Elon Musk’s revolutionary transit system the Hyperloop, is proving to be the future of travel but how exactly does it work from its tube track design it’s easy to assume that the Hyperloop would operate like the vacuum tubes at Bank Drive thrus, or old mailroom systems.
However, it has four key features that set it apart from these vacuum tubes, and high-speed train tracks.
The passenger capsules aren’t propelled by air pressure, like in vacuum tubes but, by electromagnetic motors similar to once featured in Tesla cars and rail guns. It’s aimed to travel at a top speed of 760 miles ( 1223 km ) per hour! rocketing between Los Angeles and San Francisco in around 1/2 hour.
The tube tracks do have a vacuum but they’re 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 front, thus creating 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 for additional propulsion but mostly the air will be sent to the air bearingsn their ski like paddles that levitate the capsules above the surface of the tube to reduce friction. The tube track is designed to be immune to weather and earthquakes, it’s also designed to be self-powering and unobstructed. The pillars raising the tubes above the ground have a small footprint that can sway in the case of an earthquake.
Each of the tube sections can move around flexibly if the terrain ships, because there isn’t a constant track that the capsules rely on, and solar panels on the top of the track supply power to the periodic motors with these innovations and a completely automated departure system. Elon Musk dreams of the Hyperloop being the fastest safest and most convenient form of travel in the world.
