High-tech motors and air pressure systems will enable the next generation of skyscraper elevators to achieve record-breaking speeds of up to 20 metres per second, or 4,000ft per minute, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Lifts designed by Mitsubishi for China’s 121-storey Shanghai Tower, due to open next year, will travel at 18 metres per second, significantly faster than the current record of 16.8 metres per second, set in 2004 by Toshiba’s lifts in the Taipei 101 office tower in Taiwan.
But rival Hitachi will go a step further in 2016, when the 530m-tall Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre opens. Its lifts are designed to climb at a rate of 20 metres per second, the equivalent of travelling from the first floor to the 95th in 43 seconds.
This higher speed is possible due to the use of a powerful slim magnet motor and an improved control panel, said Hitachi. The system will also utilise a cutting-edge air pressure adjustment system that minimises passengers’ ear discomfort and state-of-the-art brakes that can withstand temperatures of over 300 deg C.
Lifts designed by Mitsubishi for China’s 121-storey Shanghai Tower, due to open next year, will travel at 18 metres per second…
… but Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre will have the world’s fastest lifts when it completes in 2016
Lift innovations are being driven by the construction of increasingly tall buildings and the need to move people faster over longer distances.
Last year, a high-strength carbon fibre cable, dubbed “ultrarope”, was launched by Finnish manufacturer Kone, effectively doubling the possible length of a single lift line from 500 metres to more than 1km.
The new rope, in development for more than nine years, is seven times lighter than steel cables traditionally used in hoist lifts, requires less energy to lift and has twice the lifetime of steel lift cables.
Ultrarope will be used in the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, which is set to become the world’s tallest building, at over 1km high, when it is completed in 2019. The £780m tower is being project managed by Mace and EC Harris.
Daniel Safarik, at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, told the Financial Times that the ultrarope technology will enable the construction of even taller buildings: “It eliminates the need for transfers to reach 1,000 metres. As we are currently building to that height… and we consider that elevators were the only limiting factor, then we could conceivably get to 2,000 metres,” he said.
A small British engineering company, Oleo, has also designed high-speed lift buffers, positioned at the bottom of lift hoists, that can safely stop lifts travelling at speeds of 20 metres per second, such as those at Guangzhou.
Ultrarope, a high-strength carbon fibre cable, will be used in the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah
Jamie Pratt, managing director of Oleo’s lift division, told the FT: “Until now technology and equipment hasn’t been able to cope with speeds of 20 metres per second. Our new buffers can stop the elevator if there’s a malfunction in the system somewhere.” He said the group has already received orders of more than £1m for its new system.
Other innovations due to launch soon include an enhanced version of the twin elevator concept, whereby two cabins operate in the same shaft across different floors, developed by ThyssenKrupp’s lift division. Twin lifts, available since 2002, increase efficiency and transit times and reduce the floor space previously occupied by elevators by up to 30%.
Andreas Schierenbeck, of ThyssenKrupp, said the firm’s innovation will enable new heights, sizes, and shapes of buildings. “As buildings get taller, efficient mobility in buildings is not a luxury but an absolute necessity as a megacity would be paralysed if its elevators suddenly stopped moving,” he said.
Looking to the future, the concept of a ropeless high-speed elevator, based on linear motors and able to more vertically and horizontally through a building, may not be far away, said elevator expert Albert So. The system could enable multiple cabins to use the same elevator shaft, increasing passenger capacity in a building. “We are waiting for the perfection of it in terms of 100% safety,” he told the paper.
However, he doubted that actual speeds would exceed the 20 metres per second record set by Hitachi. “At present, existing technology in terms of speed is good enough for super high-rise buildings,” said So. “Frankly, the acceleration/deceleration limits and pressure change limit a significant further increase in the elevator speed.”
