Hydraulics are an integral part of lots of machinery people may not even think about including machinery in amusement rides and attractions like the Eiffel Tower.
Our client in this instance operates a Ferris Wheel at an amusement park. The ride was running slower than normal, was drifting and would not run in reverse. This appeared to be a repeat performance of a previous issue.
A member of our Wooster Hydrostatics service team made a field service visit to inspect the works. He noticed some settings in the amplifier card, adjusted on the prior visit to correct the issue, had reverted to the ineffective settings. He readjusted the settings but then dug a little deeper into the ‘why’ of the situation.
It turns out the controller card for the amplifier has to be ‘taught’ the new settings. After ‘teaching’ the device and confirming it now knows the proper settings, the ride was turned off and back on, tested to confirm the settings were truly ‘learned’ and all was corrected.
Our field services are focused on resolving problems long-term so repeat visits are unnecessary. It’s the ‘why’ that often helps us get to the long-term solution and the WHI team is committed to asking that question whenever we’re evaluating unusual system behavior.