Elevator

The maxim, “What goes up, must come down,” doesn’t always seem true for those waiting in a building lobby for an elevator. Seconds seemingly turn into minutes as building occupants fiddle with wristwatch bands, fold their arms across their chests and stare at the floor waiting for the elevator to take them to their offices.

Waiting is one of the often-heard complaints about elevators. New elevator designs, however, are trying to eliminate those concerns. They are part of a new generation of technology that can improve performance, take up less space in a building and consume less energy.

Called destination elevators, the systems group passengers going to nearby floors, boosting passenger elevator efficiency. Rather than pushing a button with an up or down arrow before entering the elevator, an individual indicates the floor to which he or she is headed. “You almost get the equivalent of the car push controls on the outside of the elevator bank,” says Dennis DeVos, vice president of business development with elevator manufacturer Fujitec North America, Lebanon, Ohio.

A control panel then directs people to the car that will take them to their destination floor most quickly. The elevator system’s intelligence groups people going to floors in close proximity, limiting unnecessary stops. John Chapman, director of product management with Schindler Elevator Corp., Morristown, N.J., says the way users recall the destination elevator is like taking a taxi; a conventional elevator is like riding a bus.

Of course, there’s the risk that some individuals either won’t understand the system or will try to thwart it. To remedy that, some destination elevators eliminate the destination buttons inside the cars but retain emergency call buttons. Or the system may disable the interior buttons until the car has left the floor; at that point, an individual who punched in the wrong number would be allowed to enter another floor number.

Another innovation in elevator technology is the introduction of machine-room-less (MRL) elevator systems. The absence of a machine room frees up space that can be rented or used for other purposes. If a building is subject to height restrictions, an MRL elevator might allow the structure to meet the restriction by reducing the height needed for a new building.

What’s more, MRL systems allow greater flexibility in locating the elevators. “You can put an elevator anywhere in a building, without structural considerations,” says DeVos. “You just cut a hole.”

MRL elevators use permanent magnets to boost the power of the motor. This reduces the size of the motor so that it’s small enough to fit within the elevator hoistway rather than requiring a separate machine room. For instance, the EcoDisk MRL elevator from KONE uses an 8.7 horsepower motor to do the same work that a 22.7 horsepower traction machine or 40 horsepower hydraulic motor could do, says Russ Mitchell, marketing manager for new equipment business with the KONE, manufacturers of the EcoDisk MRL elevator. And, because they use magnets rather than oil to power the elevator car up and down, Machine roomless elevators eliminate the risk of contaminating ground water.