LIFTS AND ELEVATORS

The elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods
between floors, levels or decks of a building. Elevators are generally powered by electric
motors that either drive traction cables or counterweight systems like a hoist, or pump
hydraulic fluid to raise a cylindrical piston like a jack. Based on the system of working there
are two types of elevators:
(1) Hydraulic Elevators.
(2) Rope Geared Elevators.
HYDRAULIC ELEVATORS
Main Components:
Hydraulic elevator systems lift a car using a hydraulic ram and a fluid-driven piston mounted
inside a cylinder which is connected to a fluid-pumping system. The hydraulic system has
three parts:
a) A tank (the fluid reservoir).
b) A pump, powered by an electric motor.
c) A valve between the cylinder and the reservoir.
Working:
 The pump forces fluid from the tank into a pipe leading to the cylinder. When the valve is
opened, the pressurized fluid will take the path of least resistance and return to the fluid
reservoir. But when the valve is closed, the pressurized fluid has nowhere to go except
into the cylinder. As the fluid collects in the cylinder, it pushes the piston up, lifting the
elevator car.
 When the car approaches the correct floor, the control system sends a signal to the electric
motor to gradually shut off the pump. With the pump off, there is no more fluid flowing
into the cylinder, but the fluid that is already in the cylinder cannot escape. The piston
rests on the fluid, and the car stays where it is.
 To lower the car, the elevator control system sends a signal to the valve. The valve is
operated electrically by a basic solenoid switch. When the solenoid opens the valve, the
fluid that has collected in the cylinder can flow out into the fluid reservoir. The weight of
the car and the cargo pushes down on the piston, which drives the fluid into the reservoir.
The car gradually descends. To stop the car at a lower floor, the control system closes the
valve again.
Disadvantages
This system is incredibly simple and highly effective, but it does have some drawbacks. It has
three major disadvantages:
(i) Size: The main problem is the size of the equipment. It requires a large space for
effective installation and working.
(ii) Digging: The entire cylinder structure must be buried below the bottom elevator stop.
This means you have to dig deeper as you build higher.
(iii) Energy Inefficient: It takes a lot of energy to raise an elevator car several stories, and
in a standard hydraulic elevator, there is no way to store this energy.
ROPE GEARED ELEVATOR
Main Components:
a) Traction Steel Ropes.
b) Sheave and Electric Motor.
c) Counterweight.
Working:
 In roped elevators, the car is raised and lowered by traction steel ropes rather than pushed
from below. The ropes are attached to the elevator car, and looped around a sheave (a
sheave is just a pulley with a grooves around the circumference). The sheave grips the
hoist ropes, so when you rotate the sheave, the ropes move too.
 The sheave is connected to an electric motor. When the motor turns one way, the sheave
raises the elevator; when the motor turns the other way, the sheave lowers the elevator.
 The ropes that lift the car are also connected to a counterweight, which hangs on the other
side of the sheave. The counterweight weighs about the same as the car filled to 40%
capacity. The purpose of this balance is to conserve energy: with equal loads on each side
of the sheave, it only takes a little bit of force to tip the balance one way or the other.
 Both the elevator car and the counterweight ride on guide rails along the sides of the
elevator shaft. The rails keep the car and counterweight from swaying back and forth, and
they also work with the safety system to stop the car in an emergency.
Advantages:
(i) They are much more versatile and energy efficient than hydraulic elevators.
(ii) Typically, they also have more safety systems.

DIAGRAMS FOR ROPE GEARED ELEVATOR AND HYDRAULIC ELEVATOR

PASSENGER LIFTS
A passenger lift is designed to move people between a building's floors. Passenger elevators
capacity is related to the available floor space.
 Passenger elevators may be specialized for the service they perform, including: hospital
emergency (Code blue), front and rear entrances, a television in high rise
buildings, double decker, and other uses.
 An express passenger elevator does not serve all floors. For example, it moves between
the ground floor and a skylobby, or it moves from the ground floor or a skylobby to a
range of floors, skipping floors in between.

FREIGHT ELEVATOR OR GOODS LIFT

Good lift is an elevator designed to carry goods, rather than passengers.
 They are generally required to display a written notice in the car that the use by
passengers is prohibited and are typically larger and capable of carrying heavier loads
than a passenger elevator, generally from 2,300 to 4,500 kg.
 They may have manually operated doors, and often have rugged interior finishes to
prevent damage while loading and unloading. Although hydraulic freight elevators exist,
electric elevators are more energy efficient for the work of freight lifting.
 Dumbwaiters or Service Lifts: are small freight elevators that are intended to carry food
rather than passengers. They often link kitchens with rooms on other floors.

HOSPITAL/PATIENT/SLING LIFTS
 A patient lift or a hospital lift allows patients in hospitals and nursing homes and those
receiving home health care to be transferred between a bed and a chair or other similar
resting places, using hydraulic power. They are usually larger in size and work more
smoothly than regular passenger lifts.
 Sling lifts are used for patients whose mobility is limited. They could be mobile (or floor)
lifts or overhead lifts (suspended from ceiling-mounted or overhead tracks).
 The sit-to-stand lift is designed to help patients with some mobility but who lack the
strength or muscle control to rise to a standing position from a bed, wheelchair, chair, or
commode.

FACTORS AFFECTING DESIGN OF ELEVATORS

For the design of lifts, factors to be considered are –
1. Population or no. of people who require lift service:
Population is calculated based on occupancy type of the building:
Type of Building Occupancy Area Per Person
Residential 12.5
Educational 4
Institutional 15
Industrial 10
Mercantile 4
2. Quantity of Service: The quantity of service is a measure of the passenger handling
capacity of a vertical transport system.
3. Quality of Service: The quality of service is generally measured by the passenger waiting
time of the various floors. Quality of service or Acceptable interval:
(i) 20-25 seconds – Excellent.
(ii) 30-35 seconds – Good.
(iii) 35-40 seconds – Fair
(iv) 40-45 seconds – Poor
(v) Over 45 seconds – Unsatisfactory

HANDLING CAPACITY & RTT

1. Handling Capacity: Handling Capacity (H) is defined as the number of people the
elevator can carry to upper floors within five minutes during the morning ‘up-peak’
Period. It is calculated by the formula: H = (300 x Q x 100)/T x P, where:
(i) Q = Average number of passengers carried in a car. The value of ‘Q’ depends on
the dimensions of the car. It may be noted that the capacity loaded always to its
maximum capacity during each trip and, therefore, for calculate the value of ‘Q’ is
taken as 80% of the maximum carry capacity of the car.
(ii) T = waiting interval. The waiting interval is calculated by the formula: T =
RTT/N, where, N = number of lifts and RTT is Round trip time.
(iii) P = Total population to be handled during peak morning period.
2. RTT or Round Trip Time: is the average time required by each lift in taking one full load
of passengers from ground floor, discharging them in various upper floors and coming
back to ground floor for taking fresh passengers for the next trip.
 RTT is the sum of the time required in the following process :
a) Entry of the passengers on the ground floor.
b) Exit of the passengers on each floor of discharge.
c) Door closing time before each floor of discharge.
d) Door opening time on each discharging operation.
e) Acceleration, Stopping and leveling periods.
f) Period of full rated speeds between stops going up.
g) Period of full rated speeds between stops going down.
 It is observed that the handling capacity is inversely proportional to the waiting time
which in turn is proportional to RTT. The round trip time can be decreased not only
by increasing the speed of the lift but also by improving the design of the equipment
related to opening and closing of the landing and car doors, acceleration,
deceleration, leveling and passenger movement.

LIFT TRAFFIC CALCULATIONS

 Lift traffic calculations are done for the worst 5-min period during morning up peak and
are usually based on Classical formulae & results, discrete digital simulation of the
building and its lifts; and Passenger Dynamics.
 To Calculate the up-peak performance one has to determine the following:
(i) RTT: Round Trip Time is the time for a single lift to make a round trip.
 (ii) Select number of lifts (L).
(iii) Up Peak Interval (UPPINT).
(iv) Up Peak Handling Capacity (UPPHC).

THE RTT EQUATION

RTT = 2Htv + (S +1)ts+ 2Ptp
Where,
RTT = round trip time in seconds
H = highest call reversal floor
S = average no. of stops
tv= time to transit 2 adjacent floors at rated speed in seconds
ts = time consumed when making a stop in seconds
tp= passenger transfer time for entering or exiting the lift car in seconds
P = 0.8 x lift car capacity in person

ADVANCED TRAFFIC PLANNING

 Key considerations - Lifts and escalators should provide:
a) Sufficient handling capacity for the building's traffic.
b) Short waiting and journey times throughout the day.
c) Optimum use of core building space
 Building categorization: the need for traffic planning varies according to the type and
usage of the building. Typical categories:
(i) Hospitals: Need detailed planning to cover emergency, service, bed, patient,
visitor and staff transportation.
(ii) Multi-purpose buildings: Need 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.
(iii) Hotels: the selection largely deends on the number of rooms and beds. Additional
lifts are required for service purposes.
(iv) Office 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.
(v) High-rise commercial buildings: One lift group alone cannot meet all needs.
They are often divided into zones, served by separate lifts groups. Sometimes
either double-deck lifts are used or lift groups are stacked on top of one another in
sky lobby arrangements – Express lifts.