Is Drop Zone unsafe?
RideMan said:
The alignment issue is very similar to the situation on any steel coaster with fin brakes, where the wheel carriers hold the car in line so that it can properly engage with the brake caliper.
RideMan beat me to it. As he said, exactly the same situation exists on coasters with fin brakes. Even wooden coasters are starting to use magnetic fins (Jackrabbit at Kennywood, Beast on PKI. Any others?). If the alignment were off on these, you could very well have a collision.
Not that it's going to happen, on Drop Zone OR coasters. They're safer than the cars (and airplanes, buses, trains, what have you) we use to get to them in the first place...
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--Greg, aka Oat Boy
My page
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The alignment required for magnetic brakes is no more critical than that required for fin or skid brakes. Also, magnetic brakes have the advantages that they don't wear out and they are unaffected by rain.
If you want to see some really critical alignments just work on the brakes on your car.
Basically, Drop Zone in little more than a vertical shuttle rollercoaster with a very strange train.
Dave: The really scary thing is that I do go under my car and check it from end to end. With a mechanic as lousy as me I'm in big danger!
*** This post was edited by Jim Fisher 4/18/2003 9:51:08 AM ***
Anaconda said:
How can I ride Drop Zone fearlessly? I don't know.....
If this rider who is scared of heights made it through, so can you. ;) I must say I feel it was the most intense drop ride I've been on, and it was a real adrenaline rush for me. I'd love to make it back soon, but it won't be this year at BeastBuzz. Hopefully next year.
arockam2 said:
if the ride werent safe, it would be taken down and no one would be allowed to ride it....
Then why is Acrophobia: sponsored by Viagra still running at SFoG. That ride is dangerous ('specially for guys) - No wonder it's sponsored by Viagra. ;) It did hurt quite a bit. Funny thing is, I heard ladies complaining about pain as well.
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SW:):)SH
midwestinfoguide.com
Michael Darling said:
The PKD Drop Zone rotates now and then, Tyler? Weird. It didn't rotate at all the day I was there. I just assumed that it didn't.
Almost certain PKD's doesn't rotate at all...I'm pretty sure that Tyler was referring to PKI's version...;)
edit: Acro is *safe*, just don't ride it if you plan on having kids someday...;)
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*** This post was edited by rollergator 4/18/2003 11:10:01 AM ***
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RideMan said:
The upshot of all this: Ride Drop Zone fearlessly. If you can. :)
See, Dave, that's the problem. Knowing how the braking system works is what freaks me out. I know that nothing touches the brake fins to stop the car. There's nothing hitting or sliding across something else to slow the car.
If I didn't know that the brakes were magnetic, and didn't touch a darn thing I would just assume they were friction and would have no problem riding. It's the fact that there's no friction involved that totally freaks me out. Although I know the magnetic brakes are almost totally fail-safe it doesn't really change the "freak-out factor."
PKD's Drop Zone is an awesome ride... it was also my first Intamin non-1st Gen. freefall ride. :-D
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- John
*** This post was edited by Michael Darling 4/18/2003 12:38:57 PM ***
Jim Fisher said:
MD: Fixed magnetic brakes such as on the drop towers are probably the safest brakes imaginable.
I know this. I understand exactly how they work. It doesn't change the freak-out factor, though!
For those playing along at home, here's my take on explaining how the darned things work:
Mounted on the tower is a fin made of a conductive material.(They're on the outside of the tower. They're the silverish fins that run about 1/3 of the way up the tower on all 4 sides [or is it 2 sides?]) Mounted on the car is a magnet (actually a set of two magnets around each fin). As the fin passes through the magnetic field the magnetic flux creates a force in the opposite direction of the movement and generates a current. The current is disappated, but the force is used to slow the ride vehicle.
The faster the fin is passing through the magnets, the greater the force generated. That's to say, as the speed of the vehicle approaches zero, the braking force will also approach zero, which is why it's not too hard to move the car up the tower. There's not much of a braking force at that low of a speed. If you notice the Drop Zones speed up after they exit the brakes.
(That leads me to wonder, is the ratio of the length of the brake fins to the height of the tower the same on all Intamin drop towers?)
Anyway, it would be really great if the current that is generated by the fin passing through the magnetic field could be stored in caps. and then used to partially power a ride. I know somebody mentioned this over on GTTP, but I've been wondering why somebody hasn't done it since way back when MF opened @ CP.
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- John
*** This post was edited by Michael Darling 4/18/2003 2:45:24 PM ***
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Anaconda said:
Are the magnetic brakes inside the tower, and if they are, do they move?
The magnetic brakes are those white things you were talking about in your original post.
(I quoted because Micheal Darling made such a long post)
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God wants spiritual fruits, not religious nuts!
Michael Darling said:
That leads me to wonder, is the ratio of the length of the brake fins to the height of the tower the same on all Intamin drop towers?
I think this will answer the question you're asking. PKD's tower is not *quite* as tall as PKI's, but has a longer drop....the brakes are just set closer to the bottom of the tower....at least that is my understanding. This means the answer to your question would be "no"....;)
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Dave
Beware of Kiddie Coasters
Also, I remember seeing on the discovery channel segment about Acrophobia that the alloy in the brake fins changes as your travel up and down the tower. Is that also true of the PKD version or did they just use the different length fins to do the same thing?
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*** This post was edited by ApolloAndy 4/18/2003 7:24:00 PM ***
Michael Darling said:See, Dave, that's the problem. Knowing how the braking system works is what freaks me out. I know that nothing touches the brake fins to stop the car. There's nothing hitting or sliding across something else to slow the car.
If I didn't know that the brakes were magnetic, and didn't touch a darn thing I would just assume they were friction and would have no problem riding. It's the fact that there's no friction involved that totally freaks me out. Although I know the magnetic brakes are almost totally fail-safe it doesn't really change the "freak-out factor."
PKD's Drop Zone is an awesome ride... it was also my first Intamin non-1st Gen. freefall ride. :-D
Actually, I believe the fin does indeed make contact with the caliper, which creates with wiz-ooshing noise heard on the ride.
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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"faster, cheaper, and more often" that's somebody's new sig -UpsideDawnGrrrl
My shirt in my photo seems to be for "Aging Bull"
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