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Vacuum Trains concept
Vacuum Trains concept
A vactrain (or vacuum tube train) is a proposed design for very-high-speed rail transportation. It is a maglev (magnetic levitation) line using partly evacuated tubes or tunnels. Reduced air resistance could permit vactrains to travel at very high (hypersonic) speeds with relatively little power—up to 6,400–8,000 km/h (4,000–5,000 mph). This is 5–6 times the speed of sound in Earth's atmosphere at sea level.
History and evolution of the Vacuum Train
History and evolution of the Vacuum Train
1799 & 1904 After being conceived in 1799, the vactrain was invented in 1904 by Robert H. Goddard, a freshman at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
1799 & 1904 After being conceived in 1799, the vactrain was invented in 1904 by Robert H. Goddard, a freshman at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
2012-2013 Musk first mentioned that he was thinking about a concept for a "fifth mode of transport", calling it the Hyperloop, in July 2012 at a Pando Daily event in Santa Monica, California. This hypothetical high-speed mode of transportation would have the following characteristics: immunity to weather, collision free, twice the speed of a plane, low power consumption, and energy storage for 24-hour operations. The name Hyperloop was chosen because it would go in a loop. Musk envisions the more advanced versions will be able to go at hypersonic speed. In May 2013, Musk likened his Hyperloop to a "cross between a Concorde and a railgun and an air hockey table".
From late 2012 until August 2013, a group of engineers from both Tesla and SpaceX worked on the conceptual modeling of Musk's Hyperloop. An early system conceptual model was published in the Tesla and SpaceX blogs which describes one potential design, function, pathway, and cost of a hyperloop system. According to the alpha design, pods would accelerate to cruising speeds gradually using linear electric motors and glide above their track on air bearings through tubes above ground on columns or below ground in tunnels to avoid the dangers of grade crossings. An ideal hyperloop system will be more energy-efficient, quiet, and autonomous than existing modes of mass transit. Musk has also invited feedback to "see if the people can find ways to improve it". The Hyperloop Alpha was released as an open source design. The trademark "HYPERLOOP", applicable to "high-speed transportation of goods in tubes" was issued to SpaceX on 4 April 2017.
2015 In June 2015, SpaceX announced that it would build a 1-mile-long (1.6 km) test track to be located next to SpaceX's Hawthorne facility. The track was completed and used to test pod designs supplied by third parties in the competition.
By November 2015, with several commercial companies and dozens of student teams pursuing the development of Hyperloop technologies, the Wall Street Journal asserted that "The Hyperloop Movement", as some of its unaffiliated members refer to themselves, is officially bigger than the man who started it."
2016 The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) hyperloop team developed the first hyperloop pod prototype, which they unveiled at the MIT Museum on 13 May 2016. Their design uses electrodynamic suspension for levitating and eddy current braking.
2017 On 29 January 2017, approximately one year after phase one of the hyperloop pod competition, the MIT Hyperloop pod demonstrated the first ever low-pressure hyperloop run in the world. Within this first competition the Delft University team from the Netherlands achieved the highest overall competition score, winning the prize for "best overall design". The award for the "fastest pod" was won by the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany, team WARR Hyperloop. The MIT team placed third overall in the competition, judged by SpaceX engineers.
The second hyperloop pod competition took place from 25 to 27 August 2017. The only judging criterion was top speed, provided it was followed by successful deceleration. The TUM WARR Hyperloop won the competition by reaching a top speed of 324 km/h (201 mph), breaking the previous record of 310 km/h (190 mph) for hyperloop prototypes set by Hyperloop One on their own test track.
2018 A third hyperloop pod competition took place in July 2018. The defending champions, the TUM WARR hyperloop team, beat their own record with a top speed of 457 km/h (284 mph) during their run.
2019 The fourth competition in August 2019 saw the TUM team, now known as TUM Hyperloop (by NEXT Prototypes e.V.),[41] again winning the competition and beating their own record with a top speed of 463 km/h (288 mph).
2020 The first passenger test of hyperloop technology was successfully conducted by Virgin Hyperloop with two employees of the company in November 2020, where the unit reached a maximum speed of 172 km/h (107 mph).
Theory and Operation
Theory and Operation
The vactrain concept resembles a high-speed rail system without substantial air resistance by employing magnetically levitating trains in evacuated (airless) or partly evacuated tubes. However, the difficulty of maintaining a vacuum over large distances has prevented this type of system from ever being built. The hyperloop is similar to a vactrain system but operates at approximately one millibar (100 Pa) of pressure.
Initial design concept
Initial design concept
The hyperloop concept operates by sending specially designed "capsules" or "pods" through a steel tube maintained at a partial vacuum. In Musk's original concept, each capsule would float on a 0.02–0.05 in (0.5–1.3 mm) layer of air provided under pressure to air-caster "skis", similar to how pucks are levitated above an air hockey table, while still allowing higher speeds than wheels can sustain. With rolling resistance eliminated and air resistance greatly reduced, the capsules can glide for the bulk of the journey. In the alpha design concept, an electrically driven inlet fan and axial compressor would be placed at the nose of the capsule to "actively transfer high-pressure air from the front to the rear of the vessel", resolving the problem of air pressure building in front of the vehicle, slowing it down. A fraction of the air was to be shunted to the skis for additional pressure, augmenting that gain passively from lift due to their shape.
In the alpha-level concept, passenger-only pods were to be 7 ft 4 in (2.23 m) in diameter and were projected to reach a top speed of 760 mph (1,220 km/h) to maintain aerodynamic efficiency. The design proposed passengers experience a maximum inertial acceleration of 0.5 g, about 2 or 3 times that of a commercial airliner on takeoff and landing.
Proposed routes
Proposed routes
A number of routes have been proposed for hyperloop systems that meet the approximate distance conditions for which a hyperloop is hypothesized to provide improved transport times (distances of under approximately 1,500 kilometers (930 miles)). Route proposals range from speculation described in company releases to business cases to signed agreements such as the following:
United States
India
Saudi Arabia
Italy
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