TU Delft: Delft students ready for international hyperloop competition
On 18 July Delft will host the ‘European Hyperloop Week’, the international hyperloop competition for student teams from around the world. Sixteen teams of technical students will spend a week competing for the best hyperloop design. Delft Hyperloop, the student team from TU Delft, is ready for action. For a year, this team of 38 students has been working on their technology, infrastructure and designs.
Two weeks ago, Delft Hyperloop unveiled their Helios I, the latest prototype. With the Helios I, Delft Hyperloop is competing in the international hyperloop competition during The European Hyperloop week.
The team made a number of radical technical choices this year. New to Helios I is that the model floats under the rails by means of electromagnetism. This has never been shown before by a student team. In addition to the prototype, the team has also written two scientific reports on the future implementation of the hyperloop. With these two reports they are also competing for two different prizes of the competition. “That’s what makes Delft Hyperloop unique: we’re not just building a prototype but already looking a step further, at the challenges of hyperloop on a large scale. With our research we want to form a bridge between the hyperloop concept on paper and the hyperloop in real life!” said Fien van Aken, Full-Scale Engineer.
The competition will kick off in Delft on 18 July during a festive opening in the auditorium on the TU Delft campus. The week consists of knowledge sharing and presentations. On Saturday, July 23, a race will take place in Hilversum on the grounds of Voestalpine Track Solutions. The participating teams will demonstrate their prototypes, competing for all the prizes of the competition.
According to Hidde de Bos, Chief Engineer of the team, Delft Hyperloop has a good chance of winning: “With the big leaps we have made this year in the field of technology, I look at the competition with a positive outlook. Of course, with the strong competition, winning is never certain, but we aim for a good final result.”
On July 24, the winners of the competition will be announced at a closing ceremony.