2019: General Discussion

[Matt N]

Where are we all getting it from that Merlin can't operate the Skyride in hot weather; to me, the sign is only inferring that you shouldn't ride if heat will affect you in any way. That's just Merlin giving people the decision of whether to ride or not.

 

[ringo]

Where are we all getting it from that Merlin can't operate the Skyride in hot weather; to me, the sign is only inferring that you shouldn't ride if heat will affect you in any way. That's just Merlin giving people the decision of whether to ride or not.

Last year it closed on hot days due to the heat, granted it was hotter than usual but the heat was the reason

 

[Matt N]

Last year it closed on hot days due to the heat, granted it was hotter than usual but the heat was the reason

Ah right. Thanks for the clarification @ringo; I'd presume there's only a certain temperature that Merlin can safely let people into those Skyride cars under without air conditioning, and as @Lurker said above, I don't think air conditioning would be financially viable given that really hot weather (i.e. over about 30 degrees) in the UK is somewhat of a freak occurrence.

 

[DiogoJ42]

I would imagine retrofitting air conditioning would be an expensive endeavour with limited reward. On average there are few hot weather days.

Maybe so, but in a suspended greenhouse, it's always a lot hotter than the outside air.

 

[yoursilentface]

I think they close it in hot weather in case it breaks down and you'd cook

 

[DistortAMG]

I do not think you can air condition a cable car. Air con uses quite a lot of electricity, where is that power going to come from? Batteries wouldn't be able to charge in time for the short time they are in the stations, compared to out on the wire. Let alone the large amount of extra weight they would add to something that is hanging on a cable. Mains is out the question as there is no way of doing that safely with current systems.

Even the cable car system in Singapore doesn't have air con, I would assume for the same reason. It is not like powering a small speaker, air conditioning is power hungry, a lot of power is required to power the compressors alone, let alone the fans blowing the cool air out.

 

[DiogoJ42]

Very good point.

A couple of fans should be possible though?

 

[RicketyCricket]

There is no air con on Disneys Skyliner, the only ventilation will be the windows.

Source: That Tim Tracker chap with the moustache on YouTube

 

[DistortAMG]

No air con because you can't power it. If it was possible, Disney of all people would have it, especially with the Floridian heat.

Very good point.

A couple of fans should be possible though?

Fans of some sort should be possible yes, maybe even solar powered ones, I am sure the speaker systems used to be solar powered, with the old cars at least.

 

[Islander]

I do not think you can air condition a cable car. Air con uses quite a lot of electricity, where is that power going to come from? Batteries wouldn't be able to charge in time for the short time they are in the stations, compared to out on the wire. Let alone the large amount of extra weight they would add to something that is hanging on a cable. Mains is out the question as there is no way of doing that safely with current systems.

Even the cable car system in Singapore doesn't have air con, I would assume for the same reason. It is not like powering a small speaker, air conditioning is power hungry, a lot of power is required to power the compressors alone, let alone the fans blowing the cool air out.

Incorrect I’m afraid, air con on a cable car is entirely possible with ultracapacitors .

For example, the pods on the London Emirates Air Line are fully air conditioned.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[venny]

I reiterate, Disney’s SkyLiner has no AC. It’s consistently 25 degrees or more in Florida.

Merlin do not need people to make excuses for their poor operations. They have plenty themselves.

 

[DistortAMG]

Ok so they can then. I stand corrected. This has to be new technology though.

 

[AT86]

I remember back in 2004 I think it was, one of the cable cars got jammed as it was coming off the cable onto the cadence rail which guides it into the station, coming from Ugland into the FV station. Not only was there a risk of the car coming off altogether (with people in) as it was neither on the cable of cadence rails, the jam brought the whole system to a full stop.

I believe it was in the middle of June, so if something like this happened again, post Smiler, I think Alton would want to avoid it at all costs.

Indeed, the press this would get these days would be slightly more than a small BBC article.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/3851957.stm

Luckily that definitely wouldn’t happen at 16.30 on a Tuesday nowadays. The the park would be long closed by then.

 

[Lurker]

Surely a secondary electrified cable could be passed cable car to cable car though some form of detachable plug. Not easy by any means, but not impossible I would've thought.

I do think it's an unnecessarily high expense for an uncommon problem.

 

[Skyscraper]

I assume the blue plastic boxes under the seats contain bottled water in case of such an eventuality?

 

[DistortAMG]

Surely a secondary electrified cable could be passed cable car to cable car though some form of detachable plug. Not easy by any means, but not impossible I would've thought.

I do think it's an unnecessarily high expense for an uncommon problem.

I like the sounds of that and I love a good problem to solve. The issue is, how is that going to work in regards to the stations, out on the wire yes, but I think there could be an issue in the stations. Especially where the stations literally reverse the direction of travel.

 

[DiogoJ42]

The gondolas detatch from the cable in the stations, so anything that ties them together isn't going to work.

 

[TheBolt]

You could transmit power between the cabins using far field microwave power transmission.
That could also make the problem much worse if the alignment went out of sync ;-)

 

[Alsty]

In the real world, nobody is going to retrofit air conditioning to the Skyride or create some revolutionary new power supply system. It's just not going to happen.

What would be more likely is improved ventilation or openings in the windows to allow the gondolas to breathe. However that's still a modification that would cost money and need to be safety audited, so again it's not going to happen.

Roast in peace.

 

[ChristmasPud]

In the real world, nobody is going to retrofit air conditioning to the Skyride or create some revolutionary new power supply system. It's just not going to happen.

Its not a revolutionary supply system, ways exist to run them essentially off big batteries. It just costs money, which Merlin could afford to do but they don't see it as necessary.