Power Outages?

[MG]

I don't know about other coaster manufacturers but I do know that on Mack coasters the default brake position is closed. If there is no power feeding the air compressors the brakes close. They rely on air pressure to open them. In an emergency stop the computer pretty much just shuts off the power to the ride, thus resulting in all the brakes closing.

[Alpenguy]

Most brakes do indeed require air pressure to close, just not electrical power. They usually have an individual accumulator or multiple-redundant sources.

 

It's honestly quite strange they don't work the opposite way, but it's much easier to control and damn close to 100% safe with proper design and maintenance. See SFNE S:ROS for a combination of both aspects getting overlooked.

[CP_RULES]

I know on TTD the default on the mag brakes is in the UP position and that it requires power to lower them. Seems like all brakes would be that way, but apparently some are default to open?

[jamesdillaman]

I know for a fact the ones on Vortex are default to open, as was said, and they have individual compressed air tanks that close them in the event of a power outage. Sometimes we would have to close the ride down if the air pressure in the tanks got too low, a "Brakes low air" alarm would go off in the driver's booth. This is because if there is no compressed air, the brakes would not work, so obviously if the air starts getting low, it's an e-stop situation, where we use the remaining air to stop the trains, and wait for maintenece to fix the problem...

 

-James Dillaman

[Robbie]

What about the event a train is waiting on the brake run when the power goes out and there is no power to move the train foward, and the brake are stuck closed, so wont the trains collide?

[FLIPDUDE]

^No, because a train can't pass a block segment untill the one in front of it is clear. Like in Nolimits.

[Robbie]

Well for instance on corkscrew at cedar point, you can be sitting on the brake run when the train clears the hill and they can stack. so what if the power outage happend almost immediately after the train cleared the lift hill?

 

I know its a ridiculous ''What if'' question but yeah haha

[southpuddle]

^ The train that dropped off the lift wouldn't be able to drop off the lift unless there was a block brake between that train and the one sitting outside the station... I believe Corkscrew has three block brakes on that ending brake run.