Cooling System

Well, my logical guess is that TTD goes down every so often to let the hydraulic fluids to cool. Launching trains that weigh 5.3 tons at 120 mph is a strain on the system, I am sure.

The hydraulics are inside a building, with no vents that I can see, allowing for it to heat up much faster. Couldn't CP do something to cool it faster?

Such as add a radiator type thing similar to how a radiator would keep a car engine cool, only this would cool TTD. Or put the oil through water...but that wouldnt be the smartest idea, unless you could seperate it again...but tell me what you think..

Well if you notice there are garden hoses under the track that keeps the ride cool.. Also if you notice some parts of the day, the track is dripping.

Also I asked a ride op whats been wrong she said that water over night condenses at and near the top and when it goes up...it slows the wheels down and it causes it to roll back.

The motor room is home to a very very large air conditioning-type unit that is used to cool the system.

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- John
I Snap Flyers

From the man himself at the CM Q&A session.
Monty Jasper:

"One of the main things we learned from Xcelerator is that to properly address the hydraulic heat issue. One of the things that has happened to us in California is that things tend to overheat a lot quicker than we anticipated. All of those happened during the design phase on Dragster, and we believe we have taken some measures to keep those problems from occurring here. For instance, we dump 100 tons of air conditioning into the hydraulic room. Those were all changes that were made after issues developed at Knott's Berry Farm. We have some intricate oil-water cooling systems for the hydraulic system that were not incorporated into the Knott's ride. So those are issues that, as I alluded to this morning, were things that we learned from the test bed that we incorporated into Dragster. And ultimately the proof is in the pudding, when the temperature gets up here in July and August we'll see how well those designs work."

A full transcript is at Rideman's website.

--Kirk

Have you not heard the roar of the fans next to the motor building?

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Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

They also have a system that involves using chilled lagoon water to cool things off in there.

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-Chris Woodard
Who the Millennium Force ride ops made a special announcement for when he took his 100th ride on 8/12/03.

I work in a hydraulic test lab for EATON/AEROQUIP we use a chiller system with glycol in the line to cool the oil. the chiller system works better than standard water alone.

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Millie:20
TTD: 1
CP&LE RR: 150

For instance, we dump 100 tons of air conditioning into the hydraulic room.

Wow... thats special.... 100 tons of air conditioning...

Since when has energy been measured in tons?

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Eddy the retard is awesome.

Last I checked "air conditioning" wasn't a measurement of energy...

Maybe I'm wrong!?!

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MANTIS ROCKS 2002 & 2003

Actually, steelmonsters, air conditioners have been rated in tons since the early 1900's shortly after Willis Carrier developed the first air conditioner for a Brooklyn printer who was having problems due to fluctuations in heat and humidity in his print shop. The term is derived from the days when ice was used for cooling. One ton of air conditioning is the same amount of cooling you get from one ton of ice melting in one hour. Therefore, the cooling capacity of the air conditioners cooling the hydraulic room is equivalent to dumping AND melting 100 tons of ice in there EVERY HOUR!!! And who said you couldn't read anything interesting at GTTP anymore?

Using AC was another stupid mistake on Intamins part... they use liquid nitrogen and the very same room, you'd think that they'd think to use it to cool the system as well as driving the pistons back to thier origional positions after the launch.

Liquid nitrogen? I think not. Liquid does not compress, gas does. Gas creates the pressure that forces the fluid out.

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Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

Jeff, the gas doesn't create the pressure, it just stores it. Think of it this way: Functionally, the gas is nothing more than a big spring.

Besides, think about it...conservation of energy means conservation of heat. Even if they did have liquid nitrogen (which, to the best of my knowledge, they don't) if they used it for cooling, it wouldn't stay liquid for very long, and it would require compression and heat removal. The trick with hydraulic systems is that high pressure, which comes from compressing the gas in the accumulators, brings about high temperature. What is needed is a means of moving large quantities of heat out of the system. Radiators are the most common method, but when larger amounts of heat are involved, more efficient systems are needed. Just putting the oil cooler in a water jacket and then keeping the water cool can make a big difference. In the case of Dragster, I believe the heat is being dumped out of the air conditioners and into the atmosphere, and from what I've heard, it's being dumped into the lagoon, which is itself a pretty big heat sink.

Oh, and jdubya, thanks! I always wondered why air conditioning was rated in tonnage rather than just in BTU/hour or whatever.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
*** This post was edited by RideMan 9/5/2003 12:00:56 AM ***

Right... I understand that, the gas isn't moved or removed from the cylinder. I was just pointing out that it's not liquid and that liquid does not compress.

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Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

Jeff, I know you understand that, but when surrounded by people who apparently don't, a little precision is called for. :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Whats with the personal attacks here? I saw the track dripping...but the track isnt the hydraulics...

I also, take a little offense to that. Of course, I'm sure everyone here has a master's degree in hydraulic engineering.....not. So of course we don't know, no need for a personal attack. You might know everything, but the rest of us do not.

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Everything that has a beginning, has an end. 11.05

Unless they somehow found another way to flush the pistons and move thier heads back other than the way Xcel does it, Nitrogen is involved...