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Every time a gondola car arrives to the station, it is detached from the main cable and put on a slower cable (or a belt?). I wish I knew the exact mechanism th

by ilyagr 5y ago

Every time a gondola car arrives to the station, it is detached from the main cable and put on a slower cable (or a belt?). I wish I knew the exact mechanism that makes this work reliably.

a-dub 5y ago
they detach and then roll on a series of rubber wheels that decelerate wheel by wheel on the way in and accelerate on the way out. the grip itself is spring loaded and the spring force is measured every time the grip passes through a terminal. if a grip is weak, the lift stops. if you look closely at a detachable grip, you'll see two wheels. those go into a funnel that squeeze open the spring loaded grip to release the haul rope. the chair or gondola cabin then is guided with one of those wheels while powered by the 20 or so small rubber wheels mentioned above that move the chair through the terminal. reattachment works the same, the wheels progressively speed up to the haul rope speed (5-6 m/s) as the funnel opens releasing the grip to snap back onto the haul rope. position sensors throughout the terminal and at the towers stop the lift if anything is out of position. (or a grip is weak, as mentioned above) and like any safety critical reliable system, a lot of hardworking humans check the system regularly.
snowytrees 5y ago
while not necessarily on how gondolas work, this is a great documentary on the engineering and design behind the peak2peak gondola at whistler: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEAJmxe27h0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEAJmxe27h0
jffry 5y ago
Maybe there are other mechanisms, but the one shown in [1] seems pretty simple. The top of the gondola arm has a flat spot, and there are both wheels and the cable mechanism on the underside. In the station it detaches from the cable and just rides on the flat track, and then motor-driven tires push on the gondola to propel it at a controlled speed through the station. [1] https://youtu.be/589uRMy4Ty4?t=222 https://youtu.be/589uRMy4Ty4?t=222

by ilyagr 5y ago

Every time a gondola car arrives to the station, it is detached from the main cable and put on a slower cable (or a belt?). I wish I knew the exact mechanism that makes this work reliably.

a-dub 5y ago

they detach and then roll on a series of rubber wheels that decelerate wheel by wheel on the way in and accelerate on the way out. the grip itself is spring loaded and the spring force is measured every time the grip passes through a terminal. if a grip is weak, the lift stops. if you look closely at a detachable grip, you'll see two wheels. those go into a funnel that squeeze open the spring loaded grip to release the haul rope. the chair or gondola cabin then is guided with one of those wheels while powered by the 20 or so small rubber wheels mentioned above that move the chair through the terminal. reattachment works the same, the wheels progressively speed up to the haul rope speed (5-6 m/s) as the funnel opens releasing the grip to snap back onto the haul rope. position sensors throughout the terminal and at the towers stop the lift if anything is out of position. (or a grip is weak, as mentioned above) and like any safety critical reliable system, a lot of hardworking humans check the system regularly.

snowytrees 5y ago

while not necessarily on how gondolas work, this is a great documentary on the engineering and design behind the peak2peak gondola at whistler: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEAJmxe27h0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEAJmxe27h0

jffry 5y ago

Maybe there are other mechanisms, but the one shown in [1] seems pretty simple. The top of the gondola arm has a flat spot, and there are both wheels and the cable mechanism on the underside. In the station it detaches from the cable and just rides on the flat track, and then motor-driven tires push on the gondola to propel it at a controlled speed through the station. [1] https://youtu.be/589uRMy4Ty4?t=222 https://youtu.be/589uRMy4Ty4?t=222