Hyperloop is a design concept where passengers and freight can be transported from one place to another using a sealed tube structure. Since the vehicle is contained in an underground tube free of air or other resistance, it can achieve maximum speed. The concept has been present for a while but it has been in the news recently because of publicity by Elon Musk and his companies, namely SpaceX and Tesla. They have even outsourced the plans so that other people who are interested can take advantage of this.
Brief History
The idea for Hyperloop is based on the idea for vactrain proposed by Robert Goddard, a renowned scientist, engineer back in 1909. Elon Musk first hypothesized this idea in 2012. His companies SpaceX and Tesla started working on this concept and came up with the plan in August 2013. The trademark for the word HYPERLOOP was awarded to SpaceX on April 4 2017(Wikipedia). According to wikipedia SpaceX also announced that it would build a 1 mile track to test pods which have been built(SpaceX.com).
How does it work?
The idea of vehicle in a sealed tube is similar in concept to pneumatic tubes in a drive through of a bank or drug store. The evacuated tubes can achieve maximum speed since it doesnt travel free from weather, collision and other resistances. The Hyperloop hypothesized by Elon Musk can travel twice the speed of plane while consuming low power and energy at the same time. The train also levitates in the tube using magnetism which allows it to obtain such high speeds (Wikipedia).
The original plan presented by SpaceX consists of two versions of the Hyperloop. They are passenger only and passenger plus vehicle version. According to a paper, if the passenger only version departed on average of every 2 minutes with a capsule of 28 passengers it could carry a total of 840 passengers per hour. This number can vary by increasing the number of capsules or shortening the amount of departure time during rush hour. The passenger plus plans to accommodate 3 additional vehicles along with the passengers.
Instead of using a complete vacuum the Hyperloop plans to reduce the air pressure in the tube to ⅙ of atmospheric pressure on Mars. This reduces the drag force of the air which translates to flying around 150000 feet altitude. Near places where more turns need to be navigated the vehicle will be slowed down. The top speed of Hyperloop is supposed to be 740 mph. Here is a sketch provided by SpaceX in their paper.
The paper also assumes that air bearings will be used to suspend the vehicle in the tube rather than levitation.
According to an article in Quora, the Hyperloop is designed to be on top of the ground. This tube will rest on top of pillars that can sway with ground in case of earthquakes. There will also be solar panels on top of the tube so that the motors can be powered using that energy (Moogala).
What are the advantages and disadvantages of Hyperloop?
While the obvious advantage of Hyperloop is in travel there are other advantage such as reduction in cost due to low energy requirement. Elon Musk has also theorized that this technology will be useful in mars where atmosphere is really less dense. The critics of this technology argue that the acceleration, noise surrounding this technology would make the ride unpleasant. Also, while the technology is immune to weather, resistance, it might not fare better in case of earthquakes. Since, we don’t have a working version of Hyperloop yet it is hard to find what works and what doesn't in the proposed technology.
Is it feasible?
While the cost to build a test track might not cost that much cost to build a fully running system will probably be very expensive. Whether the technology is feasible or not is yet to be seen. Companies, countries have already signed up contracts for Hyperloop to be built in certain areas. For example, according to wikipedia, Richard Branson of Virgin Hyperloop has made deal with State Government of Maharashtra to build Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop(Hyperloop). A cost of route that would run between LA to San Francisco was estimated to be $6-$7.5 billion dollars (http://hyperloop-one.com). This cost might seem reasonable but the operation costs and other on going costs were not considered in this analysis.
Present Progress
On Dec 18, 2017 Hyperloop One announced that it had completed third phase of testing. Speeds of upto 387km/hour was achieved in this test. The test was completed in Las Vegas nevada. They also raised additional funding during this time(New Funding and Speed Record.). There are other companies such as TransPod, Arrivo, who are already competing in this Hyperloop race. They had made tweaks to the design outsourced by Hyperloop. Hyperloop has also announced finalist for possible routes in the future.
Hyperloop is a design concept where passengers and freight can be transported from one place to another using a sealed tube structure. Since the vehicle is contained in an underground tube free of air or other resistance, it can achieve maximum speed. The concept has been present for a while but it has been in the news recently because of publicity by Elon Musk and his companies, namely SpaceX and Tesla. They have even outsourced the plans so that other people who are interested can take advantage of this.
Brief History
The idea for Hyperloop is based on the idea for vactrain proposed by Robert Goddard, a renowned scientist, engineer back in 1909. Elon Musk first hypothesized this idea in 2012. His companies SpaceX and Tesla started working on this concept and came up with the plan in August 2013. The trademark for the word HYPERLOOP was awarded to SpaceX on April 4 2017(Wikipedia). According to wikipedia SpaceX also announced that it would build a 1 mile track to test pods which have been built(SpaceX.com).
How does it work?
The idea of vehicle in a sealed tube is similar in concept to pneumatic tubes in a drive through of a bank or drug store. The evacuated tubes can achieve maximum speed since it doesnt travel free from weather, collision and other resistances. The Hyperloop hypothesized by Elon Musk can travel twice the speed of plane while consuming low power and energy at the same time. The train also levitates in the tube using magnetism which allows it to obtain such high speeds (Wikipedia).
The original plan presented by SpaceX consists of two versions of the Hyperloop. They are passenger only and passenger plus vehicle version. According to a paper, if the passenger only version departed on average of every 2 minutes with a capsule of 28 passengers it could carry a total of 840 passengers per hour. This number can vary by increasing the number of capsules or shortening the amount of departure time during rush hour. The passenger plus plans to accommodate 3 additional vehicles along with the passengers.
Instead of using a complete vacuum the Hyperloop plans to reduce the air pressure in the tube to ⅙ of atmospheric pressure on Mars. This reduces the drag force of the air which translates to flying around 150000 feet altitude. Near places where more turns need to be navigated the vehicle will be slowed down. The top speed of Hyperloop is supposed to be 740 mph. Here is a sketch provided by SpaceX in their paper.
The paper also assumes that air bearings will be used to suspend the vehicle in the tube rather than levitation.
According to an article in Quora, the Hyperloop is designed to be on top of the ground. This tube will rest on top of pillars that can sway with ground in case of earthquakes. There will also be solar panels on top of the tube so that the motors can be powered using that energy (Moogala).
What are the advantages and disadvantages of Hyperloop?
While the obvious advantage of Hyperloop is in travel there are other advantage such as reduction in cost due to low energy requirement. Elon Musk has also theorized that this technology will be useful in mars where atmosphere is really less dense. The critics of this technology argue that the acceleration, noise surrounding this technology would make the ride unpleasant. Also, while the technology is immune to weather, resistance, it might not fare better in case of earthquakes. Since, we don’t have a working version of Hyperloop yet it is hard to find what works and what doesn't in the proposed technology.
Is it feasible?
While the cost to build a test track might not cost that much cost to build a fully running system will probably be very expensive. Whether the technology is feasible or not is yet to be seen. Companies, countries have already signed up contracts for Hyperloop to be built in certain areas. For example, according to wikipedia, Richard Branson of Virgin Hyperloop has made deal with State Government of Maharashtra to build Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop(Hyperloop). A cost of route that would run between LA to San Francisco was estimated to be $6-$7.5 billion dollars (http://hyperloop-one.com). This cost might seem reasonable but the operation costs and other on going costs were not considered in this analysis.
Present Progress
On Dec 18, 2017 Hyperloop One announced that it had completed third phase of testing. Speeds of upto 387km/hour was achieved in this test. The test was completed in Las Vegas nevada. They also raised additional funding during this time(New Funding and Speed Record.). There are other companies such as TransPod, Arrivo, who are already competing in this Hyperloop race. They had made tweaks to the design outsourced by Hyperloop. Hyperloop has also announced finalist for possible routes in the future.
References:
“Hyperloop Preliminary Design Study Technical Section.” http://www.spacex.com/, 12 Aug. 2013, __www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/hyperloop_alpha-20130812.pdf__.
“Hyperloop.” Hyperloop, Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperloop.
“New Funding and Speed Record.” Virgin Hyperloop One, hyperloop-one.com/our-story#new-funding-and-speed-record.
Moogala, Venki. “What Is the Hyperloop? How Does It Work?” Https://Www.quora.com, 5 Mar. 2018, www.quora.com/What-is-the-Hyperloop-How-does-it-work.