How Hyperloop Works?

How Hyperloop Works?

A hyperloop is a proposed mode of passenger and/or freight transportation, first named as such in an open-source vactrain design released by a joint team from Tesla and SpaceX. Drawing heavily from Robert Goddard's vactrain, a hyperloop comprises a sealed tube or system of tubes through which a pod may travel free of air resistance or friction conveying people or objects at optimal [clarification needed] speed and acceleration.

                                                    Video Source : Hyperloop

But what is a hyperloop?

In Musk’s words, a hyperloop is a system to “build a  tube over or under the ground that contains a special environment.” Cars  would basically be propelled in this tube. One example could be a huge  sort of pneumatic tube where high-speed fans would compress and push the  air — although the friction implications make Musk skeptical that it  would work. Another option is having a vacuum in the tube and using  electromagnetic suspension instead. Musk acknowledges it is hard to  maintain a vacuum (one small leak in hundreds of miles of tubing, and  the system shuts down), but there are pumping solutions to overcome  this. He favors the second solution.

Video Source: Hyperloop

How does it work?

Hyperloop has four key features.

1) The passenger capsules aren't propelled by air pressure like in vacuum tubes, but by two electromagnetic motors. It is aimed to travel at a top speed of 760 miles per hour.

2) The tube tracks do have a vacuum, but not completely free of air. Instead, they have low pressure air inside of them.

Most things moving through air tubes will end up compressing the air in the front thus, providing a cushion of air that slows the object down. But the Hyperloop will feature a compressor fan in the front of the capsule. The compressor fan can redirect air to the back of the capsule, but mostly air will be sent to the air bearings.

3) Air bearings are ski like paddles that levitate the capsules above the surface of the tube to reduce friction.

4) The tube track is designed to be immune to weather and earthquakes. They are also designed to be self-powering and unobstructed. The pillars that rise the tube above the ground have a small foot-print that can sway in the case of an earthquake. Each of the tube sections can move around flexibly of the train ships because there isn't a constant track that capsules rely on.

With these innovations and completely automated departure system, Elon Musk's dreams of the Hyperloop being the fastest, safest and the most convenient form of travel in the world.

Source: Tech Insider