devol4 Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 Yesterday while walking around Holiday Park, I noticed that the freefall tower along with it's 3 "tracks" for the cars to go up and down. Two of them had at least 9 feet more of break pads than the last track. Why would this happen? Hard to see the brake pads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wishmaster Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 Maybe it's because of the angle at which you were looking. Every track has two brake fins, but the one on the right is a little higher than the one on the left. If you look at the tracks from the side you will only see one of the two fins, so it only looks like one of the tracks has shorter brake fins. Why these two fins aren't the same length, I don't know, but I thing it's so it won't hit it's maximum braking force all at ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerberus Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 That one's for the fat people Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devol4 Posted April 7, 2007 Author Share Posted April 7, 2007 lol that could be, but I know that the break pads were different heights becuase I rode it and you can see it when your standing down at the station, that picture was a bad example but thanks for the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallean Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 From a technical POV it should be remembered that the braking force depends on the permanent magnets, the fin material (and thickness) as well as a lot on the relative speed between the fins and the magnet assemblies as well as slightly on the ambient temperature. For drop towers, a smooth increase of the braking force is achieved by using different fin plate materials along the brake run. The final speed at which the gondola reaches the shock absorbers is about constant and is reached some distance above them to safely compensate variations. Final shock absorbers are required because eddy current brakes have zero force at zero relative speed between magnet assemblies and fins. Of course such brakes are totally failsafe and don't require any sort of active control. As the braking effect is bidirectional, gondolas are lifted relatively slowly in order to not require excessive winch power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coastakid Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 Well on that one, the last nine feet fell off and Holiday Park didn't think this was a problem... Just kidding, I'm really not sure why that is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coastrfreak2000 Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 It's the angle you were looking at the tower. For example, in this it looks like the brake fins are each a different size, when they are really all the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devol4 Posted April 8, 2007 Author Share Posted April 8, 2007 I decided to do some research on it finally (gasp) and found out that orginally the tower only had 2 gondalas that went through the ride. That was built sometime in the late 1980's. They added a third gondala in 1995? (not exactly sure about dates) and since technology had advanced the brake pad didn't have to be as long as the others. I'm pretty sure that this is the answer, but I know that they were all different lengths. When you go up the tower and sit on a side seat you can see the next "track" and below you and can tell the lengths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Shake Posted April 11, 2007 Share Posted April 11, 2007 I decided to do some research on it finally (gasp) and found out that orginally the tower only had 2 gondalas that went through the ride. That was built sometime in the late 1980's. They added a third gondala in 1995?(not exactly sure about dates) and since technology had advanced the brake pad didn't have to be as long as the others. I'm pretty sure that this is the answer, but I know that they were all different lengths. When you go up the tower and sit on a side seat you can see the next "track" and below you and can tell the lengths. Now thats impossible since the Free Fall Tower first opened in 1997! Where did you get your information from? Lukas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterlover04 Posted April 11, 2007 Share Posted April 11, 2007 if you take a look at this picture, you can see the braking zone. If you take a close look at the braking zone, you will notice that one section is longer than the other. Now, I can't tell you why one is longer than the other. However, this is what I think. My guess is that having one longer than the other, will give the car a more gradual slow down (even though you can't feel it). This in return will allow for a less "sudden" slow down on the decent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benzo41190 Posted April 11, 2007 Share Posted April 11, 2007 I though there was only 2 sides of the tower? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Shake Posted April 11, 2007 Share Posted April 11, 2007 Nope, there are 3. Most of the time there are only one or two running though because its just not full enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now