16 replies to this topic

[NHskier13]

Another thing I noticed when reviewing my photos taken. The Chondola at Sunday River, ME has uneven spacing on the terminal. Click the thumbnails below and you will see it.
Is there a particular reason for this, such as the fact that it is a hybrid lift and one side needs to go slower for gondola passengers?
Also, how does it work? It has something to do with spacing clutches, i'm sure.

Here is the Gondola unloading area. Notice how there are 3 units here...

But then here, there is only a lone gondola cabin.

[Yooper Skier]

You are correct in that the gondola side is slower and is achieved with different pulley ratios. At the bottom (return), the gondola load is on the incoming side, so the tire conveyor is slowest at this point. It begins to speed up at the center of the turnaround where the two conveyors meet. The drive terminal is chair unload first, then as the carriers enter the turnaround, they are slowed for the gondola unload area before the doors pop open. Both the gondolas and chairs go through this and clutching is not used to differentiate between the two - it's all seamless. However, the machine does differentiate between the two for monitoring the gondola door cables (door fault if they don't close) and the laser eyes for the stop gate. This is done with a metal recognition "puck" on the grip of only chairs that says "hey, I'm a chair, you don't need to look for a closed door cable because I don't have one," and "hey, I'm a chair, so turn on the stop gate." It's pretty cool to see in action. In picture number two, are you referencing the work car that is parked on the service rail?

[Yooper Skier]

Here's two of the grips from the Chondola with the recognition pucks. First one is a chair with a puck near the guide wheel on the hanger axle. Second is a gondola with no puck.

Attached File(s)

•  lift 7 chairjpeg.jpg (251.38K)
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•  lift 7 gondolajpeg.jpg (276.27K)
  Number of downloads: 289

[NHskier13]

Yooper Skier, on 26 October 2014 - 01:48 PM, said:

You are correct in that the gondola side is slower and is achieved with different pulley ratios. At the bottom (return), the gondola load is on the incoming side, so the tire conveyor is slowest at this point. It begins to speed up at the center of the turnaround where the two conveyors meet. The drive terminal is chair unload first, then as the carriers enter the turnaround, they are slowed for the gondola unload area before the doors pop open. Both the gondolas and chairs go through this and clutching is not used to differentiate between the two - it's all seamless. However, the machine does differentiate between the two for monitoring the gondola door cables (door fault if they don't close) and the laser eyes for the stop gate. This is done with a metal recognition "puck" on the grip of only chairs that says "hey, I'm a chair, you don't need to look for a closed door cable because I don't have one," and "hey, I'm a chair, so turn on the stop gate." It's pretty cool to see in action. In picture number two, are you referencing the work car that is parked on the service rail?

No, I was talking about the gondola cabin seen in the terminal :P

[Yooper Skier]

It is all alone on this side because it's the "chair side" of the lift that has terminal speeds of a typical six-pack. They begin to "accordion" at the apex of the turnaround for the "gondola side" of the lift. This is the case with both terminals. It's all simply in the gearing of the terminal conveyors.

[DonaldMReif]

Are those puck reader things typical on any lift with gates?

[2milehi]

DonaldMReif, on 27 October 2014 - 08:22 AM, said:

Are those puck reader things typical on any lift with gates?

They are on Quicksilver at Breck.

[Phalanger]

In Europe some chondola separate the cabins and chairs in the station into separate loading zones, with the outer loop for the gondolas and the chairs on the inner loop.

This post has been edited by Phalanger: 24 November 2014 - 07:37 AM

[NHskier13]

DonaldMReif, on 27 October 2014 - 08:22 AM, said:

Are those puck reader things typical on any lift with gates?

I would imagine that any lift that has load gates actively used in the system requires those "pucks".

[Keymech]

Some of the older systems used a whisker switch.

[2milehi]

Hey Scott, looks like your mountain has to work on the cabins on the outside? How many cabins are on the Chondola (guessing 14 via Google Earth)?

This post has been edited by 2milehi: 23 November 2014 - 01:48 PM

[Keymech]

2milehi, on 23 November 2014 - 01:44 PM, said:

Hey Scott, looks like your mountain has to work on the cabins on the outside? How many cabins are on the Chondola (guessing 14 via Google Earth)?

Yes we have no inside parking or work bay. But that may change. Fingers crossed. and we have 15 cabins.

[SuperRat]

The load gates for our ChairKid Conveyor doesn't use a puck. A proximity switch on the downhill side of tower one reads the grip itself as it passes.

[Yooper Skier]

NHskier13, on 23 November 2014 - 05:10 AM, said:

I would imagine that any lift that has load gates actively used in the system requires those "pucks".

I don't think so. Our Chondola uses them for the gates only so they don't open when a cabin comes around and...well...you probably get the picture. Our only other lift that has them is a '94 Dopp detach...they currently don't function, but I'm not aware of any special recognition pucks. I assume they are tied into the anti-collision system.

[NHskier13]

Yeah that's the Jordan Bowl right? I know of a lot of Doppelmayr UNI and UNI-M's around me that have loading gates, but the resorts keep them off to the side. I would assume they don't have the "pucks" but I never bothered to look :P

[SuperRat]

Yooper Skier, on 01 December 2014 - 01:45 PM, said:

I don't think so. Our Chondola uses them for the gates only so they don't open when a cabin comes around and...well...you probably get the picture. Our only other lift that has them is a '94 Dopp detach...they currently don't function, but I'm not aware of any special recognition pucks. I assume they are tied into the anti-collision system.

Does your '94 have a whisker switch at 6 o'clock on the contour, mounted on the steel below the running rail (the hanger arm would trigger it)?

This is where the switch for the former gate at the Kancamagus Quad is (its a 95 Doppelmayr). The problem with the gates on some mid nineties Doppelmayrs is the gate timing wouldn't change when you slowed the lift down. When the lift was slowed to 200 fpm the gate would still only stay open for a few seconds so you had to physically hold it open so the passengers had time to wait for the next chair.

This post has been edited by SuperRat: 04 December 2014 - 05:27 AM

[liftmech]

The one season I had gates on my Poma, they were operated off certain zone switches to open and close. That way they would adjust for lift speed. I don't know if that was normal for Poma or not, since it was a one-off modification we tried.