Maglev Coaster

[grsupercity]

I am sure many of you have heard about maglev. They are the magnetic trains that levitate above the tracks. They provide a super smooth ride, along with high speeds and low maintainance. Could maglev work in a roller coaster application? Maybe something simple like a fast launch coaster. It would provide a smooth quick launch. Magnets are used to thrust the vehicle forward and to hold it above the track. Can you imagine the launches without rolling resistance? Is this system possible?

[KBrylczyk]

Considering the only Maglev train in the world can't take a turn without a ridiculously huge radius, no.

 

Edit - Try again in a few decades once Japan gets the system worked out.

[DrachenfireOP]

^ naw, it could work. Thats like saying a roller coaster can't be built because cars need gravity to stay on the ground. There would be guide and upstop magnets just like on modern coasters.

 

In fact, many, many years ago I made a simple maglev coaster at a science fair as a proof of concept.

 

I think the real reason you won't see it, is that the operating cost would be astronomical in comparison to current rides, with no real gain. Where mag level trains gain back their losses in speed, a mag lev coaster would lose its novelty after a few seasons, and you'd then have just another coaster, but with an insane operating cost.

 

MOST older coasters that close, do so because their ridership is lower than what the park wants based on the cost of opening the ride. I think this gimic would wear off too soon.

[Fooz]

To resist the inertia of the trains in angular motion would require electromagnets of insane strength. Not feasible at all.

[rcjp]

^True. Holding four or five times the weight of a train would be hard.

[Nrthwnd]

Outside the Japan Pavilion, at our EXPO86 in Vancouver, they had a demo mag lev train,

which ran down a strip of track, then reversed itself to come back to the load/unload station.

Was very cool and we even got "Fastpass" boarding tickets for the ride.

 

But - that was in 1986, so except for one installation somewhere (I forget, sorry)

in China, I don't think it's gotten much farther than that.

 

And here's the video I took back in 2012, of two mag lev trains passing each other.... ( Hi Jon!)

 

[coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=MVI_1013_g7vq[/coastertube]

 

And for my answer to the topic's question - no, I don't think a mag lev coaster could or would work.

What we rode at the world's fair, back in 1986.

[Gutterflower]

But - that was in 1986, so except for one installation somewhere (I forget, sorry)

in China, I don't think it's gotten much farther than that.

 

There are actually 3 operating Maglevs in the world now and I've got to ride 2 out of three so far . The Chinese one between Shanghai and the airport is the crazy highspeed one which R&E have ridden before and now has a view of the Disney resort in the distance.

 

Incheon airport outside of Seoul in South Korea has a low speed maglev system which runs from the airport around the Island.

 

Japan has another low speed maglev in Aichi which operates as urban transport.

 

Both Changsha and Beijing in China also have low speed urban maglev lines due to open before the end of this year or early next year. (I saw the Changsha one last year and it looked pretty cool)

 

Nothing to do with coasters. I just think Maglevs are cool

[ejot]

^^ The maglevs passing each other certainly woke me up!

 

To resist the inertia of the trains in angular motion would require electromagnets of insane strength. Not feasible at all.

^True. Holding four or five times the weight of a train would be hard.

The whole coaster could one giant launched airtime hill "within a plane" (like S&S freespin), with a parabolic trajectory mimicking a free launch under gravity. There's virtually no force against the magnets, they're just needed to keep alignment. The ultimate floater airtime machine.

 

A secondary set of offset, dampened mechanical upstop and ride wheels automatically guide only during first part of launch and last part of brake run, or if a launch goes over/under standard speed and causes an acceleration against the track that exceeds the magnets' holding force. In that case it would ride like a standard coaster for the duration of the ride, or until excess speed scubbed off.

 

Of course this would still be prohibitively expensive and not at all appealing/marketable to the public. But I do imagine it would give a very unique and pleasurable ride experience - perfect "floatiness" - in absolutely smoothness - and would be achievable with current technology. It could launch and brake on both ends and shuttle people across parks.

[Ed Farmer]

[coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=MVI_1013_g7vq[/coastertube]

I probably wouldn't last too long on that thing. Here in Chicago, my heart starts beating a little faster when a Metra train I'm riding in encounters a standing freight train on the adjacent track that I wasn't expecting.