The guy behind the Tesla electric car got more specific today about his visions<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/hannahelliott\/2013\/08\/12\/latest-update-elon-musk-will-start-the-hyperloop-himself\/<\/p>\n
Now it is above ground instead of in tunnels. Maximum speed is 800 mph, yet the math impaired people keep saying things like LA to New York in 45 minutes (that’s 3,000 miles)<\/p>\n
Most importantly, while Elon Musk wants the idea to go forward, he doesn’t want to fund it.<\/p>\n
The prototype shows a single row of seats organized in 2×14 (what?) with a hatch that opens. Luggage would be stowed in an area that doesn’t exist or might be in a trailer towed behind, since your luggage won’t mind not having air to breathe (Kaboom! as it explodes from the air pressure difference). If you’ve ever had an MRI or CAT scan, you’ll feel right at home riding this. Hope you don’t have claustrophobia or children or a tiny bladder or the thing doesn’t get stuck in the middle of nowhere up in the air. Propulsion will be by linear induction motors.<\/p>\n
A fundamental principle of safety on systems like this are that if a “train” malfunctions, the one behind it must be able to come to a complete stop with plenty of buffer room so it doesn’t crash into the train ahead of it, and so on<\/p>\n
Here is his document going into the details:
\nhttp:\/\/www.teslamotors.com\/sites\/default\/files\/blog_images\/hyperloop-alpha.pdf<\/p>\n
the “Pods” would have a fan on the front to push air out from in front of the pod, to under the pod to reduce the back-pressure. The Pod would be powered by batteries, not power along the route. The pod is brought up to speed at the start of the trip by linear induction motors, with a boost in-line every 70 miles.<\/p>\n
The tubes would be covered in solar panels, which would compress air which would drive fans to generate the electric power when the sun is not shining.<\/p>\n
He envisions headway times as little as 30 seconds with 28 people per pod (providing a theoretical maximum capacity of 3,548 people per hour). Being the dreamer he is, he extrapolates that to mean you could have the system running at full capacity 24 hours a day every day of the year and get 7.4 million trips per year each way. If the thing lasts 20 years and has no operating costs, the capital cost is only $20 a ride! Dream on. Traveling at 700 mph with a 30 second headway a distance of 385 miles means about 30,000 feet between cars – if one stops, the next car has to stop in probably 15,000 feet – but first it has to know that it has to stop to avoid a collision. However, his document says the pod will be 23 miles apart during operation – so that math is off by a factor of 4x. He then puts the capacity of the system at 840 people per hour… the average is one every two minutes, 30 seconds is the minimum apparently. He figures they need 40 capsules in motion during peak hours, with taking 5 minutes to load a capsule at the station. No mention of when and how fast the battery in the pod will be charged. The cost to build the capsule will be $245,000 (bwahaha – mars to earth – you’re dreaming)<\/p>\n
To reduce drag, the air pressure inside the tube will be the same as at 150,000 feet altitude. Water will be used to cool down the compressed air (turned into steam) that will have to be empty \/ reloaded at the station. No mention on what air the passengers will be breathing<\/p>\n
Oh wait, the $245k is only the shell – add $475k for the air suspension system and $150k for the batteries and motors. Propulsion system is another $125k – total is $1.35 million per capsule, and we’ll only need 40 of them (uh-huh). The tubes will be made of steel – good thing there is no salt corrosion to worry about!<\/p>\n
The emergency section says that worst case the capsules will stop using mechanical braking and travel using on-board motors driving wheels, none of which are in the actual design nor included in the weight calculations – nor any indication of how the capsules will be monitored, controlled, told to stop. In the event of loss of cabin pressure without any kind of pressure suit at 150,000 feet, you’re going to be dead very fast from the “bends” as nitrogen and other gases cause gas bubbles (embolisms) in your brain. The good news is you’ll pass out so fast you’ll never know what happened. His answer is to have drop down oxygen masks like on airplanes (which fly at up to about 35,000 feet) <\/p>\n
You have to love the optimism of advocates of expensive public transit systems. How long will it take to get 28 people loaded into a pod – will this be like those rides in Disneyland with a moving belt? Perhaps Mr Musk thinks the economics of Space Mountain at Disney World apply to the real world. The only costs in his estimate are the 40 pods, the tubes, and two “minimalist” stations at each end.<\/p>\n
His conclusion carries forward the fiction that the system could operate at 100% of capacity 24 hrs a day 365 days a year, and have no operating costs (like the people putting luggage onto the capsules, the maintenance workers, the people who clean the bathrooms, security, staffing of the control center<\/p>\n
Okay, Open Source world – you have the ball!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The guy behind the Tesla electric car got more specific today about his visions http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/hannahelliott\/2013\/08\/12\/latest-update-elon-musk-will-start-the-hyperloop-himself\/ Now it is above ground instead of in tunnels. Maximum speed is 800 mph, yet the math impaired people keep saying things like LA to … Continue reading