Eeeh, that looks awfully cramped. Especially for anyone a little overweight.
Hyperloop Alpha [pdf]
101–110 of 202 posts
Re: Hyperloop Alpha [pdf]
#102It's interesting that the biggest line item in the costing is not the tube, nor the capsules, nor the vacuum pumps, nor the solar panels, nor the land, but the concrete pylons that support the tube - about two-fifths of the total. The pylons are planned to be 30m apart, making for about 25000 of them.
But that's the beauty of it! You can make those pylons anywhere, truck them in, and install them in whatever order you want. It's construction....that scales up almost effortlessly.
You'd still have to pour the foundation in place though, right? Or can you make foundations off-site and then drive them into the ground?
Re: Hyperloop Alpha [pdf]
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
If not using the bathroom for an hour is an issue you should see a doctor. Not only are there good treatments to alleviate this, but it may be an indication of a serious medical problem. Get it fixed then enjoy life including perhaps the Hyperloop.
I agree with the sentiment, but its part of the disadvantages of this transport. You cant travel with babies or little kids in them, and you certainly cant do it sick. However its not such a big flaw, specially to warrant 63billion to alleviate.
I would gleefully slap another $50-100 onto every plane ticket I ever bought to ensure that there was nobody anywhere on the plane under the age of 16. I can't be the only one...
Re: Hyperloop Alpha [pdf]
#104Re: Hyperloop Alpha [pdf]
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're thinking city buses. I'm thinking long-haul busses (like greyhound in the US). Greyhound buses likely have facilities, what I'm actually talking about are the buses used a core parts of the transportation infrastructure all over South America. Many of these also have facilities but I've been on many where the bathroom isn't functioning or just plain isn't there. You can easily travel for 30 minutes to an hour…
Interestingly, my DC Metrorail trip to home or work takes between 45-60 minutes one-way... and there are no facilities on the train itself, and very few stations have any public-accessible facilities. "Holding it" has honestly never been an issue, you either go before you leave, or sack up and wait until you get home. Worst case is probably that you get sick en route and well... that alone wouldn't wreck Hyperloop.
Exactly, my experience with regional rail commuting in Philly was the same. Regional rails frequently have the sort of trip lengths that we are talking about here, and I have never seen a regional train that has facilities.
Re: Hyperloop Alpha [pdf]
#106Looks like a good idea, but the major glaring technical point that seems to be missing is the issue of horizontal stability within the tube.
When you get very low friction, high speed and no tracks, you're going to start having attitude problems without the right control surfaces available. Don't want to be spinning passengers around the roof of that tunnel!
Re: Hyperloop Alpha [pdf]
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
According to some quick youtube searching, armor-piercing rounds versus regular steel would create problems: http://youtu.be/q_zZd0NsYG4 .
Sure, so would high explosives directly on the tube. I am considering a situation that could conceivably be accidental because it is incredibly difficult to engineer something that can stand up to malice.
The bar to malice is important to consider. If the bar is "high explosives or shaped charges", then you are probably okay. If the bar is "a redneck who is bored with shooting stop-signs", then that might be a problem.
Re: Hyperloop Alpha [pdf]
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
But that's the beauty of it! You can make those pylons anywhere, truck them in, and install them in whatever order you want. It's construction....that scales up almost effortlessly.
perhaps you can pour sections and truck those in, but there's no way in hell you're moving a precast that size on anything that doesn't float. For scale, you know those 4' by 4' by 8' blocks of cement you see all over the place, used for erosion control and the like? They're called ecology blocks, they're about $20 each FOB the cement plant. You want them shipped? A lowboy can carry two or four at a time without exce…
While I certainly can't say anything for the economy of long distance shipping of giant concrete pylons, I can confirm they do get trucked around a lot in the Dallas area. The overpass ribs are basically hooked to a small truck attached to the cab with a small truck on the other far end.
Again, dunno if it's feasible over long distance, but it's certainly done. (Though Texas has a certain affinity to overpasses that borders on the pathological, fun as they are to bike over...)
Re: Hyperloop Alpha [pdf]
#109This is supposed to be for commuters? I worry not many would commute daily from LA to SF.
Also, travel time to the station has to be taken into account, even more so if we compare it to driving.
Re: Hyperloop Alpha [pdf]
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
Producing and reading PDF isn't the issue. Again, we have open source tools that will generate, mangle, introspect, disassemble, etc. to both ELF and PE binaries. What PDF is not is the "preferred format for development", no matter how good the open-source tooling is.
Sometimes practical considerations preclude using the most "preferred format". Will editing this white paper really be a significant obstacle to deploying a system like the one it describes? Conversely, does anyone ever release a white paper in LaTeX only?
What are you on about?
No one here is saying that an open-source project to assist with Hyperloop could not be launched. Nor that the ability to edit the whitepaper that was released has anything to do with this proposed open-source project. Nor even that people typically release whitepapers only in LaTeX format.
However if an open source project will be launched with Hyperloop then its success will be at least somewhat dependent on the ability of participants to meaningfully contribute.
If "contribute" just means discussing key points then a simple Wiki might suffice. However if "contribute" means technical designs, then the actual drawings and data will be what's needed, not glorified screenshots of AutoCAD and MATLAB.