Hyperloop team starts with PARTsolutions for SpaceX Hyperloop

Their goal is clear: To repeat the great success of Competition I. At the first competition in January 2017, 27 finalist teams of well-known international universities qualified. The Hyperloop Pod of the Munich team completed the fastest race, being the only one to make it to the finish line and thus taking first place.

WARR Hyperloop Team benefits from a huge selection of manufacturer catalogue
The team of students of the TU Munich has been enjoying the support of CADENAS for its innovative project since spring of this year. The German software manufacturer provides licenses of its Strategic Parts Management PARTsolutions free of charge, so that the team can access engineering data of standard and purchased parts from more than 700 renown component manufacturers at five different work stations. "The selection of catalogues in PARTsolutions is really huge. Included are also catalogues of many of our sponsors such as Würth, MayTec, Nord-Lock, etc. Their engineering data is ready for use in the CAD system, thanks to PARTsolutions", said Catriona Bruce, who helped create the Propulsion and Levitation concepts. The WARR Hyperloop Team can integrate the 3D CAD data directly into the Pod's design in the CAD system CATIA V5 the team is using, and that in native format.

WARR Hyperloop's favorite: The Geometric Similarity Search GEOsearch
During the development of the second Pod, for example, engineering data from the profiles of the MayTec manufacturer was put to use. "We imported MayTec profiles from PARTsolutions into CATIA in order to design the test track for our linear induction motor. After we selected the profiles, we then used the extensive search methods in PARTsolutions to find the suitable plug connection, test it by means of the 'Comparison' function and then import into our design at once," said Sagar Shah, CAD Designer at the WARR Hyperloop Team. "The Geometric Similarity Search GEOsearch is our favorite - the ideal tool for the inner and outer diameter in the development of our Hyperloop capsule, to find wheels and bearings from diverse component manufacturers as well as suppliers and to compare them with each other."

The search for a concrete component for the WARR Hyperloop Team was considerably more complicated before using PARTsolutions. After the needed part and its properties is defined within the team, the component usually has to be designed itself, for example: the brake system of the first capsule, which was completely self-developed. Moreover, manufacturers of similar components had to be contacted during the search for the right part. It was, however, a costly and time consuming process.

Easy use and minimal software administration
The team was pleasantly surprised, especially about the easy use of the Strategic Parts Management by CADENAS: "In view of the fact that it's a powerful software solution also used by large industrial companies, PARTsolutions is very easy to use. This also means that we hardly need any time for software administration," said Lukas Pointner, Propulsion Engineer.

In summary, the WARR Hyperloop Team is very satisfied with the use of PARTsolutions for their project: "Since our product is only built once, 'optimisation of processes' has a somewhat different meaning for us than probably for many other customers of CADENAS. But we managed to find better components and thus saved time as well as money in our development process. It was great for us as students to get real insight into how large companies handle parts procurement effectively," said Catriona Bruce.

"As an innovative company, CADENAS sets new standards. For this reason, we are glad to support young creative minds, like the WARR Hyperloop Team, with the implementation of their future-oriented visions and thus invest in the engineers and professionals of tomorrow," said Jürgen Heimbach, CEO of CADENAS. "The aim of our sponsoring, just as with our customers the industrial companies, is that engineers can completely focus on their creative design work and not waste time anymore searching for the right components."

CADENAS wishes the WARR Hyperloop Team a lot of success at the SpaceX Hyperloop Competition II in August 2017.