Rollercoaster trigger system
AssigneeVekoma Rides Engineering B.V.
InventorHendrik Jozef Christina Cüppers
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a rollercoaster trigger system to output a data signal to a control unit for triggering and controlling an event at a predetermined track position, a beacon plate with a certain aperture pattern and a sensor set is provided to send a trigger signal and a data signal to the control unit. The sensor set includes a first and a second trigger sensor which provide together the trigger signal to readout the data of the beacon plate when together simultaneously detecting a first and second trigger aperture of the aperture pattern. A read sensor is provided for reading data from the aperture pattern by detecting a presence or absence of a read aperture. The data signal is obtained by the control unit when the trigger signal is generated.
Claims20
A rollercoaster comprising:
- a track with a rail to provide a rollercoaster ride path;
- at least one passenger vehicle mounted to the rail to travel the passenger vehicle in a travel direction along the rollercoaster ride path, in which the passenger vehicle comprises at least one passenger seat mounted on a chassis;
- and
- a trigger system to output a data signal to a control unit to carry out an event, in which the trigger system comprises a beacon cooperating with at least one sensor, in which one of the beacon and the at least one sensor is positioned at a predetermined track position and the other is mounted to the passenger vehicle,
- wherein the beacon is formed by a beacon plate which includes an aperture pattern of present or absent apertures, the aperture pattern representing predetermined data to be read by the at least one sensor,
- wherein the at least one sensor of the trigger system comprises a sensor set disposed in correspondence with the aperture pattern to allow sending a trigger signal and a data signal out of a variety of possible data signals to the control unit,
- wherein the sensor set comprises:
- a first and a second trigger sensor which are seen in the travel direction disposed behind each other, the trigger sensors providing together the trigger signal to readout the data from the aperture pattern when the first and second trigger sensor together simultaneously detect a first and second trigger aperture of the aperture pattern;
- and
- at least one read sensor for reading the data by detecting a presence or absence of at least one read aperture of the aperture pattern, and
- wherein the control unit is configured to obtain the data signal from the at least one read sensor when the first and second trigger sensor provide the trigger signal.
A rollercoaster trigger system to output a data signal to a control unit for triggering and controlling an event, wherein the trigger system comprises:
- a beacon cooperating with at least one sensor, in which one of the beacon and the at least one sensor is positionable at a predetermined track position and the other is mountable to a passenger vehicle of the rollercoaster,
- wherein the beacon is formed by a beacon plate which includes an aperture pattern of present or absent apertures, the aperture pattern representing predetermined data to be read by the at least one sensor;
- wherein the at least one sensor of the trigger system comprises a sensor set disposed in correspondence with the aperture pattern to allow sending a trigger signal and a data signal out of a variety of possible data signals to the control unit,
- wherein the sensor set comprises:
- a first and a second trigger sensor which are seen in the travel direction disposed behind each other, the trigger sensors providing together the trigger signal to readout the data from the aperture pattern when the first and second trigger sensor together simultaneously detect a first and second trigger aperture of the aperture pattern;
- and
- at least one read sensor for reading the data by detecting a presence or absence of at least one read aperture of the aperture pattern, and
- wherein the control unit is configured to obtain the data signal from the at least one read sensor when the first and second trigger sensor provide the trigger signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.