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Disney Launches Fireworks With Compressed Air
rtphokie writes "When Disney debuted its new firework show at Disneyland recently, they also debuted some new technology which uses compressed air to lift fireworks. This virtually eliminates the need for smoke-producing black powder and other materials at launch, significantly reducing ground-level smoke, and apparently: 'Disney is in the process of donating all seven patents associated with the new air launch technology to a non-profit organization so these patents can be licensed to other pyrotechnic providers'. Something to think about for those of us attending fireworks shows this weekend in the U.S."
I have to say the thump of an air powered pumpkin launcher is quite nice. Not the boom you desire, but the thump-whoosh sound is quite intriguing
There is also the severe risk of burning ashes falling back into the cylinder complex and igniting a shell from the top down
This is why all professional pyrotechnic groups cover all their launch tubes with a layer of plastic wrap, then a layer of tin-foil. Both are thin enough for the shell to fire through, and the combination of the 2 protects the shell from both rain and sparks. This protects against accidents at any time during or before the show, and the waterproofing means that it can even go off during rain. I would say that the people running the accidents you saw were either careless or amateurs.
There is no mod option "-1: Disagree" for a reason. "Overrated" is not an acceptable substitute. Post something instead.
That don't actually make that loud of a bang when they are shot, and regulations require crowds to be at sufficient distance from firing sites (at least in MN) that you rarely actually hear them being shot. You only hear the explosions of the shells at altitude.
- Invented/installed the fireflys in Pirates of the Carribean
- Came up with putting the green-eyed rats at the end of Pirates as you go up back to ground level. We have a bunch of them at home and put them in windows and under the Christmas tree
- Invented the light flicker-ers that have been used at Dland for almost 30 years to make plain lightbulbs in opaque houseings look like they are flame
Tell your dad he's my new hero for today. Those three things are, no joke, three specific details that my brother and I were discussing a few months ago when we were talking about the old-school Disneyland detail.
On a pedantic note, most aerial fireworks, at least in the US, are not rockets. They're fired from mortars, think cannons pointed up.
In case anyone is interested, here is the fireworks page from How Stuff Works.
They donate it to a non-profit (corporation) for licensing. This is quite different than just allowing the patents to expire (or not even getting them) and making an announcement to the public. No doubt the Disney-appointed people running the non-profit will be well paid by said non-profit.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/22/183920 7&mode=thread&tid=103&tid=126&tid= 99
For a recurring display where you can leave the equiptment and just drop shells in the same tubes every night or week, this sounds like a dream though. I just can't see it coming to a municipal 4th of july show near you any time soon though.
Actually, it does have to be set up every night. The firework display is launched from Toon Town, which closes at 8:30. That gives them about an hour to set things up, since showtime is at 9:25 (:26, more precisely).
Obviously, everything must be completely coordinated, and they must have an army of pyrotechnicians that know where everything goes each night. Setting this all up in an hour sure is a feat.
Still, though, I think the Tinkerbell part of the show (where s/he flies from the Matterhorn) is the most interesting. Too bad it is a guy.
If they are using nitrogen, it's a non-issue.
From what I understand the fireworks are self-igniting based on input from some onboard logic so it's not like you have to worry about blowing them out - I'd use nitrogen gas.
Having self-igniting fireworks is potentially very cool, especially if you could get a nice cheap altimeter on a chip. If you coupled that with an accelerometer on a chip (analog devices makes a couple of different models) you could detect launch, free fall, terminal velocity, and make sure that the fireworks are over a certain altitude before firing.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Actually, they don't use anything to fire 1000 pound projectiles from the Iowa. She was decommissioned in 1990 after the accident in #2 turret and never repaird. She's been in San Francisco since then, and would require tens of millions of dollars in repairs to be considered battleworthy, probably including complete replacement of the damaged turret.
And the Iowa-class battleships had 16" guns, not 21", firing projectiles ranging from 1900 to 2700 pounds propelled by 550 to 650 pounds of powder. The largest deployed naval guns were on the Japanese Yamato-class battleships, and were 18.1" bore diameter.
They are impressive, though.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
The actual detonation is probably handled by a MagicFire device.
Links with more about fireworks physics, and pics of setups.
People like Mike Hiskey at Los Alamos have been contracted by Disney to make fireworks that are based on organic molecules, and use smaller amounts of chemical salts for the color. He also works on high-nitrogen explosives, along with several others working in the specialized field of novel explosives design and synthesis.
But they aren't putting it in the public domain.
(Not that you'd want any more electrical stuff around fireworks than you need.)
Give life
Something people here seem to be wondering is how this system will compare in safety of preventing ground explosions of the shells (in the event of a misfire or other mishap).
Something that I hope a lot of you know about is that the shells used in many displays are becoming very sophisticated. For a couple of years now they have had microcontrollers and other electronics in the shells, which can be programmed to cause the shells to do various effects (almost to the point of a custom effect shell). Some of these effects allow for timed designs - if the shell goes off right, you now have an expanding circle of "pixels" - so of you may have seen happy faces and hearts and similar designs done with shells. The microcontrollers can be programmed right before the launch to know when to explode (time or altitude based). I wouldn't be surprised if they don't have RF-based (hopefully over a secure encrypted channel) detonation. Perhaps even in-flight reconfiguration?
Fireworks have recently become really high-tech, thanks to virtually throwaway low-power microcontrollers which are small and easily integratable into the shell. While none of this removes the possibility of a ground explosion, it does help lessen it (electrical ignition rather than timed fuse), and allows for more impressive effects and displays...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Strangly, not really true.
Although fire is a big risk, you are all (hopefully) shooting with the same gear on as a low-budget fire department, so the odds of you catching on fire are pretty slim. The entire time you are shooting (if it's a hand-fire), you are being rained on by burning embers (barring good winds)
It's the concussion of the charge that will get you. Whenever you are loading or handling fireworks, you always keep your back to an open area, so if something happens you get thrown away instead of thrown into something solid. The buildings that they build fireworks in will blow to pieces much easier than any normal building so that anyone inside doesn't get compressed by all that pesky expanding gas.
I've only done around a dozen shoots, and am not a licenced pyrotechnician, but on two of the shoots we have had misfires. One was one of my tubes on a hand-fire, and fortunately blew out the other side of the rack (it was my first shoot). The second misfire was on a finale so everyone was quite a ways away, we didn't even really realize what happened until we were cleaning up and found a 2-by-4 twenty yards or so away and a half of a rack with a pretty much destroyed tube. Fireworks are fun.
Around 80 years ago Nylon was invented. I live in Norway but my grandmother lived in New York in the 20ties / 30ties. She told me Nylon was short for "NOW, You Lousy Old Nip'" - a reference to Japan, and the new Nylons replacing the old silk stockins.
She was wrong.
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I do some work for the Mouse. They've been working on this for several years. When I heard about it, the solution was similar to a gatling gun. All shells for a show could be fired from a single piece of equipment mounted on a truck bed. Add space saving to the list of advantages.
The Disney gatlin gun uses compressed air to launch shells in the 4 to 8 inch range. At least this was the sizes they launched a few years ago when I saw the system, maybe they they go up to 10 inch but Disney doesn't shoot many 12 inch shells anyway.
They have a large several hundred horsepower air compressor at each air launch system for the lifting oumph. No nitrogen involved as it is too expensive to use in the quantities required.
The shells are plastic encased shells that are a little enlongated (not sperical like normal shells, think eggish). Inside each shell is a little electronic circuit and electric match. The circuit is engergized by a inductive coil in the base of the fiberglass launch tube. The circuit doesn't use altitude per se but a timed interval instructed in the coding pulse at the launch event.
The bulk of the show will still be fired normally as they have lots of ground level effects and lots of smaller shells that would be too numerous to fire in the air launch system unless they have made great strides in its firing rate. I shot many a show that had 100 of 3 and 4 inch shells going up per second.
Still plenty of smoke to be smelled around the lake in Epcot.
Ken
More than likely they are using standard atmospheric air for the gas (nitrox is O2 enriched). Just from a cost perspective it makes sense, as you'll need a lot of air for a show the size of Disney's.
On a second note, the typical way to detonate a tube lauched firework shell is that the lift charge (what they are replacing) ignites a time delay fuse that then detonates the main charge.
Logisically speaking, this technology makes sense for large scale shows that take place in a fixed location on a regular basis. However, it will most likely not be adopted for smaller shows that are put in place for one show, in a temporary location.
From a safety standpoint, this technology should eliminate the burning paper that is sometimes left in the bottom of the launch tube. This buring paper can result in injury if the tube is reloaded during the show (bad idea). What I do worry about somewhat is insufficient launch pressure causing a low burst.
Disney has been using this launch method for their fireworks for years. I remember visiting disneyland in elementary school (10+ years ago) and reading about their launch method, and this is the same system they were using then. Unique, yes. Kinda cool, yes. Possibly easier to choreograph than traditional BP-launched fireworks also. But still, nothing terribly new.