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Woodward Avenue

Solar City Traveler

The Solar City Traveler

A study on integrating the at-grade Solar City Traveler installed on the first three miles of Woodward Avenue to connect Hart Plaza with the Amtrak Station at the Detroit New Center Area.

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Solar City Traveler
Transport Canopy
3 Mile Example - Key Metrics
3 Mile Map of Woodward
9 Mile Example - Key Metrics (Jefferson to 8 Mile)
Woodward Map (Jefferson to 8 Mile)

Solar City Traveler

The Solar City Traveler as depicted above is an ideal integration of maglev with a light duty, 'At-Grade'  public transportation system.   With this at-grade version of the Traveler, each transport glides along a virtual guide way, or "Glideway", which is created using two sets of magnet arrays, one above the other.  By creating a virtual ridge in the center of the lower array and creating an opposite pair of ridges from the top, the Transport is enabled to glide along a virtual guide way which can be installed into any sidewalk or roadway and extend across the country side as an ideal Inter-Urban transit system for city streets connecting to surface streets in the urban areas and beyond.  This is a more full-bodied edition of what we have previously referred to as the "Slide-Walk"

Key Benefits and Estimated Performance Numbers

  • Ground level installation creates zero obstruction
  • Maglev "Virtual Guide-way" levitation and position control
  • Below ground utility conduit installation
  • Near zero maintenance
  • Glide tracks are spaced the same distance apart as the standard wheel base of most cars.
  • Total coil area:  33" x 264" = 8,712 In2 * 2 = 17,424 In
  • One Coil per Square Inch (Conceptual Model)
  • Estimated Levitation Power Demand @ 1 watt / LB
  • 17,424 Coils / Transport @ 1 Watt / Coil = 17,424 Lbs Levitation Capacity
  • Figure 6 Below resolves 1.8 lbs/ in2

Transport Canopy

The Transport Canopy where Travelers will step on and off of the Transport will support at least 400 square feet of Photovoltaic panels on the roof.  Using premium solar panels that can produce more than 30 watts/square foot at peak, therefore we can expect to generate 1,200 watts/hour.  By installing a Transport Canopy in the center of each block along city streets the factoring for the solar panels is greatly improved.  Enclosed area of the Transport Canopy is 24' x 9' = 216 SqFt. 

Key Benefits

  • Enclosed Area:           216 ft2
  • Total Roof Area:        432 ft2
  • Solar Panel Area:      400 ft2
  • Solar Generation:        30 Watts/ft2
  • Total Watt output:         1,200 Watts/Hour / Canopy

Variety of Transports

Traditional Street Car

Contemporary Streamlined

Traditional / Streamlined Hybrid

Basic Tech Review

Using a set of coils embedded in vulcanized rubber (or other material) cast into long flexible strips, singularly or in pairs, which are laid into existing pavement, we create a new and novel application for Magneto-motive transportation technology.  Whether the strips are embedded into pavement or just laid down on a reasonably flat surface such as improved gravel road beds or abandoned rail road grades, the system can provide a cheap, resilient and virtually maintenance free at-grade transportation system.  The system operates by controlling the intensity of the multitude of fields generated by the grid of solenoids to create a virtual surface, or virtual guide-way that can maintain position and enable movement in three dimensions.   This unique application enables each Transport to rotate in place and even move sideways to completely close the gap between pedestrian loading areas and the transport itself thereby increasing safety and accessibility for ADA compliance.

Fig 3: One Inch Symmetrical Grid
 
Fig 6:  8x4 Inch Iteration  (1.8 lbs/in2)

Force Profile Diagram

Color Coded Force Correlation

Computer Model

3 Mile Example - Key Metrics (Estimated)

The basic performance metrics for a three mile installation of the Interstate Traveler Company's Solar City Traveler should model the following data:

Traveler Canopies:               36
Traveler Transports:             12
Total Traveler Capacity:  240  (12 Transports @ 20 Passengers)

Using the first three miles of Woodward Avenue in Detroit Michigan as an example, it is exactly three miles from Jefferson and the Hart Plaza to the Amtrak Station at Baltimore.  There are approximately 36 city blocks on Woodward between Jefferson and Baltimore, at an average of 440 feet in frequency along the three mile stretch. 

Considering the installation of a Transport Canopy on every 'other' block there would be 18 Canopies on either side of Woodward for a total of 36 Canopies.

As a measure of total available wattage from combined collectors of the 36 canopies, we can consider the following equation:

36 * 400 = 14,400 square feet of solar panel material.

14,400 * 30 watts/SqFt = 432,000 Watts/hour or 432Kw/hour.

Allowing for a 20% reduction for bad weather and shading we consider the following:

432,000 * .2 = 86,400 loss

432,000 - 86,400 = 345,600 Watts/Hour after loss.

Normalizing a the total wattage collected during a solar day, we can divide the available power in half leaving 172,800 watts/hour.  Therefore, we can expect a 24 hour average of 172.8 Kw/hr for a total of 4,147,200 watts/day available.

Considering an estimate of one watt per lb of mass levitated for one hour, we can see a total levitation capacity of 172,800 lbs / hour or the maximum total mass of all the Transports operating on the system.

Using 172,800 lbs as a base, we should first consider the capacity of our Transports, which as illustrated above, should be about 20 people.  Considering 200 lbs / person, we have 4,000 lbs total passenger mass.  Further, considering a vehicle mass of 10,000 lbs, we have a total of 14,000 lbs / Transport.  Therefore the following equation applies:

172,800 / 14,000 = 12.3 Transports / hour at Capacity

Total simultaneous passenger capacity with 12 Transports is 240 Travelers.

Total Mass Levitation based on Figure 6 above at 1.8 lbs / in2  using the total matt area on the bottom of a typical Solar City Transport of 20 feet x 6 feet we have a total of 120 square feet of coil surface, or 17,280 square inches which amounts to a levitation capacity of 31,104 lbs / Transport.

Now, considering the addition of 160 square feet of solar panels on the roof of each Transport, and using the above calculated number of "12" Transports on the system, we can add 1,920 square feet of additional solar panels.  Using the above stated value of 30 watts-hours/square foot we can consider an additional 57,600 watts/hour that can be used or stored off-line in batteries.

Magnet Array embedded in the road grade itself would follow such metrics as follows:

33" wide * 2 array strips per side of road = 66 " width * 2 sides of the road = 132" wide.  Therefore 132" * 63,360"/mile= 8,363,520 In2 / mile or 58,080 SqFt / mile.

3 Mile Map of Woodward

9 Mile Example - Key Metrics (Estimated)

The basic performance metrics for a nine mile installation (9.1 Miles) of the Interstate Traveler Company's Solar City Traveler should model the following data:

Traveler Canopies:                90
Traveler Transports:               36
Total Traveler Capacity:   720  (36 Transports @ 20 Passengers)

Using all of the nine miles of Woodward Avenue in Detroit Michigan from Jefferson to 8 Mile road as an example, using the key metrics from the 3 Mile Example above, we estimate the installation of 90 Traveler Canopies distributed as approximately 45 Canopies on either side of Woodward along the nine miles.  This average of 45 Traveler Canopies on each side of Woodward provides an average spacing of 1067 feet or just less than a quarter mile.

Considering an average walking speed of 2.5 miles an hour, and considering that the farthest away from a Traveler Canopy would be half way between Canopies or about 535 feet, a person would only have to walk about two of three minutes to get to a Traveler Canopy without crossing traffic.

As a measure of total available wattage from combined collectors of the 90 canopies, we can consider the following equation:

90 * 400 = 36,000 square feet of solar panel material.

36,000 * 30 watts/SqFt = 1,080,000 Watts/hour or 1.08 MegaWatts/hour.

Allowing for a 20% reduction for bad weather and shading we consider the following:

1,080,000 * .2 = 216,000 loss

1,080,000 - 216,000 = 864,000 Watts/Hour after loss.

Normalizing a the total wattage collected during a solar day, we can divide the available power in half leaving 432,000 watts/hour.  Therefore, we can expect a 24 hour average of 432 Kw/hr for a total of 10,368,000 watts/day available.

Considering an estimate of one watt per lb of mass levitated for one hour, we can see a total levitation capacity of 432,000 lbs / hour as the estimated maximum total mass of all the Transports operating on the system.

Using 432,000 lbs as a base, we should first consider the capacity of our Transports, which as illustrated above, should be about 20 people.  Considering 200 lbs / person, we have 4,000 lbs total passenger mass.  Further, considering a vehicle mass of 10,000 lbs, we have a total of 14,000 lbs / Transport.  Therefore the following equation applies:

432,000 / 14,000 = 30.8 Transports / hour at Capacity on a 24/7 basis.

Total simultaneous passenger capacity with 30 Transports is 600 Travelers.

9 Mile Map of Woodward (Jefferson to 8 Mile)

 

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Last modified: 05/07/13