Rotating Loading Turntable for Continuous Ride Vehicle Boarding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing amusement park attractions face inefficiencies in passenger loading due to slow boarding times, leading to reduced throughput and increased waiting times, as ride vehicles must often stop to accommodate passengers, affecting overall attraction performance.
Innovation Solution
A loading system featuring a rotating turntable with both rotational and stationary portions, allowing passengers to unload and load while ride vehicles move at nominal speeds, with the option to transition slower vehicles to a stationary portion for extended loading time without disrupting the flow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If ride vehicles come to a complete stop to allow passengers extra time to board, then passengers have sufficient time to board the vehicle, but the throughput of the attraction decreases and waiting times increase
Solution Approach 1:
The loading zone is segmented into multiple loading positions arranged in a circular path, allowing different ride vehicles to be at different positions simultaneously. This enables parallel loading operations where one vehicle can be loaded at position 1 while another is at position 2, thereby maintaining throughput while ensuring each vehicle receives adequate loading time.
Solution Approach 2:
The loading zone implements dynamic positioning where ride vehicles travel at controlled speeds through multiple loading positions rather than stopping completely. The system dynamically adjusts vehicle speed and positioning to balance loading time requirements with overall throughput, eliminating the need for complete stops while ensuring passengers have sufficient time to board.
2Productivity
If ride vehicles move continuously through the loading zone at high speed, then attraction throughput increases, but passengers do not have sufficient time to board and secure themselves
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous loading zone is divided into multiple discrete loading positions (first loading position, second loading position, etc.) spaced along the circular path. This segmentation allows the system to provide multiple opportunities for passenger boarding at different locations, ensuring adequate loading time while maintaining continuous vehicle movement and high throughput.
Solution Approach 2:
The loading process transitions from a linear single-position approach to a circular multi-position dimension. By arranging loading positions in a circular path around the loading zone, the system adds spatial dimensionality that allows simultaneous loading operations at multiple points, increasing both throughput and loading reliability.
3Ease of operation
If a single loading position is used for all ride vehicles, then the system is simple to operate, but vehicles with slow-loading passengers must stop and delay subsequent vehicles
Solution Approach 1:
The loading zone is segmented into multiple independent loading positions that can operate simultaneously or independently. Each position can handle a different ride vehicle, allowing slow-loading passengers at one position to be accommodated without affecting vehicles at other positions, thereby maintaining overall throughput while keeping operational procedures relatively simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The circular loading zone acts as an intermediary buffer between ride vehicle arrival and attraction entry. Vehicles that require extended loading time can be accommodated at specific positions within the circular zone without directly impacting the flow of other vehicles, as the circular path provides temporal and spatial buffering capacity.
Data Source
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AI summary
An attraction loading system, comprising a loading platform that comprises a rotational portion configured to rotate about a central vertical axis of the loading platform, and a stationary portion extending between a first edge and a second edge. The first edge and the second edge of the stationary portion comprise respective interfaces of the stationary portion with the rotational portion. The rotational portion rotates from the first edge to the second edge. The attraction loading system comprises a loading path disposed about a circumference of the loading platform. A ride vehicle is configured to travel along the loading path. The attraction loading system comprises a track switch configured to move the ride vehicle onto an attraction path from a main portion of the loading path in a first configuration.