Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
Thanks, I had wondered if it could have been an exponential increase in power in relation to the desired acceleration, for example 1 m/s2 costs you 2kwh upping to 2 m/s2 costs you 6kwh, 3 m/s2 costs you 18kwh.I mean, hypothetically it uses more "total" power. The train is accelerating from stationary to the final speed all the same, but instead of inputting all that energy in in one step, you do it in three stages with friction losses in between. The power input isn't linear, but that's not really important when you think in these terms.
What the multi-pass launch does offer you, however, is a lower "peak" power draw. You're spreading that power surge out more. Sometimes (in fact, often times) that's the bigger problem for utility infrastructure. Peaks are a problem, total net power isn't usually so much of an issue.
The other benefit, although not utilised here, is that you can make the launch track much shorter giving a bit more flexibility in the layout.
Obviously I have absolutely no idea if this is the case or not, which is why I was asking