UST: News

The frame carriage of unibike is successfully undergoing tests at the SkyWay pilot production facility. The structure integrates suspension, elements of the automatic control system, energy supply, climate control, energy storage and inverters. During the tests, engineers studied the possibilities of the design from the point of view of its readiness to ensure the required performance during speedup, acceleration, braking and positioning. They also researched the nature of the impact on the frame carriage from the load of the body and passengers, the quality of the wheel contact with the rail and the level of noise generated while moving.

A set of experiments conducted in the workshop confirmed the readiness of the carriage for field tests, the designers' calculations were fully confirmed. The impact on the frame carriage from such factors as weather conditions, vehicle size and windage of its body will be examined directly on EcoTechnoPark site when full-scale commercial samples of rolling stock will be arranged on string rails. According to plans, the traffic of SkyWay unibuses and unibikes on test track sections will begin before the end of this month.

Translation of the video:

Mikhail Kirichenko: Good day! Here is Mikhail Kirichenko. You are watching SkyWay news, where we tell you about the developments and implementation of breakthrough transport technologies. As we have already reported in one of the latest interviews with Anatoly in EcoTechnoPark, not weeks but days are left until the rolling stock tests. Now we inform that these tests are successfully under way. However, first things first. Naturally, the SkyWay General Designer Anatoly Yunitskiy will tell us about it in the best way. Good afternoon, Anatoly!

Anatoly Yunitskiy: Good afternoon! In fact, you are right. The tests already continue for several days.

M.K.: Certainly. It was clear to everybody that the wheel will run on the rail. Could you please explain what we are testing here particularly.

A.Y.: You should keep in mind that we have an unusual wheel and an unusual rail. Therefore, some people do not believe that it will ride. Before testing it on test sections in EcoTechnoPark, we have to test a frame carriage to model acceleration, braking and positioning. We have to position it at the stations with the 10 mm accuracy to open the doors. We have to know the rate of accelerations, the contact with the rail to avoid wheel sliding at acceleration. And, naturally, noises. We are in the workshop now and work goes on here in full swing. You can hear it. There is also some noise from our track. It is because we have modeled the track, but it is not real, not string type. Here we have a conventional steel beam designed as a truss. I remember the old Soviet movies about works in a field at the virgin land. They call workers for lunch by striking a piece of a hanging rail. The workers hear it at a 3 km distance and hurry up for lunch. We know how you can hear a railroad. It sounds for kilometers. In fact, this noise here is not large. However, we do not have concrete in this track model. A special concrete. We do not need it here, though it will reduce the noise, because due to the forces of internal friction, the concrete absorbs the whole range of oscillations and noises from infra-sound to ultra-sound. We also measure noise in decibels here, so that we can compare it later with the noise on the routes without hollow structures. They will be filled with a special concrete. All these tests already continue for several days with the real frame carriage. It is not a model.

M.K.: As I understand, it is the frame carriage from the unibike to perfect it before the unibike and unibus will come for fully-featured tests at EcoTechnoPark.

A.Y.: Yes, because we have produced not a model of the unibike, but a commercial sample with all the equipment, chassis and carrying frame. So, it contains the carrying frame with the chassis and everything that is fixed on them, including the batteries sufficient for a day-long testing, for riding 200 km.

M.K.: It is similar to the continuous accumulator from the movie "Back to the future".

A.Y.: Something like that. It also contains an inverter, the elements ensuring micro-climate in the compartment, which is thermally controlled. Comfort is created there not only with the required temperature conditions, but also with fresh air. Therefore, it should have filters, fans, heaters, air conditioning, etc. It is all fixed on the frame carriage. And, certainly, the system of automatic control. It is also fixed on the frame carriage. As well as the load frame, the chassis with a suspension. Actually, it is all the heart of any vehicle, including the unibike. We are testing this heart here separately from the body. We shall soon combine them in one unit and this unit is planned for riding tests in EcoTechnoPark in mid November.

M.K.: Thank you very much. I think we have answered with these tests to the scheming of all ill-wishers and critics of the project. Do you feel that you have wiped their eyes or are you just approaching this feeling?

A.Y.: Anyway, they may say it is made of plywood. Let them strike their heads against it.

M.K.: And the audio is added.

A.Y.: Certainly, the audio is added. And this is only a background. They may say whatever they want, but we are doing it and working in reality. We produce real results. Sometimes I get surprised myself at how I managed to organize it all within a year. A tank range was there with 2 m deep ditches. Do you remember how we started with removing wild grass, trees and bushes landscaping the territory? It was only a year ago.

M.K.: God helps the noble work.

A.Y.: No doubt. Look what we have today. We have two vehicles completely ready. The test track is nearing completion. The second one will be finished in a couple of months, the third one - in 3-4 months. And we are preparing other rolling stock in addition to this one. We have another type of urban transport. I will not describe the details, it is designed as a small train. We have also started to produce freight unitracks. The working documentation on them is already available to transport cargo in bulk, in packages and in liquid condition.

M.K.: Anatoly, how close are the conditions of this testing to the optimal or natural ones? Since the carriage goes without the unibike's body, do you take into account the weight distribution and other features?

A.Y.: Certainly, these features are taken into account, because it is not a simple empty frame carriage with the chassis. We have modeled the load from the unibike body and passengers. Therefore, this carriage carries an additional load of 500 kg. It is suspended there. That's why we shall make corrections for the size, windage surface and wind loads. We shall model them in EcoTechnoPark. And all the mass and inertial characteristics are observed here.

M.K.: In other words, we are doing these tests under ideal conditions in the workshop of the pilot production facility. If everything goes well here, the same will be guaranteed at EcoTechnoPark by 90%.

A.Y.: By 100%. Everything is modeled here, except, perhaps, weather conditions. But if the motor of the vehicle runs at this facility, it will surely run in the vehicle hood. We shall have our own hood. The body will be mounted on it for the protection from wind, rain and snow. There inside the conditions will be as favorable as in the workshop.

M.K.: Thank you very much. Now please disclose the greatest SkyWay secret. Who will be the first passenger in the unibike?

M.K.: I heard, it will be your cats.

A.Y.: No, it is impossible. It is prohibited to do before certification. It will be a violation of rules.

M.K.: Then after the certification?

A.Y.: After that I should be the first. I should be the first to stand under the track to show it does not fall or collapse. I should be the first to board it to make sure that people will not die travelling in it. I should be the first.

M.K.: You are a real captain. Thank you. I overwhelmed with various emotions. All of them are only positive. Before we finish the report, please tell what would you like to say, but I have not asked you about it yet.

A.Y.: An important thing is that we are standing in our workshop. Tests are carried out in our workshop.

M.K.: Right. We are in the workshops of the pilot production facility "Unibus".

A.Y.: I do not mean the SkyWay Technologies Co. and myself, because our investors and shareholders are the co-owners of it all. They have acquired shares in the whole business and technologies. They are also the co-owners of it all. It is very important, because we did not have it a short time ago. We did everything "on the knee". Now we have a serious production facility with modern equipment. Now we are expanding it purchasing new very good equipment. We are planning to start a small-scale production soon. Then we shall pass over to manufacturing large batches. Now we have many potential customers, who will be visiting us in the near future. They are ready to come, examine our production facility and make sure we are able to produce rolling stock and track structure for the implementation of targeted projects in a number of countries. I am not going to name these countries. There are about a dozen of them.

M.K.: However, you will travel to one of these countries soon, as far as I know.

A.Y.: Yes. Next Monday.

M.K.: Before implementing all these targeted projects, we shall have to pass the certification at EcoTechnoPark. When will it be done? All our partners are wondering about it.

A.Y.: The things that we see here, are also elements of certification. We are not just modeling these articles, including the track structure. It is a part of certification. It is in the process. We shall finish it in spring next year.

M.K.: Thank you very much, Anatoly. Sign up to our YouTube channel. Stay tuned for the news update on the official website of the International SkyWay Group of Companies at rsw-systems.com. Support our project, because dreams come true in it.