WARR Hyperloop team wins pod competition with Panasonic on board

Panasonic has congratulated the WARR Hyperloop team from the Technical University in Munich (TUM) on winning the third international annual SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition on July 22nd 2018 in Los Angeles.

The pod from the WARR Hyperloop team reached a final speed of 467km/h, thereby improving their performance from 2017 by almost 50%.

It is already the third consecutive time the team has won a trophy at the competition.

The Hyperloop is a new transportation concept for a high-speed train to travel in a near-vacuum tube.

The vacuum-tube allows the capsule to travel at supersonic speed – faster than any commercial train or car in the foreseeable future.

In pursuit of this vision, SpaceX founder Elon Musk has launched the ‘Hyperloop Pod Competition’.

Teams of students from around the world compete against one another with their prototypes of the passenger module, referred to as the pod.

The goal for the university teams is to design, build and test the next prototype of the Hyperloop pod and ultimately to win.

Commented Alexander Schultz-Storz, Director, Solution Competence Division, Panasonic: “We are very proud of the WARR Hyperloop team and congratulate them on winning this competition. It is great to see how the cooperation between academia and industry with feedback and product guidance can accelerate future technology and create such a successful pod design. Our safety technology and components have played a significant role in the team’s design.”

“Panasonic’s sensor, resistor, as well as relay products used in the 2018 pod from the WARR Hyperloop team played an essential role in achieving the goals of miniaturization and increased efficiency.

“For example the electromechanical components provide the necessary security when loading and driving the pod, e.g. grid isolation relays are used to interrupt or close the corresponding circuits.

“Various different sensors guarantee the safety and monitor the performance of the pod. Small and light thick film chip resistors provide advantages in the critical areas of security and reliability for our electronic battery control systems.”

Martin Riedel, Technical Leader WARR Hyperloop team TUM joyfully added: “Winning a trophy at the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition for the third consecutive time is a dream come true.

“This is the result of joined efforts by the entire team, our university as well as our partners in the industry and their support in planning and building the pod. Without them this success wouldn’t have been possible.”

The WARR Hyperloop team from TU München had been working hard to refine their design and fabricate a prototype pod for on-track testing for the competition.

Their pod for 2018 offers a couple of superlatives: the power performance was increased from 50-240kW, or 320 horsepower and it accelerates five times faster than an airplane during take-off with a maximum speed of 600km/h.

But all of this wouldn’t have been possible without external support. The materials and equipment needed to build a pod are expensive and difficult to acquire, so the team relied on sponsors, donations and the expertise of their industrial partners.