Future Transportation and Engineering: Italy climbs aboard Hyperloop -"the train of the future", thanks to the start-up founded by Sant’Anna and University of Pisa students
Italy climbs aboard Hyperloop, to design the "train of the future" which, with its "pods" instead of traditional coaches and wagons running on tracks, will reach 1,000 km/h and will cover the distance between Milan and Rome in less than 30 minutes. The dream of contributing to the project launched by Elon Musk, founder and CEO of innovative companies like SpaceX and Tesla goes through a start-up, Ales Tech, the Italian innovative company based in Pisa, the only Italian company selected for the business venture and to provide, at this preliminary stage, the suspensions which can ensure passenger comfort and reduce vibrations due to high speed.
Start-up Ales Tech was founded by Hyperloop Team Pisa, a group of engineering students from the University of Pisa and Sant'Anna School for Advanced Studies who were recently selected (the only in Italy and among the few in Europe) to participate in the "SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition", global competition for university students launched by Elon Musk, to design and build a "Hyperloop pod", a sort of passenger capsule, with the most advanced design and technology, fundamental component of Hyperloop. The transport system will consist of a low pressure steel tube with capsules called “pods” that are transported at both low and high speeds throughout the length of the tube, traveling at nearly the speed of sound, an eco-friendly system, safe and comfortable.
It seems like we read a science fiction movie script, but rather, it represents a worldwide engineering effort, in which Italy takes part and that it could soon become a reality, especially in the aftermath of the tests in the Nevada desert (USA) which have yielded positive results.
The Italian approach to the design of what Elon Musk unveiled as the fifth mode of transport - after cars, planes, trains and boats - was characterized by a high degree of innovation. Instead of focusing on the design of the entire vehicle, engineers turned their attention to the suspension system of the "pod" and to vibration control in connection with high speed travel.
The Hyperloop Team Pisa designed an innovative, smart suspension system, just patented today, able to find the slightest trace of imperfection, an idea to solve the problems and achieve quickly the Hyperloop prototype, so to offer maximum comfort for passengers and to ensure the "pods" stability, even if they reach very high speeds.
Conceptual design of this suspension system was presented in Texas, on the occasion of the university competition in which the team was invited to participate. Great appreciation was expressed for the project and the two team leaders, Luca Cesaretti and Lorenzo Andrea Parrotta, both students of University of Pisa and Sant'Anna School, who have then transformed the work done for the competition into their thesis. The Italian participation in the birth of Hyperloop would finish immediately after the meeting closing remarks, but the opposite happened: the Hyperloop Team Pisa has become a start-up.
Sant’Anna Alumni from other disciplines such as economics and law, including Andrea Paraboschi and Antonio Davola, in their respective roles of innovation & strategy manager and legal manager, joined the group of engineers; however, the original team including Tommaso Sartor remained unchanged. Ales Tech is now ready for market debut, developing a strong consensus among the investors and continuing the consolidation of its corporate structure, thanks to the newly appointed "advisory board" which includes Alberto Minin, professor of management, and Massimo Bergamasco, professor of applied mechanics and founder of Sant’Anna School PERCRO perceptual robotics laboratory.
"Successful industrial entrepreneurs - remarked Andrea Paraboschi - started believing in their dream of providing Hyperloop the suspension system and expanding the start-up business. Investors appreciate the strategic economic value of innovation in mechanical engineering industry and our system which could be easily transferable and applicable to different contexts and markets, including the traditional ones ".
Ales Tech will contact suppliers of the mechanical parts required to build the suspension system. The goal is to identify appropriate components “Made in Italy”. "In our country - explains engineer Luca Cesaretti– there are lots of small and medium-sized advanced mechanical enterprises that can offer components that will meet the requirements”.
The dialogue with university students remains open. "We are happy to see so many students from all over Italy who would like to cooperate with us. Hyperloop is a big challenge that stimulates research and innovation in many areas and I am pleased to see that so many young people want to grasp the opportunity, just like us”, emphasizes Lorenzo Andrea Parrotta. "We are preparing a great project - adds Antonio Davoli – which we have named 'Hyperloop Team Italy', and we plan to run the project with the best Italian universities so as to encourage the research on Hyperloop".
