Energy economy of launched coasters vs. chain lifts

Don't forget ApolloAndy that on some rides(namely most vekoma's) the chain lift shuts down as soon as the train has cleared the lift,so as to cut down on un-needed power consumption.

This seems to be one area in which vekoma actually has the upper hand over some of their competitors within the industry.

Last time I looked '2' was a valid exponent. Then again it is kind of square. :) *** Edited 3/5/2004 10:29:22 PM UTC by boblogone***

http://www.math.princeton.edu/matalive/Problems/BirthProblems1.html

With so much more energy being used in such a short amount of time, of course the heat production will rise at least proportionally for the time the launch takes.
It remains unclear though whether the additional heat comes from the concentration of the heat production on a shorter amount of time alone, reducing the effects of "wind chill" etc, or if it is indeed that more of the energy that is supposed to move the train is transferred into useless heat, thereby making the launch less effictient energywise.

The heat comes from the flow of electrons through the coils in the linear motors. There is friction between electrons and any conductor (wire). Some conductors are better than others. The better the conductor, the less the resistance, but there is always some resistance. With the LIMs and the size conductor that is running to them, there is several hundred amps of current flowing when the train is launched. That much current, even for a limited amount of time generates a tremendous amount of heat. It has nothing to do with wind chill or anything like that. High current makes a lot of heat.

I know, but is the amount of heat generated proportional to the amount of energy transformed into acceleration?
I do wonder also why the launch of TTD needs to be cooled like this - with the hydraulic pumps continuously running, it shouldn't be that much of a problem to cool the pumps.

Overall efficiency is the percentage of the power that goes in that actually comes out. The rest is converted into other energy forms, mostly heat but some noise. Energy in never destroyed nor created, only converted to other forms. A 3 phase AC motor is about 90% efficient which is considered very good. That means if you have 10 HP of power going into the motor, it will have 9 HP going out. The other 1 HP will be converted into heat and noise. (1 HP = 745.7 watts = 2,547 BTU)

What matters to the park is how much their paying. After the ride, all the energy is turned into heat and some sound in one way or another. Hydraulic systems are very inefficient, I’m sure TTD loses between 10 and 20 million BTU of heat just in the hydraulic room. I did some rough calculations for TTD costs, between $1 and $2 per launch. The bigger part of the operating costs is in maintenance and it’s crew.

*** Edited 3/6/2004 10:33:37 PM UTC by SteelMonsters***

F(x) = x^n for constant n is polynomial.

F(x) = n^x for constant n is exponetial.