HYPERLOOP: The Fifth Mode of Transportation

HYPERLOOP

 Hyperloop is a proposed mode of passenger or cargo transportation. It was one of the brainchild ideas of Elon Musk and was proposed by him in 2012. He described it as his vision of the Fifth Mode of Transport. Currently this project is being developed by Hyperloop One technologies and few other companies.

                                 FEW FACTS AND STATS

This so called Fifth Mode of Transport as a cross between the Railgun, Concorde and an Air Hockey table. This could carry passengers or cargo within 35 minutes from Los Angeles to San Francisco or from Mumbai to Chennai in 50 minutes. It was estimated that this project would cost around $6bn by Musk for the Los Angeles route. Musk states that this project is more feasible in Mars owing to the low density atmosphere over there.

WHAT IS HYPER LOOP? HOW DOES THIS WORK?

Hyperloop consists of pods that travel in sealed vacuum environment tubes or a network of tubes at an average speed of 700 miles per hour. The pods travel inside the tubes via magnetic levitation or using low pressure air as a cushion for the pods to travel, this would greatly reduce the opposing friction on the pods and increasing the speed by a great extent. The pods would simply fly on the track rather than running on the tracks. Initially the pod would move on the track with the help of battery powered motors before using the levitation property to glide in air. 

THEORY OF OPERATION & DESIGN

As per the initial designs the capsule or pod would float on a (0.5-1.3) mm layer of air under pressure using the air- casters skis similar to how the pucks work on an Air Hockey table works, but the friction and resistance offered by other elements posed a problem to the speed of the pod and hence the concept of maglev was employed later on……………..

                                                                                                     WHAT IS MAGLEV?

Maglev is a system of high speed train transportation that works using a system of two sets magnets, where one set is to repel and push the train into levitation, whereas another set is to move the floating train with a great speed eliminating friction and resistance.

Linear Induction Motors located along the tube would be used to accelerate and decelerate the capsule to the required speed at various points of the tube, and with the rolling resistance and air friction eliminated the pod can easily glide on.

Musk’s initial design or also known as the alpha design also had an electrically driven inlet fan and air compressor at the nose of the pod or capsule to deal with the pressure at the nose of the capsule, a fraction of air is also transferred to the skis to prevent them from dislocating due to their shape while the pod is in air. This design was later done away with owing to few technical aspects by the HYPERLOOP ONE TECH.

ADVANTAGES

·       High Speed which reduces the time factor

·       No collision occurs between the pods making it safer to travel

·       Energy efficient

                               POWER SOURCE FOR THE PODS

As per the designs, Hyperloop Pods run completely on Solar Power, Panels installed on the top of the sealed tubes supply the entire energy required to the pod and these panels can generate energy greater than the amount of energy consumed making this system highly energy efficient, the surplus power can be stored and used later on to run the pods 24x7. But critics of the Hyperloop Prof. Roger Goodall state that the current solar panels can’t tap enough energy to supply the Hyperloop arguing that the pump and propulsion would require much more power than generated by the Solar Panels.

BUDGET ISSUES

It was estimated by Musk that it would cost around $6bn and this makes it a lot cheaper and affordable to the common public when compared to the proposed High Speed Railway System of the California route. But critics state that the budget would be much more higher than the estimated budget by Elon Musk.

PASSENGER EXPERIENCE

Critics suggest that this experience couldn’t be pleasant for the passengers because travelling in a narrow window less capsule in a sealed tubes with a very fast acceleration and noisy vibration could cause motion sickness.

OTHER DISADVANTAGES

·       In case of Pod failures and any other technical failures of the system has to be met immediately which is practically not yet feasible.

·       Other Maglev trains such as Shinkansen reduces the cost factor to a still greater extent and reduces the risk of disaster.

·       Research shows that even a slight mismanagement of the tubes could lead to a potential disaster.

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CONCLUSION

Overall this could be called as a revolution in the transportation sector, it is still in the initial stages and is being tested at various aspects to counter the various problems. Musk has given away this idea of his to various companies and student run teams to develop and bring this project to reality.