TU Munich wins the Hyperloop Pod Competition
The WARR Hyperloop team of the Technical University of Munich showed a particularly modest behavior as part of the unveiling of their third Hyperloop pod. This was due in particular to the expectations that the people of Munich did not want to further fuel. Gabriele Semino , one of the project leaders of WARR-Hyperloop, confirmed in advance that the Hyperloop pod could reach a theoretical speed of 600 kilometers per hour . A practical test could not be realized in advance, so that no statement about the actual speed could be made. And indeed, the capsule of the Munich remained below the expected maximum speed. However, this was not crucial, so that the German team could win with the 70-kilogram capsule.
Top speed of 467 km / h
Already last year, Elon Musk and his company SpaceX organized this competition, which aims to send a technical prototype of a pod at maximum speed through the 1.2-kilometer-long tube . The peculiarity of this tube is a low pressure of 0.4 bar . The route runs alongside the SpaceX headquarters. In total, 20 teams took part in the competition, who traveled from all over the world. Participants in the final race, however, were allowed only the teams that made in the previous tests, the strict declines of SpaceX engineers and dry runs went through without vacuum .
After a lead time of 40 minutes in which the air was removed from the test column and the capsule was loaded, the Munich team reached a top speed of 467 kilometers per hour . At this speed, the TU team reached a new top speed and even beat the pusher pod , which was developed by Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX. According to the WARR Hyperloop team, the performance of the pod was even slowed down as the track was not designed for speed and corresponding braking maneuver . However, this success is Munich's third consecutive win, as Munich's records in the first and second competitions reached speeds of 94 and 324 kilometers per hour.
Second place far away
The second place had to be beaten by a long shot, because the pod of the Dutch TU Delft reached a comparatively low 142 kilometers per hour . However, the team had to struggle after arrival with numerous problems. Amongst other things, the pod's circuit board burned through. Third place went to the Swiss team from the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne . The top speed of the pod was 88.5 kilometers per hour .
However, in addition to the speed record, the WARR team also won one of the three innovation prizes . As part of the side event , the students developed a magnetic leviation pod that hovered over a distance of 25 meters without contact . According to Elon Musk, the results of the students are stunning . Accordingly, it is not particularly important to win, but to work on this technical development. Above all, new technical possibilities and transport concepts are to be stimulated within the framework of the competition so that mobility is sustainably changed.
