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Hyperloop Gets Test Track in California

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Re: Hyperloop Gets Test Track in California

#51

Post by goodcanadian »

Shivetya wrote: post #44
stephengillie wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of the Seattle Monorail, which continues to operate today. For a few dollars, you can ride swiftly and smoothly from one part of Downtown Seattle to another part of Downtown Seattle. Some day, scientists hope, the value of the monorail will be seen. That day, we expect to extend the rail line to other communities. Meanwhile, we just pulled a tunneling machine out of its boring hole, continue to expand…

oh, that 600 million dollar per mile tunnel? not a great use of transportation dollars, think of how many EV buses they could buy, which on the whole buses tend to go where people want and do it more often than light rail which not only costs a fortune to build but maintain as well

I won't defend that project specifically because I know nothing about it, but I would like to offer a couple of comments:

As a passenger, I have always found the experience of riding rail to be far superior to riding a bus for a lot of reasons including but not limited to speed and comfort.

A train generally has much higher capacity than buses, and if well utilised, a lower operating cost per passenger. An ideal transport system will use trains for the high traffic trunk routes and a tightly integrated bus system as feeders for the train line. It should never be expressed as an either/or proposition. Both are necessary.

Re: Hyperloop Gets Test Track in California

#52

Post by coderjames »

I'm clearly missing something important because otherwise somebody would have built this already, but instead of using the fans for levitation as proposed, why not keep using the magnets?

I'm imagining a tube with (8?) magnets equally-spaced around the perimeter so that the carriage inside automatically stays centered in the tube. We already know how to toggle the magnets to produce forward motion (see maglev trains). Could still use the partial-vacuum to keep drag down. And you remove the single-point failure mechanisms of the fans on the carriage and minor misalignment of tube segments.

Re: Hyperloop Gets Test Track in California

#53

Post by msandford »

rmxt wrote: post #13
Retric wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thermal expansion is not really an issue that gets worse with distance, as the track can simply be made from independent segments connected with expansion joints. The issue is being able to cross from segment A to segment B not the number of such segments. In other words if it works on a test track it scales just fine, but getting that first connector to work is the hard part. Earthquakes require active dampening whi…

Thermal is an issue that gets worse with distance. Did you look at the article that I posted above? If you are proposing expansion/slip joints at every pier, that runs directly counter to the proposal which states that expansion joints will only be needed near the stations. [1, pg. 27] If we go according to the proposal, the slip joint at the stations on the test track will only need to accommodate ~9 feet of movemen…

> Thermal is an issue that gets worse with distance.

I would respectfully disagree. The rail industry has figured out how to do Continuous Welded Rail (CWR) quite well, using the elasticity of steel.

http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2011/03/08/distorted-rail...

Similarly the tube for the Hyperloop doesn't HAVE to free-float against its foundations. It might be easier or harder depending on various factors to work on expansion joints or doing the tube equivalent of CWR. You'd probably work on both to figure out which is easier in the long run.

Considering that it's a 9-11ft diameter tube with about 1" wall thickness, it's going to be pretty stiff, especially relative to traditional rails. The moment of inertia means that it should be very resistance to bending or buckling under compression and under tension steel is usually very good.

Given that there are going to be plenty of turns that the track has to make, I would look at doing a combination of two things:

1. Working towards a CWR style solution

2. Allow some movement so that the corners can take up the slack as the tube expands

The turns are very gradual and sweeping. But you could imagine that there's a virtual intersection between two straight portions that you determine by drawing lines from the straight portions until they meet. The actual turn will take place far from here, but it's instructive. So as the tube expands, the actual curve is going to move ever so slightly from the neutral position towards the virtual intersection. So long as there is enough room on the pylons to accommodate this, things will be pretty good. The tube will go from being curved 0.1 degrees per 100 feet to 0.105 degrees per 100 feet (or something like this) but this can be designed for and ensured that it doesn't cause the tube to buckle or collapse. It's engineering, not the utter unknown.

Re: Hyperloop Gets Test Track in California

#54

Post by sixQuarks »

When the US government literally loses track of $100 million in cash, no one blinks an eye. When a guy who has built an electric car company AND a space rocket company proposes a revolutionary transportation alternative and has people excited enough to spend $100 million on it, people go nuts. I can't believe how small-minded some people are.

Re: Hyperloop Gets Test Track in California

#55

Post by sixQuarks »

When the US government literally loses track of $100 million in cash, no one blinks an eye. When a guy who has built an electric car company AND a space rocket company proposes a revolutionary transportation alternative and has people excited enough to spend $100 million on it, people go nuts. I can't believe how small-minded some people are.

Re: Hyperloop Gets Test Track in California

#56

Post by BinaryIdiot »

huuu wrote: post #18

* Invent something totaly new * Test it on a small scale * Get a lot of negative comments on HN Com'on people. This might be the transportation of the future!

I could see this becoming a new way to transport goods but as outlined in the hyperloop white papers there is little room for error when transporting people and I'm not so sure that's the best, initial approach.

I think using this as a delivery system first, prove it out and increase safety as you go along is the way to go. It should be far cheaper to do it on physical goods first (hell you may even be able to skimp on the safety in some aspects), make lots of money transporting things and then work on a people version.

Re: Hyperloop Gets Test Track in California

#57

Post by kbenson »

Balgair wrote: post #25
geon wrote: post #8

> The problem with traveling in an evacuated tube is, if you lose the vacuum in the tube, everybody in the tube will crash Wouldn't that be a "crash" into a gradually rising air preassure? Something like a smooth deacceleration.

No. Depending on the failure mode, maybe, but that is not the concern here. A slow leak that the high-vac pumps cannot deal with is a slow deceleration. A massive crack will cause quite the stir in the tube. Think of a balloon. When you inflate a balloon you put, maybe, 1.1 atms more into it. This is about 1/10th that of the hyperloop system. You know how loud even a simple party balloon can be, and the forces that y…

Hyperloop is based on a reduced air pressure tube, not an evacuated tube. Additionally, there's inlets in the front of the capsules to actively move air/pressure from in front to underneath/behind.

I don't really know how that alters what you've stated, if at all, but it didn't seem to be addressed, so I figured I would throw it out there.

Re: Hyperloop Gets Test Track in California

#58

Post by the_falcon »

The wording of this article is interesting. I personally know the people behind this project. This is from a PR firm, and kickstarter knockoff who 'lost' a lot of my friends startups money

This company (Hyperloop Transportation Technologies) got no funding, Hyperloop Technologies did ($8.5m).(which is in reality a PR firm called jumpstarter pr in El Segundo)

They are hoping to raise the funding at IPO

"Now, the company Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc. (which is not affiliated with Musk or Tesla) has inked a deal with landowners in central California to build the world's first Hyperloop test track"

"The 5-mile test track is estimated to cost about $100 million, which Hyperloop Transportation Technologies hopes to pay for with its initial public offering (IPO) later this year, according to Navigant's blog."

Musk is building his own Separately, Musk has said he plans to build his own 5-mile test track, likely in Texas, for companies and students to test out potential Hyperloop designs.

Re: Hyperloop Gets Test Track in California

#59

Post by the_falcon »

sixQuarks wrote: post #54

When the US government literally loses track of $100 million in cash, no one blinks an eye. When a guy who has built an electric car company AND a space rocket company proposes a revolutionary transportation alternative and has people excited enough to spend $100 million on it, people go nuts. I can't believe how small-minded some people are.

He didn't, this is not elon musks project. Elon musks project is called Hyperloop Technology. This CO is called Hyperloop Transportation Technology backed by a PR Firm called Jumpstarter

Re: Hyperloop Gets Test Track in California

#60

Post by the_falcon »

aetherson wrote: post #41

The biggest problem with this headline is that it suggests that the hyperloop is "getting" a test track. When the actual situation appears to be that the hyperloop is getting a plan for a test track that is heavily contingent on highly speculative funding. If it actually had a test track, then most of the discussion in these comments could be obviated.

Exactly, this was a PR Release for a hyperloop cash grab in hopes they IPO
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