Inclined Brake Run

I thought so, but couldn't remember, and it seemed just out of frame.

And yes, the permanent brakes will always (barring their falling off the ride) slow the ride to X speed before it hits the block brakes anyway. I'm just curious because watching the CP video, Millennium seems to go pretty quick into the block brakes. That's why I was curious if there was a kicker wheel there to hold the train up. Plus, magnetic brakes cannot completely stop a train from moving.

^hmmm.... im not so sure about that.

Not sure about which part?

^^ He's right. The magnets used on coasters today cannot fully stop a train. The kicker wheels do that. They slow them to basically a stop, but the train will keep moving unless held in place with something else.

EDIT: I just watched the POV again on CPs website and the train appears to be going considerably slower into the block breaks than when it hits the trims. It's FLYING into the trims and looks to be "coasting" into the blocks. There has to be at least one kicker wheel in there though. I believe it's right after that wavy thing on the track in the picture I linked to earlier. *** Edited 7/6/2007 6:35:18 PM UTC by halltd***

In fact you can hear Mav hit it's kicker wheel and it makes the sound as if someone slammed on their car's breaks.

On Dragster's test runs I've seen one row (of the two rows) of the fins not come up until the train was 3/4 of the way down the hill on a rollback.

To answer the question of the thread, Xcelerator was the first to use a steep decline that I know of. This ride was built in 2002 and was the first hydraulic launch coasters.

Millennium Force's waiting area brakes (the ones that are retractable) will stop a train with assistance of static friction. In fact, the if the train is run empty or near empty on a warmer day and the ride emergency stops, the train won't make it to the drive tires. Interestingly enough, the rear car will still be on the incline so there is force pushing forward but the friction sticks the train in place.

Nckinfn04 said:
On Dragster's test runs I've seen one row (of the two rows) of the fins not come up until the train was 3/4 of the way down the hill on a rollback.

I don't believe that at all. The contol system breaks up the brakes by sections of track, not rows. The probability of any of the brakes failing to raise is very low. Failure of a entire row would be one chance in a whole number so large that it has thousands of zeros behind it. *** Edited 7/6/2007 8:14:14 PM UTC by Jump to Conclusions***

^That's a pretty bold statement...

It's usually common practice for engineers to design for a safety factor of 3 in practical applications, but since this concerns life safety, they probably designed the braking system for a safety factor of about 10. As far as the probability of that happening, I'm sure it's very low. But probably not thousands of zeroes.

Say the brakes had a 50% of failing. If you had 1, there is a 1 in 2 chance of the brake failing. This is 1 in 2^1. With two brakes, there is a 1 in 4 chance of a given mode of failure, either plate, both or niether. This is 2^2. The next step is 3 which is 1 in 8 or 2^3. Dragster has a few more than 270 brake plates on the launch side. As and underestimate, say 270 plates. That would be 2^270

Lets see:

2^1 = 2
2^2 = 4
2^3 = 8
2^4 = 16
2^5 = 32
2^6 = 64
2^7 = 128
2^8 = 256
2^9 = 512
2^10 = 1,024
2^20 = 1,048,576
2^30 = 1,073,741,824
2^40 = 1,099,511,627,776
2^50 = 1,258,999,068,426,000
2^270 underestimate = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Since there are 2 rows, the probability is about half of that.

The possibility of a random failure such as described approaches infinitesimal numbers. Think about it, the chances of a given of the brakes failing is tiny. 1 in 1,000,000 for any of the brakes to fail is a low estimate this is al. The rate of increase when the probability of a given brake failure increases expodentially over the above making the probability approach zero much faster. The chances of them going in the given order is extremely small.

Do you guys know what kind of brakes are used on modern coasters? Magnets. That's right. My little sister who used to be an ultimate coaster fanatic can't ride any modern coasters anymore since she developed a stomach problem and has a pacemaker in it. Magnetic brakes will turn off her pacemaker. It would be nice to see a modern coaster that she can ride. Specifically she cannot ride Millennium Force, Top Thrill Dragster, Wicked Twister, or Maverick. She can ride any woooden coaster and any steel coaster with a chain lift.

Actually, that is completely false. The magnetic brakes form loops internally which results in little stray magnetic flux. The stray field lines are heavily shielded by the car's steel frame. Because of this, the flux density is slightly above the earth's gravitational field. This can be backed with a gaussmeter.

In other words, she would be in a stonger magnetic field if she opens up a refrigerator door. This can also be backed with a gaussmeter.

That's not what her doctor said.

Then trust your doctor, I don't think anyone is going to tell you 100% she will be all right.

I'm still wondering what a pacemaker is doing on her stomach.

The problem with doctors these days is they will tell you to never leave your padded room if they think it could help them avoid a lawsuit. Advice like that has to be taken with a grain of salt, which is a pretty sad state for our country to be in when you can't even trust your doctor to give you the full truth.

*** Edited 7/9/2007 2:35:23 PM UTC by Ralph Wiggum***

JuggaLotus,

It's because some of the muscles that empty your stomach do not work without being stimulation. Bascially it won't empty normally (she'll puke) without the pacemaker to force them to work. And yes, she didn't ride any of the newer coasters on our recent trip. I felt so bad for her though because these are all of her favorite coasters. Maybe in a few years she'll find a new favorite coaster that has a chain lift and no magnetic brakes.

I could see avoiding rides like Wicked Twister or Maverick since they use LIMs or LSMs. But, I would think you'd get more "flux" standing next to the launch on TTD than actually riding it.

Going from what you are saying it would be Wicked Twister I would be more Worried about, but Maverick you have the shielding of the car to protect you.

Also they are right, a doctor will not tell you to do anything that puts them at risk for a lawsuit. I would ask the doctor in a non suspicious way, would a magnet affect my cell phone or the pacemaker sooner.
If he says the cell phone you are O.K. to ride. The reason I can for sure make that assumption is because when I go to CP my dad can't ride all the rides, so I bring my cell phone on the ride and call him when i reach the station, so when I get off my cell phone works like its brand new. Except the screen is cracked for rolling down a hill with a bunch of girls my age. :)