Welcome to Sunnyhills Neighborhood Association

Hardware Design of Loopworks PRT Technology

LoopWorks' intention to use as much public domain material as possible (hardware, software, and management) naturally led to selecting Taxi 2000 for the hardware design. Created cooperatively over many years using the Internet, the design has been open to the public (and therefore in the public domain) for decades. Due to various worldwide trends, now is the time to move this basic design into construction and testing. While the following offers a visual presentation of the hardware, the details can be found in the 69-page Technical Specifications.

Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) Hardware = Guideways + Bogies + Cabs + Stations

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Guideways

Guideways are the "road" for PRT cabs. While a number of PRT designs use road-like guideways (including Heathrow Airport's ULTra PRT system), Loopworks will use a narrow, exclusive guideway with small captive vehicles (bogies). Find references to the reasoning behind the Major Tradeoffs (including guideway factors) on page 9 of the Business Plan. Final Engineering for the Guideway and Posts is on page 54-56 of the Business Plan.

Looking down the inside of a section of guideway, the captive bogie is visible. Guideway covers will be added for safety, longevity, and appearance as described on page 57 of the Business Plan.

The Guideway-Post Bracket keeps the truss assembly secure.

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Bogies

Bogies are the engine and chassis for the PRT cabs. Track-switching, suspension, propulsion, backup power, and braking all are facilitated in the bogie. Unlike Heathrow Airport's ULTra PRT system, Loopworks will use wayside power within the guideway rather than on-board power in the vehicle.

Here's a sketch of bogey with cab mounted above. Find more details about the chassis/bogie on pages 46-54 of the Business Plan.

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Cabs

Cabs carry people and stuff. While bogies are the engine and chassis for the PRT cabs, it is the cabs that people actively use. Like Heathrow Airport's ULTra PRT system, Loopworks will use small cabs that are still big enough to handle bicycles and wheel chairs.

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Stations

Stations are all off-line to provide users with a relatively high average speed along with excellent energy efficiency, like Heathrow Airport's ULTra PRT system. As shown below, stations can be simple or sophisticated.

As shown below, stations can be inside a public space like the lobby of a hotel.

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What guideways look like in the build environment

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Find references to the reasoning behind the Major Tradeoffs on page 9 of the Business Plan.

Because PRT uses much less material resources and energy to transport passengers,
it also costs much less to build and operate.

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Sunnyhills Neighborhood Association, 1421 Yellowstone Ave, Milpitas, CA 95035-6913, 408-262-0420, info@SunnyhillsNeighborhood.org