Calibration of the Tight Seal of the Discharge Mechanism Doors on a Rail Wagon Using Adjustable Members

Among other types of wagons, CVG Ferrominera Orinoco (FMO) uses 350 hopper type wagons for ore transportation. Each of these wagons has a mechanical linkage system, made up of nine mobile elements plus a frame to open and close two rotary doors located at the bottom of the wagons. This paper presents development of a mathematical model to find out how the calibrating lengths of the operating mechanism’s four adjustable members allow variations of the angular position of the doors from its fully closed position. The mathematical model is obtained from the total differentials of the kinematics constraints equations and is used to find the relative influence coefficients of each adjustable member on the kinematic accuracy of the doors motion. The results show that the maximum error depends mainly upon the correct positioning of the primary element. It is also proved that two of the adjustable members in the original design do not play an important role in the tight closing.