The Elevator Code About Fires

For years, elevator code has dictated that placards be placed in elevator lobbies telling occupants to use the stairs in case of a fire. Elevator code however is more complicated than a simple sign, especially as it applies to elevators and fires.

Elevator code is governed by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Formally dubbed the A17 Life Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators, A17 is the basis for most requirements adopted at the local level.

Under ASME standards, once a fire has been detected, elevators operate under either Phase I or Phase II regulations.

Elevator code dictates that under Phase I operation, elevators that are 25 feet or more above the main floor return either to a designated landing area or an alternate area. Phase I operation is activated either manually by a special key, or automatically by a fire alarm initiati

ng device. A sensor could detect smoke in the hoistway or machine room, for example, and trigger Phase I. The goal is to remove the elevators from service so that building occupants do not use elevators during a fire and become trapped.

Phase II operation is an override meant for firefighters after Phase I has been activated. Under Phase II operation, firefighters can use a keyswitch to operate the elevator, provided the hoistway is clear of smoke and the elevator has electricity.

Elevator Code Updates

ASME has been conducting a hazard analysis since 2004 to determine whether to recommend changes to A17 that would allow elevators to be used for evacuation.

One reason the study has taken so long is the technological and behavioral challenges involved. For example, how would smoke be dealt with? Instructing occupants when it’s appropriate to evacuate via an elevator is no easy task because the decision could vary depending on the building, the type of emergency and where the occupants are located. That question would likely require changes to elevator control systems.

Compounding the difficulty in using elevators for evacuation is that any potential changes would likely impact fire codes, building codes and elevator codes, experts say.

Elevators in an Educational Environment

It's pretty common for a large university to have a more diverse group of buildings than anyplace else in town. That means, when it comes to tackling an elevator issue, the university's facilities department often doesn't have someone they can consult in a facility just down the road that's had similar experiences.

At a number of Big Ten universities, the usual solution was to call someone at another Big Ten university. A few years ago, that repeated collaboration led to the idea of a group that could share experience and education among those with elevator responsibilities at universities. That group formally organized in 2006 as Elevator U. In addition to university representatives, the group also has members that are elevator manufacturers, contractors, consultants and vendors. The organization holds an annual conference that focuses on elevators in university settings. This year's conference will be hosted by Michigan State University from June 18-21.

In addition to sharing information and ideas with peers that work in similar environments, the organization focuses on teaching safety to students, both college and younger, says Elevator U board of directors president Martin Culp, elevator supervisor, department of operations and maintenance — contracts, University of Maryland.

At Maryland and other universities, working on elevators doesn't just mean their mechanical aspects. College students can, of course, be a bit hard on their surroundings, so certain measures have to be taken to combat that, says Culp.

"It goes in spurts," says Culp. "We'll get a period when they seem to be a little more destructive than normal. What we've done in most of the dorms is put vandal-resistant buttons in the elevators, because we've had trouble with them using cigarette lighters to melt the plastic on the buttons."

When it comes to mechanical maintenance, Maryland's service contracts have a wide range of requirements for the length of time in the field and experience working with different kinds of equipment. With a wide range of brands and types of elevators serving passenger requirements ranging from dormitories to office buildings, the maintenance demands vary widely.

And, for the most part, it runs pretty smoothly — with the occasional exception.

"After a football game, we may get trapped calls where they've loaded 15 or 20 people in an elevator," Culp says. "Every once in a while we get those, but not on a frequent basis. We pretty much know when to expect problems."

What's the home elevator

A home elevator is an elevator installed in a private house for use by a single family member. It can also be installed in a building used in a non single family, as a single family to enter their homes, but the public or other occupants of the building can not enter and use.

Notice for the purchase of home elevator

Once only for the rich and famous, a home elevator is now an affordable luxury to make the home barrier free and convenient. Building a new home with a residential elevator can add value to the property by making it accessible to all and by easing everyday tasks like lugging laundry and groceries between floors. Here’s some great information and, when you’re ready, we can help you find local experts with our pre-qualified network.

A private home elevator is a specialized version of a public elevator, with the same basic principle of operation. In North America, residential elevators should be built to meet certain code requirements that limit such things as the speed, size and capacity. Most home elevators require a shaft-way in which to travel. Modern designs feature automatic operation so they open, close and move down with single touch buttons.

Today’s home elevators can be finished inside to match the homeowner’s style and design tastes, including solid hardwood interiors and glass observation panels.

start loading the home elevator

A locally trained residential elevator contractor will perform a site visit to assess the space you have and the construction requirements specific to your home. The best time to involve the contractor is when you are planning a new home or a major renovation. Not all home elevators have the same requirements, so it is imperative to select the elevator you want before the hoist-way is constructed. The best companies have free planning guides on their websites to advise on hoist-way construction.

Other Operational Choices

Your elevator will be custom built and programmed to travel from floor to floor with two stops or more. Each landing will have a call station button (hall call) installed and each landing will also require a special door that locks and cannot be opened unless the elevator is at the landing. The elevator itself should also have a cab door or gate to keep occupants from falling out of the cab while the elevator is in motion. Inside, the elevator will include a cab operating panel (COP) to allow the user to stop the elevator and to operate doors.

Car interior notice

The elevator will also have hardware fixtures such as a handrail, operating panel and pot lighting in the ceiling. You will be able to select styles and finishes for these components.

A home elevator cab is built to a variety of standard sizes or may be custom-sized. A good size is 40″ x 54″ (maximum size is 15 sq. ft in North America). A home elevator can have one or two doors that exit straight through or at 90

degrees to each other depending on your home’s construction. You may also have a choice for the height of your elevator cab. A taller cab (80″) will feel more spacious.

The skills of elevator maintenance

Lift Maintenance Check the operation of the elevator parts, refueling, cleaning dust, and debugging the safety device. Including non-destructive testing of elevator traction rope and lubrication maintenance.

Matters needing attention

⑴Elevator is composed of two parts: mechanical and electrical.If you do not maintain the elevator daily,elevator safety can not be guaranteed,If the elevator does not need to refuel, it will cause the mechanical parts of the elevator wear and tear, so that the elevator service life is greatly reduced, can not normally use the elevator.

⑵Elevator in the use of the process, some of the elevator users in order to reduce costs, save money, to find a temporary job or not qualified to do the elevator maintenance , once out of the security issues and even the responsible units can not find.if the elevator manufacturer or a qualified professional maintenance company, on the one hand to ensure the maintenance of technology and quality, on the other hand, once a problem has also been responsible for.

Mechanical components

⑴The elevator traction machine lubrication oil.There are two marks on the cover of traction machine, check the oil should be in the middle of the two scale nozzle opening,If the oil is lower than the scale below, it should be said to refuel tractor, without refueling, operation will lift a long time can not get a good lubrication, which leads to burn down the elevator traction machine and motor.Elevator running a long time after the oil should be replaced in a timely manner, so that the machine always maintain good lubrication and refreshing.

⑵Cleaning and lubrication of elevator car guide boots.As everyone knows, the guide shoe running on the rail, the guide shoe above the cup, to make the elevator does not produce friction sound in the operation must be regularly to the cup and cleaning gas guide shoe, and should clean up the car's health.

⑶The maintenance of elevator landing door and car door.Elevator failure is generally more in the elevator landing door and door, so should pay attention to the hall door, the door of the car maintenance.First, the door on the ridge on the shelf of the refueling place to refuel, to maintain good lubrication, the elevator will not be in the operation of the door and open the door to make an unpleasant sound.Note the touch panel switch

line elevator safety contact plate or screen type check, because the high frequency of elevator door switch, the switch line damaged,this requires maintenance personnel in every work should be checked, the change will change in advance, do not let the user because of the door of elevator product quality doubt.

Importance of elevator maintenance

A lift in the installation and put into operation, due to the installation, maintenance of the limitations of the process, the use of conditions and environmental impact, will inevitably occur in various types of failure.The most common reason is the adjustment of mechanical parts, and the design of the manufacturers to use a variety of protective functions to protect the role of.The former is related to the quality of products, installation and maintenance. In general, the mechanical strength of the mechanical parts is insufficient, the design defects and the displacement result in the displacement. The latter is relatively complex, the operation of the elevator is a complex process, must have the conditions set, starting to lift, under certain conditions, it can run continuously, meet certain conditions, to the normal speed and parking.Therefore, if the elevator is forced to meet the conditions in which it does not have the conditions (such as the cancellation of a detection function or short circuit), there may be some danger.Light will cause further damage to the equipment, causing heavy casualties and other serious accidents.Obviously, how to carry on the correct, timely and thorough maintenance to the elevator equipment is very important.

Elevator maintenance is mainly based on mechanical adjustment, through constant correction of the installation of the nominal size of the parts required to make it in the specified range of normal operation, has reached the standard parts to be scrapped in a timely manner to be replaced;At the same time the necessary cleaning, moving parts and structural parts lubrication and anti rust and to safety, prolong the service life of equipment maintenance purpose.For electrical parts, maintenance work needs to maintain its good insulation, to ensure adequate supply of power to the equipment to run.

Elevator maintenance is a comprehensive strong work, should not only include the adjustment and maintenance work not done, according to the fault characteristics and causes of the elevator, combined with the actual situation, the necessity of improving the structure and performance of the elevator.

A qualified elevator maintenance, in addition to the working principle of the elevator to fully understand, but also must have good mechanical capability (fitter, welder), a considerable understanding of the principle of electrical, electronic technology need to know and be able to use some of the basic functions.At present, it is more required to master the principles of programmable control, digital circuits, microelectronics technology and application, but also to understand the deeper understanding of the principle and application of scm.So, in the full understanding of the elevator fault situation, according to the working principle of the elevator, the elevator according to his knowledge, work flow, analyze the causes of failure and failure scope may exist, in accordance with the vision inspection steps and observed presence of failure state, gradually remove the suspected failure problem, in order to correct to determine the fault point, thorough maintenance.

What's an green elevator

In the beginning there was Archimedes, who in 236 B.C.E. hooked his famous pulleys to the top of a big wooden box and began to pull. Eureka, the elevator was born. Made of locally sourced, sustainably produced materials, his person-powered off-the-grid invention is the distant ancestor of a new crop of eco-friendly elevators now courting the growing green-building market.

Some estimates project that buildings consume about 40% of the world's energy, and elevators account for between 2% and 10% of a building's energy use. The leading elevator manufacturers are rising up to get those numbers down.

What makes an elevator green? Energy consumption is key, but that's just a start. The materials, processes, and technologies that go into the manufacture of an elevator system also count. So too do the choices of interior paints, flooring, control panels, lighting, and HVAC systems. All of these elements can contribute points to a building's overall score for LEED accreditation by the U.S. Green Building Council. Here is a snapshot of how the major elevator makers are addressing these design elements.

Machine-Room-Less Technology

Introduced in the mid-1990s, machine-room-less (MRL) technology was one of the biggest advances in elevator design since they went electric a century before. Miniaturization has made it feasible to house the MRL machinery right in the elevator shaft rather than in a costly rooftop machine room. Incorporating a gearless traction design, MRL elevators in some cases can use up to 80% less energy than hydraulic lifts, without the expense and environmental headaches of oil-filled underground hydraulic cylinders.

KONE, Inc. (Moline, IL) introduced the first MRL elevator and places so much stock in the technology that the company discontinued manufacturing hydraulic elevators altogether. Its EcoSpace MRL elevator design incorporates a low-friction, gearless hoisting apparatus that prevents wear and reduces energy consumption by half compared to a geared system.

Regenerative Drives

Green elevators don't just stop with reducing energy consumption — some of them give back much of what they take. Regenerative drive systems recover energy that would normally be dissipated as heat and put it back into the building's electrical system. Not only does the technology produce power for lighting and air conditioning, it also saves money by reducing the need for machine-room cooling. Regenerative drives reduce power consumption during peak periods, contributing to a building's overall operational bottom line. Most of the major players offer this technology.

Control Features

It's a matter of physics: elevators without very many passengers aboard require more energy due to the weight differential between the elevator and its counterweight. A major goal of green elevator technology is to cut down on these light loads through precision traffic control, management of interior lighting and other energy-burning factors.

Novel computerized systems help reduce the number of light-load trips while ensuring that there are enough elevators in operation to provide fast service. Schindler's systems offer an Energy Control Option (ECO) mode that switches unused elevators into standby. If waiting times become too long, the system will activate additional cabs to meet the need. ThyssenKrupp (Memphis, TN) says its Destination Dispatch system improves handling capacity by 15-30%. The system monitors and controls the amount of current delivered to the motor, ensuring the correct level to provide to keep the motor running at full speed. As a result, the motor is protected from peak over-currents, potential overload and sudden power surges.

Outside the box

Green elevator technology isn't limited to what's in the shaft. Companies include external factors in their sustainability bona fides that contribute to a lower overall carbon footprint across the elevator's life cycle while reflecting their green corporate values. Customers considering an elevator vendor can evaluate the energy-efficiency of its manufacturing facilities, service fleet management practices, remote monitoring technologies for early diagnosis of mechanical problems, and other support systems.

Elevators will never again be as eco-neutral as it was back in Archimedes' day, but it's clear that green elevator technology is on the way up.

How to maintain freight elevator

A freight elevator is used to transport bulky and large items throughout the building. The elevators have several benefits.  Mostly it is used in the industrial sector and the business buildings where bulky and heavy items are to be transported. The businesses requiring the transportation of heavy items like machinery, hospital equipment, patient beds, catering trolleys, etc. install the freight elevators for easy transport of these particular items.  These are not only used to transport the freight items but the people can also move up and down using the elevators.

Key Features of Freight Elevators

There are certain key features of freight elevators, which distinguish them from another type of elevators. Some of the key features are discussed as under.  

Slower Speed

The freight elevators have a slower speed as compared to the passenger lifts. These are used to carry bulky and heavy items from the ground floor to the upper floors of a building. The freight elevators usually carry heavy weights, and in order to safeguard the items that you carry the speed is kept slow and steady so that no items are damaged during the transporting procedure. Manual labour cannot be employed in transporting such heavy items, do it is better to use the freight elevators for this job.

Reducing damages

The freight elevators greatly reduce the damage ratio. If the heavy and bulky items are transported by the manual labour, them there are certain chances that the items will be damaged whilst the transporting procedure. These elevators are installed in the buildings to reduce the risk of loss and damage. Moreover, they save time and money.

Average Life Span

The freight elevators have an average lifespan of over 6 years, but if maintained and used properly they can be used for more than 8 years. These elevators should be technically maintained after regular intervals of time. The business owners who have installed these elevators must employ labors to check these machinery off and on.

In addition to its, repair and maintenance, durability and strength of the freight elevator also play and equivalent role in predicting the average lifespan of the elevator. If you install the elevator that is manufactured utilising durable metal from elevator manufacturers and sturdy stuff then it will last longer than expected.

Size of the Elevators  

The business owners need to predict the size of the elevators that they need to install in their business building. These elevators have different sizes, and the size that you have to install depends on upon the type of items that you have to transport.