The LSU Hyperloop design team is looking to revolutionize transportation in Louisiana — but first, they have to turn their concept into a reality.
On Saturday, the team competed against more than 115 teams from 27 states and 20 countries at the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition Design Weekend at Texas A&M University. Though the University’s team did not win, MIT claimed the award for best overall design, the members are confident their design is viable.
Civil engineering senior and outgoing team leader Josh Manriquez began organizing the LSU team in September after being inspired by mogul and inventor Elon Musk’s proposal for Hyperloop, an innovative ground transportation system.
Manriquez said he believes Hyperloop is a viable transportation option for Louisiana and could transform commerce and industry in the South.
“Let’s say you want to be able to live in Houston and work in Atlanta — with the Hyperloop that really would be possible,” Manriquez said.
The team’s pod design has an almond-like shape and will utilize a magnetic levitation engine from technology company Arx Pax to suspend the pod within a 10.8 psi internal tube environment. The pod will use a wheel propulsion system to propel the pod throughout the tube in conjunction with the engine.
Making their design as comfortable, safe and practical as possible was the team’s main concern, Manriquez said.
“When you tell people you’re going to send them off close to the speed of sound in a closed tube, it’s not exactly something they’re thrilled to try right off the bat,” Manriquez said.
Mechanical engineering sophomore Trent Andrus, LSU Hyperloop’s new team leader, said the team integrated several practical safety measures into the design to assuage community fear.
The pod features a primary braking system that will grip a center beam within the tube, slowing the pod similar to how a car grips its brakes. The brakes will have redundancy and the wheel propulsion system can also be used to steer the pod in the case of total brake failure, Andrus said.
The team also developed an emergency evacuation procedure and designed their Hyperloop tube with equally spaced exit doors to allow users to exit the system from any location, he said.
Before they can persuade people to use their pod, however, the team must overcome more immediate challenges.
Mechanical engineering junior Austin McMichael said the team’s main concerns moving forward are improving team communication and recruiting team members with backgrounds in programming and electrical engineering.
Organizing the team of 16 engineers and ensuring project details were clearly understood was a challenge the team faced ahead of the Texas A&M competition, she said. A tiered communications system made it more difficult for the team to develop a cohesive design.
“Teamwork, communication — those things are huge,” Manriquez said. “You can be amazingly intelligent, and if you don’t have those you can forget about it.”
Additionally, the team struggled with a lack of involvement from electrical engineers and programmers. The team will need to recruit heavily from those departments to make their design a reality, McMichael said.
Internal team dynamics weren’t the only challenge the team faced.
“Communicating with LSU was rough too,” she said. “We weren’t able to get a whole lot of support from them, which was disappointing. But, we managed.”
The University’s lack of support was evident in comparison to other teams at the competition, especially schools with strong aeronautical and aerospace programs, Manriquez said.
Paying out of pocket for presentation materials and design literature limited the quality level the team was able to produce, Andrus said.
Without funding from the University, the team is preparing to pitch its design to local companies and investors to procure funding to produce a scalable test model. Producing the sub-scale model will cost approximately $77,000, McMichael said.
The team has already received support from Global-E CEO Carl Guichard, who worked with the team as a mentor throughout the design process. Guichard is coordinating with the team to provide battery packs to support the pod’s braking system, McMichael said.
The team is working personal connections to make funding a reality, and is already considering three build-out locations in Baton Rouge and New Orleans should funding become available, McMichael said. Manriquez said support from connections in southern Louisiana has been monumental in moving the project forward.
“It’s just amazing,” he said. “These are the kind of people where one second you’re sitting around a table eating gumbo and the next building a Hyperloop pod.”
If the team can procure funding, Manriquez said he is confident LSU Hyperloop’s design will succeed.
“I have no hopes,” Manriquez said. “I just have something that I know for a fact. I know for a fact that when LSU goes out there to Hawthorne, California and puts the pod in the track, it will be the best design. I know we have the best design, I know that it’s the most practical and I know it’s the only one that will hold up over time.”