Elevator Evacuation Mode Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Elevator systems in tall buildings face challenges in evacuating people efficiently during emergencies, as round-trip times can be excessively long, leading to delayed evacuation and increased risk for individuals on higher floors.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an elevator system with multiple operating modes, including a normal and evacuation mode, where the system transports passengers from the evacuation floor to an intermediate stop floor and then to a safe floor, optimizing the route to reduce travel time and increase evacuation efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If elevator cars transport passengers directly from evacuation floor to safe floor, then evacuation capacity is improved, but round-trip time becomes excessively long for tall buildings
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the evacuation journey into multiple segments by introducing intermediate stop floors. Instead of direct transport from evacuation floor to final safe floor, passengers are transported to intermediate floors first, then transferred to other elevator cars for the remaining journey. This segmentation allows parallel processing of multiple evacuation trips, reducing overall round-trip time while maintaining high evacuation capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces intermediate stop floors as intermediary points in the evacuation process. These intermediate floors serve as transfer points where passengers switch between different elevator cars. This intermediary approach enables multiple elevator cars to operate simultaneously on different segments of the evacuation route, significantly reducing total evacuation time compared to single-car direct transport.
2Adaptability or versatility
If elevator system serves all floors during evacuation, then coverage is improved, but evacuation speed from most risky floors decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different operational roles to different floors during evacuation. The evacuation floor and intermediate stop floors receive priority service with dedicated elevator cars that make direct stops, while other floors are served by remaining elevator cars. This localized optimization ensures fastest possible evacuation from the most critical floors while maintaining overall system coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the evacuation task by assigning specific floors to specific elevator cars. One or more elevator cars are dedicated to transporting passengers from the evacuation floor to intermediate stop floors, while other elevator cars handle transport from intermediate floors to the final safe floor. This segmentation allows simultaneous operation on multiple segments, improving both speed and coverage.
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for using an elevator system in a building having several vertically spaced floors served by an elevator system, particularly by one or more vertically traveling elevator cars (C1, C2) of an elevator system, said floors comprising at least a first floor (F1), a second floor (F2),and a plurality of intermediate floors (Fi, Fii) positioned vertically between the first and second floor (F1, F2),the elevator system being configured to have several modes, including at least a normal operating mode and an evacuation operating mode, in which normal operating mode a car (C1) of the elevator system is used to serve a first set of floors, and in which evacuation operating mode said elevator car (C1) is used to serve a second set of floors different from said first set of floors; the method comprising evacuating passengers from the first floor (F1) to the second floor (F2), the evacuating comprising changing the mode of the elevator system from the normal operating mode to the evacuation operating mode; and determining the second set of floors to include the first floor (F1) and an intermediate stop floor (Fi) from amongst the plurality of intermediate floors (Fi, Fii) or a subset thereof; and transporting a load of passengers from the first floor (F1) with said elevator car (C1) without intermediate stops to said intermediate stop floor (Fi); and repeating one or more times said transporting a load of passengers from the first floor (F1); and after one or more of said transporting, transporting passengers from said intermediate stop floor (Fi) with an elevator car (C1, C2) to the second floor (F2).The invention relates also to an elevator system implementing the method.