The story of Hyperloop
Hi, I’m Priyanka Sunil- A final year MBA student from Amrita School Of Business majoring in Operations and Marketing. Welcome to my progressive learning space for Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
Pic: HyperloopTT
How awesome is the
concept of whisking passengers around the country at super high speed in a
levitating tube?? Pretty cool, huh? This is the idea of Hyperloop, which could
be the broadband of transportation.
The hyperloop represents the biggest transportation technology leap for decades as it will be the fastest way to cross the earth's surface,. The idea aims to cut travel times between major cities from several hours to a matter of minutes with passengers sitting in pods flying at airline speed through pressurized tubes using electric propulsion and magnetic levitation. Although it may sound like science fiction, now hyperloop is on the cusp of being a reality.
This is the tale behind
the concept that’s about to transform our world. Hyperloop was first conceived
by Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX in 2012. Musk set out his vision for
a futuristic, super-high-speed transportation system that would see passenger
pods traveling through a partial vacuum in steel tubes-addressing two main
factors that slow down conventional vehicles: friction and air
Exploring a potential route between Los Angeles and San Francisco, Musk believed that his concept
could slash the three-hour air travel experience between the two cities to just
30 minutes. Under Musk’s first hyperloop proposal, he suggested that
compression fans would move air around the passenger pods to minimize drag and
create “air bearings” beneath them, floating them off the surface of the tubes.
Musk had always stated that the concept of Hyperloop would be “open source” -
and he actively encouraged others to come together and develop the necessary technology,
independently from his involvement. This led to the formation of several
startups and student teams developing various aspects of hyperloop technology
with varying degrees of success. Now, various companies are
making significant strides to bring hyperloop systems into reality.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies or HTT have been making aggressive advancements and recently constructed a full scale test track in France. Also, Virgin Hyperloop One is on track to achieve their ambition of bringing a hyperloop system into operation by 2021
Deviating slightly from
Musk’s original plan, Virgin Hyperloop One’s technology combines two basic
principles.
·
The first is magnetic
levitation (or MagLev). Magnetic levitation uses two sets of magnets; one to
repel the train from the track and lift it upwards and the other to move the
floating train along the track at considerable speed with reduced friction.
·
The second principle is
the use of low pressure, vacuum sealed environment for the passenger pods to
travel through. By removing most of the air from the tubes and having no
contact with the ground, the pods face little to no resistance as they move.
Such an environment
enables the pods to reach speeds of over 760 mph using very little energy. Being in a tube, the system is protected from the weather and can
operate in almost any climatic conditions.
They have built a 500
metre track in the Nevada desert and have
carried out several tests on the propulsion, braking, levitation and vacuum
systems and the team have achieved a top speed of over 240mph to date.
Pic: Virgin Hyperloop
The firm unveiled its first concept passenger pods for the Dubai-Abu Dhabi Hyperloop route in February 2018, a network that would dramatically cut the travel time between the two cities from two hours to just 12 minutes.
Advantages of Hyperloop
·
Hyperloop stations,
called portals, are planned to be located within inner city areas with easy
links to existing transport infrastructure. This gives an advantage over air
travel as airports are located in suburbs.
·
The system is being
developed to function on a “turn up and go” principle with advanced security
checks and reduced check in process..
·
Another clear advantage
is its speed. It could be possible to live in a completely different city or
part of the country from where you work and commute. This opens up a wide range
of housing and employment opportunities with people no longer restricted to
have living close to where they work.
·
It could also take
pressure off cities where house prices have become unattainable for most.
·
A hyperloop system
requires very little energy that could be powered by renewable sources such as
solar and wind to propel pods through its tubes as the resistance in the vacuum
environment is low.
But there are certain questions that concerns us.
What if the there is a break in the tube?
Virgin Hyperloop One explain that they have addressed this by constructing thick steel tubes that are extremely difficult to break. Additionally the tubes are engineered to withstand changes in pressure and air .Theoretically a sudden influx of air into one of the tubes would simply slow the pods down due to the increased air resistance. The pods could then be directed to the next .There is also the ability to section off parts of the route all pods are expected to be fitted with emergency exits. Externally, hyperloop systems will pylons that are able to move and flex independently of one another minimising damage in the event of a major ground shift and sensors along the route would instantly report issues to the systems control centre.
While the concept of
hyperloop may sound far-fetched, given the industrial progress made in the past
200 years , the current pace of technology adoption in our communities and the
substantial progress made by hyperloop companies around the world, hyperloops
are in the cusp of being a reality and being a part of our everyday lives.
Reference
https://www.wired.com/story/guide-hyperloop/
https://www.intelligenttransport.com/transport-articles/74281/hyperloop-systems-society-transport/
https://hyperloop-one.com/facts-frequently-asked-questions
https://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/hyperloop_alpha.pdf
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/how-long-hyperloop/index.html
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