The design in the video isn't practical, just a proof of concept.
Coasters don't have brakes on the cars for the most part, the brakes are really on the track. One common design is a metal fin sticking down, and the brakes grab the fins as the train passes.
If the fins were magnetic, and the "brakes" wire loops, then regenerative braking would work without having to completely change the coaster design.
Most coasters, especially multitrain types, have brakes available throughout the route. Sometimes these are to make sure the train is not exceeding safe limits for the track ahead. Energy returns on those systems are probably pretty low.
Some of the older coasters have multiple circles of track around the ride with bumps and dips to use up the energy before entering the station, but a lot of the newer coasters, taller and faster, wedged into tight footprints (Top Thrill at Cedar Point comes to mind) definitely could recycle some of the braking energy to reduce the load needed to hit 120mph in 4 seconds. The braking at the end is pretty severe.
However it would allow some enterprising person to make a HDCP intercept device which would allow a person to DVR supposedly protected content, by grabbing the HDCP stream. So comcast (among others) could not stop you from recording live HD content (or pre-media release PPV content) by setting the "do not record" bit.
Or it might make a nifty media converter so I could use my older, non HDCP HDTV (they do exist) with new content.
Invite all of the sysadmins who've had to clean up his crap to the LA Coliseum with a baseball bat. Drop Spamford at the 50 yard line from 20 meters up from a helicopter. Whatever of him can get out alive can continue to spam.
If the game companies really want a slice of the used pie (even to eliminate it) then COMPETE! Give the consumer a decent price on trade-in. Got Madden 09? Get $10 (or whatever the prevailing value) off Madden '10 when you send in the disk for the upgrade. Then they can shred all of the discs sent to them to get them out of the used market.
Like #1, I used PROCMAIL nearly 15 years ago to do the same thing, parsing email contents and sending out automated responses.
In this case I think that the various services noted above should band together and countersue this parasite out of business. But someone will settle instead of fighting and again the broken patent system will let the trolls win.
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Re:
The design in the video isn't practical, just a proof of concept.
Coasters don't have brakes on the cars for the most part, the brakes are really on the track. One common design is a metal fin sticking down, and the brakes grab the fins as the train passes.
If the fins were magnetic, and the "brakes" wire loops, then regenerative braking would work without having to completely change the coaster design.
Re: Re: Gimme a break!
Most coasters, especially multitrain types, have brakes available throughout the route. Sometimes these are to make sure the train is not exceeding safe limits for the track ahead. Energy returns on those systems are probably pretty low.
Some of the older coasters have multiple circles of track around the ride with bumps and dips to use up the energy before entering the station, but a lot of the newer coasters, taller and faster, wedged into tight footprints (Top Thrill at Cedar Point comes to mind) definitely could recycle some of the braking energy to reduce the load needed to hit 120mph in 4 seconds. The braking at the end is pretty severe.
Re: Impact
However it would allow some enterprising person to make a HDCP intercept device which would allow a person to DVR supposedly protected content, by grabbing the HDCP stream. So comcast (among others) could not stop you from recording live HD content (or pre-media release PPV content) by setting the "do not record" bit.
Or it might make a nifty media converter so I could use my older, non HDCP HDTV (they do exist) with new content.
Spammer Punishment
Invite all of the sysadmins who've had to clean up his crap to the LA Coliseum with a baseball bat. Drop Spamford at the 50 yard line from 20 meters up from a helicopter. Whatever of him can get out alive can continue to spam.
COMPETE!
If the game companies really want a slice of the used pie (even to eliminate it) then COMPETE! Give the consumer a decent price on trade-in. Got Madden 09? Get $10 (or whatever the prevailing value) off Madden '10 when you send in the disk for the upgrade. Then they can shred all of the discs sent to them to get them out of the used market.
Prior Art
Like #1, I used PROCMAIL nearly 15 years ago to do the same thing, parsing email contents and sending out automated responses.
In this case I think that the various services noted above should band together and countersue this parasite out of business. But someone will settle instead of fighting and again the broken patent system will let the trolls win.