Elevator Control for Dynamic Smoke Assessment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Elevator systems during fire emergencies often stop on floors with hazards like smoke or fire, posing risks to passengers and complicating rescue operations, and may require costly aerial evacuations if all rescue landings are affected.
Innovation Solution
An elevator system that dynamically assesses smoke density across a multilevel structure, using smoke detectors and a building management system to identify the safest egress level and redirect elevators for passenger discharge, accounting for real-time data and statistical hazard information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If elevator systems stop at the nearest designated floor during fire emergencies based on predetermined configuration, then evacuation efficiency is improved, but passengers may be exposed to hazards such as smoke or fire at the stopping location
Solution Approach 1:
The elevator control system dynamically adjusts the destination floor based on real-time smoke density readings from multiple detectors throughout the building. Instead of following a fixed predetermined configuration, the system continuously monitors environmental conditions and redirects elevators to the currently safest floor, making the evacuation process adaptive to changing hazard conditions
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where smoke detectors continuously monitor air quality at various floors and transmit data to the elevator control system. The control system processes this feedback information and adjusts elevator routing decisions accordingly, creating a closed-loop control that responds to actual environmental conditions rather than relying on static pre-programmed paths
2Object-affected harmful factors
If elevators are redirected dynamically based on real-time smoke density assessment, then passenger safety is improved, but system complexity and computational requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The building is divided into multiple monitoring zones with smoke detectors strategically placed at different floors and locations. The control system processes smoke density data from these segmented zones independently, comparing readings to identify the safest floor. This segmentation approach simplifies the overall assessment by breaking down the complex building environment into manageable discrete measurement points
Solution Approach 2:
A building management system acts as an intermediary between the smoke detectors and the elevator control system. This intermediate layer aggregates smoke density data from multiple detectors, performs preliminary analysis to identify safe floors, and then communicates recommendations to the elevator controller. This intermediary structure simplifies the elevator control system's computational burden by pre-processing the environmental data
Data Source
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AI summary
Disclosed is an elevator system (200) for a multilevel architectural structure (210), the system having: a system controller(220), an elevator (240) and an elevator controller (250), wherein the system controller (220) and elevator controller (250) communicate over a network (260), a multi-level hoistway in which the elevator travels, the multi-level hoistway including a plurality of egress levels, including a first egress level (280), the first level being a primary egress level, wherein during an alarm condition the system, when the primary level (280) is inaccessible, performs an emergency assessment of identifying a safe level (290) of the plurality of levels at which to discharge passengers, the assessment comprising obtaining a smoke density profile (300) for the egress levels, the profile illustrating a distribution of smoke within the multilevel structure (210), analyzing the smoke density profile (300), identifying a safe level (290) having a smoke density that is safe, and instructing the elevator to discharge passengers on the safe level.