As of June 15, 2022, this site no longer supports Internet Explorer. Please use another browser for the best experience on our site.
Share

Delivering a Safe and Smooth Elevator Experience

Mar 07, 2017
You can manage and share your saved list in My Moxa
Teaser Image
Share
You can manage and share your saved list in My Moxa

Elevators have been around in some form or another for over 2000 years, although the modern elevator has only been in use for about 150 years. Due to the huge volume of people who use elevators around the world every day, it is unsurprising that passengers insist on safety precautions and smooth operations for this important mode of transport. In fact, an industry-leading elevator manufacturer estimates it carries the equivalent of the world’s population in their elevators every five days. Therefore, delivering a safe and smooth elevator experience is the most critical goal for the elevator industry.

Scenarios that Elevator Builders Frequently Encounter

Elevators are not just a convenient way to travel between floors; they are also essential for ensuring that buildings function properly. All elevators must be checked onsite, usually twice per year, and ideally, maintenance staff would only have to make site visits at the pre-scheduled times. Elevator builders have noted that there are three main pain points that they often experience when performing elevator maintenance.

29-1.png

Typical challenges that must be addressed in an elevator control room

The first pain point is the global shortage of elevator service engineers, who are often required to maintain many elevators. Therefore, the engineers can’t be onsite when needed, and often need to travel long distances to reach the elevator site. The second pain point that elevator builders experience is when an engineer has to make a site visit, they often won’t know what the problem is until they arrive onsite. This situation typically arises because the necessary infrastructure isn’t in place to support remote monitoring of the components within the elevator. Without this infrastructure, operators in the control room cannot identify what the problem is. The third pain point is when an engineer arrives at a site and doesn’t have the correct device or tools. Also, most engineers have a mechanical engineering background and aren’t very familiar with networking so they may not be equipped to troubleshoot the problem with the elevator. When one of these situations arises, another engineer needs to be deployed to fix the problem, thereby increasing the overall downtime.

The Elevator Builder's Expectations

When elevators are being retrofitted or installed in buildings that only have a few floors, the key requirement is often to keep downtime to a minimum. Elevator builders frequently note that one of the most successful solutions for minimizing downtime is to deploy components that allow quick problem identification, and the ability to fix the problem with the least amount of effort. Remote monitoring is a good way to achieve this goal since it allows operators in the control room to quickly identify the root cause of the problem and dispatch personnel to the site. The result is reduced downtime, allowing both the elevator builder and the end-user to save time and money.

29-2.png

Flexible, Interoperable, Reliable Components to Assist Elevator Operators

For most new or modernized low- and mid-rise deployments, there are components available that meet the functional demands of these deployments, such as reliability and interoperability, that enable asset owners to lower the total cost of ownership.

Flexible Installation for Limited Spaces

One of the key features for elevator deployments or retrofits is that components can fit into almost any control cabinet. However, it is not only the size of the control cabinet that restricts the type of component that can be deployed. Cabinets often have devices installed inside that don’t support flexible mounting. This means that these devices have to be installed in a specific place in the cabinet or extra wiring will be required, which can be challenging to achieve and incurs additional expense. If new components need to be added at a later date, components that support flexible mounting have a much better chance of being able to fit inside the cabinet.

Unified Data Communication for Higher Efficiency

Another feature that assists elevator operators is to increase interoperability between all of the components that are found within elevators. Furthermore, if the integration of all the components can be automated, and no complicated settings need to be configured, this will ensure smoother operations. If a component supports all of the protocols that are used by all of the different components within the control cabinet, then architects know they can use that component on any new deployments or retrofits. This provides elevator designers with financial benefits. For example, they now only need to purchase one component for full interoperability, and they can also bulk buy allowing them to enjoy economies of scale. In addition, they don’t need to keep spare stock, which can simplify stock management as well as reduce the risk that they will purchase a product and not deploy it in the future.

EMI Resistance for Smooth Operations

As almost every control cabinet has a lot of electronic devices, the components must be able to withstand high EMI to ensure reliable operations.

Future-proof Security Enhancements

As the trend of digitization continues, ensuring that each component on a network is secure is going to prove more important in order to prevent against cyberattacks. As an example, compliance with the IEC 62443-4-2 industrial automation and control systems standard will help future proof the components by ensuring that the devices are going to be secure on the networks of the future.

Technology to Meet Elevator Operators' Needs

The elevator market is truly global. With each deployment, engineers must consider different factors and overcome different challenges, but they are also presented with many opportunities to enhance efficiency. For most elevator retrofits, or new buildings with only a few floors, interoperability and features that minimize downtime are two of the most important factors. In addition, deploying components that simplify processes for those who may have limited experience working with the components are going to ensure that elevators remain operational as close to 24/7, 365 days of the year as possible. Within the digitization trend, Ethernet switches are an indispensable component for elevator control. Moxa has introduced a new type of smart switch, which can be monitored on HMI/SCADA systems, while keeping the configuration and operation easy and flexible. To learn more about our smart switch, you can watch the video or read our case studies.

More Articles

Added To Bag
You have some items waiting in your bag; click here to finish your quote!
Feedback