Interstate Traveler Company
Building the World Wide Hydrogen Super
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Question 1: What is the state of the art in linear motors? Question 4: What kind of vehicles will be able to use the Interstate Traveler Rail? Answer: Any kind of vehicle your imagination can provide.
Ambulances are a great idea.
http://www.q3000.com/products-overview.asp
Question 16: When was the Interstate Traveler Rail Conduit Cluster design, et al., created? Answer: Under development for nearly 8 years, the first notes were taken down to paper on Sunday, March 19, 1995, the system was not published until June 2002. Question 17: Is this system to be a transit system, ie with its own cars that people board at stations, or is it one that they drive their own cars on via a specialized 'carrier?' Answer: Both ...see product page Answer: Our Rail Conduit Cluster technology is designed to be mass
produced in a factory in 66 foot sections. The 'Y' design is for the
requisite stability of 'wider' cars. With a 'Standard Gauge' of 13
feet, the Interstate Traveler Rail could easily transmit cars up to 16 feet wide or wider.
The Central Support is designed to be the housing of the Conduit Cluster itself,
as described in the above question. Two way traffic is achieved with
parallel installations of Interstate Traveler Rail. Answer: Upon closer examination of the
Detroit Loop
diagram, it can be seen that the Detroit Loop is a buffer for traffic
entering and exiting the loop from 8 mainline rail pairs bringing traffic into
and out of the city from all directions following all the major roads leading
into the city. Although the Detroit Loop may appear to simply be a
merry-go-round, it is a fast moving buffer zone absorbing and directing large
amounts traffic. Metropolitan loops such as the Detroit Loop are planned
to be setup in concentric loop and spoke topology modeled after
SONET rings in
Data Network Design. Minor loops inside of a metropolitan loop will
serve as required. Answer: The full sized Car Ferry will provide an enclosure large enough for a full sized Van. We have several innovative methods to help secure the vehicle in place.
Answer: The traffic on the loop will be in constant motion using First in First out, with aging for cars entering the loop when destination switches are unavailable. A loop the size of the Detroit Loop is only about 4 miles long and would only take three or four minutes to circum navigate in light traffic. Certainly an acceptable time v.s. regular traffic systems. Just one traffic light for an automobile can last three minutes! Question 22: Your switch design cannot work as fast as you say. Your "rails"
are going to be 12-15 feet apart. Your switch design works by replacing a
section of track. That means the replacement track section ( which will weigh a
ton or more) must move 13-16 feet in 2 seconds. You would have to use explosives
or high pressure air to accomplish this. Not only do you need to overcome the
inertia of the track section to start moving, you need to stop it as well. A
heavy structural member moving that fast will be difficult to handle, especially
without breaking something. Answer: The AMT Linear Actuators are given as an example of the motors under development by Interstate Traveler engineers. The design is proprietary, yet the description is simple: The location of electromagnetic field axis are planned according performance requirements, and are each adjustable in real-time based on data from solid state gyros and accelerometers. Not unlike the real-time sensing capabilities of Dean Kamen's Segway. QUESTION 24: How is the solar power generated? Answer: The Rail Conduit Cluster is designed with a steel Central Support that has top surfaces positioned at 30 degrees from horizontal. The entire width of the top surface is exactly 8 feet time two when you consider a parallel installation of track to facilitate two-way traffic. Therefore, we consider a solar panel that is 16 feet wide * 5280 feet equals 84,480 square feet of solar panel per mile of rail. A rail installation that is 100 miles long would thereby provide 8,448,000 square feet of surface area. Based on typical solar cell performance of about 10 watts per square foot/hour at peek time, the Rail Conduit Cluster will then be generating 84,480,000 watt-hours at peak time, or ~ 84 Megawatt-hours peak time. We are talking about 'miles of solar panels' after all. ... :-) The power system flow chart can be seen here Question 27: Do the vehicles slow down at switches? Answer: Yes Question 27: How wide are the tracks? We are planning for two gauges, one at 13 feet, the other at 6 feet. Question 28: How does the suspension work? Answer: The slotted linear motors rap around the rail preventing 'roll over' or derailment, and the suspension at each linear motor is also an electromagnetic actuator that will tilt and pitch the car to keep g-force acceleration perpendicular to the floor during acceleration, deceleration, and banking in turns. That way your coffee cup will not slide off your table when speeding up, slowing down, or taking turns. The suspension system is a hybrid Stewart-Platform that allows the ITC Transports to experience controlled flight at high speeds. Because the levitation gap is directly proportional to the amount of energy required to maintain the gap, the system will always know the exact weight of each car down to the gram and will even be able to reveal the force of the wind acting upon a stationary Transport. Question 29: Once the switch has moved, how do you lock it in place, and how do you make sure it's in the right position? if it's half an inch out of line, and you hit it at high speed, most likely bad things happen... Answer: The wonderful quality of linear motors is position control. A typical linear motor can reliably position its self at .002 inches. In our case, we are only looking to be at the nearest tenth of an inch. Question 30: How much time will you have between each car? How much space will you need between vehicles? Well, you need to be able to operate the switch, verify that it has moved correctly and locked in to place, and still have enough time to stop the following vehicle if the switch has malfunctioned. Answer: The head way time is determined in real-time based on traffic analysis. The idea that 2 second head way is possible, does not mean that it is practical. In reality, a mile of track could hold 176 cars (30 feet each car) end to end, a 100 mile installation could hold 17,600 cars end to end, but that would not be practical either. If you kept 30 feet between each car, you could have 8800 cars on the rail, but that could make lead times too close, and then if you halve it again, you may be getting closer to a practical maximum of cars on a system without the worry of having to slow down traffic for switch operation. Question 31: How will the Maglev cars apply the brakes when needed? Answer: We are planning for three forms of braking, 1) normal positioning controls, 2)cut power with frictional stop, and 3) full power stop reversing levitation polarity to 'grab' the rail. Other methods are still under consideration. Question 32: How many people will the Interstate Traveler be able to move in one day? Answer: The Passenger Cars are planned to be 40 seaters. 40 people at 200lbs is 8000lbs leaving up to 5000lbs for the GVW of the car. We have mathematical models that suggest a 100 mile system connecting two major cities with 100 terminals to load and unload passengers (two every 2 miles for bi-directional travel), with 400 cars at 50% capacity, with ridership traveling an average of 20 miles at an average speed of 180 mph, we will be able to provide 1.7 million trips per day. It is a basic mathematical model, reality will certainly provide something slightly different. Question 33: I didn't mean to put your system in the whacko column, but
I do feel that there is so much new technology or, if you prefer, so many
technologies piled one on top of another that the system has little near term
chance. One example is the need for interactivity with existing power grid.
Seems like many years before such interaction will be sufficiently reliable for
system of this type, or will add on some extra technology to cover the problem.
Answer: There are actually only a few kinds of technology included in the system. Actually there are less things going on within the inner workings of the Interstate Traveler than is happening in your average home. Be it plumbing, electrical, or data lines, there is not that much going on so as to be 'too much'. The Electrical system is far less complicated than it seems to appear. Interactivity with existing power grids is actually commonplace, and you can even buy a system for your home so that the solar panels on your roof can make your voltage meter spin backwards, if your house and appliances are not consuming all the energy. Click here to learn more about inverters. Solar panels are very simple in nature, Maglev rail technology is proven many times over, linear motor positioning controls are at a high level of development, TCP/IP addressing schemes have already been adapted to control mechanical processes, machines, machine components, and sensors on those machines. The Intestate Traveler is simple. Question 34: According to Peter Drucker, an oft made mistake in a paradigm shifting system is to over engineer it and put in too many bells and whistles, rather doing a basic job of demonstrating the most fundamental aspects of the paradigm shift. In other word you have to walk before you run. The solar and hydrogen aspects might be useful farther down the line, but at this stage they just postpone implementation. In the meantime some else will be well into production. Answer: As in Question 33, the systems planned for this integration are quite simple, and available. My question is: "How can a paradigm shift happen if you remain with the status quo?" The Solar and Hydrogen aspects are useful now, and according to the US DOE, and the climate change in the fossil fuel market, and the drive toward clean systems, it would be short sighted to invest a fortune into a system that is not fully compliant with long range energy policy. As for the basic job of demonstrating the paradigm shift. It has already been demonstrated, the Interstate Traveler is an optimization of the 'Basic' system. We are not recreating the wheel, we are getting rid of it. Question 35: The basic shift your system represents is the small vehicles (relative to most train concepts) and off-line stations, and possibly the circular beams. I'd say stick with that, the power source is secondary. As I understand it the state of the art of solar/hydrogen is more expensive than conventional power. Answer: According to national statistics for our growing nation, if the power companies built one conventional natural gas burning power plant every week, we will still not keep up with the demand. The state of the art is in 'Distributed Energy Generation'. Click here to see a slide show from DTE Energy on their effort to be a national leader in DEG systems. So to fully integrate a distributed energy generation system will be a valuable asset in its own right, and is practically necessary as most power grids are already near capacity. We don't want to add to that problem or be short sheeted and shut down because of a power failure some place else. It is in our national interest to have a highly redundant DEG system to serve our growing nation, and we are doing our part to help. Power redundancy is a safe guard against failure. Why under-engineer something of this magnitude, when you have the chance to build in robust systems that are independent operation, it should be done. It would be fool hardy not to do it. It would be like jumping out of an airplane with just one parachute; with a conscious choice to leave your reserve parachute back at the hanger where it will not be able to help you if you need it. Question 36: How soon do estimate you can get to market? Answer: We estimate 12 months to tool up, and estimate rail production at 8 kilometers per week, in general terms. Question 37: How big does it have to be for a positive ROI? Answer: We have proposed systems as short as 20 miles, and those systems have fewer cars, and fewer stations, to the price is less. Question 38: All the other maglev concepts have flat magnetic surfaces. What is the advantage of the circular design? Answer: The Rail Conduit Cluster is designed to be constructed from mass produced steel tubing and steel plates. For the purpose of simplicity, balance, and durability we have made every effort to simplify the design and environmental exposure. There are also structural benefits to the use of steel tubing. Question 39: In your Rail and Conduit section you speak of "84,480,000 watts
pr hour at peek times." You make a similar claim in Question 24. I grant
you that the misspelling of peak is a minor matter, but your apparent lack of
understanding of power units illustrates (at least to this observer) that you
are not particularly well grounded in the basics. That is unless you really Answer: You seem disappointed with the lack of perfected scientific data. Just about every large engineering project begins with a picture in someone's mind. People have visualized building great dams, and have been successful, even thought the tools necessary to build the dam had to be designed and built before construction could begin. The auto companies do all of this for every car... they show what it will look like and imply the engineering is possible, then they proceed to get to work engineering every last detail. For the Interstate Traveler, there is a considerable amount of engineering that needs to be done, and we rest comfortably in knowing that all the components have already been proven in their own right. We rest assured that the state of the art in computer aided design can allow a company like Boeing to design and build an airplane as modern and complex as the 777, knowing that anything they need to build the plane would have to be designed and built and that their Kinematic Finite Element Analysis tools will very accurately foretell exact how that air plane would fly. The integration of the Interstate Traveler Rail Conduit Cluster is not anywhere near as complicated as a 777, our plan is simple and it is a good idea to do exactly as we plan. As for my calculations, I have only attempted to use basic arithmetic to show that one solar cell that generates 120w/hour can be hooked together with one hundred more identical solar cells and that the collection of 100 solar panels would in turn produce 12,000w/hour created 120 watts at a time for each of the 100 panels, and it stands to reason that the larger the surface area involved, the more sunlight will be collected. I am doing my best to keep the description of the system simple, full well knowing that the several engineering companies already collaborating on the project will be able to create a more exact scientific description. I am not sure what you mean about energy acceleration, but it sounds cool. Feel free to explain to me how my math is incorrect, if you have the time, otherwise we are still counting on our engineer partners to get more exacting with the numbers as we move forward. Question 40: In Question 6 you talk about applying 100 tons of thrust on a 13,000 lb vehicle. Are you serious about that. Also, you indicate an acceleration of 80 ft/sec. These are units of velocity, not acceleration. If you can't the units straight, how can we believe you have anything else straight. In fact, you give precious little information about how this all really works. If I were of a suspicious nature, I would suspect that you took all the OK things of the day, and then simply proclaimed loudly that this is my new system. SEND MONEY. Answer: If you look at all the systems as plumbing you will see just how
simple the project is. As the Interstate Traveler is built, there will be
switches, valves, compressors, linear motors, flow meters, tanks, steel plates,
solar panels, electrolysis tanks, conduit for insulated high temperature super
conductor wire, conduit for water, sewer, vapor based hydrogen and oxygen, fiber
optic lines, and all the stuff that goes into building the clover leaf stations
and the car ramps, and the Rail Conduit Cluster itself. Even as you have not
asked me for more information, I will share this with you. Yes, I did look
around me, and studied about all the systems that have been published, I took
into account the need to serve the automobile as well as pedestrians, that you
need to be environmentally clean, I looked at the future of hydrogen, and
considered the use of hydrogen fuel cells to power the Interstate Traveler
system, and also looked around me and could easily see that the existing power
grids are at or near capacity, we attended meetings and listened to the top
directors of the energy companies and automotive companies explain that hydrogen
power is the future for all the right reasons, and that the auto industry needs
a hydrogen distribution network, and that they need to build cars to stay in
business and we shared with them the opportunity to build the maglev cars on for
the Interstate Traveler, they talked about how all the automotive companies are
moving toward hydrogen. So the answer is Yes, I did look all around me, and I
did my best to integrate the very best of every form of technology I could find,
and as a designer, I looked at all the technology I have planned for and
designed into the system and proudly say: this is my new system. From that
point forward I have reached out to everyone I could to share the knowledge of
my new system, and I have been very fortunate to have come to know many
brilliant people in my life, and many of them have joined with me to see the
fruition of the Interstate Traveler Project. Together, WE are a solution provider, and
the purpose of the Interstate Traveler Project is to integrate all the best
technology we can to solve the problems of mass transit and the production and
distribution of hydrogen, and to enjoy the obvious benefit of laminating every
last square foot of the ITC rail with the best solar cells in the world. With
all that said, even if the aforementioned mentioned was not organized perfectly,
We hereby propose The Interstate Traveler Project as a solution using the best
technology available, and we are proud to work together on this... so I ask
you.... Would you care to join with us in our effort? Question 41: Between cities, I think a very-high-speed system with 40+ passenger vehicles could make a lot of sense, but it doesn't work as well within the city, since it's going to take ten or twenty miles for your vehicle to get up to 200mph every time it has to stop; if everybody going from Detroit to Denver gets off at one station, they'll be very happy to have gone 200mph between the two cities; if, however, you've got 40 stations in Denver, then, in general, everybody on that 40-person vehicle is going to want to get off at a different place, and you're either going to make them transfer or have to stop a whole bunch of different places to let everybody off. Personally, I have been more focused on the in-city transportation market, rather than inter-city, where the problems are somewhat different. Answer: Yes, the designs you have seen are specifically for interurban/intercity transit, yet bear in mind that the same system is designed in two separate standard gauges. The Interstate Traveler has a standard gauge of 13 feet, the Intercity Traveler has a standard gauge six feet. The Intercity Traveler is about the same size as the Taxi2000, but is fully compliant with the same routing protocols and conduit cluster of the 13 foot system. It is a part of our effort to create a unified public transit system. As for acceleration, our calculations are still under construction. Could you explain your reasoning to assume it will take 10 or 20 miles to accelerate up to 200 mph? With linear motors capable of acceleration at 12feet/second, perhaps it would be less than you suggest, also the difference of 10 and 20 miles required to achieve 200 mph is quite large when looking at an acceleration curve. As for the types of cars on the system and their uses, there will certainly be 40 passenger pubic cars, but our standard gauge allows for cars of all types, with public and private ownership. Municipal, commercial, or personal, there will be cars of all types. If it is desired to pay the cheapest possible rate, you will stop at every stop like a Grey Hound Bus, If you pay a premium, you will be able to by pass all the stops. There will be regular express cars to certain locations. There will be cars as big as a grey hound bus and bigger, there will be cars as small as a typical four door automobile, and there will be emergency vehicles and service vehicles, and there will be commercial fright vehicles and corporate limousines, and entertainment venues can operate their own cars to go out into the suburbs to pick up ticket holders as a service included in the price of their ticket. Imagine a car full of sports fans surrounded by like minded people excited to be on their way to see the game in a car decked out with team oriented decorations! Question 42: Why are you not using any wheels? When comparing the structural differences between rail designed
to guide wheeled vehicles and the Interstate Traveler Rail Conduit Cluster, it can be seen that
the Interstate Traveler Rail is smooth and does not have any surface areas to accumulate debris,
there are no moving mechanical parts other than the occasional switch, and since
it is made from Tube steel and Steel Plates, the construction is cheaper and
easier to automate production with strait line welds. Perhaps your ultimate
design will not include the complicated ladder work of steel tubing to form the
structural spanning strength of the Taxi2000 guide way internal truss rail, it
would appear to be very labor intensive to build the guide way internal truss.
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