Iowa State University hosted a intercollegiate Ride Engineering Competition in which CAPED (Cal Poly Amusement Park Engineers and Designers) competed and won 3rd place in the contactless league.
The goal of the competition was to design and model a 1:50 scale model of a functioning amusement attraction with a throughput of at least 1500 guests an hour and operational hours of 8 hours straight.
My role on the 15 member team was within the Mechanical Design Team. I researched, designed, and implemented the ride vehicle restraint systems with active compliance to the ASTM F2291-20 Section 6.3 attraction restraint standard.
Due to the nature and G-force of the amusement attraction, we fell into a Class 5 restraint. A class 5 restraint must meet the following criteria according to ASTM F2291-20 standards:
- One restraint per patron
- Must automatically lock in a variable set of positions
- External indication of restraint Operation must be provided for operator
- Secondary restraints may be used in the absence of a locking redundancy
Section 6.3 Restraint Class Chart
Mock Up rough sketch of restraint system with cube acting as a guest.
The final restraint design included two types of restraints. The first restraint acted as the primary restraint with one restraint per guest and consisted of a 3-point over the shoulder harness seat belt. The seat belt was adjustable to accommodate guests of different shapes and sizes but locked into the ride vehicle itself with a manual release for the ride operator. The secondary restraint consisted of a ratcheting lap bar across the entire row of guests. As the secondary restraint, according to ASTM standards, the lap bar can go across multiple guests. It also has a manual release for the ride operator.