Hyperloop

The Hyperloop is a concept for a high-speed transportation system that electrically driven transport capsules with speeds of up to 1,200 km / should carry on cushion of air through a partially evacuated tube h.

Technology

According to the concept of reinforced concrete columns two adjacent driving steel tubes, where there is a partial vacuum to be built. This capsules are to be moved, which can accommodate up to 28 passengers or space which can also transport cars or other loads in a larger version. They are low-friction gliding on air cushions, which are generated by a compressor with air aspirated from the vehicles. The partial vacuum allows travel speeds up to just above the speed of sound normal to have to push through without the sound barrier. Due to the above-ground installation of the drive tubes on pillars and along existing highway routes, the cost of this expensive part of the concept should be kept low. Furthermore, the concept is important sections on the use of already widespread and cheap available technology and overall out on already available technology. Driving and braking should be done via asynchronous long-stator linear motors are installed, among other things such as the Transrapid magnetic levitation at. For emergencies, a mechanical brake and an electric wheel drive are additionally provided. The power supply is done via solar panels on the tubes.

The constructed mainly of aluminum capsules should be 1.35 meters wide and 1.1 meters high without external structures, the loads capsules 2.3 to 1.9 meters. They should have an empty weight of 3 and 3.5 tonnes with a payload of 12 or 22.5 tons. Forward intake air is compressed, cooled and partly used for 0.5 to 1.3 millimeter thick film of air on which the cap slides and guided in a tubular part of the capsule and is discharged through a rear nozzle.

The travel should be made of steel tubes with a wall thickness of 20 to 25 millimeters and a diameter of 2.23, or 3.3 m. The internal pressure is to be maintained at about 100 Pascals, one thousandth of the standard pressure.

Pillars are at an average distance about 30 meters and are included damper elements with which the system can also withstand earthquakes should.

Compared to California High - Speed ​​Rail

Musk initially developed the concept as a cheaper and safer alternative to the California High - Speed ​​Rail ( CHSR ) for the connection between Los Angeles and San Francisco. For this Musk expects costs between six and seven and a half billion U.S. dollars. This he faces the current cost estimates for the construction of the CHSR that go against $ 70 billion. The cost advantage is to be concluded among other things by the lower land acquisition costs, through largely attributable expenses for the paving of the track and less costly foundations. Land acquisition costs make up a large part of the cost of the train and are to be minimized when Hyperloop by extensive guide the route on existing highway terrain and the relatively smaller area requirement of the supports. By routing on supports with variable height must not be removed or piled up a large area terrain. With a curb weight of the capsules provided 3 to 3.5 tonnes, the demands on the foundation are much lower than for a typically hundreds of tons of high-speed train with heavy axle loads of well over ten tons. Unlike CHSR Hyperloop is in an initial planning stage ( "Alpha "), whereby CHSR is nearing the groundbreaking.

Development

The basic idea of locomotion without air resistance in an evacuated tube, George Medhurst before in 1812. The earliest concepts for locomotion in (partially) evacuated tubes are already known from the 1910s. Since the 1970s, several concepts were published, which was also connected with wider notoriety, however, have never been implemented.

Musk started from dissatisfaction with the development of high-speed rail project "California High - Speed ​​Rail ". He spoke for the first time July 12, 2012 publicly about his idea and implementation characteristics and prospects for it. In an informal group of about a dozen employees of his company Space X and Tesla Motors, he worked out the concept in the course of the following year and released it in August 2013.

For the further development Musk encourages open, participatory approach comparable to the development of free software and asks for submission of improvements.

" Hyperloop is so unique in did it is an open design concept, similar to Linux. Feedback is Desired from the community did can help advance the Hyperloop design and bring it from concept to reality. "

" Unique to Hyperloop is that it is an open design concept, similar to Linux. Response from the community, which helps to improve the design and put it into reality, is desirable. "

He also expressed readiness to finance and complete the development of a prototype self. Musk plans to develop by 2017 a prototype to demonstrate that the project is feasible.

Proposed Route

The solution proposed in the design study from Los Angeles to San Francisco starts in Sylmar, which lies south of the Grapevine, then approximately follows Interstate 5 north, and arrive at a station near Hayward on the east side of San Francisco Bay. Through the guidance of the route along the interstates would not have so much money to be expended for the purchase of building land. It also more expansion routes were shown in the study, for example, an extension to Sacramento or Anaheim to San Diego and Las Vegas. These would be used, if it is decided that goods are to be transported by Hyperloop.

Criticism

John Hansman, director of the MIT International Center for Air Transportation at MIT Technology Report said that the idea was indeed to make physically, but would be extremely expensive. He thinks that there are a large number of technical challenges. " My question is not whether it is to make, but whether it is to make in a way that makes use of an energy- technical point of view and also from the economic point sense. "

Markus Hecht of the Technical University of Berlin, the design study have not yet considered, but expressed general criticism: he considered such concepts as unrealistic. He calls the physical problem of waste heat, which is hard to solve in a completely empty -pumped tube. In addition, the rescue of passengers in an emergency is extremely difficult. Other experts worry about security. Especially the safety during earthquakes is questionable. Although the Hyperloop should be equipped with an emergency system that can stop the capsules in the event of an earthquake. However, by high speeds of over 1200 km / h, a braking distance of nearly two miles and a braking time of 15 seconds would result. Also, problems such as the placement of toilets not yet been clarified, and calculates the weight too low for a passenger and their luggage with around 100 kilograms. Especially in America, one would have to ask specifically, whether at an average weight of an American of 90 pounds, the weight should not be calculated realistically. But the biggest problem, which is considered unrealistic cost accounting is called. Hecht refers here to the adjusted cost reasons Swissmetro project and other similar projects that exceeded the proposed cost. René Lavanchy noted on theguardian.com that the uneven height of each pillar makes it difficult to mass production, building on the motorway verges certainly would lead to hardly tolerable long-lasting disturbances in the already gridlocked traffic on Interstate 5.