Vehicle Elevator System with Rotating Platform
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge in developing high-density housing is providing adequate and convenient parking spaces for vehicles while maintaining affordability and compliance with regulatory requirements, especially in urban areas where land costs are high and the shape of land parcels is irregular, and existing solutions are inconvenient for elderly and disabled persons and inefficient in space utilization.
Innovation Solution
A passenger and vehicle elevator system with multiple elevator cars arrayed equidistantly around a central shaft, each equipped with a linearly translating platform and rotational capability, allowing vehicles and passengers to be transported efficiently between ground and upper levels, with sensors for parking location identification and safety features to prevent engine operation within the elevator.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If multi-story garages are constructed directly adjacent to or within buildings, then space utilization is improved and parking capacity is increased, but accessibility and convenience for elderly and disabled persons deteriorates due to required stairway travel
Solution Approach 1:
An elevator system serves as an intermediary mechanism between the ground level and upper garage levels, eliminating the need for stairways. The elevator car can directly transport vehicles and passengers to the desired parking floor, making the system accessible to elderly and disabled persons while maintaining high parking capacity in multi-story structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The mechanical stairway system is replaced with an elevator-based vertical transportation system. Instead of requiring manual climbing of stairs, the elevator provides automated vertical movement, substituting a more advanced mechanical system that maintains accessibility while achieving the same space utilization goals.
2Volume of moving object
If parking decks are placed at different elevations from building floors, then space utilization is improved, but ease of moving articles and furnishings between garage and living units deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The elevator system acts as an intermediary that bridges the elevation difference between parking decks and building floors. By providing direct vertical transportation, it eliminates the need for complex external ramps or multiple transfer points, making it easy to move articles and furnishings between the garage and living units while maintaining efficient space utilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The elevator system serves multiple functions: it transports vehicles to parking levels, carries passengers to their destinations, and facilitates the movement of articles and furnishings between different elevations. This multi-functionality resolves the contradiction by making the system versatile enough to handle both vehicle access and general cargo movement efficiently.
3Ease of operation
If ground level parking is provided for upper floor dwelling units, then accessibility is improved, but land area utilization deteriorates due to wasted vertical space
Solution Approach 1:
The solution transitions from horizontal land area utilization to vertical space utilization. Instead of providing ground level parking that consumes valuable land area, the system stacks parking levels vertically and uses an elevator to access them, effectively moving the parking function into the vertical dimension while maintaining accessibility for upper floor units.
Solution Approach 2:
The elevator serves as an intermediary that provides accessibility to upper-level parking spaces, eliminating the need for ground level parking. It bridges the vertical gap between the street level and parking decks, making previously inaccessible upper floors convenient for vehicle access while maximizing land area utilization through vertical stacking.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3A
AI summary
The passenger and vehicle elevator system (10) includes a plurality of elevator cars (12, 14, 16) arrayed substantially equidistantly and equiangularly from a central shaft of the building (B). Each elevator car (12) includes a housing and at least one door (54). The housing has a floor, a ceiling, and at least one sidewall. A linearly translating platform (50) is mounted on the floor of each of the housings. The linearly translating platform is adapted for automatically carrying the vehicle (V) and the at least one passenger through the at least one door (54). Further, the vehicle (V) may be rotated within the housing by driven rotation of the platform (50) or the floor, allowing for selective angular positioning of the vehicle (V) with respect to the housing. The elevator car (12) ascends and descends within a corresponding elevator shaft (S) in a manner similar to that of a conventional elevator.