US company Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HyperloopTT) has presented the first passenger capsule for the Hyperloop in Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain. Built by a Spanish partner of HyperloopTT called Airtificial, the capsule is called the 'Quintero One'.
The Quintero One is constructed almost entirely of Vibranium, a special double-layer smart composite material developed in-house by HyperloopTT. The passenger capsule was designed by UK-based PriestmanGoode, for which this design firm and HyperloopTT were awarded the Gold award at the 2017 London Design Awards. The passenger capsule now presented was built by HyperloopTT's partner Airtificial. This company was formed from the merger of composites specialist Carbures and Inypsa, a supplier to Airbus and Boeing, among others.
82 carbon fibre panels and 75,000 rivets
The passenger capsule is 32 metres long in total, while length of the cabin is 15 metres. The capsule weighs 5 tonnes. HyperloopTT reports that a total of 21,000 hours were spent on the design of the Quintero One, while assembly took some 5,000 hours. The passenger capsule consists of a total of 82 panels, each built from carbon fibre. A total of 75,000 rivets were used in the assembly. The capsule has 72 sensors.
The Quintero One is not yet ready for commercial use. In the next phase of development, the capsule will be shipped to HyperloopTT's research and development (R&D) centre in Toulouse, France. Here, the capsule will be further assembled and integrated into the Hyperloop system.
Safety certifications and insurance
Earlier this month, HyperloopTT announced it had developed the first set of safety requirements and certifications in collaboration with inspection and certification institute TÜV SÜD and German insurer Munich Re, as well as an insurance framework for HyperloopTT systems worldwide. Both were important hurdles to overcome to enable commercial use of passenger capsules for the Hyperloop.
"Last year, we already announced that the HyperloopTT system was insurable," Claudia Hasse, head of special enterprise risk at Munich Re, said when introducing this insurance framework. "We are now able to insure their first commercial projects worldwide and are working together to incorporate our services into HyperloopTT's technology licence."
Ready for commercial use in 2019
"In 2019, the capsule should be ready to carry passengers," explained Bibop Gresta, board chairman and co-founder of HyperloopTT. "Since we have made great strides in terms of government regulations with our safety guidelines and insurance frameworks, we are now closer than ever to putting the Hyperloop into practice."
HyperloopTT signed a contract earlier this year to build the first Hyperloop systems in Abu Dhabi, Ukraine and China. In Abu Dhabi, the system will be used to connect the capital Abu Dhabi with Al Ain, the emirate's second city. In Ukraine, a commercial Hyperloop system is being built in phases, with the first phase consisting of a 10-kilometre stretch. This first stretch will be used to create the required legal framework needed to roll out a wider Hyperloop system in the country. China will deploy the Hyperloop system as part of the Silk Road Economic Belt, part of the Chinese government's Belt and Road initiative. This development strategy aims to connect and create cooperation between Eurasian countries.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: HyperloopTT (pictured)
