Transportation has been evolving for a long time, and today we have gasoline cars and high-speed rail, and in the future, maglev and hyperloop technologies will revolutionize industries and our daily lives. These technologies are faster and more efficient than conventional transportation and have the potential to solve our energy challenges.
Transportation has been evolving for a long time. At first, people traveled on foot, but as the century progressed, palanquins and rickshaws appeared, and now we see gasoline cars and trains on the road. In particular, we live in an era where you can get from Seoul to Busan in 2 hours and 40 minutes on the KTX, and fly to Japan in less than 2 hours. These modes of transportation are deeply embedded in our lives and have become indispensable, so when a faster and more innovative mode of transportation comes along, it has a huge impact on the development of the industry and our lives.
Recently, maglev trains have garnered a lot of attention, and it is said that there will be a transportation system that can travel from Seoul to Busan in 16 minutes. This uses hyperloop technology, which, if realized, will have an enormous impact on our society. Let’s take a look at how maglev trains and hyperloops work.
Maglev trains are simply trains that use magnetic forces to levitate vehicles above the tracks. To make a maglev train move, you need two forces: one to lift the train off the tracks and another to keep it moving in the desired direction. Let’s look at the first of these two forces first. There are two main ways to lift a train off the tracks. There are two ways to lift a train off the tracks: repulsion, which uses the repulsive force of the magnet’s poles, and attraction, which uses the attractive force between the magnet and the magnetic material. Superconducting suction uses the repulsive force of the magnets’ poles to lift the train about 10 centimeters into the air, which is ideal for high-speed travel. The phase conduction suction system is suitable for low-speed travel because the train is equipped with ∩-shaped electromagnets that wrap around the rails, and the suction force varies depending on the size of the gap between the electromagnets and the rails, maintaining the height at which the train floats. The repulsion type allows for high-speed travel, but it becomes difficult to control at high speeds, so the suction type is used. Currently, Germany uses suction and Japan uses repulsion.
Secondly, linear motors are used to move the train in the desired direction. This is a linear version of the circular coil of the motor we know. By changing the direction of the current flowing in the coil, the magnetic field changes, and the force between the train and the track changes periodically into attractive and repulsive forces. Therefore, by adjusting the frequency of the alternating current flowing in the coil according to the speed of the train, the train can continue to apply only forward force. This is how maglev trains are currently operated.
Hyperloop is a more advanced version of maglev, combining the principles of maglev with pneumatic technology. The combination of the two technologies allows the Hyperloop to reach incredible speeds of up to 1200 kilometers per hour. The core principle of this technology is to minimize air resistance and friction by running in a vacuum tube. Just as maglev trains use magnetic forces to levitate the train above the tracks, allowing it to maintain high speeds without friction with the tracks, hyperloops use the same method of reducing friction by levitating slightly off the ground.
More specifically, Hyperloop uses two technologies to reduce drag. The first is vacuum maglev technology, which maintains a near-vacuum inside the tube, allowing the train to move using magnetic forces alone, and the second is strong air pressure that pushes the vehicle forward. And while hyperloops may look similar to conventional trains, there’s a big difference in how they work. Hyperloops use magnetic fields for propulsion and blast air to the ground to reduce friction. It also gets its power from solar panels mounted on top of vacuum tubes. The above-ground tube that the train passes through is supported by earthquake-resistant columns every 30 meters to withstand the speed of the train.
Hyperloop commercialization is currently underway in South Korea, but it has yet to be fully realized. The Korea Railway Research Institute (KRRI) has successfully tested a ‘hypertube’ train based on hyperloop technology at speeds exceeding 1,000 kilometers per hour. The train aims to reduce travel time between Seoul and Busan to 30 minutes. Hyperloop technology is also showing promise near Las Vegas, Nevada, where the world’s first full-scale hyperloop system has completed more than 400 tests on a 500-meter-long test track, and is being open-sourced to create opportunities for a wide range of interested experts and entrepreneurs to advance the technology together. Compared to conventional high-speed rail, Hyperloop is cheaper, more convenient, faster, and immune to external factors such as weather. In particular, they can be self-powered using solar energy, which is a great way to solve energy problems. However, there are still many technologies that are lacking. We will need to develop high-efficiency air compressors that can lift heavy trains and make them run quickly, as well as technology to control and balance them at high speeds.
If we solve these challenges one by one, we will soon be living in a new era. Looking back at the history of transportation development in the past, the introduction of new technologies has always revolutionized our lives. Now, we’re on the cusp of another moment when advanced technologies like maglev and hyperloop will revolutionize our lives. We should be excited about the new possibilities that these changes will bring, and continue to research and develop for a better future.
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