Launched coaster

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Europe's fifth fastest roller coaster: Stealth in Thorpe Park, England
Catchcar, on which trains are accelerated on certain railways

As Launched Coaster (dt. Catapult roller coaster or launching roller coaster) refers to a roller coaster , wherein the train is not a hill ( lifthill is transported up) and then by potential energy to accelerate, but is accelerated catapult-like on a generally straight route.

There are different types of drive for the "launch". Common both flywheels -, pneumatic - and hydraulic actuators, and electrical traction systems, the latter (such as magnetic levitation trains) on the principle of linear motor based. With most drives, a driver attached to a rotating steel cable (also called a catch car or caddy) is hooked onto the roller coaster train. The pulleys over which the rope runs are driven, thus accelerating the train. At the end of the acceleration section, the caddy automatically disengages from the train. The driver is braked and then pulled back into the starting position.

In addition to the type name Launched Coaster, there are various manufacturer-specific type designations. Intamin names its courses, for example, Accelerator Coaster .

Flywheels

The train of a Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop ( turbine ) in the station

The first catapult roller coasters were developed by Anton Schwarzkopf in 1976 . The early models of the Shuttle Loop used a weight that was dropped to accelerate the train. In later systems, a flywheel weighing tons is accelerated by a motor. At the start, the energy stored in the disc is transferred to a steel cable and thus to the caddy via a slip clutch .

Pneumatics

A cylinder through which the steel cable also runs runs alongside the pneumatically driven track . A slide in the cylinder is attached to the steel cable opposite the caddy. A sudden increase in pressure on one side of the slide moves it in the opposite direction, thus driving the train.

Hydraulics

Acceleration track of the Booster Bike in Toverland

Modern launched coasters usually use a system of hydraulic motors as drive. Hydraulic fluid is pumped into storage tanks here. In further pressure vessels, nitrogen is strongly compressed, the necessary energy can be stored relatively slowly and evenly. When starting, the compressed gas pushes the hydraulic oil out of the reservoir through lines onto the hydraulic motors arranged in a circle. In this way, the entire amount of energy can be transferred very quickly to a central shaft, which then drives the steel cable. In the world record roller coaster Formula Rossa at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the train with such a drive reaches a speed of 240 km / h within 4.9 seconds.

LIM / LSM

The abbreviation stands for LIM " L inearer I nduktions m otor" or LSM for " L inearer S ynchron m otor". The way it works is similar to that of a rotating electric motor, with the difference that the electromagnets are not housed round in a cylinder, but are flat. In contrast to the other drives, here no caddy is accelerated on a steel cable, but either the train or a driver is driven directly.

Friction wheels

Few roller coasters use a stretch of increasingly faster running friction wheels to launch them.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Record holder. rcdb.com

Web links

Commons : Launched roller coasters  - Collection of images, videos and audio files