UNIVERSITY STUDENTS EXCEL IN HIGH-SPEED POD COMPETITION

15-08-2019
Members of the UNSW Hyperloop team with Elon Musk

The University of NSW’s Hyperloop team of undergraduate engineering students aspiring to innovate the future of high speed travel recently competed in the SpaceX Hyperloop pod competition, placing 7th overall, the best result for a first-time competitor.

Schaeffler Australia, part of the global digitalisation and Industry 4.0 leading Schaeffler Group, is taking a further step to enhance ‘mobility for tomorrow’ through its support of the team.

“As a company at the forefront of Industry 4.0 technologies, we are proud to partner with these bright young engineers, who have excelled in their first official Hyperloop pod competition,” Schaeffler Australia Managing Director Andre Kluge says.

The SpaceX Hyperloop pod competition’s goal is to support the development of functional prototypes and encourage innovation by challenging student teams to design and build the best high-speed pod.

“In addition to placing 7th out of 21 teams, the UNSW Hyperloop team were the first ever team to successfully complete a self-propelled test run at a first appearance at competition level,” Kluge says. “However, I think the highlight for many students was getting to meet Elon Musk in person!”

The SpaceX Hyperloop 2019 competition was judged on each pod’s maximum speed reached, with successful deceleration (that is, without crashing). All pods were self-propelled and had to use their own communication system.

Previous winners of the competition have reached speeds of 457 km/h in SpaceX’s specially designed tunnel. This year’s winner, from the Technical University of Munich and also supported by Schaeffler, managed to break that record, achieving 463 km/h.

Schaeffler Australia collects more than 40 million characteristic data points annually through its diverse suite of digital technologies, including condition monitoring devices for mining and resources, pumps, fans and machinery and wind turbines.

“The support of the UNSW Hyperloop team perfectly matches Schaeffler’s digitalisation agenda locally,” Kluge says. “We’re constantly looking at ways to make industrial operations safer, more efficient, more productive and more cost-effective through the collection and analysis of important data.

“We decided to collaborate with UNSW Hyperloop because it’s important to support the future engineers of this country. Schaeffler places a high importance on education and pushing the boundaries of engineering excellence.”

Schaeffler Australia
02 8977 1000
www.schaeffler.com.au

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