Leading aquatic attractions company, WhiteWater West, have outfitted the newest attraction ‘MASSIV’ at Schlitterbahn Galveston Island, Texas, with the latest technology to make the uphill waterslide more economical to operate.
This new system uses the power of variable frequency drives (VFD) and a proprietary control algorithm, which adjusts the speed of the pumps to create the considerable amount of power to push thrill seekers uphill at optimum velocity.
By cranking up the motor speed only when needed, a significant amount of power is saved during operation of the Guinness World Record holding slide.
WhiteWater also say there is also reduced wear and tear on the mechanical equipment with the new system because the motor is not constantly running at a set speed.
Data collected from testing, comprising of 5x100hp pumps over a 20 day period, resulted in a 55% power saving compared to the previous system. The ‘power factor’ of the supplied energy is improved, which can reduce the wasted energy and hence electricity costs typically by 5%.
