Advances in Hyperloop technology have had a boost from a successful first test by Dutch firm, Hardt. The test took place at the company’s test centre in the northeast of the Netherlands, and involved speed and system trials of a capsule vehicle inside a specially-constructed 420-metre vacuum tube.
All hype, no loop?
Hyperloop travel was first discussed in the late 19th century and picked up again by Elon Musk in the early 2010s. The idea was for ultra fast public transport, which would use a vacuum to remove air from a tubular track, reducing drag while a “maglev” (magnetically levitated) capsule delivers commuters to their destinations at speeds that could rival air travel.
A flurry of research and investment encouraged by Musk has led to teams around the world making relatively small steps towards making the idea viable. Some have written off the concept as mostly hype not hyperloop, with one professor of planning and public policy, Robert Noland, dismissing the research as “chasing a shiny object.”
Tricky triple trial
Now though, Hardt has turned up the heat by performing a tricky triple trial run. “Today, with the first successful test, we were able to levitate the vehicle, also turn on the guidance system and the propulsion system,” Marinus van der Meijs, the technology and engineering director of Hardt, said.
The vehicle was then moved into launch position, placed, van der Meijs explained, “about 20 metres into the tube. And then we launched it with an acceleration similar to that of a metro [train], up to a top speed of about 30 km/h, about 100m in the pipe.”
“Very complicated puzzle”
While the rate and distance of travel might not seem much for a system once mentioned in the same breath as an airliner, the Dutch company aims to one day hit speeds of up to 700 km/h but one of the blocks on them and other developers is the significant investment in infrastructure and public sector collaboration required.
Still, this first successful test is a coup for Hardt, proving they have solved part of the “very complicated puzzle” that makes up this mobility system.
“The most difficult things that we are doing now is to test all of these functions together. said Roel van de Pas, commercial director of Hardt Hyperloop. “Levitation, propulsion, guidance, all of those functions we are now capable of executing as an orchestra, making them work together.”
