ROLLER COASTER WITH PASSENGER COMPARTMENT MOTION POWERED THROUGH STORED ONBOARD ENERGY

Number: 20180297486
Published: 2018-10-18
Filed: 2017-04-13
Assignee: DISNEY ENTERPRISES, INC.
Inventors: HOWARD; DEREK LEE; BUHLER; PEYTON B.
CPC: B60M7/00; A63G7/00; A63G31/02; B60M1/30; A63G21/08
Verdict: Low Hardware
Source: Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

The keeper's note

Ride hardware (stored-energy roller coaster).

Abstract

A roller coaster with a vehicle rolling under gravity along a track defining a ride path. The vehicle includes a chassis coupled to the track to roll on one or more surfaces of the track, and the vehicle includes a passenger compartment mounted on the chassis. The coaster also includes a compartment positioning mechanism that operates to move, such as with yaw, the passenger compartment between a first position in a passenger load/unload section of the ride path and one or more differing positions in the gravity-based ride section of the ride path. The coaster includes a power supply assembly with a charging element mounted on the track. The power supply assembly includes an onboard energy storage mounted on the vehicle that is charged by the charging element. The onboard energy storage powers the compartment positioning mechanism to move the passenger compartment between the first and second positions.

Background

BACKGROUND1. Field of the Description

The present description relates, in general, to amusement park rides including roller coasters, and, more particularly, to a roller coaster with vehicles adapted to provide selective or programmable motion to the passenger compartment such as yaw (e.g., a programmable yaw profile) to orient the compartment and its passengers to face either along a direction of travel (DOT) or to one side or the other (e.g., to view a show or entertainment feature along the ride).2. Relevant Background

Amusement and theme parks are popular worldwide with hundreds of millions of people visiting the parks each year. Park operators continuously seek new designs for rides that attract and continue to entertain park visitors. Further, it is often important to build upon or modify existing rides to provide park visitors with new and exciting experiences without the cost or inconvenience of replacing an existing ride with a completely new ride.

For example, it is much more desirable for a park operator to reuse an existing track and support structure than to remove these and build a completely new ride as this places a ride out of use for a longer period of time and, during construction, is more disruptive to nearby attractions. In some instances, a ride can be updated and modified by providing new show or visual features along the track that are visible not only as the vehicles travel in the DOT but also on one or both sides of the track. In su

Claims

1. A roller coaster, comprising: a track defining a ride path with a passenger load/unload section and a gravity-based ride section; a vehicle including a chassis coupled to the track to roll on one or more surfaces of the track, wherein the vehicle further includes a passenger compartment supported on the chassis that is adapted for receiving one or more passengers; a compartment positioning mechanism controllable to move the passenger compartment between a first position in the passenger load/unload section to a second position at a location in the gravity-based ride section; and a power supply assembly comprising a charging element mounted on or near the track on the ride path defined by the track and further comprising an onboard energy storage mounted on the vehicle adapted for charging by the charging element, wherein the onboard energy storage provides power to the compartment positioning mechanism to move the passenger compartment between the first and second positions. 11. A park ride comprising: a structural track; a vehicle with a chassis riding on the structural track, wherein the structural track guides the chassis, and a passenger compartment supported on the chassis, along a ride path from a station section of the structural track through a gravity-based ride section of the structural track back to the station section; an onboard energy storage comprising a first energy storage device and a second energy storage device mounted on the vehicle; a first charging device provided in the state section of the track that is operable to charge the first energy storage device when the vehicle is parked in the station section of the track; a second charging device provided at a first location on the gravity-based ride section that is operable to charge the second energy storage device as the vehicle moves past the first location on the structural track; and a drive assembly powered by at least one of the first and second energy storage devices to move the passenger compartment relative to the chassis at a second location on the gravity-based ride section that is spaced apart from the first location. 17. A roller coaster, comprising: a track; a vehicle supported upon the track and adapted to roll along a path defined by the track, wherein the vehicle comprises a chassis coupled to the track and a passenger compartment supported on the chassis; a controller; a compartment positioning mechanism operated by the controller to move the passenger compartment relative to the chassis at a plurality of locations on the track; and a power supply assembly comprising a first charging element mounted on or near the track in a load/unload section of the track, comprising a second charging element mounted on or near the track in a gravity-based ride section of the track, and further comprising an onboard energy storage with a first storage device mounted on the vehicle that is charged by the first charging element and a second storage device mounted on the vehicle that is charged by the second charging element, wherein the onboard energy storage provides power to the compartment positioning mechanism to move the passenger compartment based on a motion profile or in response to a sensed trigger element proximate to the track.