Intamin Drop Rides - CoasterBuzz

What happens on an Intamin drop ride such as Drop Zone if the cables break? Are there brakes on the chassis that takes the ring up the tower?

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Intelligence is a God given gift: Know how to use it.

if the cable breaks, the car falls with the lift car attached and is stopped by the magnetic brakes. I don't believe that there are brakes on either of the cars, only the magnetic brakes at the bottom of the tower.

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-Bob (formerly Coaster Jedi)
your resident film major...beyotch!
*** This post was edited by SFGA Bob 10/11/2003 2:34:32 PM ***

I've seen a PGA Drop Zone car drop from about 120 feet up the tower, as it was ascending. What a surprise that would be. :)

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-Parker My Coaster Count
www.SFMWZone.com

I thought that if this scenario was to happen that the ride vehicle would slow down, but still hit bottom. I thought the brakes worked best with high speeds.

That might be possible, but there are plunger/brakes at the bottom that are safeties in case the magnetic brakes fail...or the magnetic poles shift. ;)
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The end of an era has come. Ethyl is no more.

And if that fails.......what a way to go! (joking).

-Tina

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Gimme speed, height, airtime and plenty of LAUNCH!!!

The thing with magnetic brakes is that regardless of the speed they hit the brakes (obviously below a certain predetermined maximum that the magnets have been set to), they'll slow to the same speed. You know, magnetic flux and what-have-we (this is Faraday's Law, right? :)) states that you won't get a smaller or greater opposing force (i.e. braking force) with a smaller or greater speed through the magnetic field, you'll just get a smaller or greater current flowing through the fins on the tower (Giant Drops have their magnets on the gondola, with fins on the tower).

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Total Thrills Amusement Guide
Australia's Premier Source for Thrills!

Yeah... what he said. ;)

Rob-who still likes Tina's death wish
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The end of an era has come. Ethyl is no more.

nasai said:
Yeah... what he said. ;)
Rob-who still likes Tina's death wish
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The end of an era has come. Ethyl is no more.

spam...

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-Donald
Webmaster, Extreme PKI!

Uh... ok?
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The end of an era has come. Ethyl is no more.

More spam. :-P

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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"It's not a Toomer" - Arnold Schwartzenkoph
"Those who know don't talk and those who talk don't know." -Jeff

auscoasterman said:

It's been a while since I've taken E&M and I wasn't actually that familiar with what was going on in the magnetic braking systems in the first place, but I'm really interested.

Remind me what Faraday's law is and how it applies...

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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"It's not a Toomer" - Arnold Schwartzenkoph
"Those who know don't talk and those who talk don't know." -Jeff

Na, not a death wish. :-)

BUT, I actually had a dream last night that they Drop Zone failed, and it was actually ten times taller than it is now. Needless to say I had fun but it's one of those things where you wake up RIGHT before you crash. >:-(

OK, no more reading these posts before bedtime....:-)

-Tina

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Gimme speed, height, airtime and plenty of LAUNCH!!!

There are no brakes on the claw itself, only on the ring (with the calipers on the ring and correspong fins on the tower). If one cable broke, the ring would not fall, it would be held in place by the other side. If both sides broke... the brakes would work barring other damage to the ring and claw, but it still wouldn't be a pretty sight.

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Is that a Q-bot in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?