13 replies to this topic

[Lift Kid]

HELP!!!! I need to know the average detachable lift spacing between chairs on the line, and around the contours at the terminals. For a school project I am trying to determine which is better, 90 degree loading or conventional loading. Any help is great!!!

[Lift Dinosaur]

Lift Kid, on Jan 3 2008, 06:19 PM, said:

HELP!!!! I need to know the average detachable lift spacing between chairs on the line, and around the contours at the terminals. For a school project I am trying to determine which is better, 90 degree loading or conventional loading. Any help is great!!!

"Average: 1000 FPM - 2400 PPH - 6.0 second load interval - 100 Ft Line Spacing"
Around the contours depends on the manufacturer and the number of carriers in the turn.

Which is better - it depends on what you plan to accomplish. I don't think it's A or B.
$0.02

Dino

[Lift Kid]

Lift Dinosaur, on Jan 3 2008, 07:34 PM, said:

"Average: 1000 FPM - 2400 PPH - 6.0 second load interval - 100 Ft Line Spacing"
Around the contours depends on the manufacturer and the number of carriers in the turn.

Which is better - it depends on what you plan to accomplish. I don't think it's A or B.
$0.02

Dino

What do you mean by the 6.0 second loading interval? Is that the amount of time you have to load, or what? From when is that timed?

This post has been edited by Lift Kid: 03 January 2008 - 06:40 PM

[floridaskier]

It's the time between when one chair passes the loading line and the next chair passes the same spot (or any other spot on the lift)

[Vermont]

We use 90 degree loading on 2 of our lifts. It seems to give more time to get seated and situated into the carriers but in my opinion you sacrifice some safety due to the control pedestal placement that we use. I find little or no looking uphill by the operator after the carrier leaves the contour even though we have a misload alarm at the end of the terminal,it still doesn't usually trigger an uphill look. Not to mention the ski's,poles,hats,gloves,people and whatever else gets dropped that doesn't get noticed until someone tells the operator about it!

This post has been edited by Vermont: 03 January 2008 - 07:21 PM

[SuperRat]

Lift Kid, on Jan 3 2008, 08:19 PM, said:

HELP!!!! I need to know the average detachable lift spacing between chairs on the line, and around the contours at the terminals. For a school project I am trying to determine which is better, 90 degree loading or conventional loading. Any help is great!!!

On doppelmayr detachable quads the minimum allowed space between chairs on the line always seems to be about 85 feet. I'm not sure about in the terminal. The load interval for 85 foot spacing at 5 mps is about 5 seconds. On our chairs with this spacing the uphill capacity is 2800 pph.

Choosing between 90 degree and conventional loading is often determined by terminal location. The terminal may need to be located close to a slope or other obstacle that prevents approach from behind. This is also the case for 90 degree unloads. A great example is Snowbird's Peruvian Quad which has a 90 unload.



If a 90 configuration is necessary a ski area operator may have to consider buying a lift with a capacity of less than 2800 pph to make loading safe.

[Skiing#1]

See the picture of the sign about 90 degree unload. It is cool.

 snowbird_lift.jpg (1.29MB)
Number of downloads: 56

This post has been edited by Skiing#1: 04 January 2008 - 05:32 AM

[aug]

one major dis advantage of 90 deg. loading is the roof design . the accumulated snow and ice will fall where the guests stand staged to load the chair . this is manageble but a major headache (no pun intended) for the people responsible for maintaining the loading area to keep it safe from falling ice and snow. has any body seen an instalation that has modified the roof slope on the terminal for 90 deg. loading??

[floridaskier]

I am really familiar with this problem, I took a chunk off the head from the roof of DV's new Lady Morgan lift a couple days ago. The Poma lifts have this figured out, but Doppelmayr CTEC hasn't modified their terminals at all. L-P lifts with 90 degree loading have a roof over the loading area that dumps snow off to the sides, not on top of the people in line

[Lift Kid]

Here is the more modern version of that. It can be used at the top or bottom of both 90 degree loading and conventional loading lifts. The outside person always hangs right where the snow falls on most lifts. I've been hit by stuff falling just sitting on the outside.



I actually have seen the liftys get nailed with falling snow too. especially on lifts like the Falcon SuperChair at Breck. The steeper part of the roof dumps everything right on the lifty standing area!

[aug]

Thanks for the quick reply guys !!!! Looks like these mods work well but still would require snow removal in heavy snow conditions . The mods make great snow dams , regular maintenance would still be required to keep the the snow load from becoming too great. These "dormers " work but create another problem. It would be nice if the manufacturers would design a terminal design that would solve the snow shedding issue . You know, most lift instalations are built in alpine enviroments that see above average snow accumulations. In my experience most motor room enclosures are designed to be just that, with snow load management to be a secondary consideration. One would think that the engineers who design the lifts would consider this design criteria (heavy snow load, ease of snow shedding, directed snow shedding to a safe place)in the newer designs considering the sue happy climate we live in.

This post has been edited by aug: 04 January 2008 - 10:50 AM

[Jeremiah Frazier]

I've heard that snow falling on people and dripping from the awnings is a problem. I've also heard that the main reason for contour (90 degree) loading is the amount of turns a rider must make to get on the lift. Instead of turning the rider 180 degrees, they only need to turn 90 degrees, this saves on the size and location of the maze.

[kstrange3]

Lift Kid, on Jan 3 2008, 06:19 PM, said:

HELP!!!! I need to know the average detachable lift spacing between chairs on the line, and around the contours at the terminals. For a school project I am trying to determine which is better, 90 degree loading or conventional loading. Any help is great!!!

What school do you go to?

[Lift Kid]

kstrange3, on Jan 10 2008, 10:49 AM, said:

What school do you go to?

Hopkins, MN High School.