Hyperloop – a vacuumised tube in which a pod carrying people or cargo travels at speeds exceeding 1000 kmph – has caught the fancy of the world, with entrepreneurs like Elon Musk backing it. Heartening, Chennai is in the vanguard of hyperloop research, holding out hopes for India becoming a leader in this technology.
The research seems to be well-funded. The Ministry of Railways provided a grant of Rs 8.4 crore to the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, to take hyperloop research further. Earlier, L&T had also funded IIT-M for the same purpose. Funds given by the Railways is likely to be used to set up a Centre of Excellence for hyperloop technology and also to build a 500-km tube, to test hyperloop systems under development.
At IIT-M, it all started about four years ago, when a team of students, which called itself Avishkar Hyperloop, responded to a ‘hyperloop challenge’ of Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The challenge called researchers to come up with hyperloop solutions. The technology itself is in its infancy. However, global competitions run by SpaceX’s Elon Musk and other big players have kept the world’s emerging scientists and engineers working on “HL”, in a feeding-frenzy.
The team, mentored by IITM’s Prof Satya Chakravarthy of the Department of Aerospace Engineering, came fourth among 21 shortlisted competitors. Enthused, Avishkar continued its research. Avishkar Hyperloop also won significant laurels in the European Hyperloop Week, held in Valencia, Spain, in 2021.
And now, with funding from Railways and L&T, the Avishkar Team, which is today a 70 strong, interdisciplinary team with members drawn from 11 academic disciplines, is rolling up its sleeves for more serious research work.
R&D ON THREE BUCKETS…
The research is planned to be carried out in Thaiyur, 35 km from Chennai, where a new campus of IIT-M is coming up. The research work falls into three buckets.
The first is the development of low-cost materials (composites) for hyperloop tubes. This is aimed at making hyperloop travel viable.
The second is propulsion systems for the pods, such as induction motors and magnetic levitation. The Avishkar Hyperloop Team will be implementing a scalable levitation mechanism on its Hyperloop pod. “Pushing the ‘Linear Induction Magnet’ (LIM) mechanism for contactless propulsion to its limits,” says IIT-M website. The team will also induct upgraded power and control systems and are also aiming to devise novel guidance systems and regenerative braking at a lab scale.
The third bucket is testing. The project is to build a half-a-kilometer test tube to test the hyperloop systems. Experts at IIT-M claim that hyperloops are cheaper, by a third than high-speed trains.
START WITH CARGO…
Researchers at the IIT-M are contemplating to try hyperloops for cargo movement first as it needs fewer safety features. Moving perishable agri commodities (fruits and vegetables…) and fish from production points to consumption centres might be a good way of quickly breaking into ‘hyperloop’.
