Maintenance personnel are disembarking the car. Photo by Liao Chao.
Yangtze River reporter Zhou Tingyi, correspondent Liao Chao, Xu Anhong, Wu Xiaoya
The bogie has been promoted! The lifting arm begins to descend. "Next, let's check the alignment of the round springs!" On February 11, in the Wuhan high-power locomotive maintenance section located on the bank of Yanxi Lake, the employees of the assembly workshop were assembling the locomotive body and bogie with various tools and professional flashlights. A group of "locomotive doctors" are busy working, and they conduct a comprehensive and meticulous "physical examination" of the Spring Festival locomotive from different parts.
The locomotive is also commonly known as the locomotive, and this is the '4S maintenance shop' of the locomotive. Huang Yi, senior technician of the quality inspection team of the assembly workshop, said. "After running a certain mileage on the locomotive ** road, we need to return to our section for maintenance, and we have also given our unit a down-to-earth name - locomotive '4S shop'." It is understood that the harmonious high-power locomotive can be divided into C1-C6 different repair processes according to the kilometers traveled, of which C1-C3 repair is a small minor, which can be carried out in the locomotive depot, C4 and C5 repair is the locomotive running to 600,000 kilometers and 1.2 million kilometers respectively, and the whole body of the locomotive is a thorough "medical and surgical physical examination", and C6 repair is a higher-level repair process. The Wuhan high-power locomotive maintenance section is mainly responsible for C4 and C5 repairs.
On different maintenance lines, "locomotive doctors" with different divisions of labor are conducting comprehensive inspection, maintenance, replacement and testing of thousands of components of locomotives in strict accordance with the maintenance scope and process standards. From power cabinets, converter cabinets, and roof covers, to bagpipes, wipers, sealants, etc.
Zhou Pan, a technician in the electrical workshop, is overhauling the pantograph. Photo by Wu Xiaoya.
Entering the electrical maintenance warehouse, Zhou Pan, the maintenance technician of the high-voltage group of the electrical workshop, was overhauling the locomotive pantograph. The pantograph is a key component that obtains electrical energy from the catenary and provides power energy for the locomotive. Zhou Pan and two colleagues respectively dismantled and cleaned the pantograph, overhauled accessories, assembled and debugged.
After the locomotive runs for a certain mileage, the sliding slats, air ducts, bearings, frames and other accessories on the pantograph will have problems such as wear and tear, stagnation, and cracks. Therefore, the pantograph, which seems to have a simple structure, has a lot of inspection and maintenance items. Zhou Pan said that the six processes need to go through a two-day in-depth overhaul and debugging to ensure that it is put into use in the best condition.
Flaw detection technicians are conducting magnetic particle flaw detection operations. Photo by Xu Anhong.
During the driving process of the train, the locomotive will be subjected to various forces when it enters the car for traction, braking, and cornering, and natural wear and tear, fatigue, and even cracking will occur. Timely flaw detection is an important part of troubleshooting component defects, just like doing "B-ultrasound" for locomotives. According to the material, size and possible location of defects of train parts, the flaw detector uses non-destructive testing methods such as magnetic particle, ultrasonic, eddy current or penetrant flaw detection to detect hidden dangers that cannot be found by the naked eye. You Lei, a flaw detection technician, moved the probe on one side and pressed the magnetic powder spray can on the other side, staring at the surface of the part with both eyes to observe the magnetic trace status. "Magnetic particle testing is suitable for detecting surface and near-surface defects in ferromagnetic materials, especially fatigue cracks in application, if there is a defect in the part, the black magnetic particles will gather above the defect to form a magnetic trace, which can quickly find the defect and determine its location, size, shape and severity. You Lei said.
In another area, Gao Xiao and his colleagues from the bogie workshop clamp group are assembling and testing locomotive brake calipers. "Brake calipers are like the brakes of a car, they are an important part of the braking system of a locomotive, and they are very precise. During the overhaul process, we need to replace the brake blades and carry out inflation tests to ensure that the clamp action is sensitive and reliable."
How to ensure the smooth function of the locomotive in the face of extreme cold weather? Chen Li, deputy foreman of the commissioning group of the assembly workshop, introduced that the cold protection of the locomotive is mainly concentrated in the key parts of the braking system, current receiving system and heating system, such as the brake air pipeline on the periphery of the locomotive, the cold-proof bandaging of the plug door, the winter mode investment of the air compressor, the function test and activation of the cold-proof heating device of the brake control module and the electro-pneumatic valve, etc. Affected by weather, environment and other factors, it is necessary to appropriately adjust the pressure raised by the pantograph, so that the pantograph and the catenary are always in stable contact to ensure the normal current of the locomotive in extreme weather. At the same time, it is necessary to disassemble and overhaul the heating equipment such as the heater and foot stove in the driver's cab of the locomotive to ensure the cold and warmth of the driver's cab and provide a comfortable operating environment for the train driver.
Chen Li in the assembly workshop is debugging the locomotive. Photo by Xu Anhong.
Compared with the past, many passenger trains were added during the Spring Festival, and we must strictly follow the maintenance process and process standards to ensure that the locomotive can be safely and punctually launched. The reporter learned that during the Spring Festival, more than 400 locomotive maintenance workers in the Wuhan high-power locomotive maintenance section escorted the safe and smooth operation of the railway Spring Festival, and each locomotive had to undergo thousands of fine "physical examinations" such as dismantling, cleaning, overhaul, assembly, commissioning, and trial operation. The section also selected more than 40 professional workers and technicians from each workshop to set up a Spring Festival locomotive after-sales service support team, and went to Xiangyang, Hohhot, Zhengzhou and other places to station locomotive units on duty. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, these after-sales service team members worked 24-hour shifts to complete the temporary repair of 6 locomotives, ensuring the high-quality supply of vehicles for the Spring Festival.
It is reported that as the only harmonious high-power locomotive maintenance base in central China, Wuhan high-power locomotive maintenance section has more than 10 maintenance and production warehouses such as assembly maintenance warehouse, electrical maintenance warehouse, bogie maintenance warehouse, etc., which is mainly responsible for the maintenance tasks of the harmonious locomotive belonging to China Railway Wuhan Bureau Group and some harmonious locomotives belonging to Zhengzhou, Hohhot and other railway bureau group companies.
Editor: Lai Jun.
Duty Officer: Chen Qi.
Editor-in-chief on duty: Feng Jinsong.