The concept of public cargo transporting pipeline system

Mateusz Turkowski1àXNDV]0LFKDODN2
1Warsaw University of Technology, professor at Faculty of Mechatronics,
m.turkowski@mchtr.pw.edu.pl
2 Warsaw University of Technology, Ph.D. student at Faculty of Mechatronics

lmichalak82@gmail.com

Abstract. One of the options of replacing traditional transport by the sustainable

one is the concept of transporting the consumer goods in pipelines with the use
of capsules. The paper covers the wide range of technical issues that have to be
resolved before the construction of such systems, especially design of the termi-
nals, air locks, propelling and guiding the capsules. The methodology for these
purposes has been proposed, including theoretical part - modelling the capsules
dynamics moving in the pipe and experimental part.

Keywords: VXVWDLQDEOH WUDQVSRUW ā underground freight transport ā capsule

pipelines

1 Introduction

The necessity of the sustainable transport development has been discussed in numer-
ous publications and is now beyond dispute [4]. The present trends in transport are not
sustainable and fundamental changes in the technology are needed.
One of the options of replacing traditional transport by the sustainable one is the con-
cept of transporting the consumer goods (food, drinks, electronics, clothes, cleaners
etc.) in pipelines with the use of special capsules.
Pipeline transport is secure and independent of weather conditions. The pros and con-
tras of pipeline transport systems for consumer goods are discussed in [2, 3] and pre-
sented in the form of SWOT analysis in [3]. The authors conclude that there are op-
portunities for the use of freight pipelines, but research is yet required to fully under-
stand the supply chain, logistics and other related activities that technology may influ-
ence.
The encouraging analyses are presented in [5]. The author claims that 92% of the
energy used to transport consumer goods is spent on moving the vehicles and only 8%
to move the goods. Replacing heavy vehicles with lightweight capsules running in
pipelines will save billions of litres of fuel and limit the CO2 added to the atmosphere.
The systems for various purposes, such as transporting municipal solid waste, mail
and parcels, delivering goods on pallets, dispatching containers from seaports to an
station are described in [6, 7, 8]. According to the presented concept called pneumatic

Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 79

R. Jabłoński and T. Brezina (eds.), Advanced Mechatronics Solutions,
Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing 393,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-23923-1_12
80 M. Turkowski and à. Michalak

capsules pipelines (PCP) the stationary linear induction motors (LIM) are used as a
prime mover. Similar concept is adopted in Foodtubes project [11].
The concepts of transport of goods in motorized capsules moving in the tunnel is
presented by Stein [9] and wide research has already been done in Germany. The
system called CargoCap resembles a small subway system.
In some concepts the use of magnetic levitation (maglev) is planned. It is possible to
incorporate both maglev and linear electric motor functions. Such motor would ex-
tend over the whole pipeline length7KHVHDUH3LSH†QHWV\VWHP[1] and ET3 [10] sys-
tems, they envisage the use of vacuum pumps to remove air from the tubes which
practically eliminates aerodynamic drag forces. The authors claim that the capsules
could achieve velocities as high as 1 500 km/K3LSH†QHWDQGHYHQPRUH(7

2 General assumptions for the system

At present, prevailing and most advanced ideas is the system of pneumatic wheeled
capsules pipelines, i.e. Foodtubes [11] or systems presented in [6, 7, 8]. There is,
however a variety of detailed solutions. The first questions is the shape of the tunnel ±
circular or other, square or rectangular.
The system should be cost competitive with trucks and trains. It means, it should
adopt the proven, optimized and economical existing technologies, such as pipeline
construction technologies, enabling the construction of even 2 m diameter pipelines e
at relatively low price. In this respect circular shape is optimal.
In some concepts each capsule is provided with the motor, i.e. the system presented in
[9]. The capsules move like the subway or a train in a tunnel. It means that the capsule
should transport the motor. In case of battery powered motors both motor and battery
should be transported, limiting the cargo load. In case when the motor is powered
from the conductor rail, the construction of pipeline is much more complicated.
Another concept, preferred by the authors, consist of the pipeline with stationary line-
ar induction motors situated every, say, several hundred meters (Fig. 1).
LIM1 LIM2

C1 C2 C3 ... C(N) C(N+1) C(N+1) C(N+2)

Fig. 1. General idea of PCP

%HWZHHQWKHPRWRUVWKHFDSVXOHV&«&1&1PRYHWKDQNVWRSQHXPDWLFFXVK

ions between them. The capsule that at the moment is in the area of LIM (C1, CN+1)
pushes the capsules situated between LIMs.

3 The concept and optimal geometry of capsules

The dimensions of the capsules should enable connection of PCP to the other logistic
chains. It seems that compatibility with euro palettes will be of great value from this