Ride Profile
www.parkworld-online.com
We take a look at Europe’s largest Gyro Swing, LOKE
reating another huge pull for visitors, LOKE opened at Liseberg Amusement Park in Gothenburg, Sweden just over a year ago.
Manufactured by Intamin, it’s an
exciting ride says Liseberg COO/executive vice president, Tina Resch: “You sit with your face outwards with your legs dangling from the spinning gondola. At the highest point you reach a breathtaking 42 metres in the air.
It is a soft but fast ride, 100 km/h, but you feel as though you are in the air for a long time.” As the pendulum passes through the vertical position, the passengers experience the thrill of increased G-forces. Swinging to a height of 42 meters with a 120-degree angle of swing, passengers will experience almost complete weightlessness. In Norse mythology, LOKE was the most treacherous and
devious of all the giants of Asgard. He cunningly and cold- bloodedly forged plans to kill the kindest and best loved of the gods. Tina continues: “LOKE is located very close to our wooden roller coaster, also called BALDER (supplied by Intamin and opened in 2003) so it almost feels like the two attractions are fighting a fight, just as the Nordic gods with the same name did during the Viking Age.”
Let battle commence C
Inautec, Intamin’s sister company, is responsible for the fail-safe ride control system and supporting installation and commissioning of the rides. Stephan Siegrist, Inautec’s engineering and managing director, is a big fan of the way that ABB drives keep everything under control to run the swing safely and accurately, while simultaneously simplifying the design. He says: “This latest ABB drive
Getting it right On the partnership with Intamin, Tina says: “We already knew what kind of attraction we wanted. For us, it was about finding the best Gyro Swing based on experience and a supplier that could deliver in due time. “This manufacturer made an effort to make the attraction
even better than its predecessors. Among other things, a new type of restraints was made which made the attraction even more challenging. The supplier could also satisfy our desire for sustainability and found a way to recover some of the energy generated during the ride.” Visitors love it. “LOKE became quickly a favorite with
visitors to the park. The guests who dare to go on the ride love the feeling of weightlessness and speed. The guests who do not dare are happy to see that LOKE doesn’t collide with nearby Balder!”
– the ACS880 high-power regenerative drive with position control – perfectly supported our new design approach for the Gyro Swing, enabling us to reduce the motors we needed in the ride to just one.” The Gyro Swing story at
Liseberg is a good example of the key role ABB drives often play, behind the scenes, as a supporting actor in everyday activities, points out Aleksandar Velimirovic, ABB’s key account sales engineer: “In this case the three main actors are the ride manufacturer, the amusement park, and the rider. The manufacturer got a simple way to achieve safe and reliable operation with less equipment. The park got a ride that visitors love and successfully cuts waiting times as it moves quickly into position. And the riders, quite simply, get the thrill of their lives.”
Fun Facts
Height full swing: 42 metres Maximum speed: 100 KM/H Swing angle: 120 degrees Capacity of gondola: 40 Max riders per hour: 900
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