• Small amount of wear can be fetal.
• Cone angle should not exceed 20 degree, otherwise it will be difficult to engage.

OPERATION:-

When the clutch pedal is pressed, the transmission of engine power is disengaged from rest of the wheels. Generally the angle of inclination of inner cone with outer cone is about 12.5 degrees. At this point the inner cone is not in contact with outer cone. As the clutch pedal is released due to spring force the inner cone is pressed towards the outer cone and it gets engaged to it with friction lining present between then. As the driving shaft rotates it rotates the driving shaft. The presence friction lining rotates the driven shaft at same speed as that of driving shaft without slip.


CENTRIFUGAL CLUTCH

                                       FIG:-A

 

FIG:-B

• The biggest advantage of such clutch is that this can be operated without clutch pedal.
• The vehicle can be stopped even in geared position without stalling the engine.
• Only acceleration is required in this type of operation. Speed is the factor on which gear selection takes place.

CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION

It consists of :-

• Circular plate
• Shoes (centrifugal weight) with frictional lining on outer edge. 
• Hub
• Springs
• Driven shaft

As the driving shaft rotates, due to centrifugal force (force in outward direction) the shoes (centrifugal weight) makes contact with driven drum (hub) with help of frictional lining. The hub starts rotating with the same speed as that of driving drum. This is complete engagement of clutch.

When the speed decreases the spring forces the the shoes to move inward, in this case the contact between the hub and driving drum is lost. This is complete disengagement of clutch.

ADVANTAGE

• No clutch pedal is needed for engagement and disengagement of gear.
• Ease to the driver

APPLICATION

• Mopeds
• Scooty.

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CLUTCH OPERATION IN AUTOMOBILE AND FRICTIONAL CLUTCHES

                        CLUTCH (AUTOMOBILE)

A clutch is a mechanism designed to connect or disconnect the transmission of power from engine to the driving wheel.

1. It is coupling device which makes power transmission possible between engine and driving wheel.

• The clutch drives the engine to run without driving the car i.e. without delivering power to power train.

• Without clutch changing of gear would be very difficult, even with vehicle moving already.

Deselecting the gear while the transmission is under load requires large force and selecting a gear rerquires the revolution speed of engine to be held at very precise value which depends on the vehicle speed and desired gear.


ENGAGEMENT OF CLUTCH

• In the car it is usually operated by application of pedal .

• When the clutch pedal is fully pressed the transmission is disengaged and no torque is delivered from engine to driving wheel.

• In this condition it is possible to select the gear or even stop the vehicle without stopping the engine.

DISENGAGEMENT OF CLUTCH

• When the clutch pedal is fully released the clutch gets fully engaged. Generally all the engine torque is delivered to the transmission line. In coupled state all the clutches do not slip, but rather acts as rigid coupling and power is transmitted to wheel with minimum loss of heat.

• In between complete engagement and disengagement clutch slips various degrees. In these case also the torque is transmitted by means of friction .

CLUTCH REQUIREMENT

1. TORQUE TRANSMISSION- It is designed to transmit maximum power of engine to the driving wheel. Under all condition. The clutch face should must have sufficient coefficient of friction on the faces so that coupling can take place and transmission of power is made without slip. 

   2. HEAT DISSIPATION - Due to rubbing of surface in frictional contact,large amount of heat is generated. This heat should must be dissipated. The clutch with its good surface area does the job.
    
     3.VIBRATION DAMPING - It is designed to eliminate noise and damp vibration of engine and the noise produced.
     4.EASE OF OPERATION - The driver should feel strain free while shifting gears, this is done by clutch.
    5. SIZE - Its size should be as compact as possible.
                                             
                                           FIG:- CLUTCH
      

TYPES OF CLUTCHES

•  FRICTIONAL CLUTCHES

• FLUID FLY WHEEL CLUTCHES

FRICTIONAL CLUTCH

• WET TYPE

• DRY TYPE

DRY TYPE FRICTIONAL CLUTCHES

1. Dog clutch
2. Cone clutch
3. Multi plate clutch
4. Centrifugal clutch

FRICTIONAL CLUTCH--OPERATION

ENGAGEMENT BY FRICTIONAL SURFACE

FIG: A

FIG:-B

• The operation is based on frictional contact between the driving and driven member.
• The frictional contact helps to transmit power from engine to driving wheel.

When the clutch pedal is applied the clutch gets completely engaged, this rotates the driven member and power is transmitted.

Initially slippage occurs while both members (driving and driven ) comes in contact and it continues until the speed of both member are same.

The heat produced must be liberated through the clutch components and should be dissipated  in air. When the clutches are completely engaged no slip occurs and hence no power loss is there.

EXPLANATION

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TRANSMISSION IN AUTOMOBILE AND DIRECT SHIFT GEARBOX AND STEERING MECHANISM

TRANSMISSION IN AUTOMOBILE

What is transmission?

Transmission is mechanism through which the engine torque is delivered to the the driving wheel so that vehicle can move on the road. The reciprocating action of piston moves the crankshaft, rotating a flywheel with the help of connecting rod. The circular motion of crankshaft is now to be transmitted to rear wheel. This is done by number of mechanical components which are as fallows:-

• Clutch 
• Gearbox 
• Universal joint 
• Propeller shaft or drive shaft 
• Differentials 
• Axle 
• Wheel 

The application of engine power to driving wheel with the help of above mentioned components is called POWER TRANSMISSION.

 
PURPOSE OF TRANSMISSION

• It enables the engine to get disconnected from driving wheels. 
• Enables the running engine to get connected to the driving wheel smoothly without any shock. 
• It enables reduction in the speed of engine in the ratio 4:1 in case of passenger car and greater ratios in case of trucks and lorries. 
• It enables driving wheel to be driven at various speed. 
• It enables turning and driving through angle 90 degrees 

DIFFERENT TYPE OF TRANSMISSION USED ARE

• Manual transmission uses gear shift stick for engagement or disengagement of gear. 
• Automatic transmission uses sensors, hydraulic system, mechatronic system. 
• Semi automatic transmission uses computer system that does clutch engagement and disengagement. 
• Continuously variable transmission is the most efficient transmission system of world presently.

CONTINUOUS VARIABLE TRANSMISSION

When other transmission system offer limited gear ratio the continuously variable transmission system offers unlimited gear ration between maximum and minimum limit. It is employed when power is basic necessity than fuel or economy.


MANUAL TRANSMISSION

                         FIG:- manual transmission



In manual transmission offers manual operation in shifting gears.It offers basically 4 speed up to 6 speed transmission. The clutch pedal is applied and gear is shifted upward or downward as per speed requirement.


DIRECT SHIFT GEAR BOX

A direct shift gear box is an automated gearbox system without clutch pedal. Apart from smooth driving experience it also provides lightning fast gear shift and hence reduces the time required to shift gear. The gear shifts without reducing the tractive power of engine. A direct shift gearbox requires or contains:-

• Mechatronic system
• Hydraulic system

Today technology is so sound that we have employed it for various human comforts. One of such achievement is sensors in automobiles. Sensors are automatic detectors which uses computerized assembly that automatically senses the gear shifting timing in accordance with speed of vehicle. It consists of basically three elements. These are primary sensor, transducer and transmitter. The sensing element senses the incoming signal and transducer converts one form of signal to another and transmitter amplifies the the converted signal to desired or standard form. Rather sensors and actuators senses the gear shift timing automatically as speed varies. Presently the transmission system in the world are dominated by Europe in manual transmission and by USA in automatic gearboxes.

On one hand where manual transmission offers robust and sporty characteristics, high efficiency and cheap cost on the other hand automatic gearbox offers smooth gear shift operation, high comfort zone to the driver and no interruption in tractive power. The dual clutch transmission is also called twin clutch transmission and DIRECT SHIFT GEARBOX. This transmission can deliver more power than traditional automatic transmission and manual system. It has electronically controlled dual clutch multiple shaft manual gearbox.

EXPLANATION

Two separate manual gearbox and clutches are contained within one housing and work as one unit. By using independent clutches DSG can achieve faster shift time of gear. Hall effect sensor senses the direction of shift of gear based on speed of automobile. This input, together with a sensor in gear box which senses the current speed and gear selected,feeds into central processing unit. This unit then determines the torque required and timing for smooth clutch engagement. Based of inputs from these two sensors and some other parameter like engine rotation, air conditioner, instruments (electronic) etc, proper gear shifting is done. The CPU activates a hydro-mechanical unit to either engage or disengage the clutch. The hydro-mechanical unit contains servomotor coupled to a gear arrangement for linear actuator with the help of break fluid from braking system. The system provides precise signal supply which is enough to carry out gear shifting process. The need of sensor is not only to measure speed but also position of teeth engaged in transmission power line and also checks weather throttle opening and closing is harder or softer.

ADVANTAGE

• High speed in short time.
• Faster gear shift operation as no need of application of clutch pedal.
• DCT offers gear up shift to mere 8 millisecond,hence most dynamic acceleration. 
• Better fuel economy (up to 15%).
• No loss in torque transmission from engine to driving wheel.

DISADVANTAGE

• Cost increases as automated components are used
• Mechatronic parts are susceptible to damage, hence more error prone.

APPLICATION

• Buggati
• Audi A4, A6
• BMW X1

            
STEERING MECHANISM

                                   FIG:-STEERING

A car without steering is just like man without hand. It is very necessary to guide or roll the car in desired direction, this is accomplished by steering system. No automobile can exist without steering mechanism. Some automobile are provides left hand drive and some right hand drive yet their mechanism are same.

Different types of linkages are there in steering mechanism which makes steering possible and smooth

PURPOSE OF STEERING:-

The main purpose of steering mechanism is transform the rotary motion of steering wheel (in cockpit) to angular movement of wheels. To provide ease in driving or rolling the automobile. Less human effort to steer the automobile while running. For driving stability and reducing tyre wear.

OPERATION:-

The pit arm is present between steering box and link rod.
Link rod connects to the steering arm with the help of ball joint. Tie rod is connected with tie rod arm with ball joint. This tie rod is attached to the stub of wheels, on which wheels are attached. The steering gear provides mechanical advantage, reducing human effort to steer automobile.

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