Vertical Transportation

Elevators
Escalators
Travelators

By Ar.Manika Dsilva
Elevators
Elevators
• Elevators are a type of vertical transport equipment that
effectively moves people or goods between floors or levels or
decks of a building, vessel or other structures.

• Generally powered by electric motors that either drive cables,

hoist or pump hydraulic fluid to raise a cylindrical piston like a jack.
Basic Requirements of Lift

• Electrical panels and Power outlets

• Ventilation (Fan) and lighting in the machine room
• Power socket in the lift pit
• Maintenance works
Physical Requirements of Lift

• Size of the lift shaft - depends on lift cargo capacity.

• Depth of lift shaft – depends on speed and capacity of the elevator
• Area of space in lift – depends on speed and capacity of the elevator
• Mechanical room size – depends on the type and size of the lift
equipments.
Types of Lifts
• Drive System
• Hydraulic lift
• Traction Lift
Hydraulic Lift
• Pascal’s Principle states that the pressure
given to liquid in a closed chamber will be
continued by the liquid to every direction
with uniform and same magnitude.
Hydraulic Lift
Though the pressure is the
same it is exerted over a
much larger area, giving a
multiplication of force that
lifts the car
Pressure is exerted on
fluid in small cylinder
Components
• Hydraulic Fluid:
• Tank holds the liquid used
in the system.
• This liquid is usually oil
based because it is non
compressible and self
lubricating.
Components
• Valve:
• Keeps the pressure low
when open
• Increases the pressure
when closed.
Components
• Rotary Pump:
• Push oil into the cylinder
to lift the elevator.
Components
• Piston:
• It moves up and down
and transfers the fluid
energy into mechanical
energy.
 Advantages Disadvantages
Lower cost of equipment and its maintenance Performance of hydraulic lift becomes erratic as
than traction lifts the oil in the system varies in temperature.

More efficient building space utilization than Since it has no safety device to prevent its falling.
tractions. Eg. Hydraulic lifts would require It totally depends on pressure.
9.6sq.m less floor space than tractions.

Also overhead machine room isn’t required.

Most effective for high load capacity Inherently high heat producing device.
requirements, that is why it is highly used for
freight, automobile elevators.
Since it imposes no vertical load on the building
structure, column sizes can be reduced
significantly in the hoist way area.
Traction Lifts (Machine Lifts)
• Principle: See-saw.
• The car is raised and the traction rope lowers the
counterweight.
• The ropes are attached to the elevator car, looped around a
pulley and connected to an electric motor.
• The pulley, the motor and control system are all housed in a
machine room above the elevator shaft.
• The ropes that lift the car are also connected to a
counterweight, which hangs on the other side of the pulley.
• The counter weight and the car are perfectly balanced.
• The motor only has to overcome friction.
• The weight on the sides does most of the work.
Lift Machine Room
• Ventilation is needed
• Shall be such that the equipment are protected
as far as possible from the dust and humidity
• Temperature 5 to 40 deg C.
• Wall, Ceiling and floor should be tiled or
painted as a minimum to stop dust circulation
• The entrance door shall have sufficient
opening to allow for in and out of machines
• There should not be any common wall or slab
between machine room and water tank.
• It shall not be used as store room or act as
passage
Components
Difference between Geared and Gearless Lifts
• The Standing of the Wheel

• Both geared and gearless elevators are traction

elevators in which the cabins are pulled up by
means of rolling steel ropes that pass over a
wheel attached to an electric motor above the
elevator shaft.
• The main difference between them is the
standing of the wheel. On geared traction
elevators, the wheel is placed at the machine
room which is above the elevator shaft, while
on gearless traction elevators the wheel is
above the cabin and moves with the cabin.
Difference between Geared and Gearless Lifts
• The Need For The Machine Room

• On geared elevators, the wheel and the

electric motor have to be placed in a
machine room which is located above the
elevator shaft.
• But because the wheel is directly attached to
the motor and the cabin, there is no
necessity for the machine room at the
gearless elevators. That’s why gearless
elevators are also called Machine-Room-
Less (MRL) elevators.
Difference between Geared and Gearless Lifts
• Energy Consumption

• Gearless elevator motors can be smaller

than geared elevator motors because they
don’t have gears. So gearless motors can be
smaller up to ½ of a geared motor. This
makes the gearless motors more efficient on
electricity usage. By making the motor
smaller, other components will be also
smaller. This will help the efficiency issue
and make gearless motors more desirable.
Difference between Geared and Gearless Lifts
• Comfort

• Gearless elevators have another advantage

when compared to the geared ones about
comfort during accelerating, decelerating,
and moving. But the gearless traction
elevators have an excellent ability on
leveling with floors.
• Gearless motors make less noise, are
smoother on moving and stopping, and
make fewer vibrations on the cabin while
moving. These make gearless elevators
more comfortable than geared traction
elevators.
Difference between Geared and Gearless Lifts
• Capacity Issues

• Geared traction elevators can travel with up

to 152 m per minute speed and a maximum
of nearly 75 m height.
• While gearless traction elevators can speed
up to 610 m per minute with max 600 m
travel distance
Difference between Geared and Gearless Lifts
• Maintenance

• One of the main issues is, of course, the

maintenance of both motors. Geared traction
elevators have bigger engine than gearless
ones and that necessitates bigger combined
instruments that makes maintenance harder.
Also, the geared motors necessitate grease,
which needs to be changed regularly, which
makes the maintenance harder and more
expensive.
• The gearless traction elevators (the parts are
smaller and there is no usage of oil in
gearless ones) more advantageous and
desirable than the geared elevators.
Difference between Geared and Gearless Lifts
• Cost

• Gearless elevator motors are more

expensive than geared ones and when the
geared elevators are enough for the
calculated requirements. It would be wiser to
choose geared elevator motors to save
money and fit the projected budget.
 Traction
Working Principle: See-saw
Lifted by ropes, which pass over a pulley
attached to an electric motor above the elevator
shaft.
The machine room is located at the upper most
level ie on the terrace.
Used for mid and high rise
Much higher travel speed
Hydraulic
Working Principle: Pascal’s Pressure Principle
Supported by a piston at the bottom of the
elevator that pushes the elevator up as an
electric motor forces oil or another hydraulic
fluid into the piston.
The machine room is located at the lowest level
adjacent to the elevator shaft.
Used for Low-rise 2-8 stories
Less travel speed.
Types of lift as per usage
• Passenger
• Goods
• Vehicle
• Dumbwaiter
• Scissor
Passenger Lift
• Passenger lifts are designed to move people between floors of a
buildings. Their capacity is related to available floor space. Upto 8-10
floors these operate at 1m/sec and above 10 floors the speed starts
at 2.5m/sec to 10m/sec.
Goods/ Freight Lift
• It is used to transport heavy goods but depends on types of good
transported.
• Usually used in shopping complex, airport, Hotels, warehouse.
Vehicle Lift
• Used specifically to lift a car in a multi storeyed car park or
showrooms
• It can be in the form of hydraulic or traction.
Dumbwaiter Lift
• Dumbwaiter are small goods elevators that are intended to carry food
rather than passengers.
• They often link kitchens with other rooms
• Average height of the car ranges from 0.8m to 1.2m.
Scissor Lifts
• These lifts are self contained.
• These lifts can be easily moved to where
they are needed.
• They are excellent for indoor and outdoor
construction, maintenance and installation
applications.
Capsule Lift
Types of Openings
Future of Elevators
• Double Deck Elevators
• The working principle is
that the elevator has 2
floors, dividing the
arrival into odd and even
floor, the lower elevator
arrives the odd floor
while the upper elevator
arrives the even floor
with the upper and
lower doors being
independent, anyway
the elevators will move
together in the same
direction.
Future of Elevators
• Two cars in one shaft.
• They work independently
and not attached to each
other.
Escalators
 Escalators
• A moving staircase – a conveyor transport
device for carrying people between floors
of a building.
• It consists of a motor driven chain of
individual, linked steps that move up or
down on tracks, allowing the step treads
to remain horizontal.
• They are used to move pedestrian traffic
in places where elevators would be
impractical like shopping malls, airports,
convention centres.
Working
• The core of the escalator is a
pair of chains, looped around
two pairs of gears and an
electric motor runs it.
• The motor and chain system are
housed inside the truss, a metal
structure extending between
two floors.
• As the chain move, the steps
always stay level.
Working
• At the top and bottom of the
escalator, the steps collapse on
each other, creating a flat
platform. This makes it easier to
get on and off the escalator.
• The electric motor also moves
the handrail, a rubber conveyer
belt, moves at exactly the same
speed as the steps, to give rider
some stability.
Working
• Each step has two sets of
wheels, which roll along two
separate tracks.
• The upper set of wheels are
connected to the rotating
chains.
• The other set simply glides,
following behind the first set.
• Each step has a series of
grooves in it, so it will fit
together with the steps behind
the tracks
Different sizes and its application
Types of Escalators
Parallel Multi Parallel

Criss cross
Advantages of Escalators
• It helps a large number of people in moving from one place to
another at the same time and they reduce the need of elevator
because people would not have to wait for elevator and escalator can
carry a large number of people at the same time.
• It is helpful for the people that have pain in their legs and joints, i.e. it
provide comfort to the people.
• Their speed can be adjusted which is helpful in managing the crowd.
• When turned off it can be used as a staircase.
Disadvantages of Escalators
• Wastage of energy when not in use.
• Possible injuries when stop suddenly
• Source of fear for small children.
Travellator
Moving walkways - Travellator
• A slow moving conveyor mechanism
that transports people across a
horizontal or inclined plane over a
short to medium distance.
• It can be used by standing or walking
on them. They are often installed in
pairs, one for each direction.
Application
• Airport
• Malls
• Theatres
• Museum
• Theme parks
Thank you