However, there are other problems that might arise like mold on the inside of the likely Plexiglas tubes because of all the water you would have to spray along with all the sunlight penetrating the tubes. Also, Solar heating of the tubes could be a problem too so there is a possibility that the Plexiglas tubes might need Mylar wrapped around them to reduce heating in the summers or unusual heat during the fall, winter or spring. Or I suppose you could have something fancy like a tube that on the top half or more changes like some prescription sunglasses to a more sunglasses effect as the sun gets brighter. In this way the passengers could still see out and not get claustrophobia which might be a problem otherwise. Another idea would be a metal cover like an aluminum roof that sheds rain, snow, and sunlight to reduce heat inside the tubes and also allows the passengers still able to see out the lower half of the tubes where they would be sitting and traveling. Also, lastly the kind of accident we just saw in Spain would not ever happen because the vehicle is enclosed 360 degrees so that type of accident you would never see.
However, you might see accidents where there are earthquakes and then the vehicle might shoot out the broken tube at 700 miles per hour or if a tube is thrown off by about a foot in relation to the next section the vehicle exploding at 700 miles per hour. However, this might be a quick way to go. Any way you look at it if there is any accident at that speed no one would survive. However, if the engines cut off for any reason like a major power outage people could just go out the escape hatch, find a drain hole and climb down the ladder there for emergencies unless the tube was already built close enough to the ground to just jump down.
End note.
I wrote the following before I had given enough thought to the idea above. However, since I wrote some pretty interesting things I decided to leave it even though they are more pre-thoughts than fully engineered thoughts. So, they too, might help engineers of this new technology.
When anyone approaches a mechanical contrivance to engineer it, it is also important to bring into play, "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong at some point." Using this principle in design is paramount to the potential success of the design. When I look at something going 700 mph in a vacuum tube that takes 35 minutes to go from Los Angeles to San Francisco what I think about is: "What happens if someone blows up the tube?", and "What happens if a vehicle gets stopped in a malfunction in the tube with people in it?
For example, "What happens if the engine gives out or there is a power outage and people are in a tube that is in a vaccuum state?" There are people in the vehicle but how do they get out to the outside without having their lungs sucked out of their mouths or suffocating from the vacuum in the tube?"
I have no doubt that a tube like this could work quite well and maybe even much more efficiently than present mag-lev trains. In fact, I have been reading science fiction short and long stories that including this type of technology since the 1950s. However, how do you get out of it without dying when it is 115 or 120 degrees outside when there is a vacuum outside your vehicle with no visible egress to the outside?
Until these really basic problems are solved I'm not going to be riding ever in something like this.
Hyperloop vs. world's fastest trains
(CNN) -- Just how fast would the Hyperloop transportation system envisioned by entrepreneur Elon Musk have to be? Try more than twice as ...
|
“There is no redeeming feature of the Hyperloop.”
Blog
The proposed Hyperloop high-speed
transport system would ferry passengers between Los Angeles and San
Francisco in about 30 minutes, according to entrepreneur Elon Musk. This
sketch shows what a passenger capsule might look like.
(CNN) -- Just how fast would the Hyperloop
transportation system envisioned by entrepreneur Elon Musk have to be?
Try more than twice as fast as the fastest commercial train in the
world.
700-mph hyperloop plan unveiled
Hyperloop vs. world's fastest trains
 |
The proposed Hyperloop high-speed
transport system would ferry passengers between Los Angeles and San
Francisco in about 30 minutes, according to entrepreneur Elon Musk. This
sketch shows what a passenger capsule might look like.
HIDE CAPTION
Hyperloop vs. the world's fastest trains
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Elon Musk's proposed Hyperloop system would be twice as fast as world's speediest train
- China's Shanghai Maglev train has topped out at 311 mph
- To travel from L.A. to San Francisco in 35 minutes, Hyperloop would have to go almost 700 mph
On Monday, Musk unveiled details
about what he called a highly speculative project. But, when the guy
speculating has already sent private rockets into outer space, you can't
count him out.
Musk believes the
Hyperloop, with giant vacuum-like tubes and an air-bearing suspension
system, could ferry riders from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 35
minutes.
That's a roughly 350-mile
trip, meaning the futuristic capsules would be zipping along at almost
700 mph -- faster than most commercial airliners and slightly less than
the speed of sound.
700-mph hyperloop plan unveiled
By contrast, the train
believed to be the world's fastest -- China's Shangai Maglev Train, has
been recorded at a top speed of 311 mph. But its top operating speed is
268 mph, meaning it would take just under an hour and 20 minutes to make
the same trip. Bullet trains like that one operate on a frictionless
magnetic-levitation system, but Musk believes such technology would be
too expensive for Hyperloop.
Musk has said he was inspired to promote Hyperloop, in part, by seeing plans in California for high-speed trains that, in his mind, don't reach their full potential.
In California, billions
of federal dollars have been pledged for high-speed rail, and voters
approved $9 billion in bonds for a bullet train between San Diego and
San Francisco. But the project has been set back by myriad issues, and
the train, according to Musk's calculations, would average only 164 mph.
"When the California
'high speed' rail was approved, I was quite disappointed, as I know many
others were too," Musk wrote in his overview of Hyperloop plans.
"How could it be that the home of Silicon Valley and JPL (NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory) -- doing incredible things like indexing all the
world's knowledge and putting rovers on Mars -- would build a bullet
train that is both one of the most expensive per mile and one of the
slowest in the world?"
Musk said building a
Hyperloop system would cost "under $6 billion," a bargain compared to
the "several tens of billion proposed for the track of the California
rail project."
He envisions the tube
itself being built above ground, roughly following California's
Interstate 5 highway. Sealed capsules carrying 28 passengers each would
leave from stations in Los Angeles and San Francisco up to every 30
seconds during peak hours. Passengers would be able to get on or off at
several stations along the way, and a larger system might be able to
transport cars as well as passengers.
Leading up to Monday's
announcement, Musk had talked of a similar system being able to
transport people from New York to Los Angeles in 45 minutes. In his
overview, Musk again speculates that such a feat is possible, but would
probably not be a successful business model.
"For much longer
journeys, such as LA to NY, it would be worth exploring super high
speeds and this is probably technically feasible," he wrote, "but, as
mentioned above, I believe the economics would probably favor a
supersonic plane."
As the world ponders
whether Musk's Hyperloop will ever become a reality -- he says he
doesn't currently plan to develop it himself -- here's a look at the
five fastest trains we have now.
1. Shanghai Maglev Train, China
The Shanghai Maglev ("magnetic levitation") train connects Shanghai Pudong International Airport with the Shanghai metro system.
It has been recorded at a
top speed of 311 mph and its top operating speed is 268 mph, making it
the world's fastest commercial train.
It cost $1.2 billion to build and took on its first passengers in 2003.
2. China Railways CRH380A, China
Running on a more
traditional track, the CRH380A has topped out at 302 mph, maxes out
commercially at 236 mph and routinely runs at 217 mph.
There are currently four models of the train serving different railroad lines in China.
3. Transrapid TR-09, Germany
Another "mag-lev" train,
this one ran on a monorail at a top speed of 279 mph. It was the
world's fastest train at the time, running from the Munich airport, but
was eventually canceled by the German government in 2008 due to
escalating costs.
4. Shinkansen Train, Japan
Japan's famed bullet
train, the Shinkansen, is nicknamed "The Duck-Billed Platypus" because
of the duck-like shape of its nose. Japan's high-speed rail network
includes more than 1,400 miles of track, where the bullet trains top out
at about 275 mph.
5. TGV Réseau, France
In service since 1992, France's high-speed train generally runs at about 199 mph, with a maximum speed of 236 mph.
end quote from:
Hyperloop vs. world's fastest trains |
By the way I rode with my family on the TGV from Paris to Nice, France at over 200 mph. It was sort of like riding the fuselage of a jet plane that never took off with a high pitched whine of the mag lev engines. However, the sound is much less than the average jet taking off or flying. We also realized it was much less expensive and less time consuming than flying from Paris to Nice too. Because you didn't have to be radiated or searched when boarding or disembarking the TGV. So, you didn't have to get there 2 hours earlier like you would while flying.
No comments:
Post a Comment