Rollercoaster ride brakes and how they work
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- Опубликовано: 23 май 2024
- I’ve always loved watching brakes on rides work. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because if I was close enough to see and hear them, I was close enough to ride! Their song would call across the park announcing the ride was up and running. These brakes can be simple or complex. Let’s talk about it.
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Babe wake up new ryan the ride mechanic video just dropped!!!
Awe thanks!
Schwarzkopf used actual automotive air brake cylinders (from what I've heard Wabco branded) to actuate pinch brakes on a lot of coasters. Unlike Vekoma, the brakes are spring loaded and air pressure is used to keep the brakes open. On the positive side, this means, they always fail in the safe (brake) mode, on the negative side, they are harder to adjust as spring tension and not air pressure determines the braking force.
Using off the shelf parts made sense, as they also built trailers for their flat rides, which used air brake cylinders for their wheel brakes.
As an inspector in the amusement industry , I have to admit that your videos are consistently incredibly educational and useful, and I always pick up new skills to utilize on my next inspection. 😀👍🏽
That’s great! Glad they can help!
I was having an awful week, then your weekly video came along and made it all better! Thank you! 😁
Glad I could help!
Your production quality is getting much better! I love the joke at the beginning
Thank you!
Ha ha! I loved the open to this video! I will give you a 7 on the burp, though 😂. Nice information on brakes answered a few questions. And oh god, B&M brakes, especially Valravn. The only ride I brace for the brakes. I'm pretty sure my arms and legs got flung out in front of me😂😂.
Some of the B&M's have such a satisfying brake release sound, its like a pop, but its going through a silencer or its coming out with some oil or something
Air mufflers.
When you were talking about the strength of B&M brakes, Raptor at Cedar Point immediately popped into my head. You get whiplash on the final brake run of that ride almost every time you ride it.
They could probably use some tension backed off.
Oh yeah, especially if you're in one of the back rows since you barely get out of that turn from the helix into the brakes before you feel the braking force while the front cars run straight for a longer time before the braking force hits.
Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure really slams you into the breaks if its running really hot.
My group project in Physics 2 was calculating how large a magnetic brake fin would have to be to stop a roller coaster train at a certain speed.
One fin or multiple? Assuming openings for hitches?
@@ryantheridemechanic We modeled it as one fin. It wasn’t practical but we didn’t really know a lot.
@@wickedsickfunkyfreshroller2037 makes sense. How long did it need to be?
@@ryantheridemechanic It was actually pretty short. We had the entrance velocity at 30 mph and modeled it as if the entire length of the train would interact with the fin. We ended up using Matlab to calculate how the increasing length of brake fin interaction with the train would increase the resistance force as the train progressed into the brake. Anyways, with that model it would stop in just under 13 feet which wasn’t even half of the train length we were using. Again, this wasn’t the most realistic model in the world.
@@wickedsickfunkyfreshroller2037 very cool to figure it out though!
great in dept on brakes ryan something that i alway find interesting is ever when the brake runs are slated the transfer track is level and the tire drive advance the train forward
Would love to see you explain X2 and other 4D coasters. I know you probably haven’t worked on them, but you did such a great job explaining hydraulic launches without having worked on them.
I can try.
What would you like to know about X2?
@@Jenlovescoasters I understand the basic concepts, I'd like to maybe learn some implementation details that I've never heard of before, or learn about failure modes. Ryan seems to know facts that aren't available on your run-of-the-mill NatGeo style documentaries.
@@Jenlovescoasters thoughts? I know the basics.
LMAO!! love the intros!!
You are correct on Arrows!❤
Holy platten brakes though! I'm going to send you a fun Pic tomorrow when I get to work😂
Nice shot of Giant Dipper at Boardwalk!
Hold on a second… I think I heard “skyline sucks” in that burp?! 🤨 Ryan… get your burps checked. Because skyline is delightful 😋
I have a memory of seeing Kingda Ka go through ride testing before the official opening day. The train was stopped in the brake run before the final turn into the station. I’m 100% certain it was completely stopped as it was there for several minutes, but it’s only magnetic fins and indeed a sloped brake run. This has baffled me for nearly two decades…
Maybe the ride hadn’t been broken in properly and there was still lots of friction between all the assemblies?
Thanks again for a great video! While watching this I've actually remembered that I would like to watch a video on how a Top-Spin works in detail, how much of the actual ride program is pre-determined and how much it gets adjusted while the ride is running.
Another question: Have you ever thought about creating a community space (like a discord-server) where like-minded people can share their stories, ask more questions and generally connect to people like themselves?
I could do a top spin video. I’m not sure honesty about the discord server but I’m looking into it. I think some use would come from it.
A late friend of mine used to operate a Top Spin at the fair in Germany and he told me a bit about it.
You can go from somewhat tame all-automatic programs to full manual control. But you need some good skills if you want to deliver a good ride cycle in manual mode. The line between giving an awesome ride and tearing up brakes and gear boxes is really fine. Therefore, most parks run automatic cycles, they just don't have the capacity to train their operators on how to deliver great tide cycles that aren't tough on the ride. (Which doesn't mean they aren't trained in safe operation of the ride, that's a totally different story.) In fact, Huss even has (or at leas had) the option of delivering rides with a stripped down control panel that only allowed accessing automatic cycles, with the controls for manual cycles removed (or rather not fitted in the first place). I never got a close look at park Top Spins, but I've seen this for various park Break Dance 3 and 4 models.(I am quite familiar with the full control panel, so the difference is obvious to me)
@@Colaholiker cools. Ours did not have the option to enable the brakes at all. And manual mode was weak when it came to the torque. Mainly just used to verify overspeed and evacuations.
@@ryantheridemechanicthat reminds me of one thing he mentioned that I was never able to verify - according to him, the first Top Spins didn't have manual brake control. This was something Huss introduced later, as some operators had modified their ride and added manual brake control. (Not sure how accurate this bit of information is tho)
For a park, I can see why they didn't get that option. 😅
@@Colaholiker That's really cool! So far I've only ever been on one Top-Spin (Talocan in Phantasialand, if that means something to anyone) and it was awesome! Thanks for the additional info
Brakes are an excellent way to support the algorithm
You either feed it or get buried by it
GREAT video, as always very interesting and informative. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience.
Humid air causes LESS drag on a train than dry air because humid air is LESS DENSE than dry air at the same temperature. (It is major misconception that humid air is denser than dry air.) Cold air is more dense than hot air, so air drag on train is more when cold than hot. Worst case for high drag is cold, dry air. (This is aside from the effects from temperature on the wheel bearing grease.)
I'd have to disagree on the hydraulic B&M's always being "for effect"
I took a tour of Griffon and they showed us the versions that didnt have hydraulic brakes and the actual brake run would have been significantly longer if not for the hydraulic brake. So it depends on installation as every installation is different (as you well know)
amazing intro
Thanks!
Another great watch as always.😊
Thank you
One note on drive tires as brakes: most are not flat, instead they feature treads, same for the brake pads. Intamin uses these on their Hot Racer model, though I'm not sure if in the rain though...
In some cases, I wouldn't even consider the tires as being the actual brake. Look at your average SBF spinner. What actually stops the train is the incline of the lift hill with the drive motors turned off - and then they slowly drive the train back to the home position.
Gimme a break, er brake, uhhh... you know what i mean..... or do you? 😂
I get them mixed up all the time!
Can you do a s&s air launch video that launch has always fascinated me
Yea it’s in the list to work on.
1:01:41 Then i'm worried about Intamin's Hot racer model ! LOL😅 Beacuse I only see drive tiers used for slowing the train down like on "Mahuka" at Walibi rhône alps (France) or Big dipper. So no rainy operations for sure but yeah what do you think ?
I don’t like drive tires as brakes. But they have history of working just fine. I just don’t like them.
When you talked about Vekoma brake fin replacements, I understand replacing 3 or so a year (per train) on an SLC, but what would you say was the normal life span of the fins on the Boomerang?
Much less. Honestly the entire train every other year. Brake fins are cheap.
OH LOOK! you passed 5k subs! YAY
Thanks! Ifs a boost of confidence for me!
@@ryantheridemechanic it seems like you get a lot of mentions on other channels whenever a big roller coaster breaks. I found you when you did the Fury video. now others are finding you because of the Top Thrill lawn ornament
@@dindog22 haha! Lawn ornament! That’s funny. Every once in a while, I googled myself to find out where I’m turning up, but Google doesn’t typically dive into comments on videos.
Hey man would you be able to do something on the hitches between each car? I always try to get a good look at them and it seems like different manufactures use different assemblies
I have a video on the drawing table right now for that.
@@ryantheridemechanicgreat, looking forward to watching it
After making brake adjustments, where you ever nervous at first as trains cycled through with passengers, or were you pretty sure you had it close if not exactly they way you wanted that train to come to a stop?
No it’s never that far off. Most brakes are adjusted in the last 10% of what they need to work so there’s still 90% left to stop. Times however many brakes there are.
How do water rides (Splash Mountain, for example) ensure boats have cleared the bottom of a drop for the next boat? I think you might have said photoelectric sensors are used on those rides in another video, but can’t those be easily triggered by a bird, large bug, a splash of water, or someone throwing something, breaking the sensor’s beam? Also, is there any mechanism for preventing a boat from “clearing” the bottom of the drop, then somehow move backwards back into the bottom of the drop? Like due to a failed pump, or a malicious guest pulling against the troff to pull their boat back?
So the entire lift and drop are spaced out in such a fashion that promote natural space between blocks. This is done to prevent the lift from starting and stopping all day long. The runout photo eyes are generally used in sets of 4 to prevent a spider from resetting a block. And the eyes are also timed in the program. When the eyes are blocked they must remain blocked for a period of time to reset the block. On those rides, if a log goes too fast, it won’t reset the block. I can cover this on my block video I’ll be making soon.
At the risk of information overload, I’ll add on to what Ryan said with my own experience working on an early Arrow log flume at Six Flags in Atlanta. It operated in a much simpler way than contemporary examples but it still did its job of keeping boats spaced out. The nature of log flumes means many of them don’t have a true block system throughout the ride (that is, one boat per section separated by a stopping device), but they do have mechanisms in place to prevent collisions in critical areas like the runout below a drop.
On ours, boat spacing was accomplished first by a dispatch timer on a holding brake that would only let one boat leave the station area every so many seconds. However, a heavily loaded boat would start catching up to a lightly loaded boat ahead of it which necessitated photo eyes on the lifts and in the runout to ultimately protect boats ahead from boats following them.
There were 2 or 3 photo eyes in the runout and more at the base and at the top of the lift. (This ride did not have a turnaround or a trough at the top, you just went up and came right back down.) Again timers would come into play - after one boat crested the lift and dropped, it had so many seconds to trip the photo eyes in the runout.
If a boat was too slow in tripping all the photo eyes in the runout, a series of timers would start expiring and shut down the high lift, a little later it would stop the low lift further back on the ride, and eventually shut the main pumps down.
If the boat tripped the photo eyes too quickly, it would also shut the lifts down as that was an indicator the water level could be too low, although it did have float sensors for low water as well.
If a boat did not trip one or more of the runout photo eyes or if it stopped in front of one of them, that would also stop the lifts.
The photo eyes in the runout were positioned high enough in the flume that the boats would trip them but were out of the way of most waves and splashes. The beam had to be broken for a minimum amount of time like Ryan talked about, so a quick break from a splash wouldn’t register as a boat, but if the beam stayed broken more than a second or so, it would shut the lifts down. The operator could stop and start the lifts as needed but you couldn't override the system and send them over too soon, you could only hold boats longer. Didn't want to hold them too long though, otherwise following boats would start accumulating at the base of the now-stopped lift and that presented its own problems.
Despite stopping and starting somewhat often with at least one boat on the lift (sometimes more), the motors on the lifts of that log flume never gave us trouble. Given the differences between builders and ride configurations as well as changes in the industry over time, each ride is quite unique and they all have their own operational quirks - but if you know how one works, you can start making inferences and figure out some things about others.
Mack Rides use a different system on their log flumes. They use switches that are mounted under water (given the depth of the water troughs, it's not too hard to seal them properly) between the running rails on the splash run-out. From those switches, "feeler fingers" point upwards. When a log passes over them, the fingers are pushed forward, triggering the switch. If you look closely at the end of the run-out, you can even see them. For example, this video of a Mack Rides log flume shows it: ruclips.net/video/DL86qJqf2Vo/видео.html At 1:13, you see two white sticks poking up from the water - that's the block sensor switches. (I am not affiliated with the channel hosting that video)
By the time the rear of the log drops off the run-out rails, the feeler fingers pop up from underneath the log, telling the ride control system that the run-out area is clear.
And of course in the really olden days of log flumes, you had ride operators sitting in a small booth on the crown of each lift. They weren't just there to tell you to stay seated, but also acted as the block system...
awesome! still asking for an elevator lift video maybe..??
can i ask where you get the pictures from, like at 1:21 ? like the diagrams, not the off ride footage :D
If you search Eddie current brakes or magnetic brakes a lot of people have made tons of diagrams. I believe that was from a magnetic brake manufacturer but it’s been a while. I am trying these day to mark the images so I know where they came from. I have to slowly cycle them out to make sure the correct people get credit.
@@ryantheridemechanic thank you sir :)
@@owen24165 mainly just need to know the terms to search for. Then cut through the BS and switch the search to images and go!
@@ryantheridemechanic is there a way I can contact you on Instagram instead of yt comments 😂
LOL why does Skyline suck?
Oh yeah Harley Quinn Crazy Coaster.....Id love to see an entire video about that ride/experience and only about that, if you're allowed to divulge that information.
Some log flumes, like splash mountain, seem to use gates and almost like a platen style conveyor belt as brakes, in addition to the runout areas. How are those systems run?
If you’re referring to the block border brakes under the water. They are exactly like platen brakes. They have a rubber tread on top the lifts the boat out of the water to stop it. The height out of the flume is what determine the holding force. These are also set like a block brake as they only let one at a time through when the boats are stacked. When the block ahead is already clear there is no need for the brake to activate. What’s that the question?
@@ryantheridemechanic yeah pretty much, thank you! Do you have an idea of why certain areas of the flume might use the platen block brake whereas other parts of the same flume might use a gate that closes in front of the boat?
@@sock501 this is a guess: the platter brakes can be over powered by current and other boats piled up. But the gates can’t be defeated. Just a guess not really sure what the two differ would be used. Maybe another person can chime in if they know.
I love me some Skyline chili... mmmmm
Arie Force has very short and strong pinch brakes. I understand that it gets too hot and will overshoot its block zone. They will run only one car and rotate cars to allow them too cool. It’s a great ride, but I think they underestimate the speed going into the last bunny hills and brakes needed.
You can water cool pinch brakes but they will rust out in a couple of years.
Wouldn't trim brakes come in handy after the arcade roll/helix and before the final bunny hills??
@@thisguy_w0n you would probably loose some thrill on those hill. I’ve road bunny hills with no thrill, they aren’t fun at all. Best thing to do would be to extend the brake run further in to the track but this is a massive modification that would be expensive. When you do things line that the gauge if the track in that area is too loose and the corttal of the tram would require the cross ties to be lowered in the area as well.
Do eddy current brakes convert some of the retarding force into heat, either in the magnets, fins, or both?
Yes. Magnets a little, the fins get very hot if you get a long run of them.
Like my semi truck brakes air sprung.
is it Friday already?
It’s been 7 days sense the last Friday.
@@ryantheridemechanic the weeks go faster and faster
HEY RYAN, GREAT JOB ON YOUR VIDEOS, YOUR ABOUT THE ONLY U-TUBER WORTH LISTENING TOO BECAUSE THE REST OF THE VIDEOS ARE JUST MORE UNEDUCATED PREDICTIONS AND BLOCK ZONE INFO BECAUSE THEY THINK IT MAKES THEM SOUND LIKE THEY KNOW SOMETHING.
Thank you!
I was actually planning a block system video. I made one a long time ago but I feel it’s about time to make it better.
The intro 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 skyline is so gross!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣