Flying Simulator Ride Cable Suspension Rig
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional amusement park rides fail to provide a fully immersive experience due to the presence of a vehicle that separates passengers from the environment, limiting the realism of motion and airflow, and obstructing views in multi-passenger configurations.
Innovation Solution
A flying simulator ride with an open-air design where passengers are suspended from a motion base via a passenger support system, allowing for unobstructed views and realistic arm and leg movement, using a cable suspension rig to create complex motion patterns and combined with projection-mapped environments for enhanced immersion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a multi-passenger vehicle is used to transport passengers along a fixed path, then passengers can be moved efficiently through the ride, but the vehicle walls and structure separate passengers from the environment, reducing immersion and realism
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the traditional enclosed vehicle structure entirely, extracting only the essential function of passenger transport while eliminating the harmful barrier effect. Passengers are suspended in individual seats or harnesses directly exposed to the environment, with only minimal safety restraints, thereby maintaining immersion quality while still enabling multi-passenger operation through sequential or simultaneous positioning along the ride path.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the passenger transport system into individual suspended seats or harnesses rather than a single enclosed vehicle. Each passenger occupies a separate, open-air position that can be independently positioned along the ride path, allowing multiple passengers to experience the ride simultaneously without mutual obstruction while maintaining individual immersion quality.
2Adaptability or versatility
If projection elements are added to create varying scenery and movement, then visual interest is enhanced for repeat riders, but the rider remains aware of being in a confined vehicle, preventing full immersion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the confined vehicle structure that creates the awareness barrier, extracting only the essential safety and support functions. This allows projection elements to be applied directly to the environment or to transparent/transparent-like structures that do not obstruct the passenger's sense of being in the simulated environment, thereby maintaining simulation accuracy while enabling visual experience variety through projection mapping on surrounding surfaces or helmets.
3Strength
If an enclosed vehicle structure is used to support passengers, then safety and structural integrity are maintained, but the vehicle walls obstruct views and prevent realistic airflow sensation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the enclosed vehicle walls entirely, extracting only the essential safety support functions and replacing them with minimal structural elements such as individual seat frames or harness systems. This eliminates view obstruction and allows realistic airflow sensation while maintaining structural integrity through the use of strength-appropriate materials and designs for the minimal required support structure and safety restraints.
4Ease of operation
If a fixed path track system is used to guide passenger vehicles, then ride control and safety are simplified, but the rider experience lacks realism due to awareness of the track and vehicle constraints
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the traditional enclosed vehicle that makes the track system visible and constraining to passengers. By using open-air suspended seats or harnesses, the fixed path track system becomes invisible or minimal from the passenger perspective, maintaining simplified ride control and safety through the track guidance system while eliminating the awareness of constraints that reduces immersion quality.
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
A flying simulator ride comprising: a track; a bogie coupled to the track; a rotator ring; a plurality of cables extending from one or more cable control assemblies coupled to the bogie and suspending the rotator ring from the bogie such that the rotator ring is capable of rotating with respect to the track and such that the rotator ring is capable of motion in six degrees of freedom; and a passenger support system comprising at least two passenger support units configured to support passengers of the flying simulator ride wherein the passenger support system is coupled to the rotator ring and is configured to assume a ride configuration in which one of the at least two passenger support units is moved away from the rotator ring.