Failsafe brakes

While in line for TTD I couldn't for the life of me figure out what would happen if the power failed. The brakes appear to be electromagnetic, there are wires running to them, but maybe they are not. Does anyone know?

Another thing, why do they have all of the spinning tires go up on the break run to move the car along? There are serveral that aren't even in contact with the car. The worst part is the mechanism closest to the hill ( i think) has the worst squeak in it, as of the 19th.

Yeah, the brakes use copper alloy fins and rare earth magnets. There is no electricity involved. The drive tires are what helps the train come to a complete and final stop since magnetic braking can never fully 'stop' a train.

They default to the up position, so any power outage will default to a 'braked' position.

Thanks.

Couldn't they use sensors to determin if the train is near the tire before they raise it though? Just a suggestion to avoid the wear and tear on a motor that is rarely if ever used.

It does use sensors, but what if a sensor fails? What if the train is going faster than expected or a tire is wet?

What I am talking about is after the train has stopped, they raise the tires to move it forward. It is way past some of the tires. The tires I am speaking of are not up before the train comes. I don't know if there are others that are up.

bholcomb said:
but what if a sensor fails?

Ladies and gentleman, TTD is currently down for mechanical reasons. We don't know how long the delay will be. blah, blah, blah.....

Actually, knowing a person who works for an Intamin subcontractor, The magnetic brakes do not use rare earth magnets. The magnets use the momentum of the moving train against it. It uses it's kinetic energy to generate the magnetic current. The only ride in existanse I am aware of that uses rare earth magnets is Superman: the escape. Since their field is relatively weak, that makes it's acceleration to a supposed 100mph take seven seconds.

Muggsy, like Ben said there is no electricity involved with the brakes. The wires you see are small pneumatic hoses. See, pneumatics are used to lower the brakes where as a large spring that is inside the rectangular container springs them up. That insures that if the power goes out, the brakes will automatically spring up! (fyi-some are both lowered and raised by pneumatics)
As for the drive wheels not touching the uinderside of the trains, well I only know a few that do that. The set of drive wheels in launch position that lower to allow the train to roll back thus allowing the train dog to slip in the slot on the catchcar, AND the set of drive wheels in the 2nd waiting block. See, because Dragster is set for a 6 train operation and only operates with 5, there is an open block most of the time. And since waiting block 1 is usually empty, the computer reads it empty and lowers the drive wheels and brakes in waiting block 2 to allow the train to go into waiting block 1 and onto unloading block 2.

Get it?:)

The train does fly over some of the drive tires when it is loaded. These drive tires are still needed because when the trains are empty for testing they do not have the momentum to get as far down the brake run.

I've always wondered what would happen in a power outage with electrically powered rides.

And Muggsy, I was there on August 8th and 9th and that extremely squeaky tire mechanism you are talking about was extremely squeaky then too! haha. I remember that. It drove me nuts.

If it's the squeak I think you guys are talking about, that's the squeak that lets me know a train in launch position is going to launch within 20 seconds (when I cant see the trains in the blocks which makes it easier to tell when the next train launches or moves up).

I for one like the squeak....though thats kind of expected of me.:) *** Edited 8/25/2006 3:40:50 PM UTC by TTD 120mph***

Me as well Adam. :)

Its the squeak when the one tire mechanism goes up and down going into the brake run.

Exaclty, thanks Bodes. I have been refraining from commenting on my own thread, because I was getting so frustrated. I still don't see the need to keep raising that tire or event the next 1 or 2, when there isn't a train within 200 feet of it.

Thats all thanks to that wonderfull block system.:)

Basically if there's no train in its block section(the squeaking drive wheel) then theres no need for it to be up.

*** Edited 8/25/2006 7:12:28 PM UTC by TTD 120mph***

shalyman2 said:
Actually, knowing a person who works for an Intamin subcontractor, The magnetic brakes do not use rare earth magnets. The magnets use the momentum of the moving train against it. It uses it's kinetic energy to generate the magnetic current. The only ride in existanse I am aware of that uses rare earth magnets is Superman: the escape. Since their field is relatively weak, that makes it's acceleration to a supposed 100mph take seven seconds.

Either you or your friend has no idea what they're talking about.

Go take a physics class or something.

Michael Darling said:

shalyman2 said:
Actually, knowing a person who works for an Intamin subcontractor, The magnetic brakes do not use rare earth magnets. The magnets use the momentum of the moving train against it. It uses it's kinetic energy to generate the magnetic current. The only ride in existanse I am aware of that uses rare earth magnets is Superman: the escape. Since their field is relatively weak, that makes it's acceleration to a supposed 100mph take seven seconds.

Either you or your friend has no idea what they're talking about.

Go take a physics class or something.

You mean rare earth magnets aren't the really cheap ones on the back of my fridge magnets that keep falling off the fridge?

^Of course they are. That's what all magnetic braking systems use.

However, you really didn't need to quote John's post, as it's right above yours. Just a friendly heads up.

But do all fridge magnets use them? ;) Although...I have seen them used to hold paper to a blackboard before. I wouldn't mind having some neodymium magnets, I could hold the entire phone book to the fridge instead of just a phone number. :P

And sorry about the quote. It's more of a habit I have to quote anything when referring to it directly. I'll try to keep that in mind for this forum though, things can get crazy here and I wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of that. :)

In what I hope are simple terms:

Magnets on the underside of the train generate current in the copper fins on the track. The current in the copper fins in trun creates a magnetic field. The magnetic field generated in in the fin repels the approaching magnet. The current generated in the fin is then dissipated as heat. The current generated in the fin is then dissipated as heat.

For those who have had physics class, this is Lens law. If you had a loop of wire, and brought the north pole of a magnet near the loop, a current would be generated in the loop to repel the approaching north pole. Now just envision the copper fin as an infinite number of loops of wire.

I hope this makes sense.