Topic: Business idea (Off-Topic, but looking for feedback) - page 3. (Read 4716 times)

Here's a suggestion - pneumatic tubes.

I'm serious. You have a bunch of very large pneumatic tubes. Insert your cargo pod, low pressure in front, higher pressure behind. Use the maglev to reduce friction, braking can add power to the air turbines. If you want you could evacuate the air and add any low friction gas you want.

Someone did something like this but without the maglev a century or so ago. Or maybe I was just reading some steampunk. Anyway, this is very well understood tech and might make things a bit easier at the start.

And then DHS as well...gotta stop the terrorists from bombing our rail systems.  Not sure if you've considered the cost to secure the line.

I am no expert in the technology or different variations thereof but I do know that China is building high speed railway like no other country on earth so if you can provide a more cost effective means of doing it then you should be doing it there.

I don't understand, but I think you are thinking that there is only one kind of maglev, or that all maglev costs the same?

Yes that is correct, however, it is interesting that the high speed train from Beijing to Tianjin (built years later) which is built on extremely flat and dry land was not done with Maglev (but does run at around 400kmh).

I think that if it was more cost effective then the Chinese would have chosen Maglev instead.

It doesn't really matter where the power here comes from. There is also no power on the trains themselves, since they are mostly just chunks of steel and magnets. Using bloomboxes would be possible, but would add more complexity to a project that you can just plug into whatever nearby source of power is the cheapest.


I'm off to bed. Will reply to more questions tomorrow.

How practical would it be to incorporate your idea with the bloom box? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcLq3B8C5sk

I'm assuming that this system is operated by electricity from off the grid. If that's the case, then eliminate the grid completely by having bloom box unites either stationed along the line, part of the cargo container, or both.

~Bruno (not Bruno Edison)

Not disputing any of that, and am quite aware of it. If I start in Nevada, in the middle of nowhere, between two distribution centers separated by nothing but desert and a stretch of highway, I hope to avoid most of those issues, at least by not attracting attention initially.
Also, please keep in mind this is not a project I plan on building myself as a hobby or something. Its not like opening a restaurant (even that requires a whole slew of regulations). This will be presented to venture capitalists for initial funding, the R&D phase will be done in conjunction with a local state university, where I may give up a few rights to the patent and work as a consultant teaching students to work with it, in exchange for getting their support, and I will be hiring a whole slew of people to work on the project, including lawyers and consultants. My job will only be as project manager, where I just oversee it's construction, AFTER I get the initial push off the ground

The cost issue with the Chinese system (electromagnet based Transrapid) was that they built it on sandy swampy land, which ended up costing WAY more than necessary. The cost of the ticket is high in part because they are trying to recoup their costs, ad in part because their maglev system is very inefficient. Since it uses computers and electronics for balance, each of their trains has to have redundant electronics and batteries. That's crap that the train is required to lift along with the passenger cargo. In fact, most of the train weight is batteries and electronics. Also, the train has a "manually" controlled motor that requires manual changes in frequency of the electricity used to move it. Changing frequency is a VERY expensive process. In short, it costs a lot in electricity to run the inefficient things. In comparison, my system is light (one Transrapid train weighs 150 tons, whereas if they used our tech, it would weigh 25 tons, because batteries and electromagnets are HEAVY!), and my system runs on standard constant frequency 60Hz electric power. No need to change frequencies to change speeds.

Your point about train tracks being extremely precise is valid, but is not really a problem. High speed rail all over Europe is built with tolerances of under 3mm.

Only as a spectator, watching Transrapid flail around with their technology for the last ten years. Some people plan to build a MAGLEV line between Baltimore and DC, some other people plan and study the project, then they find out it's too expensive and shut it down. Few years later, rinse and repeat. This is why I am going with individualized cargo. There are WAY more "cargo" riders than "people" riders (almost no one uses public transportation), and with it shipping one pallet at a time, the whole system has a much smaller footprint than a passenger system would.  Think a 12 foot wide box shaped "wall" with one rail stacked on top of the other instead of side by side. Since it's just cargo, I may even be able to just bury the thing underground in some places (covered trench instead of tunnel). Mostly I am hoping that since my system is much cheaper than the other maglev systems, there won't be as many complaints (again, electromagnetic Transrapid is $30m to $40m per mile, mine is $5m), but fighting against trucking unions and regulators will be a bitch no doubt.

Pessimist! Leave him be!

Out of curiosity, what effect did you think we are looking for?
The effect we are looking for in this system is just to supersaturate the steel. Since the steel rails are made of thin stacked sheets a mm or so in thickness, each sheet conducts it's own electric current.

No. This is actually something I have been trying to pursue for a while now (Actually, a different business idea I'll post after this one), but which I've taken a hiatus from for the last year or so. I now found a new avenue to pursue it through, and just want feedback on the idea before I go there.


These guys are stuck on the German electromagnetic system as if it's the holy grail or something. We tried dealing with them, but, um, screw those guys

Living in China I have taken the (AFAIA) only commercial Maglev commuter train (it goes between the airport and the city in Shanghai).

The cost of that rather short line was so expensive that no other Maglev line has been constructed here (and the other high speed trains run nearly as smoothly and not that much slower).

The cost is not due to the trains but the tracks (the accuracy required for Maglev tracks is much greater than for other high speed trains).

The poles induced on the aluminum would be a problem and counteract the effect your looking for.

I dont think aluminum is the missing link your looking for

Sorry, checked the paper, yeah, Lentz's law is used.

I get it. This is thinking outside the box, and I salute the man that was able to put it into action and down on paper.

Not sure about lenz's law. Lorentz force, yes. As magnets pass by the steel rails, they generate a current in the steel, which creates eddy currents in the aluminum screens. Those opposing currents "squeeze" the magnetic flux in the steel rails into the rails themselves, not allowing them to escape around the steel, and thus supersaturate the steel rails.

Lenz's law ?  Are you using it, familiar with it

Aluminum is wrapped around the outside and inside of the [ and ] shaped steel rails in the picture above.

It is indeed very very very very expensive, but still cheaper than asphalt believe it or not. The costs I have estimated are based on actual full production estimates I got from a manufacturing company that was ready to build it for us, until our funding got yanked.