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Award details
- Awarding agency
- Department of Transportation
- Branch
- Not reported
- Recipient company
- Sharma & Associates, Inc.
- Proposal award date
- Not reported
- Contract end date
- Not reported
- UEI
- EQ76N7H4NW57
- Solicitation number
- Not reported
- Topic code
- Not reported
Research abstract
There is a growing trend towards the use of ¿Car-Less¿ technology, where a rail-car is not needed to transport road-haul trailers over rail: Trailers operate in the usual manner over highways, drive up to a rail yard and transform to ¿rail-mode¿ with relative ease. In rail mode, many ¿Car-Less¿ units use slightly modified 3-piece, 70-ton freight car trucks. These trucks are not designed for high-speed operation, especially in Bi-Modal service. Consequently, serious truck hunting and rock & roll issues arise, compromising operational safety. The objective of the project is the conceptual development of advanced trucks for ¿Car-Less¿ systems that can be operated on rail at speeds up to 150 mph. The developed concepts will provide the required safety, lateral stability, ride quality, and curving performance required for such operation. The concepts will also offer easy storage of unused parts, brake systems for both modes and the potential for real-time monitoring of truck performance. We will investigate the applicability of various truck configurations, suspension geometries, and wheel profiles for the new concepts. The feasibility of speed-sensitive suspension and active servo-control of suspension will be investigated. Subsequently, the relative feasibility of the different concepts will be evaluated, with emphasis on the safety, practicality and acceptance of the developed systems by the rail industry.
Technology keywords
Not reported
Other awards by this recipient
Verified by the same UEI. These are other public SBIR/STTR award pages, not a merged company record.
Research funding history
13 SBIR/STTR records share this UEI (1997–2020). Reported award amounts total $2,302,419. Reported amounts are not federal obligations.
Phases: Phase I, Phase II
Agencies: Department of Transportation
Agency intelligence
Department of Transportation
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