Korea Railroad Research Institute (President Na Hee-seung) announced on Wednesday that it achieved a “Hypertube” speed of 1,019 kilometers at 0.001 atmosphere pressure utilizing its own miniaturized tube aerodynamic testing device.
The institute recorded a speed of 714 kilometers back in September. This time, the speed surpassed 1,000 kilometers by resolving few issues such as friction of accelerating tube of the aerodynamic testing device. With this achievement, it has become the world’s first institute to experiment and investigate operation characteristics of Hypertube that is faster than airplane in a partial vacuum tube and it has secured fundamental technology in basic design of Hypertube. This achievement is expected to be utilized in deciding Hypertube system design and vehicle size and shape, size of partial vacuum tube, and tube’s inner pressure.
Aerodynamic testing device’s scale was reduced by one-seventeenth and it is made up of launching unit, partial vacuum tube, and braking unit.
This device can perform various experiments as speed of vehicle can range from 100 to 1,000 kilometers and inner pressure can range from 0.1 to 0.001 atmospheric pressure.
Technology that allows a pod to travel at a speed of 1,000 kilometers in a vacuum state and minimized air resistance is the key to Hypertube. As a result, it can overcome limitations such as frictional resistance and resistance that limit the speed of current high-speed trains.
In addition to aerodynamic testing device, the institute is also working on superconducting magnet that corresponds to the engine of pod, propeller, and device that stabilizes pod’s ultrahigh speed. It is also planning on empirical studies to develop prototype pod and verify its performance.
“Hypertube is a new ultrafast land transportation technology that accelerates local integration and it will push forward hyper-connected society during the Fourth Industrial Revolution area.” said President Na Hee-seung of KRRI. “With technology innovation that is different from foreign countries, we are going to do our best to develop eco-friendly future mobility and Hypertube technologies for our country’s “New Deal.”
Staff Reporter Kim, Youngjoon | kyj85@etnews.com