The possibilities of the Intamin Impulse

Rob Ascough said:
Doesn't PKD's Volcano have a few zero-G rolls/inline twists? I know that they occur quite a distance after the two launches, but the train must be moving at a pretty good speed when it hits them. As Ravenguy98 noted, the size of the element could probably be increased to compensate for the additional speed, right?

Actually, Volcano takes its zero g rolls at a pretty leisurely pace. When it first opened, it literally crawled through them.

The additional speed is just a non issue. If volcano takes it zero g rolls at 35 mph, it should be very, very simple for a computer to expand it proportionally to take it at 75 mph, or 200 mph.

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If the shoe fits, find another one.

All that would have to be done is essentially lengthen the amount of track for the twist... in other words, take both ends and stretch them out so the complete transition is longer and more drawn-out?

I would think so, Rob, so that basically the rate of rotation would remain the same. I'm not sure exactly what the ratio would be, though. I assume it wouldn't be directly proportiona though, I guess it would involve calculus since you are dealing with velocity and such, which is way out of my relm. I'm good with the concepts of math, just not performing them. :)

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If the shoe fits, find another one.

A flying impulse. Who cares how powerful the g's would be!

well, you couldn't design just a larger one, becuase impulse speeds increase constantly. First time through you would be hitting the OTSRs but the 70 mph would be fine. it's really hard to do. I'll leave it up to the engineers.

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That's what I was saying phydeux - it would be easy to design one for 70 mph, but I don't see how you could design one for 40 mph AND 70 mph.

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If the shoe fits, find another one.

The thought of an inverted overbanked turn excites me.

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Me too, Nate. Since we have the technology, it will all come down to what the park asks for. Somebody has got to go out there and buy a park so we can have some crazy rides! :)

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"This feels like walking into pins and needles. Nice to Know You.
Goodbye."-Incubus

ravenguy98 said:
That's what I was saying phydeux - it would be easy to design one for 70 mph, but I don't see how you could design one for 40 mph AND 70 mph

Going back to what Jeremy (2Hostyl) said, the speed of trains through an Arrow corkscrew element can vary greatly depending upon how hard the mid-course brake is applied, so I don't know it a 30 mph different (or something like that) would make a huge difference. But then again, I'm far from a math expert...

The problem here is radial acceleration varies by v^2, so if you hit the twist the first time at, say, 40mph and the last time at 70mph, you get three times the acceleration. So you could roll it. Obviously you couldn't 0g roll it, as the vertical component of the roll (the 0g part) can only produce no net acceleration on you for one speed.

You could hit an inline the first time and have it net 1g, which would be just enough to keep you in your seat, and hit it the last time and get 3g, which is a pretty decent pin. But you couldn't 0g roll it

The question is can an impulse be a full circuit coaster?

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You really need to get some more BRAN in your diet

Well by the common "definition" of Impulse coaster demands that it be a shuttle not full circuit. But if you're asking can Intamin's technology be used on a full-circuit coaster, then the answer is YES (see Volcano: Da Blast Coasta...

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Besides, if we were really shutting down people we disagreed with, would Jeremy (2Hostyl) still be around? :) I think not. - Jeff 1/24/02

I've thought of this serveral times & put it into practice in RCT.

Think of it as a vertical full-circuit coaster. The train launches into a half loop followed by a 0G roll (2 inversions total) or two (3 total) then half loop back into the station. Could have a lap forwards & another backwards.

It'd be just as compact as an Impulse & possibly pack more thrills. If you want, have a quarter loop to vertical spiral then quarter loop out. Nah, that sounds too extreme.

*** This post was edited by Taipan on 3/22/2002. ***