An article in the current issue of Mass Transit focuses on Maryland MTA's adoption of new cooling system technology; the 8 mini-fan system spec'd on the new 09000's. However, the MTA's spokesperson, who wrote the piece exposed significant reliability issues with critical systems on all of the 04000/05000 Flyers. For example due to failures the radiators, alternators/voltage regulators and hydraulic systems of each of the 04000/05000's have been replaced at least twice.
See pages 20-21: http://masstransitmag.epubxpress.com/mass1
The new cooling system is being retrofitted to all 04000/05000's at a cost of $3million.
Any similar issues with NFI at WMATA & Ride-On?
I wonder how "tolerant" that system is if one fan out of the array of 8 were to fail...
Tristan link
I wonder how "tolerant" that system is if one fan out of the array of 8 were to fail...
One of the likely reasons the system uses multiple fans is for just such a circumstance. My roller skate has 2 fans, rarely do both them turn on.
Something tells me that they had to undergo such replacements due to the excessive shock damage. With all of them rickety, runk streets in Baltimore.......
The 8-fan system would work better for those buses. At least if one of em' gets jarred out of place after the bus hits a pothole, the other 7 can still spin for a little while longer.