Cable-Driven Evacuation Hauling System for Stair Transport
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Solution Overview
Problem
Emergency evacuation in multi-level facilities is hindered by the inability to rely on escalators during power outages, as they become impractical for transporting injured persons, requiring excessive personnel and time, especially for long stretches of stairs or walkways.
Innovation Solution
A line-hauled evacuation system utilizing a drive line with patient litters that can be easily attached and detached, powered by a delivery station, allowing for efficient transport of injured persons up inclined planes like stairs or ramps, reducing the need for additional personnel by using a loop of rope or cable to haul patients up and return empty litters down.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If emergency personnel carry injured persons up stairs manually, then evacuation can be performed without additional equipment, but it requires excessive personnel and time especially for long stretches
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a cable-based intermediary system that acts as a mechanical mediator between the power source and the patient litter. The cable transmits force over long distances and vertical elevations, enabling single-person operation while maintaining high evacuation speed. This resolves the contradiction by providing mechanical assistance that reduces personnel requirements without sacrificing evacuation productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical system (personnel carrying patients) with an automated cable-driven mechanical system. The cable tensioning mechanism and pulley system substitute for human physical effort, allowing one operator to evacuate patients efficiently over long staircases or inclined planes, thereby reducing personnel requirements while maintaining or improving evacuation speed.
2Ease of operation
If escalators are used for transporting injured persons, then easy travel is available, but escalators do not receive power during emergency conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The cable-driven evacuation system is designed to be self-contained and independent of external power sources. The manual cable tensioning mechanism allows the system to serve itself without requiring electrical power, ensuring operational availability during emergencies while maintaining ease of patient transport through the automated cable-hauled litter system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates a cable tensioning mechanism that maintains proper cable tension before evacuation begins, ensuring the system is ready for immediate operation. This pre-tensioning prepares the system in advance, allowing it to function reliably during emergencies without power, while providing smooth and convenient patient transport similar to escalator operation.
3Quantity of substance
If a cable system is used to haul patients up stairs, then personnel requirements are reduced, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cable-driven evacuation system is divided into modular segments: cable tensioning mechanism, pulley system, patient litter, and control components. This segmentation allows each component to be simple and independent, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining the benefit of reduced personnel requirements. Each module can be independently operated or maintained.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the complex power transmission components (cable tensioning mechanism and pulleys) from the patient transport function, separating them into distinct operational elements. This extraction simplifies the overall system by allowing the cable mechanism to be operated independently with minimal personnel intervention, reducing the complexity of coordinated human effort while maintaining efficiency.
4Loss of time
If manual carrying of patients is performed, then no additional equipment is needed, but the evacuation process becomes time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the slow manual carrying process with a cable-driven mechanical transport system. The cable-hauled patient litter moves continuously and efficiently up stairs or inclined planes, dramatically reducing evacuation time. Although this introduces additional equipment, the time savings are substantial, especially for long-distance evacuations, making the equipment investment worthwhile.
Solution Approach 2:
The cable system acts as an intermediary that bridges the gap between the operator and the patient litter, enabling rapid transport without requiring direct physical contact or manual carrying. This intermediary mechanism accelerates the evacuation process significantly compared to manual methods, reducing time loss while introducing only a simple cable-based equipment system.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Facilitates rapid and efficient evacuation of injured persons with reduced personnel requirements, enabling simultaneous transport of multiple patients by circulating loaded and empty litters, thus expediting the process and minimizing strain on emergency responders.
Implementation Method 1
a first direction change pulley laterally offset and proximate the power delivery station at the unloading site, and a second direction change pulley positioned adjacent the loading site
Data Source
AI summary
An evacuation hauling system for transporting evacuation litters during an emergency. The hauling system includes a drive line forming a pathway between a first station and a second station, and a drive system operable by a drive prime mover to move the drive line between the first and second stations. An evacuation litter is detachably coupled to the drive line and is moveable along the pathway between the first and second stations as the drive line is moved. The hauling system may include a pulley supporting the drive line to maintain a separation between a transport leg of the pathway from the first station to the second station, and a return leg of the pathway from the second station to the first station.