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Delft Hyperloop: The Future of Travel
The Hyperloop is a super-fast means of transportation invented by Elon Musk. It consists of a Hyperloop capsule that travels through a vacuum tube, which means there is almost no air resistance. Inside the tubes, the vehicles can reach speeds of over 1,000 km/h, while being more energy efficient, environmentally friendly and comfortable than airplanes. In this way, people could travel from Amsterdam to Paris in 30 minutes. To accelerate the development of the Hyperloop concept, SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space company organized a “Hyperloop Pod” competition until 2019. In it, student teams from around the world were challenged to design and build a half-size Hyperloop pod to travel through SpaceX’s 1.2km low-pressure tube in California (US).
Inspired by Elon Musk’s idea, a group of students from Delft University of Technology joined forces and founded ‘Delft Hyperloop’ in 2016. This is also known as the D:Dream Team and is intended to stimulate innovations. The team consists of new members each year.
Since September 2021, Delft Hyperloop team VI of 37 students from different fields of study at TU Delft is working towards the European Hyperloop Week which takes place from July 19 – 24, 2022. The team is building on five years of experience and multiple great performances in the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Contest (1st place in 2017, 2nd place in 2018) and previous editions of the European Hyperloop Week. This year, one of their goals is to develop a floating pod, a crucial step for the completion of the Hyperloop concept.
CarbonWebshop has been an official partner of the Delft Hyperloop team since 2018. We provide the team with carbon fiber tubes, tube sections and plates used in the construction of the new Hyperloop Pod model. We also offer the D:Dream Team the possibility to rework carbon components using CNC milling and waterjet cutting.
The D:Dream Team uses CarbonWebshop’s ‘High Performance’ carbon fiber tubes with an outer dimension of 35mm and a wall thickness of 1.5 mm (CBU 3532 2010 TG) for the support structure of the Hyperloop Pod. These round tubes are laminated from high-quality prepreg carbon fiber and epoxy resin. The fibers are oriented in two directions, providing the tube with optimal strength and stiffness combined with low weight and weather and chemical resistance. The ‘High Performance’ carbon tubes are available directly from stock up to a length of 2000 mm. They have an attractive carbon exterior, finished with a high gloss or satin PU coating. The tubes are perfect to combine with the Refiflex carbon fiber tube connectors to create lightweight frames and structures.
Why did we the D-Dream Team chose the “High Performance” carbon fibre tubes for this specific project?
– A relatively low specific weight
– High Specific strength (higher strength at less weight) and load-bearing capacity
– Very good fatigue properties
– Long lifespan
– Low maintenance costs (especially in the long run)
– High chemical resistance against acids and chemicals
– Weather and water resistance (the material hardly corrodes and absorbs little moisture)
– Possibility of integration of inserts
– Good impact properties
Introducing new technology in real life means countless considerations, from technical, through economic, to political, and so the European Hyperloop Week will aim to cover as much of those as possible for an all-encompassing analysis of the integration of the fifth mode of transportation in our society. The week will be filled with updates on the developments in and around the field of Hyperloop. The exhibiting teams will present their Hyperloop related research, prototypes, and technology solutions in the Design Competition. Systems that stand out through innovation, feasibility, technical evaluation, and public appeal will receive one of six EHW awards. The grading of the systems applying for an award will be done by an impartial jury consisting of people with a technical or design background.
1st place: Delft Hyperloop VI from Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
WE DID IT! Delft Hyperloop VI won the Complete Pod Design Award in the European Hyperloop Week. After a year of hard work, long days, sometimes nights, it was nerve-wracking on Saturday 23rd of July in Hilversum. The demonstration day was the moment where we had all been waiting for. Helios I had to compete against 3 other hyperloop pods.On the 3rd run on Saturday, the team and crowd went wild. Our pod performed better than we could imagine. Helios I performed two perfect runs, one using our regenerative braking and showing that our pod can move in both directions. At the end of the day could even show a full-speed run levitating perfectly stable.On Sunday 24th of July, it was time for the award ceremony in Delft. All teams were excited and nervous at the same time. It was at the moment of handing out the final award: “Complete Pod Design Award” that the audience could hear a pin drop. The Complete Pod Design Award goes to… DELFT HYPERLOOP! It was an exciting and emotional moment for us as a team. A whole year lead up to this moment. And we did it. Next to receiving the Complete Pod Design Award, we also received the Innovation Award given out by Eurotube for being the most innovative team in the competition. These achievements are of course not something we could have done on our own. This whole year, we had help from all of our partners in working towards this moment. For this, we thank you all so much!
