TY - JFULL AU - Jose A. Romero-Navarrete and Frank Otremba and Gerardo Hurtado-Hurtado PY - 2020/10/ TI - A Conceptual Design of a Self-Centering Centre Plate T2 - International Journal of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering SP - 435 EP - 442 VL - 14 SN - 1307-6892 UR - https://publications.waset.org/pdf/10011436 PU - World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology NX - Open Science Index 165, 2020 N2 - Turning maneuvers originate higher forces exerted on the rail and the loss of locomotive energy, at a rate that is function of several parameters that influence the magnitude of the developed horizontal wheel-rail forces, including the friction at the centre plate and the bogie´s yaw stiffness. However, such a friction at the contact surfaces of the centre plate is needed to mitigate the hunting phenomenon when the train moves on straight track segments. In this paper, a self-centering centre plate is proposed, consisting of a lubricated centre plate, equipped with a spring- and damper-based self-centering mechanism. Simulation results of the proposed mechanism suggest that the energy performance in turns of a train car equipped with such self-centering centre plate is comparatively better, as the peak friction forces linked to the dry friction at the contact surfaces of current centre plate designs, are avoided. The assessment of the hunting performance of the proposed device in straight track segments is proposed as the continuation of this work. ER -