HyperXite is a dedicated team of 40 UC Irvine students working to revolutionize transportation. Our mission is to accelerate the development of a full scale Hyperloop. The Hyperloop, first proposed in 2013 by Elon Musk, will become the fifth mode of transportation. Hyperxite is the Future of Affordable and Sustainable Transport (F.A.S.T). It will carry people and freight between cities at speeds approaching 760 mph. Our efficient and inexpensive system will be solar powered and will not release any greenhouse gasses. Imagine working in Los Angeles and less than an hour later taking your lunch break in San Francisco!

We are participating in the first annual SpaceX hosted Hyperloop Pod Competition. Hundreds of universities from 27 countries entered this competition. After twelve months of hard work and two extensive design reviews, thirty teams have advanced to the final phase of the competition. UC Irvine’s HyperXite received a Design Excellence award and is ranked 5th place for overall design quality. Our design will be open source after the competition; allowing for rapid innovation.

While most teams use magnetic levitation to generate lift, we distinguish ourselves from our competition by using air levitation. What are the differences? During magnetic levitation, or maglev, magnets on the underside of the pod are moved across a track made from a highly conductive metal. These magnets induce a magnet field in the track which generates the lift needed to levitate the pod. This method is very costly to implement because it requires the entire length of the Hyperloop track to be made from an expensive conductive material. Air levitation, or airlev, uses pressure instead of magnetic forces to lift the pod. In our airlev system, pressurized air inflates the vinyl skirt that lines the underside of each of four skis. The air exits through small holes in the bottom of the skirts, creating an air cushion between the pod and the track. This air cushion lifts the pod and allows it to hover above the track like an air hockey puck. A Hyperloop that uses airlev will be cheaper to implement because it can hover above just about any material, reducing the cost of a track. Airlev is also more energy efficient than maglev.

HyperXite is able to go above and beyond the scope of typical senior design projects. In addition to creating a proof of concept of hyperloop transportation, our project has helped students bridge the gap between academia and industry by giving students experience in state of the art design, simulation, manufacturing, and testing. More information can be found at HyperXite.com and SpaceX.com/hyperloop.