FutureTrans: HYPERLOOP - Reality or Hyperreality?
How about travelling from New York to Washington DC in 20 minutes for just around 20 bucks? Sounds too good to be true? Not anymore! Hyperloop can make it happen! It is a conceptual ground transportation system proposed by Tesla Motors and SpaceX founder, Elon Musk.
Musk famously described Hyperloop as “a cross between a Concorde, a rail gun and an air hockey table”. It incorporates reduced-pressure tubes which act as a conduit for pressurized capsules or “Pods” which act as carriages and ride on an air cushion driven by linear induction motors and air compressors. It is basically no-friction travel as there is no contact between the pods and the tubes.
Friction and air-resistance have always been the obstacles in high speed travel. The “Vactrain” concept theoretically eliminates these obstacles by employing magnetically levitating trains in evacuated (airless) or partly evacuated tubes or tunnels, allowing for theoretical speeds of thousands of miles per hour. The Hyperloop resembles a vactrain system but operates at approximately 100 Pa of pressure. This concept is proposed to operate by sending specially designed “capsules” or “pods” through a continuous steel tube, above or below the ground, maintained at a partial vacuum. Each capsule floats on a 0.02 to 0.05 inches layer of air provided under pressure to air-caster “skis”, similar to how pucks are suspended in an air hockey table, thus avoiding the use of maglev while still allowing for speeds that wheels cannot sustain.
Elon Musk first put forth his idea for the high-speed ground transportation system in July 2012 and then again in May 2013 at the D11 conference. In August of 2013, Musk followed up his thoughts with a 58-page plan that laid out the fundamentals for Hyperloop Alpha, passenger-only pods, which will be 7 feet 4 inches in diameter and projected to reach a top speed of 760 mph so as to maintain aerodynamic efficiency. The design proposes passengers will experience a maximum inertial acceleration of 0.5 g, about 2 or 3 times that of a commercial airliner on takeoff and landing. The first notional route of 380 miles is from LA to San Francisco and the distance is expected to be covered in just 35 minutes costing around $30–35 per ride.
Musk has open-sourced the Hyperloop technology, encouraging others to take the ideas and further develop them. Several companies and interdisciplinary student-led teams have been formed and are working to advance the technology. Designs for test tracks and capsules are currently being developed, with construction of a full-scale prototype 5-mile (8 km)-track scheduled to start this year. Recently, a subscale pod design competition on a 1 mile test track was held. The winners will be working on the full-scale prototype track with test runs expected later in 2016.
Considering the pace at which the research and work is going on this concept, we could soon be travelling at supersonic speeds between cities. Hyperloop will revolutionize the mass-transit sector, allowing faster transit at cheaper costs!
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2422976,00.asp
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/the-hyperloop-how-elon-musks-dream-is-becoming-a-225746160.html
