Pushing Forward

Propulsion received another piece of hardware--the Bamocar! It's an AC/DC Servo battery drive for cars, perfect for use in our wheeled design. Propulsion began testing this device last weekend and is working hard to ensure it acts as expected. 

Additionally, the Flight Controls subteam achieved communication between the FPGA (field-programmable gate array) and the OBC (on-board computer). This communication is integral to the control of the pod. 

Huge strides in implementing the design are being made!

Break a pod. 

Brake a pod!

Our structures team has been hard at work designing our pod's braking system for the last few months. As of last week, the design has been finalized, the parts selected, and hardware ordered. The first brake calipers have arrived!

This allows the Structures subteam to move forward with testing, pushing us one step closer to a build.

Brake a pod, and break a pod. 

Do you truss(t) us?

Structures has made progress in verifying the truss design using analysis in our CAD program. This allows us to confirm our safety margins and commit to our design concept. 

Preliminary calculations for the axle qualifications are complete, and tests should be executed within the next few weeks as the materials arrive.

Countdown to Control

We've made progress in the push to prototyping! 

We're excited to say that the motor controller we intend to use on our pod has arrived. The propulsions team is preparing for various tests, confirming its abilities and ensuring that its safety and performance is up to our expectations. This is a huge step forward in integrating our design to build, allowing us to complete test runs of the motors. 

WE'RE BACK!!!

Well, we never really left, but we've been so busy finalizing our design that we forgot to update our website in the process. Here's where we stand as of now, for those of you who are curious:

We made it through design weekend! Hyperloop @ USC was 1 of 28 student teams to advance through design weekend and given the chance to actually build the pod. We refined our design to fix our braking system and gap height with the air casters, gaining one of the wildcard slots. We were (and are) extremely excited for this opportunity, and the work hasn't stopped since. The design refinement pushed us into the end of the semester and up through the summer. 

Facing some strict deadlines, we underwent another redesign. We originally were using air levitation on our pod with a series of air casters providing a cushion of air on which the pod could effectively float. As a new semester started and new members with fresh insight joined the team, the design changed to one with wheels instead.  Our goal is to traverse the test track as fast as possible, as safe as possible, in a semi-autonomous electric vehicle. 

We are excited to say that this final design is well on its way to completion, and build should be starting soon. Stay tuned for more updates.

Break a pod!

USC Hyperloop Attending Design Weekend on January 29-30

USC Hyperloop was recently invited to the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition's Design Weekend event at Texas A&M University. Along with over a hundred other student Hyperloop teams around the world, the engineers at USC Hyperloop will vie for prizes and sponsorships to help fund our construction costs for Competition Weekend in Summer 2016.

See you there!

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Check us out at on Twitter and at Facebook.com/uschyperloopteam !  We've got tons of exciting stuff happening here at SC's official Hyperloop program, so we're going to start pushing out more consistent (and exciting!) updates to our social media accounts in the coming weeks to keep all of our followers out there in the loop.  Break a Pod!

Technical Details Delay

Unfortunately the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition Technical Details have not yet been released.  We will make sure to post the details as soon as they're released.  Stay tuned.

Competition Study Times and Locations Finalized

The SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition Technical Details will be released on August 15.  In order to study the competition materials and develop a strategy for the entire semester, USC Hyperloop will be holding a competition study from 9 am - 11 pm on August 15-19.  If you're a USC student interested in joining these discussions, please Sign Up for the team here.  

See you there!