05-11-2016, 03:29 AM
Well, I was working my way through the News.com.au website tonight and it would appear that the Hyperloop or Hyped Up Loop is still alive and well and sucking money from financial backers in all sorts of industries.
Those of you who read my previous posting on the subject will know that I have foreseen a lot of basic engineering problems with this concept and I seriously cannot help but think of the Simpsons Monorail Episode.
There seems to be an awful lot of pie in the sky thinking associated with this project and the method used to move the capsules. They are going to be "levitated" magnetically and the power used will be recouped by harvesting the regenerative braking effect as the capsule is slowed down.
Hmmmm, what about the power requirements needed to create a "low pressure tube", and to operate the pressure doors at any stations?
What about the health effects of placing people in a high power magnetic field for 20 to 30 minutes of travel time? It may not be am MRI machine but it is still a high powered magnetic field.
In most forms of human transport we as passengers are able to see out or at least see the walls of the tunnel passing by, the exceptions being most lifts, aircraft at night, submarines and maybe one or two others. This means that passenger engagement or entertainment will be even more important than it is at present.
Does it concern any of you that we have enough trouble making things go both fast and reliably without incurring too many casualties when systems fail?
Case in point, the fairly recent fatal TGV test train accident, other high speed train crashes, ordinary train and plane crashes and car crashes.
Assurances have been made that should there be a problem, the high speed capsule will "coast to a stop". Yeah, and if not what happens then? A capsule stopped somewhere after skidding to a halt, with the friction generated literally cooking the people inside as they are squashed against the front bulkhead and their brains turned to mush from the "G" forces experienced during deceleration.
Just how and where are the people inside the capsule to be rescued from a stopped capsule somewhere inside a very long magnetic tube with a very low air pressure environment?
If we cant make monorails, levitation systems and the like work properly at low speeds, just what do you reckon the chances are to safely send people through a highly magnetic Hyperloop system?
Mark
Here is the title of the article; Hyperloop announce fresh funding on the eve of first public demonstration
Those of you who read my previous posting on the subject will know that I have foreseen a lot of basic engineering problems with this concept and I seriously cannot help but think of the Simpsons Monorail Episode.
There seems to be an awful lot of pie in the sky thinking associated with this project and the method used to move the capsules. They are going to be "levitated" magnetically and the power used will be recouped by harvesting the regenerative braking effect as the capsule is slowed down.
Hmmmm, what about the power requirements needed to create a "low pressure tube", and to operate the pressure doors at any stations?
What about the health effects of placing people in a high power magnetic field for 20 to 30 minutes of travel time? It may not be am MRI machine but it is still a high powered magnetic field.
In most forms of human transport we as passengers are able to see out or at least see the walls of the tunnel passing by, the exceptions being most lifts, aircraft at night, submarines and maybe one or two others. This means that passenger engagement or entertainment will be even more important than it is at present.
Does it concern any of you that we have enough trouble making things go both fast and reliably without incurring too many casualties when systems fail?
Case in point, the fairly recent fatal TGV test train accident, other high speed train crashes, ordinary train and plane crashes and car crashes.
Assurances have been made that should there be a problem, the high speed capsule will "coast to a stop". Yeah, and if not what happens then? A capsule stopped somewhere after skidding to a halt, with the friction generated literally cooking the people inside as they are squashed against the front bulkhead and their brains turned to mush from the "G" forces experienced during deceleration.
Just how and where are the people inside the capsule to be rescued from a stopped capsule somewhere inside a very long magnetic tube with a very low air pressure environment?
If we cant make monorails, levitation systems and the like work properly at low speeds, just what do you reckon the chances are to safely send people through a highly magnetic Hyperloop system?
Mark
Here is the title of the article; Hyperloop announce fresh funding on the eve of first public demonstration
Fake It till you Make It, then Fake It some More