The Sports Pavilion of the Polytechnic University of Valencia was bustling with 400 young engineers exhibiting their designs for the development of the Hyperloop,
the electric supersonic train capable of levitating through tubes at speeds of more than 1,200 kilometers per hour
to transport goods and passengers without emissions to the atmosphere. They are competing in the European Hyperloop Week, an event that for the first time brings together eleven teams from the best universities in Europe that, following in the wake of Elon Musk, are looking for the best prototype, not the fastest, but the most efficient, innovative and portable on a real scale.
In the room are engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Federal Polytechnic School of Zurich (ETH Zurich), the Technical University of Delft (TU Delft), the University of Edinburgh and two 'pods' (capsule vehicle) under Spanish flag: one is the Ignis, the fourth prototype of the UPV Hyperloop team,
a new model that will accelerate without touching the rail through a design powered by two linear induction motors (LIM) and developed by 50 students
. Under the other flag, merit and claim are displayed.
Ten VET students from the Higher Center for Innovation and Development of the College of Railway Orphans have 'sneaked' into this career towards the future.
They are the only non-university team in the world that accepts the challenge
and is invited to a competition where, for now, they have already aroused the admiration of competitors and the judges.
The idea of getting rid of complexes and embarking on designing the train of the future came from Professor Mario Rocies, who already participated in Space X during his studies in the United States. "I came with that itch to Madrid three years ago we
started with a very small concept, some toy, so to speak, and we won the European Researchers '
Night of the Telefónica Foundation. Slowly we were thinking we could.
Although they left us out of the competitions, because it did not fit into a framework in which it was a FP team, because people liked and valued our work,
"says Mario as he greets members of other teams who approach his prototype.
He recruited ten of the 40 students of the institute, the best and the most enthusiastic, "willing to spend twelve hours in the center, which is a lot in FP," he warns, and without receiving a single credit for it. studies. With them he began a hard work to get his design in just six months in front of teams of 120 members that have been polishing their proposals for years and with budgets that they cannot even dream of. "
We have had 70,000 euros and a lot of support from the center, which has even built a test track. But everything is handmade.
If a bodywork costs 100,000 euros, then we have looked for who cannot donate and go to collect it in Albacete. And have very careful not to make mistakes because we didn't have any more, "recalls Mario.
Noelia Camacho is the only woman in this group of pioneers and she did not hesitate to launch herself into the project. She has been responsible for contacting companies such as Talgo or Renfe, which have given them a little support, and others that have collaborated as generous suppliers. Nothing discouraged them. "We work with trains, we study what trains are, so it was a matter of learning," he says. They contacted the UPV team and launched into developing their hyperloop. In six months I already had "
a 100% functional prototype, because it is true that we do not comply with all the security measures that they ask you to make it a safe transport
."
They will not be able to measure it against those of their competitors, but they already know that they are on the right track. "We have built a double linear induction motor, which two or three of the universities here have. None of them have it functional within the prototype and ours does work," says Noelia with pride. Not for less, it is "built and wound by hand". "
The teams that are here are made by companies, so I think it has been an achievement.
Many universities only came to ask about that."
Neither Noelia nor Mario deny that they have had to fight against the FP label. Not even the Ministry of Education, so focused on this educational stage, has set its eyes on them.
"We are a private center," recalls the mentor. This Hyperloop adventure will end up working in your favor and you know how. "I believe that Spain should seek synergies between VET, universities and companies, because in the end VET and university are destined for a future job. Especially, companies that develop Hyperloop technology need specialized personnel, not just any electromechanical ", warns Mario.
"
Everyone wants to study engineering, but then they have to land in the real world and know that someone is going to have to manufacture it.
And the one who manufactures, understand how they have to do it, which is not just making parts. A team Hyperloop of ten thinkers and ten manufacturers would be perfect. We are here to raise our hands and tell companies that we know how to do what they want, "he reflects.
One of those companies is the Spanish Zeleros, which insisted on inviting them to the European Hyperloop Week so that they themselves could test their work.
The biggest drawback they have come across is English
. "The competition requires documentation written in English and a very technical and extensive engineering vocabulary, because you are going to explain your project to people who know very well what they are talking about. That in a VET is complicated because they do not give enough hours of English" Mario laments.
Will the door be open to other VET teams?
"The problem is that in vocational training it is very difficult to bet on projects of this caliber and, above all, of economic cost, prohibitive. VET in Spain is very, very low and part of the future to have a more solid economy is to support the sector of the industry ", claims the professor who, for the moment, thinks to continue with this dream.
As Noelia says, there are no shortage of disciples:
"There are new people who have signed up for the center just to participate in the project."
The seed is sown.
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