Faster Travel with the Hyperloop one
Many sci-fi fanatics, during the 1900s, have always envisioned ways to travel at high speeds through low-pressure tubes. Many concepts were introduced in the past revolving around the concept of a vacuum train and with the technology that we have today, it can be created into a reality. Elon Musk came up with an idea for having vehicles move at high speeds through a low-pressure tube. He wrote an elaborate paper discussing the plan for it in the link below:
Afterwards, Hyperloop Technologies had started up and are currently building and testing the new high-speed transportation system which will remarkably change how we live. Now, it takes most people about twenty minutes to drive to school but with the Hyperloop train, it will take twenty minutes to get to NYC from Providence. Similarly, it will take just ten minutes to get to Boston from Providence. Therefore, these means of transport will create many opportunities because it will have less cost and be more convenient (safer, faster, immune to weather, sustainably self-powering, resistant to earthquakes, and not disruptive to those along the route).
How it will work:
According to Musk, the Hyperloop is essentially a system where a tube that is under or over ground will “contain a special environment”. The tube would be pylon-supported and the “special environment” would basically be a low-pressure environment with passenger pods traveling through the tube with extremely little air pressure that could slow them down.
The pod looks like this:
A simple way to understand the mechanics of it is to think of it like an air hockey table with the puck. The pod would be battery powered and propelled by an external linear electric motor that produces motion in a linear direction rather than a circular motion. At the front of the pod is an air compressor fan that transfers air pressure to the rear and sides of the pod that acts as “air bearings” which is thus similar to that of a puck on an air hockey table. It should theoretically travel up to 670 mph and uses magnetic levitation along with a system of vacuum pumps as described in the video below.
Hyperloop One website:
https://hyperloop-one.com
Sources:
Lewis, Tanya. “Ultra-Fast 'Hyperloop' Train Gets Test Track in California.” LiveScience, Purch, 22 May 2015, www.livescience.com/50936-hyperloop-test-track-california.html.
Taylor, Harriet. “Here Is How Hyperloop Will Work ... Theoretically.” CNBC, CNBC, 14 July 2016, www.cnbc.com/2016/07/13/here-is-how-hyperloop-will-work-theoretically.html.
I found this blog very interesting! The only problem I can see is where exactly these 'tubes' would go. I think underground would be ideal, but that would require large amounts of money to account for digging up the ground as well as construction. But I really think this could be the travel method of the future. Just imagine only a couple hundred years ago it took days, if not weeks, to get from cost to cost. Nowadays, it only takes about six hours. This certainly has a lot of potential.
ReplyDelete