Transportation

Types of Transportation
• Traction (Geared & Gearless)
– The more conventional elevator that is most typically used.
Geared is used in architecture that transverses between 150 and
250 feet, and gearless are used for higher speed and on heights of
over 250 feet.
• Hydraulic
– Limited to low-rise, low speed applications

• Rack and Pinion Elevators

• Residential Elevators and Chair Lifts
• Horizontal Conveyors
• Dumbwaiters
• Pneumatic Tubes
• Moving Walks
– Includes an incline not exceeding 5 degrees where the principle
function is horizontal movement
• Moving Stairways
– Also referred to as an escalator or an electric stairway
Why is Transportation Important?

• Typically necessary in multi-story buildings

• May consume up to 10% of the
construction costs in a 25+ story office
building
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 Passenger Elevators

• Provide minimum waiting time for a car at any level

• Comfortable acceleration
• Rapid transportation
• Smooth, rapid braking
• Accurate, automatic leveling at landings
• Rapid loading and unloading at all stops
 Principle Components
(Traction Elevator)

• The car
• Cables
• Elevator Machine
• Control Equipment
• Counterweights
• Hoistway
• Rails
• Penthouse
• Pit
 Control Equipment

• The Control Equipment is divided into three groups

– Drive (motion) Control is concerned with the velocity,
acceleration, position determination, and leveling of the car

– Operating Control covers car door operation and

functioning of car signals, including floor call buttons and all
indicating devices.

– Supervisory Control is concerned with group operation of

multi-car installations
 Gearless Traction Machine

• A Gearless Traction Machine consists of a DC or AC motor, the

shaft of which is directly connected to a brake wheel or driving
sheave.
– This motor is used for high-speed elevators
– Is applied where the rise required is over 250 feet

• (A Gearless Traction Machine is considered superior to a geared

machine because it is more efficient, quieter in operation,
requires less maintenance, and has a longer life span.)
 Elevator Doors

• The choice of the car and hoistway door affects the speed and
quality of elevator service considerably. Doors for passenger
elevators are power-operated and synchronized with the
leveling controls so that the doors are fully opened by the time
a car comes to a complete stop at a landing.

• With openings smaller than 3 feet, 6 inches (42 inches),

simultaneous loading and unloading is difficult and transfer time
is lengthened. With a 42-inch opening some people may brush
against each other when passing.

• For a complete isolation of passengers a 48 inch opening is

recommended.
Elevator Doors
 Hydraulic Elevators
• The first hydraulic
elevators used water as
a system fluid

• The traditional hydraulic

or plunger elevator is
raised and lowered
quite simply, by means
of a movable rod
(plunger) rigidly fixed to
the bottom of the
elevator car.

• Often the indicated

choice for low-speed
(up to 200fpm), low-rise
(up to 65 feet)
 Hydraulic Advantages
• The elevator load is carried by the ground and not the structure. By
contrast, traction units place a large structural load on the penthouse
and machine room floors and on overhead steel as well.

• The hoistway is smaller due to the absence of a counterweight and its

guide rails.

• Cars can be lowered manually by the operation of oil valves. This is

particularly useful and important in the event of control equipment
failure or power failure.

• There is essentially no limit to the load that can be lifted.

• A major inherent DISADVANTAGE of the hydraulic elevator is its

operating expense.
 Fire Considerations
Details vary somewhat, but in general the actions are these

• All cars close their doors and return nonstop to the lobby or
another designated floor, where they park with the doors open.
Thereafter, they are operable in manual mode only, by use of
the fire fighter’s key in the car panel.
• All call and hall calls are canceled, and call registered lights
and directional arrows extinguish.
• The fire emergency light or message panel in each car is
activated to inform passengers of the nature of the alert and
that cars are returning to a designated terminal.
• Door sensors and in-car emergency stop switches are
deactivated.
• Traveling cars stop at the next landing without opening their
doors and then proceed to the designated terminal.
 Rack and Pinion Elevators
• These operate on the straightforward
principle of a rotating cogged-wheel
pinion attached to a vertical rack.

• Although most elevators travel vertically slant or inclined

elevators are able to travel up an inclined surface.
Residential Elevators & Chair Lifts
Horizontal Conveyors
 Moving Stairways
• Escalators can be
offered in a
parallel or
crisscross
arrangement
and should be
placed directly in
the main line of
traffic

• Installed at an
angle of 30
degrees with a
minimum vertical
clearance of 7 ft
for escalator
passengers,
Major Components
Fire Protection
• Four methods of
providing protection of
fire near escalators are
available
– The Rolling Shutter
– The Smoke Guard
– The Spray-Nozzle
Curtain
– Sprinkler Vent
 Moving Walkway Applications
• Eliminate and/or accelerate burdensome walking
• Eliminate congestion
• Force movement
• Easily transport large bulky objects
Questions, Comments??