Let's Go Big! - Propulsion & Passengers Concept

In addition to an extremely detailed competition pod design we also created a brief overview of our plans on how we would convert our findings and learning from the competition pod in to a full scale model. While designing the competition scale pod we faced and overcame many challenges so we now have some idea of what to expect for designing the full scale pod and what kinds of designs are practical. Using this hard earned wisdom our team came up with a stunning concept that we would create into a detailed design in case we got the opportunity.

There are a lot of new factors which must be taken in to consideration for this transformation. For example, the full scale pod has to travel hundreds of mile as opposed to a mile in the competition pod. This means we can no longer use the compressed air propulsion system which will deplete within traveling just a mile. So, in the full scale we will need a sustainable propulsion system that keeps on propelling across hundreds of miles. To solve this problem we used twin compressors that suck the air from the front of the pod creating a low pressure area in the front that pulls the pod forward. This air then travels through the center of the pod and exits at the rear through twin nozzles providing a high amount of thrust. This system gives rise to more factors such as safely transferring the air that gets heated by the compressor to the nozzles. In order to do this safely we use two thermally insulated vents located in the center of the pod under the refrigeration system.

Since the tube the pod will be travelling in is at an extremely low pressure that makes passenger transportation a challenge unlike the competition pod in which the sole purpose if the pod was only to safely reach high speeds. The environment in the tube is identical to

the atmosphere at high altitudes in which aeroplanes operate. Thus, similar to aeroplanes the full scale pod will have pressurized cabin for passengers with backup life support systems. The passenger cabins are divided into two compartments by the air tubes and the refrigeration systems in the center. There are also two additional compartments for luggage with a capacity to carry 30 bags of 23 Kg each.

These are just a few of many factors which we had to take into consideration in order to prepare our full scale pod design. Addition of all these features required an

exponential increase in size of the pod. To accommodate all these changes the length, width and the height had to be increased by 230%, 233% and 283% for an increase of 100% for the track size. The size increase accounts for passengers, luggage, upgraded propulsion, safety systems and all other internal subsystems which needed to be changed or improved.