News Release
New Theory of Lift Yields Windfall of Innovation
(Flying Railcars, Open-Entry Hyperloop, New Era Solar, Fast Track to Decarbonization)
Link to papers, poster, patents.
Flying Railcars are the lowest-cost, lowest-transit-time, and most-efficient method of transit with a fast track to decarbonizing transportation. These findings and enabling technologies were presented at the 103rd Annual Transportation Research Board meeting on 08-JAN-2024 in Washington, D.C. The TRB paper describes an approach to unifying rail, air, proposed hyperloop, and proposed vertiports into a unified transit system with high-speed seamless transition between otherwise independent modes of transit. It is a technology for both the cities and the countryside, the rich and the poor, the superpowers and the under-developed, and primarily the planet.
A decades-long debate on “why planes stay in the air” has the answer with heuristics (i.e., guidelines) that accurately predict improvements and enable innovations. Flying Railcars will use rails to trap airflow under the vehicles to improve flight efficiency and will co-exist with existing freight, passenger, and mass transit railcars using the same tracks. Tunnel walls increase flight efficiency in a similar way, and the proper application of Bernoulli’s equation identifies “Bernoulli Loop” (Fig. 1) technology which can convert existing transit tunnels to “Open-Entry Hyperloop” tunnels.
Flying Railcars in tunnels push the air, creating momentum in the air; and Bernoulli Loops use that momentum to move air from tunnel entrance sections to tunnel exit sections. Both the underlying physics and computational fluid dynamics (Fig. 2) verify the technology works. Typical hyperloop concepts use maglev suspension and very low pressures. Open-Entry Hyperloop uses Flying Railcars at optimal pressures; those optimal pressures may be 1%, 20% or 80% of atmospheric pressure, depending on the traffic and length of the tunnel. The tailwind in in the tunnels results in higher efficiencies than are possible when using only lower pressures.
Current passenger train designs can be modified to fly over the tracks with reduced drag and a buffer from bumpy low-speed railway sections (Figs. 3 and 4), enabling highspeed transit on tracks where wheel-on-rail tracking is incompatible with higher speeds. More-preferred are lower-profile light-weight passenger cars which would operate at less than half the per-passenger energy of today’s airliners and rail service. The per-passenger flight efficiencies of Flying Railcars are 2X to 4X airliners; the 2X improvement is due to replacing fuel and landing gear weight with more passenger seats. Improvement beyond 2X is from higher flight efficiency, especially in Open-Entry Hyperloop corridors.
The seamless connectivity of air, rail, hyperloop, and mass transit has a value approaching the combined value of all these economic sectors independently, since the time and expense of accessing these separate systems is comparable the costs of the transit using the systems. More importantly, the technology for the unified systems has paths of evolution with substantial upside potential for continuous improvement. For example, the “vertiports” of this unified system are sections of railway where tethered Flying Railcars release their tethers and proceed in free flight without stopping, TSA security lines, or queues.
The TRBAM-24-04060 paper entitled “Highly-Efficiency Low-AR Aerial Vehicles in Urban Transit” initially targeted aircraft design heuristics toward a new generation of solar-powered aircraft. However, the heuristics developed in the work failed to recognize the limited application to solar aircraft, leading to the current innovations. Provisional patent applications were filed monthly during 2023.
For solar aircraft, the heuristics identify how to directly use solar panels as “Bifacial Wings” with photovoltaic cells on upper and lower surfaces of the panels. Solar panels will soon be able to generate electricity at less than 1 ¢/kWh on Earth’s surface where greenfield installation costs increase the price to about 3 ¢/kWh; that energy competes with wholesale grid power starting at similar prices. On aircraft, solar productivity is higher, reducing costs to less than 1 ¢/kWh; and the panels displace aviation fuel costs (18 ¢/kWh) and weights. The technology expands what is possible for 24/7 flight, new stratospheric industries (e.g., ammonia), and airborne energy harvesting to power the electrical grid. While not as efficient as Flying Railcars, efficiency is less important if solar power is used with 6-month paypack.
At the December 19th DOT/NASA/FAA’s “Up, Up, and Away” seminar on air taxis and vertiports identified air taxi implementation as a separate system with a 10-year timeline. That 10-year timeline with addition of a new “air-taxi” mode of transit is one path we could take, but it is not the best path.
A decades-long debate on “why planes stay in the air” has the answer with heuristics (i.e., guidelines) that accurately predict improvements and enable innovations. Flying Railcars will use rails to trap airflow under the vehicles to improve flight efficiency and will co-exist with existing freight, passenger, and mass transit railcars using the same tracks. Tunnel walls increase flight efficiency in a similar way, and the proper application of Bernoulli’s equation identifies “Bernoulli Loop” (Fig. 1) technology which can convert existing transit tunnels to “Open-Entry Hyperloop” tunnels.
Flying Railcars in tunnels push the air, creating momentum in the air; and Bernoulli Loops use that momentum to move air from tunnel entrance sections to tunnel exit sections. Both the underlying physics and computational fluid dynamics (Fig. 2) verify the technology works. Typical hyperloop concepts use maglev suspension and very low pressures. Open-Entry Hyperloop uses Flying Railcars at optimal pressures; those optimal pressures may be 1%, 20% or 80% of atmospheric pressure, depending on the traffic and length of the tunnel. The tailwind in in the tunnels results in higher efficiencies than are possible when using only lower pressures.
Current passenger train designs can be modified to fly over the tracks with reduced drag and a buffer from bumpy low-speed railway sections (Figs. 3 and 4), enabling highspeed transit on tracks where wheel-on-rail tracking is incompatible with higher speeds. More-preferred are lower-profile light-weight passenger cars which would operate at less than half the per-passenger energy of today’s airliners and rail service. The per-passenger flight efficiencies of Flying Railcars are 2X to 4X airliners; the 2X improvement is due to replacing fuel and landing gear weight with more passenger seats. Improvement beyond 2X is from higher flight efficiency, especially in Open-Entry Hyperloop corridors.
The seamless connectivity of air, rail, hyperloop, and mass transit has a value approaching the combined value of all these economic sectors independently, since the time and expense of accessing these separate systems is comparable the costs of the transit using the systems. More importantly, the technology for the unified systems has paths of evolution with substantial upside potential for continuous improvement. For example, the “vertiports” of this unified system are sections of railway where tethered Flying Railcars release their tethers and proceed in free flight without stopping, TSA security lines, or queues.
The TRBAM-24-04060 paper entitled “Highly-Efficiency Low-AR Aerial Vehicles in Urban Transit” initially targeted aircraft design heuristics toward a new generation of solar-powered aircraft. However, the heuristics developed in the work failed to recognize the limited application to solar aircraft, leading to the current innovations. Provisional patent applications were filed monthly during 2023.
For solar aircraft, the heuristics identify how to directly use solar panels as “Bifacial Wings” with photovoltaic cells on upper and lower surfaces of the panels. Solar panels will soon be able to generate electricity at less than 1 ¢/kWh on Earth’s surface where greenfield installation costs increase the price to about 3 ¢/kWh; that energy competes with wholesale grid power starting at similar prices. On aircraft, solar productivity is higher, reducing costs to less than 1 ¢/kWh; and the panels displace aviation fuel costs (18 ¢/kWh) and weights. The technology expands what is possible for 24/7 flight, new stratospheric industries (e.g., ammonia), and airborne energy harvesting to power the electrical grid. While not as efficient as Flying Railcars, efficiency is less important if solar power is used with 6-month paypack.
At the December 19th DOT/NASA/FAA’s “Up, Up, and Away” seminar on air taxis and vertiports identified air taxi implementation as a separate system with a 10-year timeline. That 10-year timeline with addition of a new “air-taxi” mode of transit is one path we could take, but it is not the best path.
Table 1 (continued from TRB paper). Heuristics on designing to create aerodynamic lift and flight efficiency.
Flight in Tunnels and Hyperloop-Type Corridors (see Fig. 4)
Flight in Tunnels and Hyperloop-Type Corridors (see Fig. 4)
- Air gaps that widen in direction of flow produce lower pressures; the distance between long upper surfaces and tunnel walls should increase in direction of air flow. Sources on trailing sections of upper surfaces increase the magnitude of lower/lift pressures.
- Air gaps that narrow in direction of flow produce higher pressures; the distance between long upper surfaces and tunnel walls should increase in direction of air flow. Flaps on trailing section of lower surfaces increase the magnitude of higher/lift pressures.
- Rail and tunnel surfaces can function as “fences” to blow lift losses over side-edges of vehicles; a rail’s effectiveness as a fence may be enhanced with vertical fences on sides of hovercraft compartments that approach rail surfaces; a tunnel wall’s effectiveness as a fence may be enhanced by span extensions of upper surfaces to approach tunnel walls.
- Leading surfaces of a flying hovercraft in a tunnel should be configured to both direct air into a lower hovercraft compartment to create lift and to expand air over a front section upper surfaces to crate lift.
- Trailing surfaces of a flying hovercraft in a tunnel should be either: a) configured to have near-tunnel pressure operation or b) configured to have a slight positive pressure to reduce drag (including a higher surface pitch to enhance overall L/D).
- Fans and propellers may be used in vehicles to increase lift; however, at least some of the vehicle thrust should be provided by wheel traction or linear motor force so as to push air in the direction of vehicle travel; air flow in the direction of vehicle travel is the driving force for Bernoulli Loop reduction of pressure in tunnels. This balance should be a results-driving variable optimization.
- An optimal hyperloop-type tunnel should have a balance of shear drag of air flow on tunnel wall versus drag on vehicle; this balance should be a results-driven variable. This results-driven optimization is couple with the results-driven optimization of T-6.
- When tubes/ducts/corridors (“ducts”) connecting adjacent tunnel entrances/exits, they may be configured to convert air’s velocity/momentum into a driving force to cause air flow from entrance to exit corridors. One condition for this operation is for entrance/exit corridors to which are connected by these ducts to have similar static pressures; wherein, dynamic pressure is the driving force for the mass transfer (i.e., air flow). Key results-driven variables toward optimization include the number of Bernoulli Loops in sequence and the shape, spacing, and entrance/exit geometries of the ducts.
- When rails, hovercraft compartment walls, and tunnel walls provide effective blocking of side-edge losses, actual 3D performance approaches 2D theoretical computational performances.
- Guideway systems (e.g., railways, tunnels, ziplines) may be used as corridors for a range of vehicles (i.e., “multimodal corridors”) in the same corridor this includes tethered glider/aircraft/hovercraft transit of air taxis through densely populated areas in “mass transit” corridors for seamless release/launch to free flight outside densely populated areas.
- A preferred embodiment of multimodal corridors is an overhead electrical assembly having the following characteristics: a) a lower contact wire to transfer electric power to vehicles, b) an upper linear motor element toward pulling vehicles, c) a flexible truss structure between the lower contact wire and the upper linear motor element which provide paths parallel to lower rails (or other support surfaces), d) side-bracketed support that does not interfere with vehicle extensions to access the contact wire and/or liner motor element, and e) a recoverable stalled-vehicle support configuration where all wires/elements act to support the weight of the stalled vehicle.
Supplement to News Release
Goodbye Air Taxis – Truly Transformative Technologies have Emerged
For seven decades, transportation has been dominated by only incremental improvements.
In the past six months, three transformative innovations have been made (i.e., Flying Railcars, Open-Entry Hyperloop, and Bifacial Wings) that will transform transportation—all enabled by fixing a broken aircraft science.
See News Release at https://hs-drone.com/ . For more information, visit the presentation on 08-JAN-2024 by inventor Adam Suppes at the annual Transportation Research Board meeting in Washington D.C.
Why are these transformational?
Flying Railcars, Open-Entry Hyperloop, and Bifacial Wings are enabling technologies that set forth a path of evolution that will substantially reduce transportation costs and times while fast tracking the decarbonization of transportation.
Flying Railcars use existing rail lines (including subway lines) as high-speed corridors for a new type of aircraft as well as retro-fitted trains that are compatible with existing trains/subways. Outside cities, Flying Railcars can be launched to free flight; the transition is seamless/nonstop. The time and cost to attain airliner takeoff now typically exceed the time and costs of flights; this technology eliminates those costs.
Open-Entry Hyperloop uses Bernoulli Loops to enter/exit open entries to transit corridors having constant tailwinds and lower pressures. This technology is viable for tunnels from two to two thousand miles and can be incremental upgrades to existing tunnels, but the improvement in performance is transformative (not incremental).
Bifacial Wings are solar panels photovoltaic cells on both faces collecting 2X to 3X the solar power above the clouds than on Earth’s surface. As solar panel costs approach 1 ¢/kWh, installed costs on Earth’s surface approach 3 ¢/kWh while direct use Bifacial Wings approaches 0.5 ¢/kWh. This expands applications of solar power on aircraft from a few novel applications to essentially all subsonic flight and expands what is possible (e.g., stratospheric industries, airborne aircraft carriers).
About Hyperloop – This hype was simply the re-surfacing of decades-old concepts. Ultimately, the fate was the same as these decades-old concepts, the high cost and time of building a new mode of transportation are prohibitive.
About Air Taxis – There still exists the question of what air taxis can do beyond helicopters and airplanes/airports. The new term “vertiport” was also created, which drives home fear that air taxies and vertiports will likely be a new and separate mode of transportation in disconnect with existing modes and introducing more infrastructure costs, queues, and security/safety issues.
Why do passenger trains have such big chassis? The forces on a railcar when connecting to and pulling long trains are huge. Large chassis are needed to handle those forces, and steel wheels are needed to reduce wheel friction and wear. A flying railcar has: reduced drag (force to pull), allows use of rubber wheels (quieter) without excessive wear, and enables high efficiency on shorter train segments. Passenger railcars will evolve from current heavy-duty chassis.