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Cloutman, Michael International Organization for Transportation by Rope. North American Continental Section
Cloutman, Michael
International Organization for Transportation by Rope. North American Continental Section
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Date
2004
Date Issued
Date Submitted
Keywords
Research Projects
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Journal Issue
Embargo Expires
Abstract
The level of technology, and with it increased safety categories, has been impressive over the last few years. However, it seems with every increase in technology comes increased fragility. PLCs and PCs are very particular about their environment. Combining PCUs with lift systems is like hooking your computer to a giant antenna. Thanks to all these electronics, lift problems are becoming more complex. While ten lifts may function perfectly, though, there are occasionally installations that will experience problems due to their envirionment. Angel Fire ski area in New Mexico has one such lift. It encountered numerous shutdowns and electrical issues, and we couldn't seem to eliminate them. We basically had to start over from the ground up when investigating the sources of our problems. The problems we were having with this lift came to a head in 2000-2001 ski season. We discovered this also coincided with one of the worst years in recent history for sunspots an solar storms. We discovered tha two aspects of this lift were contributing to the electronic nighmare: with its length, nearly two miles long, and its orientation, along a perfect east-west axis, the lift was acting as a giant catch net for any solar winds that pushed geomagnetic storms down from the magnetic north. Then we looked at other environmental factors that might effect the lift. There were induced voltages on the haul rope from a power line that ran parallel to the lift. The towers themselves were acting as antennae, picking up radio communications from 100 miles away. The power quality we were getting was not the cleanest. Ultimately, though, it was the Angel Fire Lift Maintenance and electrical department that had to sort through all the data and come up with solutions. And these proved to be as complex as the problems.
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