Breakdown!!

Here's a question; if the ride shoots out the station, comes down, and the brakes don't work, then there is a high fatality chance at 120MPH.

My motto:"If you can't live life on the edge, kill yourself."

OOPS!! Thats more like a statement.

In order for the brakes to fail, the magnets would have to either fall off the track or the trains. I'd imagine that even if one or two magnets were to come off or fail in some manner, that the train would either stop as required or at least slow down to non-lethal speeds.

Aaron

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17 straight years of real thrills and counting...

TekGuy said:
In order for the brakes to fail, the magnets would have to either fall off the track or the trains. I'd imagine that even if one or two magnets were to come off or fail in some manner, that the train would either stop as required or at least slow down to non-lethal speeds.
Aaron
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17 straight years of real thrills and counting...

I agree, this is not like most coasters. The breaks are magnets. Regular breaks could fail, magnets won't fail.

Nothing to fear really. Before the train is launched the brakes open (or drop down) then after the train passes each brake section on the launch the brakes close (or go back up) The brakes are hydrollic.

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magnumdan
magnum count: 2233

I'm also inclined to believe that whoever engineered the brakes on the launch side manufactured it so that if the hydraulic system were to fail, the default position of those magnetic brakes would be in the upper, stopping position.

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17 straight years of real thrills and counting...

Actaully.. the brakes are pneumatic I believe but yes.. they take pressure to open or "drop" and loss of power, air pressure will cause them to raise.

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82
Technical Services 2002
Fright Zone Screamster 2002

and lets not forget, children, that magnets take around 400 years to lose polarity :)

But are the magnets electro-magnets, because it power went out, the magnets wouldnt work....I don't see them doing that, but I'm just curius...

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Six Flags: The AOL of Theme parks...

Draken, so in the year 2403 they're gonna have to replace the breaks?

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2005: Ride Operator
2006: General Manager
My track record

They're not electro-magnets.

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17 straight years of real thrills and counting...

They're the same kind of rare earth magnets that are used on MF. They are not electromagnetic BRAKES.

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What is most anticipated event of 2003? the debut of Dragster, the release of Metallica's new album, the release of Terminator 3, or the release of Matrix:Reloaded...tough call.

Correct.. they are rare-earth magnets and the brake, or in this case fin, assembly needs air/power to retract and allow the train to pass.

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82
Technical Services 2002
Fright Zone Screamster 2002

i pray that the train doesn't make it the whole way up when i ride. how great... the fear of death! not to worry kids, we'll all be OK

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520, 500+, 160. prepare.

Actully, magnetic brakes are electro-magnets.

When generators turn, a coil turns inside of a magnetic feild produced by a permanet magnet induces electicity into the wire. When you load that copper wire down, there is more resistance against the coil putting more load on the mechanisim that is turning the coil.

Magnetic brakes induces a current into the copper fins with the earth magnents and the movement of the trains. The faster the train is moving the more current is produced, and more resistance the magnitized copper fins push against the earth magnets. As the speed doubles, the amount of force it takes to stop the train quadruples. The same holds true for the magnetic brakes, except they can't actully stop the train from moving if the train is on a downhill slope. The reason for this is the magnetic field gets very weak. If the slope is greater, the minimum speed is faster.

Permanet brakes are fail-safe, because they lack moving parts. The brakes on the launch are normaly up, but the system has to pull them down before launch. Also, as the train passes they go back up. This way, it is much more likely that the brakes will go up during the launch and stop the train, than they are staying down. I assume that the computer uses latter logic or something simular. What that means basicly is two computers have to agree on what ride will be doing. If the computers don't agree, the ride won't run. A lot of breakdowns are caused by the computers sensing false situations, such as a phantom train. It is always better that the computer sees false situation than not see a real one.

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Millennium Force 03'

Well, if the launch-side brakes get stuck in the "on" position for whatever reason (hey, it could happen), I sure hope there are a couple of redundant kill-switches the operators can hit...

Theres the E-stop that kills everything. The PLC is pretty much redundantly set up to prevent any operation error or malfuction. Also redundant structural and mechanical checks are preformed every day, plus several scans done to structural componets every off season.

Roller coasters are one of the most redundantly checked machine. They are very dangerous machines if not respected. When it comes to running rides, parks don't take chances with safety. The majority of the time and effort put into engineering Top Thrill Dragster went into making it extremely safe for everyone that rides it.

TTD, I think so!

wow, talk about efficient =P

Spryboy said:
Well, if the launch-side brakes get stuck in the "on" position for whatever reason (hey, it could happen), I sure hope there are a couple of redundant kill-switches the operators can hit...

We;;, on Xcelerator's brakerun, if the mechanics find a specific fin that won't pop up, they'll keep it up. The odds of having all 120 or so fins fail at the same moment, and remain down is just about 0.

I think that on Xcelerator once the fins are dropped, and launch sequence has been initiated, that it cannot be stopped until the train is launced. Whether this remains true for Dragster has yet to be seen.

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What is most anticipated event of 2003? the debut of Dragster, the release of Metallica's new album, the release of Terminator 3, or the release of Matrix:Reloaded...tough call.