Sponsored editorial piece written by RMIT University, Principal Partner of Engineers Australia, Victoria Division.
A team of RMIT engineering students has accepted the Braking Subsystem Technical Excellence Award at the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition Design Weekend at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.
The aerospace engineering student team, calling themselves VicHyper, were the only Australian team in the competition.
The Hyperloop is a pod that levitates on a cushion of air, accelerated by linear electric motors, inside a vacuum tube at up to speeds of 1200km/h. It’s dubbed to be the fifth mode of transport that will revolutionise the ground transportation industry.
Separating themselves from the pack, VicHyper designed for a pod that could be scaled to a full size working Hyperloop.
Team leader Zachary McClelland said the design could revolutionise the future of transport.
In theory, it would connect Melbourne to Sydney in under an hour.
All systems are run by solar energy to minimize the carbon impact, which would make it by far the most energy efficient form of transportation in the world.
McClelland also said the competition environment was inspiring, with the best young engineering minds from all over the globe working towards one goal of making the world a better place.
VicHyper competed against over 1,000 students in 130 teams from all over the world.
Back in Melbourne, the team is now focused on building and testing a prototype for the next stage of the competition.
VicHyper is Zachary McClelland, Matt O’Callaghan, David Purser, Cameron Clanchy, Joel Kennedy, Michael Gritsch, and Liam Murphy.
View the full article from RMIT University.