Success of the Auran, a levitating vehicle for the revolutionary Hyperloop transportation system

The international Hyperloop project aims to build a revolutionary transport network, with vehicles similar to trains but that would circulate at about a thousand kilometers per hour inside special tunnels inside which the air pressure would be very low. The trains would consist of capsules in the form of wagons that would circulate inside supported by an air cushion. The capsules would be accelerated by magnetic linear accelerators.

The participation of the Hyperloop UPV team, from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, in the European Hyperloop Week held in Delft (The Netherlands) has been a real success.

The Hyperloop UPV team has presented in the competition a vehicle prototype to be part of such pseudo-trains and capable of levitation. The prototype, called Auran, has won four of the six prizes for which it was eligible in this demanding competition. In addition, Auran attracted the interest of other teams and professionals in the sector. And it is that the European Hyperloop Week is probably the most important event among all the current ones on the transport of the future. A total of 23 teams from all over the world have competed in this edition.

The UPV team’s proposal has won the award for Best Governing Subsystem, the award for Prototype with Best Scalability; the Ingenuity award and the Thermal Management award, a result that meets the team’s expectations.

This was explained by María Cuesta, captain of the team, before leaving for the competition, “We believe that we have a proposal that positions us as the leading team. It is an ambitious challenge, with many parallel challenges: coordinating an engine with levitation, with a new infrastructure and including interior design for the first time… But we think we have the winning proposal”.

The Auran prototype has won four of the six awards for which it was eligible in this demanding competition. (Photo: UPV)

In order to achieve everything proposed and let the technical jury know, the team participated in the presentations by systems that make up the project, which were very well received, registering the speech with the most viewers of the entire competition: the presentation for the Complete Pod award.

The greatest of the milestones that occurred was the test in the vacuum tube of the Hardt company, achieving for the first time in history that a prototype levitate in a vacuum. The jury was impressed with this fact and personally congratulated the team for the great challenge that this represented.

The big reward of the year came on the last day of competition, when the companies Würth Electronik, Swisspod and Zeleros awarded the team the Best Thermal Management, The Ingenuity Award and Most Scalable Design respectively. In addition, the technical jury decided to award the Best Guiding Award, rewarding the electromagnetic levitation and guidance that Auran integrated.

From its workshops, Hyperloop UPV has created an innovative interior design for Auran, which provides privacy and intimacy to the passenger, as well as a key infrastructure for the development of this technology: a 20 meter long tube weighing 10 tons, for which the vehicle has circulated in the European Hyperloop Week.

The vehicle also has a linear induction motor, which makes it possible to accelerate and brake with the motor itself, without having to touch the rail. In addition, Auran is the safest prototype in the history of Hyperloop UPV. (Source: UPV)