(Text/Lin Wang)
Just before the California high-speed rail was about to sail, an American billionaire and technical genius was quite dissatisfied with the high investment and low speed of the California high-speed rail. He changed hands and threw out his own high-speed rail, which was cool, economical, high-speed, safe and environmentally friendly. This idea is a "super loop" that has swept the world for three years, and it is said that it can change the development history of high-speed rail. Although American government officials did not express their views on this, the appeal of this technical genius should not be underestimated. The surge of private capital and the long-distance cooperation of talents from all walks of life have finally made this seemingly impossible high-speed rail technology gradually become a reality. The technical genius and billionaire is elon musk. Among the top ten technological inventions that will change human history in the future, elon musk Company occupies two, namely, recoverable rocket technology and Tesla autonomous driving technology. Elon musk himself is said to be the prototype of Iron Man, a famous comic character of Marvel Comics. The genius once said that he would retire on Mars one day, and he is working hard for it. Let's put aside the retirement of the distant rich for the time being, and look back to see what magic the "super circuit" has.
(elon musk)
Without Obama's speech on high-speed rail technology in 2009, the plan to build a new high-speed rail between San Francisco and Los Angeles in California may be delayed. After difficult running-in and promotion, the new high-speed rail project in California finally started recently. However, according to elon musk, a technical expert, the cost is as high as $68.4 billion, with an average speed of 264 kilometers per hour and a journey of 2.5 hours. Compared with airplanes and cars, the cost performance is not high. Therefore, in 20 13, he put forward an idea of "Hyperloop" new transportation mode, and made a technical feasibility analysis. He shared his research results through the open platform of the Internet, hoping to realize this promising idea through crowdfunding.
According to the data provided by Musk's technical white paper, the average speed of the "Super Loop" train can reach 970 km/h, and the maximum running speed is 1200km/h, which is environmentally friendly, energy-saving and pollution-free. With solar energy as the energy supply, the 500 km distance from Los Angeles to San Francisco takes only 35 minutes, and the cost is about 6 billion to 7.5 billion US dollars, which is 65,438+of the cost of wheel-rail high-speed rail. Elon musk, whose popularity and influence catch up with Jobs, ignited the fire of Supercircuit. However, he is not the first person to put forward this concept. Looking back, the concept of vacuum pipeline train was first put forward in 18 12, and was first put forward by British mechanical engineer and inventor George Mayhurst. By about 1864, a "Crystal Palace Pneumatic Railway" was built in London, England, and a huge fan with a diameter of 6.7 meters was driven by a steam engine to provide power for the train. 1870, the "seaside pneumatic transportation system" was put into operation in new york, USA, and the trains were driven by compressed air through buried pipelines; 19 10, American rocket expert robert goddard named the vacuum pipeline train for the first time; The first person who put forward the idea of vacuum pipeline and applied for a patent was German engineer Herman Corpster, who put forward the idea based on the technical principle of maglev train and applied for a patent in 1934. The brand name of "vacuum pipeline transportation" was put forward by mechanical engineer Daryl Oster in 1990s, and obtained the patent of 1997.
From the above, we can see that elon musk just put forward a similar concept again and named it "Supercircuit". Most importantly, he is not a visionary, but a doer. He made great efforts to turn this technology into reality, and called on more people of insight to participate in this great traffic revolution. This is his outstanding point. The "super loop" is suspended on the air cushion in the sealed pipeline to realize local vacuum, and powered by linear motor and air compressor to drive the pressurized passenger compartment to move quickly, thus achieving the purpose of high-speed driving.
The technical principle of "super loop" is similar to that of "vacuum pipeline train", but the biggest difference with the latter is that the sealing requirements of the pipeline are different. "Vacuum pipeline train" has strict requirements for pipeline sealing. It is very difficult to reach the vacuum level and abandon all air resistance. "Supercycle" requires the pipeline to be depressurized to 1 millibar (100 Pascal), which is technically easy to realize.
However, the cabin runs at a high speed in a local vacuum pipeline, which is comparable to that of an airplane, and the residual air in the pipeline has become the biggest obstacle. The solution is to install an air inlet fan and an air compressor in front of the passenger room to suck the air in front of the passenger room and then divert it to the back, thus reducing the air resistance. The linear motor arranged along the bottom of the pipeline provides power for the passenger compartment, and an air cushion of 0.5 ~ 1.3mm is formed between the bottom of the passenger compartment and the pipe wall, so that the passenger compartment is suspended on the air cushion, and high-speed driving can be realized only by overcoming air resistance.
During the high-speed operation of the passenger compartment, air friction will generate a lot of heat, so it is necessary to set up a cooling system to reduce the temperature. At the same time, the train can be braked by the fan and air compressor at the head of the passenger compartment. When the train starts to accelerate, the acceleration applied to the passengers is 0.5g, which is 2-3 times of the take-off and landing acceleration of the aircraft, which poses a certain challenge to the passengers. In terms of infrastructure, the "super loop" pipeline can be erected on the bridge or drilled underground, which can not only save land, but also achieve harmony with the surrounding environment.
The idea of "super cycle" is full, but the reality is very skinny. From imagination to technical realization, it takes hard work and there are a lot of technical problems to overcome. Just to give a few examples, the first is the control direction problem of the high-speed operation of the passenger room. As we all know, wheel-rail high-speed trains are guided by railway tracks, maglev trains are guided by electromagnets arranged on both sides of the line, and even cars are guided by the driver's steering wheel. So how is the unmanned cabin guided? How to avoid the traffic accident caused by the collision between the passenger car and the pipe wall when running at high speed through the bend? According to the research results, when the cabin runs at a high speed of 230m/s, as long as it deviates from the center line 1mm, it will bring terrible impact and vibration. It is not difficult for us to imagine that passengers must feel the same way when they travel in this environment as when they face a plane crash.
Secondly, how to ensure the safe braking of the passenger compartment? So far, the braking mode of "super-loop" train is still in the conceptual and preliminary simulation stage, and whether it can achieve high-speed and fast braking is the key to ensure the safety of passengers' lives and property. As far as wheel-rail high-speed EMUs are concerned, all of them adopt composite braking system, that is to say, as many as nine braking methods can be used in stages or mixed. The distance from braking to stopping is directly proportional to the speed of the train. Generally speaking, the braking stopping distance of trains with speed 120km/h or below is about 800m, while that of high-speed trains with speed of 300-350km/h is 5-6km. By analogy, it is not difficult for us to estimate the braking distance of the "super loop" train with a speed of1200 km/h. When the wheel-rail high-speed train brakes in all directions, it takes several kilometers to stop. It is too optimistic that the "super-loop" train can stop safely only by the braking force provided by thin air.
The third is the psychological problems of passengers. Many of us are more or less claustrophobic. In a closed space, we can neither walk, eat, or even go to the toilet, let alone be comfortable, let alone see the scenery outside. Once the disease breaks out, it is difficult to deal with it temporarily. In this claustrophobic environment, it is most suitable for adventure and excitement, not for long-distance travel. Therefore, it is also a problem that must be considered to solve passengers' travel psychology and provide them with a comfortable ride environment.
Elon musk, a technical genius, is ready to deal with it. Many technical talents around the world are gearing up and making every effort to realize this traffic revolution. So far, three "Hyperloop" technology companies have been established around the world to fight for their dreams. One is the ambitious HTT. In addition to building a "super ring road" from San Francisco to Los Angeles, they also set their sights on foreign countries, signed a construction contract with the Slovak government to connect slava, Vienna and Budapest, and began substantive research in March 20 16. In order to speed up the progress of R&D, in May of 20 15, HTT Company announced that it would build an 8-kilometer-long test line in California and break ground in June of 2011.500 million. In the next 32 months, the investment of10.50 billion US dollars will be completed, and the person in charge of the company conservatively predicts that if the "super loop" is to be put into practical use,
However, another company goes faster than HTT company, that is "Hyperloopone", formerly known as "Hyperloop Technology" company, which was renamed to avoid confusion with HTT company name. The company is going to build a "super ring road" from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and has built a test line about 5 kilometers long in Nevada, USA. On May 16, the propulsion system of the train was tested outdoors for the first time and was successful. It only takes 1 second to accelerate from zero to 96 kilometers. According to the company's plan, "Hyperloop No.1" will carry out a comprehensive test of the complete propulsion system at the end of 20 16. This test is also of great significance, which means that "Supercircuit" bid farewell to the theory of armchair strategist and began a long journey of tackling difficulties. According to the plan of "Hyperloop No.1" company, cargo transportation can be carried out in 20 19 at the earliest, and manned test can be carried out in 202 1 year.
In addition to the competition between the two companies, spaceX, founded by elon musk, also participated in the technical research and development of "Supercircuit", proposed to build a test track of 1.5 km, and released the "Description of Test Track of Supercircuit" of Space Exploration Technology Company to the public in February, 438+08, listing a series of technical problems that need to be solved by brainstorming.
It is also worth mentioning that Canada's TransPod company specializes in tackling the key equipment in the "super highway"-the cabin. 20/kloc-in March of 0/6, TransPod announced that it would develop a full-scale "super-loop" cabin, which was unveiled at the Berlin Expo in February of 2065438. The company's R&D plan is ambitious. They set the target speed of the cabin as 1000km/h, which is automatically controlled by computer and powered by solar energy. It is estimated that by 2020, commercial cabins will be off-line and put into use.
It remains to be seen whether the "super ring road" can bring technological revolution to the traditional transportation field.
(This article is selected from the author's new book "Past Life of High-speed Railway" published by China Railway Publishing House on October/1month in 2006.