The promise of the Hyperloop? Pods going 100 km/h. So much for the theory. In practice, the tests are still modest at this level: in China, tests have reached 50 km/h.
Traffic speeds of up to 1,000 km/h. Ultra-futuristic capsules that glide noiselessly and effortlessly through all-glass and steel tubes. Cities giving the impression of coming straight from science fiction. Videos promoting the Hyperloop always promise an incredible future, a transportation revolution, a geographic upheaval.
The reality today is very different. The projects have certainly flourished in recent years, but we are light years away from the horizon depicted by the promoters of these new means of transport. In Toulouse, the construction site is at a standstill. Virgin Hyperloop has chosen to ease off considerably. The first tunnel prototype in the USA has been dismantled.
A test in China… at the speed of a car
In China, the Hyperloop is still relevant. Shen Shiwei, who works for CGTN (China Global Television Network), a television station dependent on the Chinese Communist Party, reported on January 23 a test that took place in Datong, a city in Shanxi province (northeast of the country). This is a first for this project, said Shen Shiwei.
It was on this occasion that the interested party recalled the prospects of the Hyperloop: transport that can spin at 1,000 km/h. Enough to imagine a journey time of around thirty minutes to go from Beijing to Shanghai or one hour from Beijing to Hong Kong – assuming a maximum and constant travel speed and a line that does not make any detours.
What Shen Shiwei does not say is that the test never approached that speed of 1,000 km/h. Not yet, anyway. Information reported by the South China Morning Post mid-January report three very modest tests, where the prototype traveled at low speed (50 km/h) over a very short distance (210 meters). Consider the speed of a car in town.
Another unspecified element: the presence or not of air in the tubes in which the pods circulate. One of the characteristics of the Hyperloop is, in principle, the vacuum around the capsules, in order to reduce air resistance as much as possible. This is an approach that has been imagined for several centuries for rail transport – the “vactrain” was thought of as early as the 18th century.
The vagueness surrounding the test has prompted cautious comments, such as Gareth Dennisrailroad engineer, who often criticized the Hyperloop: ” The hyperloop test in China involved a miniature maglev pod traveling at 50km/h, and given the diameter of the tube, I’m not convinced any level of vacuum was involved. It’s the same old #Loopyhype . »
In short, if we deconstruct the tests, it is above all a kind of large remote-controlled car that goes slower than a real car. Certainly, this will change if the project follows its course and gains momentum. Notwithstanding the issue of vacuum in the tube, there is nevertheless the use of magnetic levitation, a process used for Maglev type trains.
Try out the basics of Hyperloop
But the facility, built and piloted by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), was not aimed at performance, according to Chinese press, but rather validation of several key components that must be checked before moving on to others. phrases: wireless communication, sensors, automatic security controls, electrical systems, power, magnet.
The use of magnetic fields is also another characteristic of the projects around the Hyperloop, when it comes to sending capsules at full speed: it is a question of avoiding friction with the rails and, consequently , to reach higher speeds. These magnets are also used to propel the vehicle in the tube.
Testing in China is described as successful, with the hardware performing as expected. Other tests are to be expected soon, at higher speeds – especially since the experimental tube, which measures 2 km, has not been used to its full potential and there is already talk of extending it by 60 km in the years to come.
However, one question remains: if China manages to design a demonstrator capable of reaching the maximum speeds allowed by the Hyperloop, will we be able to move from the experimental stage to a concrete application? There are many doubts today : excessive power consumption, too low transport capacity, questionable time savings and very difficult to find almost straight lines.
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