The 9m high Fireball rotating ride at The Adventure Island Park in Southend on Sea, Essex, consists of a tower which holds a rotating hub with eight arms; and each arm has a double seat attached to the end of it. This was designed and constructed by the park’s own in-house engineering team, Adventure Island Workshop, who turned to Brevini Power Transmissions for the the main drive unit.
The drive assembly had to be as compact as possible while still being capable of producing the power required. It also had to meet the rigorous safety standards demanded on amusement park rides.
For the solution, Brevini specified a High Torque S-series reduction gearbox coupled to an electric motor which allowed the drive system to fit within the main framework of the design. The gearbox and motor arrangement is mounted direct to the main frame of the ride using the motor foot plate and the drive end flange.
The S-series planetary range has been designed to give optimal performance with minimum size and has the ability to offer between a 40-60% reduction in terms of size and weight against traditional gear solutions. The result is an extremely robust and yet cost effective solution. The range now spans a torque range from 1kNm up to 2,500kNm, with larger variants available on request.
S-series gearboxes can provide up to four reduction stages as standard, with both in-line and right-angle versions. Additional reduction stages can easily be incorporated to achieve extremely high reduction ratios while maintaining a high overall efficiency. Output shaft options include female splined, hollow cylindrical, male cylindrical and male splined versions. The gear unit input can incorporate a multitude of different motor adaption’s (electric, hydraulic, etc.); can incorporate a multidisc brake; and can of course be a simple male shaft. A wide range of input and output accessories is also available.
Brevini is also involved in the maintenance and replacement of drive systems in other theme parks, such as the Pleasure Beach, Blackpool, where it has repaired and replaced various gearboxes in many of the UK’s most famous rides. In each case a specialist engineer from Brevini inspected the gearbox and ascertained which should be repaired and which would be more cost effective to replace.
