Method of operating a tamping unit of a track maintenance machine, and a tamping device for ballast bed consolidation, and a track maintenance machine

1. A method of operating a tamping unit of a track maintenance machine, which comprises the steps of:

providing on a track bed the track maintenance machine having a tamping unit;

displacing the tamping unit relative to the track bed;

determining a driving force acting on the tamping unit and required for a displacement;

determining an acceleration acting on the tamping unit;

determining a ballast force, acting between the tamping unit and the track bed, by way of the driving force and the acceleration;

evaluating the ballast force, wherein the evaluating takes place in such a way that a strain acting on the tamping unit is determined by way of the ballast force; and

determining a wear condition of the tamping unit based on the strain.

2. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises determining the acceleration by measuring a temporal change of a position of the tamping unit.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein for determining the ballast force, an inertial force acting on the tamping unit is determined by means of the acceleration.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the displacement of the tamping unit occurs by means of a fluidically operated drive device, wherein at least one fluid pressure acting on the fluidically operated drive device is measured for determining the driving force.

5. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises determining the strain by way of a temporal progression of the ballast force.

6. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises determining the strain by means of ballast force amplitudes of the ballast force.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein for determining the strain, a load spectrum is determined by way of a cumulative frequency of the ballast force amplitudes.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein for determining the strain, a ballast work is determined from the ballast force and a change of a position of the tamping unit.

9. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises setting at least one process parameter for controlling the tamping unit in dependence on the strain.

10. A method of operating a tamping unit of a track maintenance machine, which comprises the steps of:

providing on a track bed the track maintenance machine having a tamping unit;

displacing the tamping unit relative to the track bed;

determining a driving force acting on the tamping unit and required for a displacement;

determining an acceleration acting on the tamping unit;

determining a ballast force, acting between the tamping unit and the track bed, by way of the driving force and the acceleration;

evaluating the ballast force, wherein the evaluating takes place in such a way that a strain acting on the tamping unit is determined by way of the ballast force;

setting at least one process parameter for controlling the tamping unit in dependence on the strain; and

changing the at least one process parameter when a threshold value of the strain is exceeded or fallen below.

11. A method of operating a tamping unit of a track maintenance machine, which comprises the steps of:

providing on a track bed the track maintenance machine having a tamping unit;

displacing the tamping unit relative to the track bed;

determining a driving force acting on the tamping unit and required for a displacement;

determining an acceleration acting on the tamping unit;

determining a ballast force, acting between the tamping unit and the track bed, by way of the driving force and the acceleration;

evaluating the ballast force, wherein the evaluating takes place in such a way that a strain acting on the tamping unit is determined by way of the ballast force;

setting at least one process parameter for controlling the tamping unit in dependence on the strain; and

setting the at least one process parameter such that the strain does not exceed a strain limit value.

12. A tamping device for track bed consolidation, the tamping device comprising:

a unit carrier;

a tamping machine supported on said unit carrier;

a driver for providing a driving force and for displacing said tamping machine relative to said unit carrier;

a driving force sensor system for detecting a first measuring value corresponding to the driving force;

an acceleration sensor system for detecting a second measuring value corresponding to an acceleration of said tamping machine; and

an evaluation unit for determining a ballast force, acting on said tamping machine by means of the first measuring value and the second measuring value, wherein said evaluation unit is configured to determine a strain acting on said tamping unit based on the ballast force, said evaluation unit further configured to determine a wear condition of said tamping unit based on the strain.