Elevators

ELECTRIC TRACTION ELEVATORS

HYDRAULIC ELEVATORS

History of lifts

Since the day of pyramids hand powered lifts and hoists were there
Hand powered winches were used in China to lift water
In colosseum lifts were used to lift gladiators and wild animals.
Otis Elisha Graves was an American who invented first lift with an
automatic safety device in 1854 and demonstrated in Crystal
Palace.
150 years later, the basic components of a typical lift installation
remains the same.
Mechanical parts such as machine, suspension system, guide shoes
and rails, gearing sheave, car and counterweight are the same.
Changes- drive control, signaling, monitoring
In the past lift services were almost an afterthought with Machine
rooms located in out of way places.
Today lifts are regarded as one of the buildings main services.

Lift capacity and performance

A detailed analysis of the morning peak traffic-up peak traffic , down peak traffic and
inter floor traffic is required for taking a decision regarding the system to be
installed.
Three sets of data are required for the calculation of lift performance
1.
Building data

No of floors

Distance between floors

2.
Lift system data

No of cars

Rated capacity

Flight times between floors

Door opening times

Door closing times

Traffic control systems

3.
Passenger data

No of passengers boarding form specific floors

No of passengers alighting at specific floors

Traffic mode- uni or multi directional

Time required for passengers to leave or enter the cars

Quantity of service

No of people to use the lift system in the defined

period of time is the handling capacity, and is the
quantity of service
The number of occupants vary according ot the
purpose of the building- residential, commercial,
institutional
The quality of accommodation more space for
occupant for more prestigious spaces.

Quantity of service
Estimation of population
Building type
Estimated population
Hotel
1.5-1.9 persons/room
Flats
1.5-1.9 persons/room
Hospital
3 persons/room
School
0.8-1.2 persons/room
Office (multiple) regular
10-12 sqm. net area/room
Office (multiple) Prestigious
15-25 sqm. net area/room
Office (single) Prestigious
8-10 sqm. net area/room
Office (single) Prestigious
12-20 sqm. net area/room

Quality of service

Actual average waiting times i.e., the time period

between the instant of passenger arrival until the instant
of time of the arrival of the lift is the indicator of the
quality of service.
The lesser the average waiting time of a passenger the
better the service.

20 seconds or less excellent system

25 seconds
good system
30 seconds
satisfactory system
40 seconds
poor system
50 seconds
unsatisfactory system

Applications in Building types

Office buildings
Traffic peaks- starting of working hours
The handling capacity requirement is calculated based
on

Unified tenancy 15 to 25 % of the total building population

entering in a five minute period

Diversified tenancy 10 to 15 % of the total building

population entering in five minute period

Applications in Building types

Hotels
Peak traffic during mornings and evenings
10 % of the total hotel population using it in 5
minute period
Modern international hotels waiting time 30
seconds
There should be elevators for staff, catering
supplies, linen and other purposes

Applications in Building types

Residential
Peak traffic density usually occurs in the early
morning, but peak will vary both in time and span
and in intensity
Peak traffic value-6% of total building population
Should be safe and easy to access
Children and elderly and physically challenged
should be provided with convenient and safe means
of transport

Applications in Building types

Specialized buildings

Leisure centres, shopping malls, retail

developments, air terminals, entertainment centresspecialized buildings.
Vertical transport facilities-Elevators and Escalators.
Panoramic elevators used for aesthetic reasons and
to provide viewing platforms.

Applications in Building types

Hospitals
The lifts serve two functions transportation of
patients, staff and public.
The waiting time for bed lifts should be
minimum for emergencies
Should provide for smooth ride, levels of
acceleration and jerks should be kept low.
The lift groups for visitors should perform well
during visiting hours.

Location of elevators

The efficient method of locating

elevators to serve an individual
building is to group them together.
It is very important to group them
if they are the main means of
vertical transport within a
building.
The position should towards the
centre of the building
Walking distance should not be
more than 45 m from any point of
the building.
If the distance to travel to the
elevator core is large it may be
efficient to install additional lifts
for local are inter floor traffic.

Grouping of elevators

A group of elevators should be designed to be located

close to each other.
Minimize the walking distance between lifts.
Waiting passengers can react quickly and access cars
swiftly.
Lobby areas the main ones should not be in the path of
the passageways.
There should not be any confusion between waiting
passengers and passers by should be avoided by having
separate lobby areas

GROUPING OF ELEVATORS

Elevators- operation mode

Down collective operation-one car

Down collective operation-Two cars
Full collective operation-one car
Full collective operation-Two cars

Elevators- operation mode

The car normally rests at the main floor

Main floor has UP call button
Floors above have- Down call button
When more than one landing call received the car will
travel to the highest call and comes down
This system is suitable only for light traffic
Interfloor traffic is poorly served by this system.
Eg. Residential buildings

Down collective operation-one car

Types of elevators based

on operation mode

Down collective operation-Two cars

One car normally rests at the main floor

The other rests at the last floor
When a landing call is received, the
microprocessor calculates and sends the
car nearest to the call.
If a series of landing calls are received, the
car will be dispatched to the highest call
and then work down.

Full collective operation-one car

UP and DOWN call buttons are provided

on all floors.
Lowest floor- only UP call button
Highest floor has only Down call button
Landing calls and car calls are handled in a
logical sequence
Handles Interflow traffic well

Full collective operation-Two cars

One car normally rests at the main floor

The other rests at the last floor
When a landing call is received, the
microprocessor calculates and sends the
car nearest to the call.
Each car responds to its own car calls in
logical sequence

Comfort of lifts
Passengers judge a lift on the basis of the following
Mechanical safety
The motion of the doors should be smooth and safety
devices should be provided to ensure that passengers
entering or leaving the lift car will not be hurt if the
doors start to close.
The leveling of the car to the landing floor should not
constitute a tripping hazard and should allow easy
movement of trolleys and wheelchairs.

Comfort of lifts
Comfort
The ride between floors should have acceptable levels of
acceleration, jerks and vibration should be kept to a
minimum
Quiet operation of doors
Noise levels at landings should also be minimal
Service
Passengers waiting time should be minimum

Elevator types
Based on working principle:
Electric Traction elevators
Hydraulic elevators
Based on the building type:
Passenger elevators
Panoramic elevators
Hospital elevators
Automobile elevators
Freight elevators
Home elevators
Dumbwaiters

Types of lifts-Based on working

principle

Traction
Hydraulic
Traction- Geared traction
- Gearless traction

components of an elevator

an elevator car,
a counterweight,
drive means including a drive motor connected to a
drive sheave, drive sheave having a periphery rotatable
about a drive axis,
cable groove means on the periphery of sheave which
defines at least one cable groove,
and a cable interconnecting elevator car and
counterweight while disposed about drive sheave

Components of

an elevator

Geared Traction Elevators

Geared Traction machines are

driven by AC or DC electric
motors
Geared machines use worm
gears to mechanically control
movement of elevator cars by
"rolling" steel hoist ropes over a
drive sheave which is attached
to a gearbox driven by a high
speed motor.
These machines are generally
the best option for basement or
overhead traction use for
speeds up to 350 ft/min.

Gearless Traction Elevators

Gearless Traction
machines are high
speed electric motors
powered by AC or DC
current.
In this case the drive
sheave is directly
attached to the end of
motor.

Machine roomless traction elevators

TRACTION
ELEVATORSPLAN AND MACHINE
ROOM DETAILS

Hydraulic elevators

Hydraulic elevator
systems lift a car using a
hydraulic ram, a fluiddriven piston mounted
inside a cylinder
The cylinder is connected
to a fluid-pumping
system (typically,
hydraulic systems like
this use oil, but other
incompressible fluids
would also work). The
hydraulic system has
three parts:

A tank (the fluid reservoir)

A pump, powered by an electric motor
A valve between the cylinder and the reservoir

Types of hydraulic elevators

Holed
hydraulic
elevators
Holeless
hydraulic
elevators

Holed Hydraulic
system

In Holed Hydraulic
systems, a car is
connected to the top of a
piston that moves up and
down in a cylinder.
Movement is controlled
by a hydraulic valve. As
fluid is pumped into the
cylinder, the car rises; as
the fluid returns to the
reservoir, the car lowers.

Holeless Hydraulic
system

The Holeless Hydraulic

system eliminates the
need for either a well
hole or buried piping.
The best application for
the Holeless product is
most any 2-story
building with less than
14' of travel from one
floor to the other.

Hydraulic elevators

Holeless hydraulic elevators

Holed hydraulic elevators

HYDRAULIC ELEVATOR-PLAN AND

MACHINE ROOM DETAILS

HYDRAULIC

ELEVATOR

ELEVATOR TYPES- and their

recommended applications

Dumb Waiters

Use of dumb waiters : to

transfer food materials,
linen, loads, etc. to
different floors

View of a dumb waiter

HANDICAPPED/
ANTHROPOMETRICS-

ELEVATORS