Indian Team Makes It To The Hyperloop Design Competition Finals, Could Redefine The Future Of Travel

Recently we spoke about Elon Musk's dream project, the Hyperloop, making travel possible at the speed of sound. To make this happen, Musk's space program, Space X, hosted a Hyperloop Pod Competition giving students the opportunity to build, what is being touted as, the future of transportation. The University of Cincinnati is one of the universities to make it to the finals of the competition, and that makes it worth reading about because it has been made possible by an Indian team!

To bring you up to speed, the idea of travelling at the speed of light was conceived by Elon Musk, the CEO, CTO and founder of Space X, CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, and a very cool guy, back in 2013, when he was stuck in traffic. He thought of this pod being propelled through a tube 12 feet in diameter, transporting 20-30 people faster than anyone could ever imagine. The tube would have low air pressure in order to minimise the air resistance, making it possible for the pod to go that fast. Hyperloop would make a journey from Delhi to Mumbai possible in 1 hr 14 mins, making it the fastest mode of travel for man.

Hyperloop UC

The birth of Hyperloop UC

In order to make this possible, Space X announced a design competition that'd be tested on their one-mile-long test track built in California. Now to make a design that can facilitate a pod going over 760 miles per hour is no joke, and neither is it possible for one person. Thus, in order to make it happen, third-year aerospace engineering graduate student, Dhaval Shiyani, formed a team of students he knew would play their part perfectly. Hyperloop UC happened.

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Over 1,000 (300+ teams) from all across the world applied for the competition, including team Hyperloop UC. The selection process was rather straightforward. Teams had to present what they wanted to achieve with their designs, including the obstacles that they might face turning the design into reality. Off the 300, 124 teams from 20 different countries submitted their final designs at the Hyperloop design weekend at the end of January, earlier this year,

¡°The potential of such a transportation system is enormous. Hyperloop has spawned a technology movement across the world and UC¡ªbeing a top research university¡ªhas befittingly taken up the challenge. We are applying our classroom knowledge to this real-world, groundbreaking, new technological application. We have the task of building something wholly original here. We have no guidelines on how to build this pod which makes things very challenging and, at the same time, all the more interesting because it has never been done before. It¡¯s immensely exciting to think that we¡¯re one of the very first people in the world working on this concept, a concept that could entirely change the way we travel in the near future,¡± said Dhaval.

Hyperloop UC

Describing their concept, team member Kiran Siddappaji, who's also an aerospace engineering masters and Ph.D. student said, ¡°Some of the innovative features we have is a counter-rotating fan, which is a better compression system than a single stage fan, because of its torque balance, high-efficiency, high-pressure ratio.¡±

Currently, Hyperloop UC is preparing for the final round of the competition to be held at the Space X one-mile track in California. Born in Chennai and raised in Delhi, MBA and chemical engineering graduate and Hyperloop UC team member Sid Thatham said,"Our team has focused on every aspect of the Hyperloop, from the station design to the minute details of levitation, aerodynamics, control systems, etc. Moreover, we have incorporated many unique features into our final design. The shear technical challenge involved in such a project could not have been overcome if we didn¡¯t have a strong engineering education as a foundation ¡ª our time at UC CEAS provided us that foundation! The quality of engineering courses at CEAS is second to none. Additionally, we have developed a great network of fellow engineers while working on projects, thesis and courses at CEAS. This very network was the catalyst for the formation of our core team.¡±

Adding to Sid's comments, Shiyani said,"We have managed to find the perfect balance between the SpaceX competition design and the ultimate scalable version of the Hyperloop which will one day carry humans between cities, forever revolutionizing the transportation industry as we know it.¡±

Hyperloop UC

¡°Imagine the prospect of living in Chennai and going to Bengaluru in 20 minutes to work on a daily basis, imagine how much it would change life! Maybe it¡¯s too ambitious to even imagine such a thing at this point, but that is exactly what everybody said about Elon Musk¡¯s previous endeavors. The world saw his ability to make others believe in big dreams and turn them into reality with SpaceX and Tesla Motors. Hyperloop might just revolutionize the way people travel in future and Elon himself once said, we can either watch it happen or be a part of it." Sid added.

We'll have to wait till June to know whether our Indian contingent representing the University of Cincinnati actually ends up winning it when they produce the final design for the world to see. Either way, it'll be a day to mark on your calendars, for the future of transportation will be redefined come June.

Until then, we shall wait with bated breath.