HYPERLOOP TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY

2023-2024

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTIO
N
Hyperloop is a completely new mode of fastest transportation. Hyperloop is firstly
proposed by Elon musk and a team of engineer from Tesla Motors and the Space
Exploration Technologies Corporation in August 2013. The concept of hyperloop includes
travelling people from one place to another place in a capsule which is propelling at a
very high speed. We can also called hyperloop as a solar powered transportation system
and it is an alternative of high speed train. Basically hyperloop is magnetically levitated
train which runs inside a long tube or pipe. It consists of low pressure tube with capsule
that is transported at both low and high speeds. It is driven by linear induction
motor and compressor. It includes 28 passenger pods.

For propulsion, magnetic accelerators will be planted along the length of the tube,
propelling the pods forward. The tubes would house a low pressure environment,
surrounding the pod with a cushion of air that permits the pod to move safely at such high
speeds, like a puck gliding over an air hockey table. Given the tight quarters in the tube,
pressure buildup in front of the pod could be a problem. The tube needs a system to keep
air from building up in this way. Musk’s design recommends an air compressor on the
front of the pod that will move air from the front to the tail, keeping it aloft and
preventing pressure building up due to air displacement. A one way trip on the Hyperloop
is projected to take about 35 minutes (for comparison, traveling the same distance by car
takes roughly six hours.) Passengers may enter and exit Hyperloop at stations located
either at the ends of the tube, or branches along the tube length.

According to its principal protagonist, Elon Musk, Hyperloop aims to be a new mode of
transport – a fifth mode after planes, trains, cars and boats – that should be safer, faster, lower
cost, more convenient, immune to weather, sustainably self-powering, resistant to earthquakes,
and not disruptive to those along the route (Musk Citation2013). It is seen as an alternative
state-wide mass transit system to flying or driving at distances < 1500 km, while the planned
high-speed train is considered both slower, more expensive to operate (if unsubsidized) and
less safe by two orders of magnitude than flying (Musk Citation2013).

The Hyperloop concept, promoted in 2013 and the following design competition in 2016, as
well as the student team pod competitions on a 1.6 km long, 1.83 m diameter partial-vacuum
purpose-built steel test tube track at SpaceX in Hawthorne, California in 2017 and 2018
(Wikipedia Citation2018a), have stimulated considerable new research and development
activities by students, scientists, consultants, and start-ups around the world. For example, in
July 2018 and 2019, students at the Technical University Munich demonstrated that a
maximum speed of 467 km/h is feasible in a partial vacuum tube with their wheel motor
driven pod (240 kW, 70 kg) on the SpaceX test tube track and won the speed-competition
for the fourth time (TU Munich Citation2018, Citation2019).

The social and political impact of the further growth of air passenger transport and
combustion motor road and ship transport emissions on climate, health and fossil energy
consumption intensifies public awareness and search for alternative sustainable modes of
transport. The recent rapid increase in private capital investment, crowd-sourced and some
public funding for
Dept of CS &E, KR Pete Krishna Govt.Engg.College K R Pet Page | 1
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Hyperloop transport research, construction of test tracks and projects for the operation of
commercial lines in different countries have generated enormous expectations in the feasibility
and performance of ultra-high-speed transport in vacuum tube transport technologies.

The number of accessible scientific studies is still rather limited. They focus on particular
aspects of the Hyperloop, such as design and simulation of the electro-magnetic levitation
through a short-stator linear synchronous motor (Abdelrahman, Sayeed, and
force
Youssef Citation2018), aerodynamic design of the vehicle (Braun, Sousa, and
Pekardan Citation2017; Opgenoord and Caplan Citation2018) and simulation (Wang et
al. Citation2017), respectively, dynamics of the tube structure and vehicle interaction
(Janzen Citation2017), sizing models for the passenger pod (Chin et al. Citation2015), sizing
and feasibility study for a magnetic plane concept (Decker et al. Citation2017), impact on
bridge dynamics (Alexander and Kashani Citation2018) or earthquakes (Heaton Citation2017),
as well as more general technical, operational, economic, social/environmental analyses (Van
Goeverden et al. Citation2018; Doppelbauer Citation2018).

In this paper, the essential elements of the Hyperloop system technology concept are analyzed
in comparison with competing modes for high-speed long-distance passenger transport. The
technical and economic feasibility of principal Hyperloop system elements and their
characteristics is examined to identify the main barriers for further project development and
realisation and needs for further research.

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Chapter-2

LITERATURE
SURVEY

Ahmed Hodaib, Samar F. Abdel Fattah (May 2016), discussed the design of a hyperloop
capsule with linear induction propulsion system which is used to accelerate and decelerate
the capsule. They studied that like rotary synchronous motors; linear motors run on 3-phase
power and can support very high speeds. However, there are end effects that reduce the
motor's thrust force. Linear induction motors are thus less energy efficient than normal rotary
motors for any required force output. They also discussed about the manufacturing of linear
induction motor in this paper.[1]
Jeffrey C. Chin, Justin S. Gray, Scott M. Jones, Jeffrey J. Berton, They discussed about the
Open-Source Conceptual Sizing Models for the Hyperloop Passenger Pod in this paper.
They concluded that the refined analysis illuminates several interdisciplinary couplings
that
alter two major aspects of the initial concept. First, the pod travel speed and the tube cross
sectional area are linked, forcing the tube size to be to be roughly twice the diameter of the
original specification, in order for the pod to reach Mach 0.8. Second, the steady-state tube
temperature is dominated by ambient thermal interactions unrelated to the heat generated
by the pod compression system.[2]
Mark Sakowski (2016) discussed the current maglev technology along with the theoretical
evacuated tube technology and they concluded that the hyperloop is feasible and if
properly designed, has the potential to be much more efficient in terms of energy usage of
pods traversing down the tube.[3]
N. Kayela, (2014) investigated that the hyperloop is a fifth mode of transportation
alongside trains, planes, automobiles and boats. He discussed about the railway track for
the hyperloop, stations for the hyperloop. Also, discussed about the two version of capsule
that is one is passenger only version and another is passenger plus vehicle version.[4]
Mohammed Imran (2016) He focused his study element on the hyperloop technology (the
passenger transport system). He discussed about the two version of hyperloop in that one is
passenger only version and another is passenger plus vehicle version. Hyperloop System.
[5]

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Chapter -3
CONSTRUCTION
3.1 Tube:
The tube is made of steel. There are two tubes which are welded together side by side
configuration to allow the capsules travel in both directions. The tube will be supported
by pillars. There is a solar arrays are provided on a top of the tubes for the purpose of
power to the system.

Solar Panel

Low Pressure Tube

Fig-1: Construction of tube [9]

3.2 Capsule:

The capsule can carry 28 passengers at a time and it send at a very high speed and it is
levitated by a high pressure air cushion. The design of capsule is start with the
aerodynamic shape. There are two version of capsule are being considered: a passenger
only version and a passenger plus vehicle version.

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Compressor Compressor
Inl et
Battery

motor

Firewall

Seat Suspension

Air Storage

Fig-2: Arrangement in capsule[6]

3.3 Compressor:

The compressor is fitted at the front side of the capsule. It supplies the air to the air bearings
which supports the weight of the capsule. The compressor allows the capsule to traverse to
the low pressure tube without choking the air flow that travels between tube walls and
capsule.

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HYPERLOOP TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY
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Fig-3: Compressor [7]

3.4 Suspension:

Air bearing suspension offers stability and extremely low drag at a feasible cost. A stiff air
bearing suspension is superb for reliability and safety. When there is a gap between ski and
tube walls is high then it shows the nonlinear reaction and which results in large restoring
pressure.

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HYPERLOOP TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY
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Fig-4: Schematic of air bearing skis that support the capsule [6]

3.5 Propulsions:

To accelerate and decelerate the capsule the linear induction motor is used in hyperloop system. It
provides some advantages over a permanent magnet motor. To accelerate the capsules there is
linear accelerators are constructed on a length of the tube. Stators are placed on the capsules to
transfer momentum to the capsules via the linear accelerators.

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HYPERLOOP TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY
2023-2024

Fig:5: Propulsion [6]

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HYPERLOOP TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY
2023-2024

Chapter-4

WORKING OF
HYPERLOOP
SYSTEM

Fig-6: Working of hyperloop system

Working of hyperloop system is based on magnetic levitation principle. As we know that

the passenger pad travel through low pressure tube which is pylon-supported tube.
In hyperloop system an air compressor fan is fitted on front side of pod which sucks the
air. It transfer high pressure air front side to the rear side of capsule (pod) and it propel the
pod. It creates the air cushion around the pod, so that the pod is suspended in air within
the tube.
On the basis of magnetic levitation principle the pod will be propelled by the linear
induction motor. By the linear induction motor the capsule send from one place to another
place to a subsonic velocity that is slower than the speed of sound.
The pod will be self-powered. There is solar panel fitted on top of the tube. By this solar
panel there is enough energy is stored in battery packs to operate at night and in cloudy
weather for some periods. The energy is also is stored in the form of compressed air.

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The air between the capsule acts as a cushions to prevent two capsules from colliding within
the tube.

Fig-8: Air through bypass tunnel

In above figure it shown that the air through the compressor is send to a bypass nozzle at the
rear end of the capsule. If capsule cover too much area of the tube then, the air is not flow
around the capsule and ultimately the entire column of air in the tube is being pushed ahead
of the capsule and because of this there is friction between the air and tube walls is
increases tremendously. Therefore to avoid this problem the compressor is fitted at the
front of the capsule through which the air is flow which will not flow around the capsule
and send it to bypass nozzle

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HYPERLOOP TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY
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Chapter -5
MERITS AND DEMERITS OF HYPERLOOP
TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM
5.1 Merits:

1. It saves the travelling time.

2. There is no problem of traffic.
3. It is powered by the solar panel.
4. It can travel in any kind of weather.
5. Cost of hyperloop is low.
6. Not disruptive to those along the route.
7. More convenient.
8. Resistance to earthquake.

7.2 Demerits:

9. Turning will be critical.

10. Less movable space for passenger.
11. High speed might cause dizziness in some passenger.
12. Punctured tunnel could cause shockwaves.

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Chapter-6
CONCLUSION AND
FUTURE WORK
1. A high speed transportation system known as
Hyperloop has been developed in this
report.
conventional modes of
2. Hyperloop transportation system can be used over the
3. At very high speed
transportation it provides
that are better
rail, road, watercomfort
and air.and cost is also low.
4. By reducing the pressure of the air in the tube which reduces simple air drag and enables
the capsule to move faster than through a tube at atmospheric pressure.

1. Improve the passenger capacity.

2. Detailed station designs with loading and unloading of passenger
3. Safety features improvement.
4. It can be used in material handling deices.

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REFERENCES

1 Ahmed Hodaib, Samar, et al, international journal of mechanical, aerospace,

industrial, mechatronics and manufacturing engineering Vol:10 No:5, (May 2016)

2 Chin, Jeffrey C.; Gray, Justin S.; Jones, Scott M.; Breton, Jeffrey J. (January 2015).
Open- Source Conceptual Sizing Models for the Hyperloop Passenger Pod
(PDF). 56th AIAA/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials
Conference. January 5–9, 2015.
Kissimmee, Florida. doi:10.2514/6.2015-1587.

3 Paper by Mark Sakowski, “The Next Contender in High

Speed Transport Elon Musks Hyperloop”, 2016

4 N. Kayela, editor of scientific and technical department,

“Hyperloop: A Fifth Mode of Transportation”,
2014

5 Mohammed Imran, international journal of engineering

research, 2016

6 Musk, Elon (August 12, 2013). "Hyperloop

Alpha"(PDF). SpaceX. Retrieved August 13,
2013.

7 Compressor:https://patrickenewman.files.wordpress.co
m/2016/03/compressoriso.png
8 Operating principle of hyperloop
http://webjapan.org/kidsweb/hitech/maglev/images/004.jpg
9 Tubehttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
common s/thumb/8/86/Hyperloop.jpg/220px-
Hyperloop.jpg

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