Slashdot Mirror
Pipeline Mass Transit?
pipingguy writes "'Evacuated Tube Transport (ETT) is a new kind of transportation system that requires less than two percent of the energy of current transportation methods. It is also much safer, and can be faster. [...] Anyone can visualize 2 tubes (one for each direction) along a travel route. Air is permanently removed from the tubes; so travel takes place without friction. Pressurized passenger capsules (like a 2 - 8 person airplane cabin), travel in the tubes on thin steel wheels or on nearly frictionless Maglev. Airlocks allow access without admitting air to the tubes. Linear motors (as used on new rollercoasters) accelerate the capsules. During most of the trip the capsules coast; using no power. When the capsules slow down, linear generators recover most of the electrical energy used to accelerate the capsules.' Some CG images and drawings here, the FAQ is here." MSNBC had an article on monorails a few days ago. Don't bother making Simpsons jokes, the article has them covered already.
You'll never keep a vaccum with this.
Not with the hundreds of miles of tube.
Not with termal expansion/contraction.
Not in an active city with people building, digging holes, running infrastructure.
Not in an even remotely seismic active area (remember the earthquake in NY?).
While its a cool idea, its just that, an idea. There's no way to overcome the problems and still make it as durable and cost less than existing technology.
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
If we were discussing ideal friction, you'd be right. However, there's one big problem with that: The real world isn't ideal, and race cars have bigger contact patches than minivans for one very good reason: more friction.
Finally, friction isn't the only source of energy loss in a rolling tire. In fact, as long as you aren't skidding, almost none of the energy is lost to friction (because rolling friction is really a special case of static friction and energy is lost in dynamic friction). Most of the energy in rolling a tire is lost continuously flexing (and heating) the tire sidewall under the weight of the vehicle.
Thin steel wheels deform a whole lot less than radials and will therefore lose less energy when rolling.
But Heinlein had the right idea. Dig the tunnels deeper and have them follow great circles through the crust. Then launch the cabs to orbital velocity (but inside the earth). No wheels. Or expensive magnets. Just a nice vacuum and a very fast ride. Of course, the acceleration/deceleration might be a bit brutal...
Regards,
Ross
I talked with American (car mechanic ironically) who just returned from a trip to Russia, and he was amazed by availability of all the options of mass transit - buses that go 24 hour a day, trams, trains that go to almost every town (and do this often and fast).
Maybe you should come to NY... I live in a small part of NYC (Staten Island) and even here there are buses that run 24/7. A bus usually comes every half hour all day. There's also a ferry that goes to manhatten (when people talk about NYC, they're usually talking about manhatten), from staten island, at least every hour (every 15 minutes during rush hour.) There's the metro north also, I can take a train to just about any place in the state of NY for a few dollars. The buses and subways cost $1.50 (the ferry is free and express buses are like coaches, comfy seats and stuff, they're $3.)
There's also this great little card called a metrocard. You can go to just about any deli or small store or whatever and pick one up. They usually have $15 metrocards, they work on buses and trains, when you get on the bus you just stick the card in the slot and get on, very quick and very easy. You can refill them too, much easier than carrying change or tokens. The trains have turnstyles so you just slide the card through and go through the turnstyle. You can also transfer from one thing to the next, like lets say you needed to take the S74 (S is for staten island, 74 is the route) to the ferry and needed to get onto the 1 train in manhatten, you just pay for the bus and on the metrocard you get a transfer (or you ask the driver for one if you payed with tokens or change) and you get onto the train for free.
They have no intention of building anything, just make money for their shareholders from tha patents. And this encourages innovation? All it does is put a roadblock against someone who really wants to build it.
From their site ("company summary" page)
Our aim is to generate returns for our shareholders by acting now to acquire control of important blocks of intellectual property (patents and trade secrets) in the ETT field. We currently own the patent and trade secret rights to Evacuated Tube Transport, the first practical evacuated tube transport technology. We believe that these ultra efficient and environmentally benign systems, will become key components of numerous future worldwide transport systems. ET3.COM INC. intends to take full advantage of the generic nature of this unique technology by securing the intellectual property rights on the lion's share of all specific applications, new devices, and novel systems issuing from it. Management also believes that we are well positioned to gain control of other major intellectual property by developing new patents and trade secrets through our own internal efforts and by developing patent-exploitation agreements for the patents and trade secrets belonging to others.