MANICALAND STATE UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF MINING SCIENCES

MINE MACHINES AND MATERIALS
HANDLING-LOCOMOTIVES.
 PRIME MOVERS
• Common prime movers for locomotives
include:
• Diesel.
• Diesel-Electric.
• Electric.
• Battery.
 Compared to diesel-electric an electric
locomotive:
• Has more horsepower per ton weight ratio and greater
adhesion.
• Is limited to those tracks with a power supply or a
catenary.
• Cost considerably more but it has a much longer life.
• Has higher availability about 95% while that of diesel-
electric averages about 85% because of servicing and
engine repairs.
• Has no fuel storage and handling.
• Has clean and non-polluting operation
 Basic Design data.

• Drawbar pull – is the force that the locomotive

must exert to move the train.
• A further force is necessary for the locomotive
to move its self, and this force added to the
drawbar pull gives us the tractive effort.
• The tractive effort that can be exerted by a
locomotive depends on the frictional force
exerted between the locomotive driving wheels
and the rails.
 Basic Design data.

• This friction is referred to as the adhesion of

the locomotive and is expressed as the
coefficient of friction.
• A good average figure of this coefficient is 0.2
to 0.25.
• Adhesion = available tractive effort /total
weight on driving wheels.
 Locomotive resistance.

• The total resistance to overcome in moving a

train is made up of two parts:
• The rolling resistance and grade resistance
• Total resistance = RR +/- GR
 Locomotive resistance.

• Grade Resistance – this is resistance

encountered by a train moving up a slope due
to the weight of the train and the grade.
• Thus if the grade is 1 in 100 or 1%, the grade
resistance is 1% of the weight of the train.
= 0.0981N per Kg mass of train or 98.1N per
tonne.
• Grade = mgSinƟ
• For small angles SinƟ = tanƟ
• Rolling resistance- is the combination of
retarding forces opposing the movement of a
wheel vehicle over level terrain.
• RR = Weight on wheels (tons or kg) x Rolling
resistance factor ( N/ton or N/kg).
• Stopping distance limit (SDL):

Where: SDL = Stopping distance limit (m),

= Truck speed (km/h) and
Grade= Downslope of road (%)
NB: +ve going downslope,
-ve going upslope.
 example
• In an underground haulage system the gradient
is down in favor of the loaded train. The train
consist of six trucks each having a mass of
1500kg when empty and each truck can carry a
mass of 4000kg. The locomotive has a mass of
4000kg. The coefficient of rolling resistance of
the trucks and locomotives is 0.01. The
coefficient of adhesion for acceleration and
deceleration and braking is 0,2.
• You therefore required to calculate,
• (a) the grade ( in the form 1:n) that will give the
same resistance for a down-going full train as an
up-going empty train.
• (b) the maximum acceleration of a full train on
this gradient.
• (c) the distance in which a loaded train can be
stopped from a speed of 2.7m/s if only the
locomotive is fitted with brakes.