19 ms·
That capsule (http://images.bwbx.io/cms/2013-08-12/0812_Hyperloop_605.jpg http://images.bwbx.io/cms/2013-08-12/0812_Hyperloop_605.jpg) looks like a claustrophob
by dkulchenko 13y ago
That capsule (http://images.bwbx.io/cms/2013-08-12/0812_Hyperloop_605.jpg http://images.bwbx.io/cms/2013-08-12/0812_Hyperloop_605.jpg) looks like a claustrophobic's nightmare.
Otherwise very, very cool.
- popopje 13y agowhat happens when you develop unexpected gastric issues mid-30 minute journey?
- venomsnake 13y agoWell the pod has compressor - so it literally can hit the fan :) The only thing I really dislike so far is the battery pack in the pod. I would have wanted to see something more elegant instead. And this way we halve the weight of the pod.
- dclowd9901 13y agoFor the lack of space between the tube and the carrier, is wireless electrical transfer out of the question? Or is that not feasible with the amount of electricity being dealt with here?
- adventureartist 13y agoMy understanding is that putting the air power in the capsule is in part to make the tube simpler and cheaper to make and maintain.
- mpyne 13y agoWireless power transfer would likely significantly complicate the design and construction of the tube itself, which as it stands can be just a dumb hollow cylinder on a stick for the vast majority of its length. Perhaps the redundant vacuum pumps are spaced frequently enough that the power transfer problem would be easy, but I doubt it.
- r00fus 13y agoWhat happens currently on a high-speed rail system? I suppose there's a lavatory in the HSR (e.g.: France's TGV).
- darkmighty 13y agoHigh speed rail cars interiors are not much different from regular ones, except from higher luxury cabins.
- m_mueller 13y agoAs always: Shinkansen to the rescue: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lflfg60nlg0/TpRCuhQq9bI/AAAAAAAAIdo/4Jw8ZtXyVl4/s640/P1050071.jpg http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lflfg60nlg0/TpRCuhQq9bI/AAAAAAAAId...
- potatolicious 13y agoCurrently you get up and go to the bathroom at the end of the car. I've only had time to skim the full PDF, but there's something about experiencing 0.5g of acceleration - unsure if that is a constant or if that is simply right at the very beginning. If you're going to experience 0.5g of acceleration over a prolonged period, letting passengers get up and move about is going to be a bad idea. It also doesn't look like there's enough roof to get about in that capsule. 0.5g doesn't sound like a lot until you think about it as 50% of your body weight tacked on, in a direction you're not used to having it tacked on. Pretty simple in a seat, much less simple trying to walk.
- praxulus 13y agoAssuming it's very smooth acceleration, it's just like standing on a 26º slope, feeling slightly heavier than normal. Healthy individuals should have no problem at all in such a situation.
- mason55 13y ago> unsure if that is a constant or if that is simply right at the very beginning. If the top speed is 700mph then you'd have 142 seconds of 0.5 g acceleration to get to top speed. How often you'd be accelerating or decelerating would depend on how many intermediate stations there are.
- fatjokes 13y agoEach chair is actually a toilet. Problem solved.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- snorkel 13y agodiapers
- marssaxman 13y agoSame thing that happens if you develop unexpected gastric issues during a 30 minute plane flight, I'd imagine, since you'd spend the whole time strapped in for take-off and then landing.
- frenchy 13y agoI'm pretty sure in this case they would let you go to the bathroom.
- dismiss21x 13y agoI've been rudely informed to go back to my seat when I tried.
- fatjokes 13y agonope. and if you go to the bathroom right before takeoff, you'll delay the flight.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- kalid 13y agoThe same thing that happens when you develop gastric issues on a 30-minute helicopter tour, as the minister in a wedding ceremony, or in a dentist's chair.
- teek 13y agoDon't forget we're also comparing to HSR. On a train you can go to the toilet anytime you want.
- kalid 13y agoSure, unless that bathroom is occupied by someone who had gastric issues before you did :). The meta point: If you can't plan around a 30-minute window of no bathroom access, that biological restriction is a bigger concern than arriving at your destination quickly.
- VikingCoder 13y agosbashyal pointed out in another thread that you can't use the restroom on a commercial airline during take-off or landing either, which I thought was a great point.
- toddmorey 13y agoHow is that any worse than standard commercial air travel? Plus, really, you are talking about a thirty-minute journey.
- nonchalance 13y agoThe journeys currently envisioned by the hyperloop are more appropriate for trains, and Acela (for example) is actually pretty roomy
- what_ever 13y agoI don't think Acela journeys are 30 minutes long, though.
- toble 13y agoYou can get up and walk around on a plane.
- sbashyal 13y agoNot for the first 30 minutes - which in this case is the entire trip.
- toble 13y agoI think one advantage of air travel is it's distracting. Busy flight attendants, announcements from pilots, plane moving to the runway, taking off... so there's less reason to concentrate on the lack of space while stuck in the seat.
- greedo 13y agoI'm sure the seatbacks would all have some net connected display for movies or actual computing.
- corwinstephen 13y ago
- raldi 13y agoDoesn't look any more cramped than the back seat of a car.
- untog 13y ago...which is pretty cramped.
- redthrowaway 13y agoYet still tolerable for a half-hour journey.
- jfb 13y agoRight, but the Hyperloop journey as proposed is 35 minutes long. It seems a reasonable trade-off to me.
- trafficlight 13y agoAnd at a cost of ~$20. That's pretty good.
- jeffasinger 13y agoThat cost is the infrastructure cost, amortized over a long time, not counting R&D, maintenance, marketing, ticketing, and various personnel costs, assuming it's near capacity. Translation, it's going to cost more than $20.
- pxtang 13y agoEven if it costs $100 for one way, it's still cheaper than plane, and you save an hour on travel time.
- kevincrane 13y agoPlus the 2 hours spent at the airport in security, waiting, and getting baggage at the end.
- ciex 13y agoHow do you get out of there in case of fire? If the doors open like that I don't think it would work while inside the tube wouldn't it?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- marshray 13y agoWell, there's a low grade vacuum outside so you probably don't want to. It's a failure of the onboard steam tanks that scares me. ("The steam is stored onboard until reaching the station. Water and steam tanks are changed automatically at each stop") I don't want to think about what the result of that would look like for the cleanup crew. Eeeewww.
- evan_ 13y agoIt's a big self-contained pod, they'd just pull it off the line and bury the whole thing.
- marshray 13y agoWell the pod might contain the steam initially, but I doubt it would be engineered to survive the increased heat and pressure for very long. They're just gonna have to send in a crew of astronauts to chisel the freeze-dried human stew off the inside of the tube.
- sitharus 13y agoI really doubt the steam tank will be inside the pressurised volume. If they fail they would vent overboard. While an explosive failure would probably cause problems it wouldn't expose the passengers to high pressure steam. The failure mode for composite overwrap pressure vessels is a slow leak, due to the overwrap containing the metal.
- marshray 13y agoA vehicle near the end of its ride will be carrying up to 818 kg (1800 lb) of superheated steam (127 C, 260 F). The 4000 kg (8,900 lb) of onboard batteries and 1800 kg compressor will be dumping heat too. This is 6600 kg of "hot stuff", whereas the entire capsule is projected to have a mass of 15000 kg. The current design has the passengers in an enclosed capsule in between the compressors and the batteries, with a pressurized air channel running right down the center isle. Keeping the cabin cool will be a challenge. If that emergency braking is activated, it could get a little warm in there before they are rescued. I think they may have to quickly repressurize the loop if a car ever gets stuck.
- mortenjorck 13y agoI'm not claustrophobic, but this image ever so slightly terrified me: http://i.imgur.com/lGD9bUP.png http://i.imgur.com/lGD9bUP.png I have to wonder, would making the capsule the size of a small subway car completely destroy the economics of it?
- axus 13y agoIt's also scary that the passengers would suffocate if the life support system failed.
- stcredzero 13y agoNo different than planes.
- abruzzi 13y agoExcept that planes have (supposedly) trained staff that can go around and make sure everyone is getting oxygen. These pods are automated and would most likely have no staff on board.
- cenhyperion 13y agoPutting on an oxygen mask is not a difficult operation.
- numbsafari 13y agoUnless you are otherwise incapacitated due to whatever is causing the emergency in the first place.
- ajuc 13y agoYou can always push "emergency break, quickly depresurize tube and open doors" button. No such luck in plane, and planes are still safer than cars.
- donpdonp 13y agoI get the feeling the space in the passenger car (which is limited) was designed by people who build space capsules.
- Sami_Lehtinen 13y agoHave you ever been in submarine?
- tenaciousJk 13y agoNo.
- pradocchia 13y agoThere is in fact a proposed passenger plus vehicle capsule: The passenger plus vehicle version of the Hyperloop will depart as often as the passenger only version, but will accommodate 3 vehicles in addition to the passengers. [p12] The passenger plus vehicle version of the Hyperloop capsule has an increased frontal area of 43 ft2 (4.0 m2 ), not including any propulsion or suspension components. This accounts for enough width to fit a vehicle as large as the Tesla Model X. [p15] Tubes would be bigger, and the system would cost more.