The University of Northampton: Northampton Open Journals
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Study of Energy Efficiency Benchmarking Parameter based on Real Traffic and Energy Data of a high-speed Traction Lift in Hong Kong
No full textA holistic normalization method (So et al 2005, Lam et al 2006) was developed, which can simultaneously assess both drive efficiency and traffic control performance on a real-time basis of a lift system, termed <J/kg-m> measured in the unit, J/kg/m. Since 2012, it has been adopted by the HKSAR Government as an emerging good engineering practice in the Technical Guidelines of the Building Energy Code. A study of the parameter based on pure simulations using artificial traffic patterns and simple energy patterns was conducted (So et al 2018), recommending that a value of 40 J/kg/m could indicate an efficient system. In this article, the study is conducted again based on real passenger demand and real energy profiles on a bank of seven lifts serving a super-high-rise luxurious office building in Hong Kong, with a conclusion that the previous recommendation is still valid, supported by real data. The study includes variation by simulation in traffic control algorithms and the number of lifts of the bank to study the "undersizing effect" with the same passenger demands throughout a typical weekday, from morning to evening
Report on Seismic Damage of Lifts and Escalators by Large Earthquakes in Japan
No full textThe devastating earthquake of Mw9.0, so-called the Great East Japan Earthquake, hit the Tohoku district, north east part of Japan on March 11, 2011. About 16,000 people died and 2,500 people were missing by the strong motion and tsunami, and the economic damage was estimated about 16.9 trillion yen in addition to the influence by the nuclear accident of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. In addition to the main shock, many strong aftershocks occurred in the long term. After that, strong near-field earthquakes called the Kumamoto Earthquake and the North Osaka Earthquake occurred in 2016 and 2018. Many lifts and escalators were damaged in these earthquakes as well as building structures, industrial facilities and so on. Therefore, this paper reports seismic damage of lifts and escalators by large earthquakes in Japan. At first, changes of the Seismic Design Guideline in Japan are introduced. Then a summary of the damage regarding the lifts and escalators was provided in order to confirm effectiveness of Seismic Design Guideline and to contribute improvement of the seismic design for forthcoming destructive earthquakes. The damage is analysed from the viewpoint of causes, the edition of Seismic Design Guideline and so on. Although the many of the buildings were hit by massive earthquakes, the damage of the lifts and escalators to be designed according to the Seismic Design Guideline was suppressed to certain level, and the effectiveness of the Seismic Design Guideline was confirmed
History of the Safety Gear
No full textThe safety gear is regarded as the last line of defence in the relatively safe world of lifts. Industry contemporaries recall Elisha Otis declaring “All safe” after cutting the ropes on a platform upon which he was standing and the safety gear preventing his uncontrolled descent. The design of safety gears has moved on significantly from an original proposal to place a bag of feathers in the lift pit to designs that now arrest uncontrolled movement in ascent. This paper is a developing research project which will look at UK patents and standards and tracks the development of the safety gear from the embryonic days of lift installations to the present day. It will contribute to knowledge by bringing together a number of sources of information not previously brought together into a single paper and thus provide a consolidated history of the safety gear
A Fundamental Study Concerning the Correct Performance of Elevator Buffers
No full textVarious safety devices are provided to ensure the safety of the lift passengers. A number of safety systems are employed to prevent injury in case or uncontrolled movement. The car and counterweight buffers (shock absorber) play an important role. This paper considers appropriate performance of the car and counterweight buffers. Buffer performance is examined to satisfy a safe condition in the revised JIS A 4306
Towards A Global Traffic Control (Dispatcher) Algorithm - Requirements Analysis
No full textThis paper presents an analysis of the requirements of a Global Dispatcher Interface for the control of a group of lifts. The information passed to and from the interface is defined as well as the common processing which will be executed on that information in order to generate the response. Using recognised software development methods, requirements are elicited from a consideration of the significant use cases and the architectural configurations which must be supported by the interface. The analysis is presented as interaction diagrams which show the collaborations and responsibilities of the key objects of the software
Departure Delays in Lift Systems
No full textThere is a range of lift systems with more than one car or cabin per shaft. Double deck lifts have a car with two attached cabins, serving adjacent floors at the same time. Other systems enable two independent cars to share the same shaft. The next generation ropeless lifts will allow many cars to share the same shafts.In these systems, the interaction between the cars and cabins affects the quality of service for passengers. Departure delays occur when passenger loading and unloading times or the sequence of stops required to serve passengers is not the same. The consequence is that cars and cabins delay each other’s departure. Departure delays can also occur in lift systems with a single car and cabin per shaft, for example when destination calls are registered at a significant walking distance from the lift lobby.To include departure delay in an assessment of quality of service, definitions of passenger and cabin departure delays, and a method to measure these delays are required. This paper describes the different types of departure delays and their causes. This provides metrics which can be applied in lift planning and dispatcher design
Computer Simulation Aided Study of a Real-time Energy Benchmarking Parameter for Lift Systems under different Traffic Control Schemes
No full textAt present, there are benchmarking parameters to assess the energy performance of lifts, e.g. one in Germany adopted by VDI (4707-1/2), one internationally published by ISO (BS EN ISO 25745-2:2015), and the other in Hong Kong adopted by The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government. These parameters are mainly checking and governing the energy consumed by a lift drive without considering real time passenger demands and traffic conditions, the one in Hong Kong pinpointing a fully loaded up-journey under rated speed while the two in Europe pinpointing a round trip, bottom floor to top floor and return with an empty car, though including energy consumed by lighting, displays, ventilation etc. A holistic normalization method (So et al 2005, Lam et al 2006) was developed more than ten years ago by the first author of this article, which can simultaneously assess both drive efficiency and traffic control performance, termed <J/kg-m> which is the name of the parameter measured in unit, J/kgm, and is now adopted by the HKSAR Government as a good practice in the Technical Guidelines of the Energy Code, but not yet enforced in the mandatory code. In Europe, the energy unit of Wh has been used but here, the unit of Joule (J), i.e. Ws, is adopted to discriminate the difference between the two concepts. In this article, such parameter is evaluated under different drives and lift traffic control scenarios by using computer simulations, with the aim of arriving at a reasonable figure for benchmarking an energy efficient lift system with both an efficient drive as well as an efficient supervisory traffic control. This parameter could also compare the performance of different types of intelligent car dispatcher
Application of Image Processing to Health Monitoring for Wire Rope of Lift systems
No full textRupture of wire ropes is one of severe accidents in lift systems. Before rupture by aging degradation, diameter of wire ropes decreases and surface of wire ropes is rusted. Thus diameters and red rust of wire ropes should be checked in periodic inspections of lift systems in Japan. The diameters are usually measured by using vernier calipers or scales, and red rust is checked with eyes, so there are errors and difference among inspectors. Therefore development of a new monitoring system for the diameters and red rust is required in order to ensure qualities of the inspection and manage the inspection data efficiently. Meanwhile image processing technology has recently been applied to various industries such as automatic driving vehicles. This paper proposes and constructs a health monitoring system for wire rope using image processing. The system consists of a digital camera and a computer. The digital camera takes a photograph of a wire rope and the photograph is analyzed by the computer. The diameter is calculated from the number of pixels of the rope, and red rust is detected by resolving the colour of the photograph into RGB data. This paper describes image processing method for inspection of wire rope and results of verification tests. Photography condition suitable for monitoring was investigated. As a result, the measurement error was less than 1% by adjusting photographing condition
Circulating multi car lift system – traffic concept and analysis
No full textA new generation of lifts currently under development applies magnetic linear propulsion and does not need ropes. Shafts are shared, and lifts move in two or more dimensions. Taller and more densely populated buildings will be accommodated by adding more cars but not necessarily more shafts. Engineers planning lift installations need new ways to assess the handling capacity and quality of service provided by ropeless lifts. In this paper possible traffic concepts are considered as well as some traffic design principles being established by applying simple cycle time calculations. For example, shuttle lift applications are considered and compared with current roped solutions. Improving on cycle time calculations requires the development of dispatching strategies, the modelling of safety distance requirements and traffic simulation models; an overview of progress in these areas will be presented
Key Dynamic Parameters that Influence Ride Quality of Passenger Transportation Systems
No full textRide quality of a Passenger Transportation System (PTS) is a measure of the comfort level experienced by passengers and is intimately associated with their subjective perception and sensitivity to motion and sound. This measure is affected by the noise and vibration of an operating system. On the other hand, ride quality is the measure of the PTS product quality. Ride quality of passenger transportation systems is critical for a PTS manufacturer to determine the subjective and objective quality of the system. This is especially important in high rise (high end) systems. The paper investigates the dynamic interactions that might occur between the PTS system components and their influence on ride quality