HyperLoop RailCar Concept using DeHavilland 30 Passenger Dash 8 Fuselages

The use of DeHavilland's Dash 8 Fuselages as the passenger carrying HyperLoop pods provides a highly reliable structural system known for its robustness, longevity and availability.

Costs, therefore, to achieve an economical intent for the Project are significantly reduced on all fronts ...engineering, design, prototyping, planning, fabrication, testing etc etc

The Fan/Propeller is situated to the rear of the pod partly for convenience but mostly to provide some control over the boundary layer flowing over and around the pod. (It is considered here that total evacuation of the tube/pipe will not be possible so some air resistance will prevail which is better controlled via boundary layer means)

The use of the Dash 8 Fuselage under floor space for ancillary components provides a weight distribution opportunity already built into an existing component without the escalating engineering costs if starting out from a scratch design.

The linear motors in this concept will be of the repulsion type providing a levitation component in conjunction with the air bearing components. The air bearing provisions are arranged to be part of the stationary structure where a mildly air pressurised ductwork is provided with bleed holes that only open when the pod passes over them creating the air bearing cushion localised to the pod with the most economic use of air cushion power requirements.

The windows may appear redundant, but in some applications the system may be operating outside the pipe at significantly lower speeds, in which case being able to look out the windows at the scenery enhances the passengers travelling experience. In the open concept design the support track system would be the same as within the 12' diameter tube the fan/propeller providing thrust as required.

There are advanced future technologies where linear motors are concerned:-

The advent of high temperature superconductors would further improve the efficiency of the HyperLoop system to an extent where the power supplied may be easily handled by alternative energy solar and wind turbines

Having room temperature superconductor coil windings for the motors and relevant gigafactory battery standby installations strategically located along the route power outages would have no effect on the continuous operation of the system, further enhancing the economics of the proposed system.

(Future motor description R&D exceeds the 500 word limit and will be outlined separately)

Driving the propeller/fan at the rear would be achieved by induced current from the motor coil pulses collected by the pod's onboard transformer which would also serve as power distribution for the pod electrical services, -storage and load levelling being provided by Tesla Gigafactory Batteries and SuperCapacitors.

Proposing the use of the Dash 8 fuselages as the pods also utilises existing tooling for increased production further reducing the costs to get to a plausible end result.

The European ATR 42 aircraft has similar dimensions to the Dash 8 and the Europeans will certainly look at that as a cost reduction way to get to their HyperLoop equivalent.