CHAPTER 6:

LIFT SYSTEM AND ESCALATOR

BUILDING SERVICES I BFB 40603

 829.8 m (2009)

632 m (2016)

Shanghai Tower, Burj Khalifa,

China United Arab
Emirates
TERMINOLOGY
o Lifts [UK] = Elevators [US]
oEscalators (= moving staircases)
oConveyors (or moving walkways)
BASIC PRINCIPLES
o“Escalator” = “Elevator” + “Scala” (steps)
o First escalator: designed by Jesse Reno in
1892
BASIC PRINCIPLES
oPrinciples of operation

How Elevators Work

http://www.howstuffworks.com/elevator.htm

How Escalators Work

http://www.howstuffworks.com/escalator.htm

* Please find out how they work from these websites.

SYSTEM TYPES: PASSENGER LIFTS
oDifferent requirements in various building types
Like commercial, hotels, hospitals, residential
oGrouping of passenger lifts
Position & layout
oMachine room/space
Hydraulic lifts: ideally at the lowest level
Electric traction lifts: directly above the lift well
Machine room-less lifts
 SYSTEM TYPES: OBSERVATION
LIFTS
oGlazed or partially glazed lift car within a
glazed bor open-sided lift well
oAlso called wall climber, scenic, glass,
panoramic or bubble lifts
oWithin an atrium or external to the building
oDesign considerations
oVisual impact (attracting sightseers)
oLift speed & handling capacity
oSpace requirements & maintenance
 SYSTEM TYPES: LIFTS FOR THE
AGED & DISABLED
o Provision for wheelchair
o Good lifts & service lifts
oCar sizes, payloads, well dimensions
oDumbwaiter (e.g. in restaurants)
o Stair lifts
oInclined lifts
oScissor lifts
 SYSTEM TYPES: PASSENGER
CONVEYORS
oOther names: travelators, autowalks,
moving walkway, moving pavement
o Practical limit about 300 m distance
o Useful in large airport terminals
oDesign factors
oMay be inclined up to about 15o
oSpeed between 0.6 to 1.3 m/s (combined
with walking, the overall pace is 2.5 m/s)
oMaterials must be flexible or elastic (e.g.
reinforced rubber or interlaced steel plates)
LIFT COMPONENTS
oMajor lift components:
oPrime mover (electric machine or hydraulic pump)
oLift car (car frame, the car itself)
oCounterweight (if used)
oGuide rails
oEntrances/Doors
oSafety gear & overspeed governor
oBuffers (energy accumulation, energy dissipation)
oRoping systems (compensating ropes, traction systems)
oCar & landing fixtures (buttons, indicators & switches)
LIFT TRAFFIC CONTROL
o Lift (group) control arrangements
• Operator
• Single automatic
• Down or up collective
• Directional (up & down) collective
• Group collective
• Programmed control
• AI (artificial intelligence) assisted control
LIFT TRAFFIC CONTROL
o Group of lifts
oA number of lifts placed physically together, using a common signalling
system and under the command of a group lift control system

o Group traffic control algorithms

o From simple 2 lift control to very sophisticated
o Landing call allocation: assign a lift to service a particular landing call
LIFT TRAFFIC CONTROL
Purpose:
oTo allocate the landing calls in an optimum way to individual lifts in the
group
• Minimise passenger waiting time
• Minimise system response time
• Minimise passenger journey time
• Reduce ‘bunching’ (lifts move around together, instead of being evenly
separated, e.g. by sudden heavy traffic)
• Minimise the variation in passenger waiting time
LIFT TRAFFIC ANALYSIS
Assessment of demand
o Traffic patterns (in an office building)
o Morning UP peak
o Evening DOWN peak
o Two-way traffic (lunch periods)
o Interfloor traffic
o Other considerations, e.g. ‘Flexitime’ attendance
o Estimation of population (occupant density)
o Estimation of arrival rate
LIFT TRAFFIC PERFORMANCE
Elements to consider in determining the quality of lift services in
a building are:
1. Handling capacity
2. Number of lift
3. Round Trip Time
4. Flow rate
5. Travel distance & speed
6. Lift intervals & waiting tim
HANDLING CAPACITY DEFINITION
oHandling Capacity (HC)
–The percentage of population an elevator group can transport in five minutes

Handling Capacity
H = (300 X Q X 100) / (T X P)

Where
Q = average no. passenger carried in a car
T = waiting interval time
P = total population to be handled during peak hour
NUMBER OF LIFTS
The number & size of lifts must be related to following:
1. Population of the building
2. Type of building occupancy
3. The starting & finishing times of population
4. Number of floor and heights
5. Position of building in relation to public transport services.
Building Population
When clear figure is unobtainable
Estimation
1.Net floor area
2. Population density per sq meter.

Example: General office building population density of one

person
per 10m² of net floor volume
 ROUND TRIP TIME
Round Trip Time
The time in sec taken by a single lift to travel from the
ground floor to the top floor, including stops, and return to
the ground floor.

Round trip time are classified into two:

i) Up travel cycle
ii) down travel direct return
Up Travel Cycle
oStarting/Acceleration
oRunning on rated speed
oDeceleration/stopping
oDoor Opening
oExit of the Passengers
oDoor Closing
oStarting/Acceleration
oSimilar Process
oExit of the last passenger
Down Travel Direct Return

oDoor Closing
oStart / Acceleration
oRated speed
oDeceleration / stopping
oOpening of the doors
 FLOW RATE

A percentage of the total population requiring lift service during a 5 min

peak period
Survey (10% -25%) will require lifts during 5 min peak demand hour
If no info available ---assume 12% for speculative buildings & 17% for
unified buildings
 TRAVEL DISTANCE & SPEED
Travel distance
Lift travel distance is the distance of the lift travel in one direction.

Speed
Lift speed is dependent on the quality of service required and quality of
service desired. Therefore no set formulae indicating for lift speed.
LIFT INTERVALS & WAITING TIME
Lift interval is expressed in seconds & represents the round trip
of one car dived by the number of cars in a common group
system
Provides a criterion for measuring the quality of service
Average waiting time; theory half, practice ¾
LIFT INTERVALS & WAITING TIME
Average waiting time; theory ½ interval, practice ¾
Example (checking the lift performance)

A 15 storey office block has a net floor area above

ground level of 8000m². Assuming 17% of the total
population using the lift during 5 min peak time, starting
times ad a population density of one person per 10m² of
net floor area, calculate the flow rate and from tables, find
lift speed, number and capacity of lift.

Check the quality of service form the table.

(1) Determine the Flow rate
Flow rate – allowing 17% of population from total building occupants
8000m2/10m2 ×17/100 =136 persons during 5 min peak demand period

From Table 1: The nearest handling capacity is 137 persons for 24

passenger car using 4 cars with speed of 2.50m/s.

Table 1

136
(2) Determine the Travel distance and speed
Assuming floor-to-floor height is 3.3m, the lift travel = (15-1) storey
x3.3m height =46.2m travel distance.
From table 2, the nearest travel for offices is 45m which requires speed of
2.5m/s. (speed ok!) (Ground floor is not included)

Table 2
 (3) Determine the number capacity of lift, Waiting time and minimum
number of lift.

From table 1, for 24-passenger cars may be installed having a handling

capacity of 137, interval of 41s and 4 minimum number of lift

(4) Check for Quality of service

i. Intervals and waiting time

Refer table 1 (green box) interval=41s

From table 3
- interval 41s ---satisfactory for offices
- calculate the waiting time :
(3/4 x interval= 31s)

Table 3a
 - calculate the waiting time :
3/4 x interval= 31s (satisfactory for offices)

Table 3b
 ii. Installation

Refer table 1 (blue box) minimum number of lifts = 4

From table 4
15 storeys/ 4 lift = 3.75 storey/lift~ near to 4 nos required
---satifactory

Table 4
ADVANCED TRAFFIC PLANNING
o Building categorization
o The need for traffic planning varies according to the type and
usage of the building
oTypical categories:
 Residential
 Public service (e.g. subways, shopping centers, airports)
 Hospital and multi-purpose buildings
 Commercial mid-, high- and mega high rise -buildings
 (e.g. offices, hotels, cruise liners)
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
• Traffic intensity is rather low
• Waiting times even twice as long as those in
commercial
buildings may be acceptable
• Can normally be selected by using local,
international or
comparable standards
• HC: 5 to 7%; Interval: 50 to 70 sec
PUBLIC SERVICE (AIRPORTS/SUBWAYS,
SHOPPING CENTRES)
• Travelling height is typically no more than a few
floors
• Escalators can handle many times the traffic of
lifts
• Autowalks speed the people flow across long
walking
distances
• Lifts are usually provided for handicapped access
and the transport of goods or equipment
HOSPITALS
• Need detailed planning to cover emergency,
service, bed, patient, visitor and staff
transportation
• Architecture and special needs e.g. the
location of the operating theatre affect
transportation arrangements
• HC:~12%; Interval: 30 to 50 sec
MULTI-PURPOSE BUILDINGS
• Separate elevators for different purposes
• If the same lifts are to serve office and residential areas, they
should be selected according to the highest estimated peak traffic
demands
MID-RISE COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
oHotels:
the selection largely depends on the number of rooms and beds.
Additional lifts are required for service purposes
HC:12 to 15%; Interval: 40 to 60 sec
Special attention for meeting rooms
Need for service lifts
MID-RISE COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
oOffice buildings:
three peak traffic hours generally occur: morning up peak,
lunchtime mixed traffic and evening down peak
-Up peak is normally used in lift planning
-Lunch hour traffic is often heavier than the morning up peak
- Peak Arrival HC: 12 to 18%; Interval: 20 to 25 sec
HIGH-RISE COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
o One lift group alone cannot meet all needs. They are
often divided into zones, served by separate lifts
groups
oIn mega-high-rise buildings (> 50-60 floors), either
double-deck lifts are used or lift groups are stacked
on top of one another in sky lobby arrangements
• Shuttle groups serve traffic between the main entrance floor
and the sky lobby
• Local elevator groups start from both the main floor and
from the sky lobby
• Shuttle group criteria: HC > 16 % / 5 min.; Interval < 32 sec