FLL Smart Move Project

Drew BrownleeEnsay KimJeffrey Mi

Joshua Stanton-Savitz

We chose California as our community.Facts about California: • Largest state population in the USA (36,756,666)• The Golden State• Hollywood• Mountains• Many Climates • Big Cities• Many resources (gold, etc. )• High Tech Industries (Web, electronic, software,

biotech companies) • Farming and Agriculture (Fruits, vegetables, nuts,

corn, grains, alcoholic beverages)

Environmental issues › Pollution › Co2 causing climate change› Building roads and airports

Efficiency › Congestion on roads› Fuel use

Cal Train dangerous at road crossings Noisy

Most people in our community travel by cars (95%) or by plane (4%), while only a few people go by intercity train (1%)*. That causes a lot of traffic and also causes many delays in the airport. These are also not the most efficient or “green” ways of transportation.

* California High Speed Train Project. Ridership and Revenue Forecast. Written by Parsons Brinckerhoff, Cambridge Systematics, and Systra

California is planning a high speed railway which could make transportation much easier. A high speed rail could be electric which wouldn’t make it dependant on oil and also more efficient. A high speed rail could also make airports and freeways less busy.

At a high speed rail conference we learned that:

• The high speed rail will use 1/3 the energy of planes and 1/5 of cars.

• Every year a high speed train will save 12 billion pounds of greenhouse gas.

• High speed rail could take you from San Francisco to Los Angeles(one of the biggest travel routes in the U.S.) in about two and a half hours.

Maglev means magnetic levitation Maglev is being tested in Japan, they

have set world record speeds of over 580 kilometers an hour (~360 mph)

They’ve used maglev trains in Shanghai, China which travel at 431 kilometers per hour. (~268 mph)

Maglev eliminates the frictions of wheels Maglev has its pros and cons

Pros(+)

Cons(-)

Fast, smooth and quiet Very expensive

Electric, no wheel friction, makes it more green.

Takes a lot of work to get electricity to the train (wires)

Less maintenance because there are no wheels.

Maglev isn’t very well known, may require many tests.

We think that... California should use Maglev trains for

its high speed rail plan It should be elevated above the ground

when it passes through busy cities

EMS- Electromagnetic suspension › In electromagnetic suspension, the

magnets on the train are located below the metal of the track. This type of maglev uses attractive pull of the magnets. The advantage of EMS is that it is less expensive, because the track is not as complicated as the other ones. You need a complicated control system to control the gap between the magnets and the rail.

EDS – electrodynamic suspension. It uses the repelling force of magnets between the track and train.

Inductrack – Another kind of EDS where the track has coils of wire opposing the alternating magnets on the moving train.

We believe that electromagnetic suspension is the best type of maglev to use

It’s the least expensive because it has a simple steel track

This is the technique that the Shanghai maglev uses; it is the most proven

We put it on bananabots.com We spoke to Palo Alto city council

members Larry Klein and Gail Price