Method and an article of manufacture for determining optimum operating points for power/cost and helium-air ratios in a tubular transportation system
AssigneeHyperloop Transportation Technologies, Inc.
InventorsALEXANDRE NEOPHYTOU, MICHAEL SARIN, ALEXANDRE ZISA, SPENCER JOHN BALDWIN
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tubular transportation system is disclosed for transporting one or more passengers or one or more cargos via a capsule along a predetermined route. A method and an algorithm are described for determining optimum operating points for power/cost and helium-air ratios in a plurality of substantially evacuated tubes in a tubular transportation system for transporting one or more passengers or one or more cargos via a capsule along a predetermined route.
Claims20
An article of manufacture having non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable program code executable by a processor to implement a method to determine optimum operating points for power/cost and helium-air ratios in a plurality of substantially evacuated tubes in a tubular transportation system for transporting one or more passengers or one or more cargos via a capsule along a predetermined route, the non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising:
- (a) computer readable program code identifying a speed of the capsule;
- and
- (b) computer readable program code identifying a pressure to be maintained within a tube amongst the plurality of substantially evacuated tubes;
- (c) computer readable program code identifying, for the speed identified in (a), a helium-air ratio based on an analysis of a total power required at a plurality of percentages of helium for the pressure identified in (b);
- (d) computer readable program code sending instructions to maintain within the tube amongst the plurality of substantially evacuated tubes, a percentage of helium according to the helium-air ratio identified in (c).
An article of manufacture having non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable program code executable by a processor to implement a method to determine optimum operating points for power/cost and helium-air ratios in a plurality of substantially evacuated tubes in a tubular transportation system for transporting one or more passengers or one or more cargos via a capsule along a predetermined route, the non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising:
- (a) computer readable program code identifying a speed of the capsule;
- (b) computer readable program code identifying a pressure to be maintained within a tube amongst the plurality of substantially evacuated tubes;
- (c) computer readable program code identifying, for each of a plurality of percentages of helium, a first power required to maintain the tube amongst the plurality of substantially evacuated tubes at the pressure identified in (b) and a second power corresponding to the capsule to overcome aerodynamic drag;
- (d) computer readable program code computing, for each of the plurality of percentages of helium in (c), a sum of the first power and the second power to determine a total power for the speed identified in (a);
- (e) computer readable program code identifying a helium-air ratio from an optimal value within total power values computed in (d) for the speed identified in (a);
- and
- (f) computer readable program code sending instructions to maintain within the tube amongst the plurality of substantially evacuated tubes, a percentage of helium according to the helium-air ratio identified in (e).
An article of manufacture having non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable program code executable by a processor to implement a method to determine optimum operating points for power/cost and helium-air ratios in a plurality of substantially evacuated tubes in a tubular transportation system for transporting one or more passengers or one or more cargos via a capsule along a predetermined route, the non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising:
- (a) computer readable program code identifying a speed of the capsule;
- (b) computer readable program code identifying a pressure to be maintained within a tube amongst the plurality of substantially evacuated tubes;
- (c) computer readable program code accessing a first dataset of a first power versus a plurality of percentages of helium, the first power required to maintain the tube amongst the plurality of substantially evacuated tubes at the pressure identified in (b);
- (d) computer readable program code accessing a second dataset of a second power to overcome aerodynamic drag versus the plurality of percentages of helium;
- (e) computer readable program code computing a third dataset of the total power versus the plurality of percentages of helium wherein, for each of the plurality of percentages of helium, a sum of the first power from the first dataset and the second power from the second dataset is used to determine the total power;
- (f) computer readable program code identifying a helium-air ratio from an optimal value within total power values computed in (e) for the speed identified in (a);
- and
- (g) computer readable program code sending instructions to maintain within the tube amongst the plurality of substantially evacuated tubes, a percentage of helium according to the helium-air ratio identified in (f).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.