Premier/Arrow ride thought...

While reading that article, something small came to mind. Say for instance that Premier would buy Arrow and utilize their 4D technology as well as a launch. Does anyone think that this could be one heck of a ride but with the trains weighing in at what they do, is it physically possible to do? Just a small thought on this all. But a launched 4D does spark your imagination.

You have an interesting idea of a launced 4-D but I see a problem. The trains on 4-D's are to wide. If launched at a fast speed I imagine that the two "arms" would be under a ton of strain every launch and might even break off eventually. It's kind of like when your head snaps back if you don't have you head back during a launch. A sort of whiplash for coaster cars.

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"I live my life a quarter mile at a time. For those ten seconds or less, I'm free." Dominic from The Fast and the Furious

*** This post was edited by Suspended Andrew on 5/8/2002. ***

i don't see a launch being a problem if its done right. if you think about it the cars accellerate down a drop so they would be under the same strain as a moderate launch

Not really. It's all about acceleration. X hits a good speed but it accelerates at a much slower rate. Whiplash is caused by sudden acceleration (negative or positive). To make it work without having the "arms" of 4-D's go under strain you would have to have a long launch that brings it up to speed slower then say a Hypersonic launch.

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"I live my life a quarter mile at a time. For those ten seconds or less, I'm free." Dominic from The Fast and the Furious

A launched 4d is possible and has been most definitely in the works. Arrow has been working on their LIMs at a nearby NASA facility for a couple of years now. If Premier buys them out, they might incorporate the Premier LIM system instead. The thing with a launched 4d is the cost. The quotes I have seen put it in the 20-30 million dollar range. VERY EXPENSIVE!!!!

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WCUSA-The World's largest theme park is coming!
Theme parks will NEVER be the same!

And whats this about strain? Havn't any of you seen the pics of X at the bottom of the first drop? Those cars bend a lot!

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When did American Eagle get more airtime than Viper?

Very true, they do bend alot at the bottom of hills but once again I'm not sure if it's relevant as a launch is a sudden jerk while pulling g's at the bottom of a hill is much more gradual. I'm not really a physics guy but I just cannot see a launch being a good thing for 4D trains.

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"I live my life a quarter mile at a time. For those ten seconds or less, I'm free." Dominic from The Fast and the Furious

Okay. Time for some remedial physics:

Things WILL break because of the force applied to them. If X can handle a 3G pullout (I just made that number up), then it can handle a 3G launch.

Things WILL NOT break because of the onset of the force (jerk, third derivative of position, etc. etc.). It doesn't matter how quickly the 3G is applied at all. I will not affect the integrity of the cars.

Thus, as long as you have powerful enough LIM's to accelerate those heavy cars, it's physically possible.

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The legend lives!

Jerk can cause some problms with secondary impacts particularly in systems involving human response, but is rarely a problem in mechanical systems.

Typical launch accelerations are no greater than the accelerations from turns a pullouts on roler coasters and should be no problem for the trains structurally. However, the X type trains are very heavy and pretty much have to be unless exotic (expensive) materials are used. This means that it would take very powerful LIMs to launch them which will run the cost up greatly. Not only will the LIMS have to be bigger, but so will the all of the electrical supply components.

I think it could be a rather good idea still. If they bend, that would be fine, just not too much. Steel is meant to bend, sometimes. Just not too much. I was thinking about this further and worked on a little thing, based off the current pictures of X, maybe all that Arrow would need is to simply add more support and drop the weight of the train somewhere else. The trains are a little bit heavy, I am sure they can drop it somehow.

When you put the track in the middle and the passengers on both sides, you are building a train that is always going to be much heavier than a standard train.

How about a 4-D impulse....Spin at the holding break?? That wouldnt work though cause it isnt moving on the spin tracks. Dang

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Mean Streak is my favorite coaster cause you get a good view of MF's first drop!

i would rather see a launched flying....

but that is probably not possible...unless it is designed to really spread out the G's due to the body position.

Two words: Modified trains.

Remember, X is the prototype...

Wow. A 4D impulse would be completely insane.

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AC?, RB?, MF?, DD?, PR? Who can keep track of it all?

It may be possible to have computers on the trains that controlled rotations...then again, that is just a thought. It probably wouldn't work, but a launched/impulse 4d would be impressive.

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Dave Bonnetti

A launched impulse sounds retarded.... forth, back and forth, back and forth, and back to the station...

You want to waste 20 million on something like that? The trains for the Intamin impulses are simple 2-person inverted trains... The X- trains are much more sophiscated and complicated... I'm pretty sure that they don't want to waste all that on a simple coaster that's 700' long, and only goes in a U shape.
Honestly, it would sound like a giant waste of money!

DawgByte II said:
"A launched impulse sounds retarded!"

Then why are there already four in the United States?
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SFEG awaits The Flying Coaster-coming in 2002!