01 Queen's Hyperloop Design Team 2025 to 2026

Pneumatic Braking System

A spring-applied, air-released brake for a 200 kg Hyperloop pod.

Challenge
Design a brake that can stop a 200 kg pod travelling at up to 35 m/s within 15 m
What I did
On the 2025 to 2026 braking subteam, I worked on the braking system architecture and helped analyze, test, and assemble the brake.
Current state
Depressurizing the circuit closed the caliper around a replica I-beam. The team has not run a dynamic stopping test.
Labeled CAD diagram of the full hyperloop pod showing the aeroshell, suspension, propulsion, chassis, braking, power systems, control systems, and dashboard interfaces
Fig. 1. Full pod layout with the braking system below the chassis

How it works

Team pneumatic schematic showing a 130 psi receiver, check valves, pressure relief, a three-port solenoid valve, a 90 psi regulator, and an 85 psi caliper release threshold
Fig. 2. Pressure-controlled release circuit for the spring-applied brake
  1. Fill

    The compressor fills the receiver to 130 psi.

  2. Release

    The regulator supplies about 100 psi. Above 85 psi, the calipers stay open.

  3. Vent

    A brake command or loss of pod power vents the circuit through the solenoid.

  4. Clamp

    Below 85 psi, the springs close the calipers around the track.

Stopping distance

The team calculated whether the 200 kg pod could stop from 35 m/s within the 15 m braking zone.

Handwritten stopping-distance calculation showing two calipers produce 8.27 kilonewtons of braking force, a 41.3 metres-per-second-squared deceleration, and a 14.82 metre stopping distance within the 15 metre limit

Caliper mount and fit check

SolidWorks model of the custom Hyperloop brake caliper mount
Fig. 3. CAD model of the caliper mount
White full-scale printed mount positioned against the black pneumatic brake caliper
Fig. 4. Full-scale printed mount fitted against the brake caliper

Mount and chassis load paths

The team used SOLIDWORKS FEA to analyze the 4,133.25 N mount load and trace it through the chassis.

Brake mount diagram showing the direction of the caliper load
Fig. 5. Caliper mount with the 4,133.25 N braking load marked in red
Finite element mesh and result contour for the brake caliper mount
Fig. 6. FEA mesh and result contour from the team's mount analysis
Hyperloop chassis braking load case with four brake mount loads and support reactions at the upper wheels
Fig. 7. Four brake-mount loads of −0.465 kip, about −2,068 N, and two upper-wheel reactions of 0.200 kip, about 890 N

Brake clamp test

Pneumatic brake caliper closed around a replica I-beam after depressurization
Fig. 8. Depressurizing the circuit closed the caliper around a replica I-beam