What is a Lift ?

The lift is a type of vertical transport

equipment that
efficiently moves people or goods between
floors (levels, decks) of a building, vessel or
other structure.

generally powered by electric motors that

either drive cables, hoist, or pump hydraulic
fluid to raise a cylindrical piston like a jack.
History of Lifts

Roman architect Vitruvius, reported

that Archimedes built his first elevator in
236 BC.Elevators were mentioned as
cabs on a hemp rope and powered by
hand or by animals.
•In 1852, Elisha Otis introduced the safety elevator, which prevented the fall of the cab if the
cable broke. The design of the Otis safety elevator is somewhat similar to one type still used
today.

• On March 23, 1857 the first Otis passenger elevator was installed at 488 Broadway in
New York City

• The Equitable Life Building completed in 1870 in New York City was the first office building
to have passenger elevators.[20]
Lift Components

LIFT CAR
•Platform where passengers or goods is transported.
•Constructed with steel or iron attached with steel frame.
•Fire resistance
•The car can be made of wood panels or of sheet metal or light framing, there is a
considerable range of decorative finish available, such as aluminum sheet with matt,
burnished or anodized finish, metal faced plywood, plywood or block-board with
wood veneer or plastic veener or linoleum or rubber sheet.

•It is important that there is good ventilation in the car, either by simple grills or by
concealed Louvers in the roof
They can be basically 3 types in a standard elevator system depending on
the number of entrances they have; Normal cabin (1 entrance), Open
Through cabin (2 doors parallel to each other) and Diagonal cabin (2 doors
adjacent to each other).
Lighting
LIFT SHAFT/Lift-Well

•A lift well means the Un obstructed space within a lift enclosure provided for the vertical
movement of a lift car and any counter weight including the lift pit and the space for top
clearance, and a lift- well enclosure means any structure, which separates the lift well from
its surroundings.

Constructed with reinforced concrete.

To accommodate the loading and fire resistance.
Size of lift shaft space is determined by the number of user.

A shaft should have the following features

 Drainage system
 Plump
 Water tightness
 A painted finishing
 Lighting inspection
 Ventilation void for smoke
It is very desirable for that the inside of the lifts well be smooth and free from ledges,
recess, etc. The floor trimming should be very accurate.

Lift Pit

•The lift shaft is extended down below the lowest lining into what is known as lift pit. In
this pit are fixed the buffers, spring type for slower speeds and oil loaded for high speeds,
lifts supported on concrete blocks 40 x 40 x 75 cm.

•The lift pit should be completely watertight and should be provided with rough Shahabad
box type waterproofing treatment.

•Similarly at the top, head clearance is necessary for overrun, which is usually 2 m to 4 m it
is advisable to provide a ladder to lift pan.
LIFT DOOR/Landing Doors

Every lift must have an open able door from which there is access to landing fitted with
landing door. The door must be fitted with efficient interlocking or other devices so as to
secure that the door cannot be opened except when the lift car is at the landing level and
the lift cannot be moved up/ down from the landing until the door is locked & closed.

The doors are made of light weight/ thin materials like sheet- steel, collapsible steel gates,
flush leaf shutter wooden gates. The minimum size of door should be 700 mm to
2100mm
 Openi
ngs
Cent Col
re
Sin
open lap gle
ing sibl slid
slidin
g e ing
 Door operators

Elevator doors are generally operated using power unit system connected to the top
mechanism of the elevator car. The door can be opened, manually or automatically, only
when the elevator car is level with the particular floor.

The power unit contacts both the elevator door and the hoist way door (door of the
building shaft opening) and they open at the same time.

The are mainly 2 types of elevator doors, manual which are opened by passengers manually
and automatic which open by itself according to the floors.
Requirements for machine
room :
•adequately ventilated.
•shall be such that the equipments are
protected as far as possible from dust and
humidity.
•Temperature 5 deg C – 40 deg C
•walls, ceiling, floor should be finished in
tiles or painted as a min to stop dust
circulation.

•The entrance door shall have sufficient

opening to allow for in & out of machines.
•shall not be any common wall/slab between
machine room and water tank.
•shall not be used as a store room or for any
purpose other than housing the machinery
connected with the lift installation.
•shall not act as a passage to any other room
or utility.
 SIZE AND NUMBER OF LIFTS
The size and number of lifts depend on two basic considerations-the quantity and
quality of service desired. Quantity of service gives the passenger handling capacity
of the lifts during the peak periods and the quality of service is measured in terms of
waiting time of the passenger at various floors. This is a complex matter and there is
no simple formula for determining the most suitable lifts However, the number of
passengers lifts and their capacities, i.e. load and speed, required for a given
building depend on the characteristics of the buildings

THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS ARE:

The number of floors to be served by the lifts

The pitch of the floor; i.e. floor to floor height
The population of each floor to be served.
The maximum peak Demand This demand may be unidirectional as in Up/Down
peak periods or a two-way traffic movements.
 Handling Capacity

The handling Capacity is calculated by the following formula:

H= 300 x Qx 100
TxP
Where,
H= Handling Capacity as the percentage of peak population handled during five minutes
Q= Average number of passenger carried in a car,
T= Waiting Interval in seconds,
P= Total Population to be handled during peak morning period.
Q= Average number of persons carried in a car.
The waiting time (T) is calculated by the following formula,
T= RTT = Round Trip Time
N N
Where
RTT = It is the average time required by each lift in taking one full load of passenger
from ground floor discharging them in various floors and coming back to ground floor
for taking the fresh passengers for the next trip including entry, door opening/ closing,
stopping, etc.,
N= Number of Lifts
 Example
• Find out the number of lifts required in
buildings with following details:
• Gross Area per floor = 1100 sq m
• Net Usable Area= 950 sq. m
• Number of Landing including ground floor= 15
• Assuming Population density = 9.5 sq. m
• Probable Population in 14 upper floors= p =
• 14 x 950 /9.5= 1400 souls
 Example
• Taking capacity of lift as 20 passenger with 2.5 m/sec
• The calculated (RTT) Round Trip Time= 1400 x 2.5 /
20 = 175 sec.
• Average number of passengers carried in a car ( Q) =
20 x 0.8 = 16
• Taking number of lifts, N= 4
• Waiting Interval in seconds (T) = RTT /= 175 /4
N

• = 43.75 Sec say 44 Sec

 Example
Handing capacity as the percentage of the peak
population handled during 5 min period (H)
= 300 x Q x 100
TxP
= 300 x 16 x 100 = 8.3 %
44 x 1400
 Example

• Taking Number of Lifts N= 6

• Waiting Interval in Sec (T) = 175 / 6 = 29.16 say 30
sec

Handling Capacity during peak period (H) =

300 x 16 x 100 = 11.43 %
30 x 1400
Number of lifts Required = 1400 = 7 nos
20
Control systems

Every building must have a central elevator control unit which controls the elevators.
Automatic control systems are now a days more prominent than manual ones.

There are various types of control systems, such as relay controlled and
microprocessor controlled for Automatic systems and preregister operation and signal
operation for Manual systems.
Safety systems

It Is necessary for all elevators to have a fully equipped safety system, these are some of
the safety system that is used in most elevators

Electromagnetic brakes
 A speed monitoring device
 A braking system
 Emergency alarm
 And a shock absorber system
 Intercom

Overload sensor “If too many people are in the elevator”

There is also a sensor if there is an object that is close to the elevator door while closing
just in case something gets stuck in an elevator such as a cloth or a hand bag.
 Difference between Traction &
Hydraulic lifts
(overview)
Traction (Machine) Hydraulic
•lifted by ropes, which pass over a •supported by a piston at the bottom of
wheel attached to an electric motor the elevator that pushes the elevator up
above the elevator shaft. as an electric motor forces oil or
another hydraulic fluid into the piston.

•used for mid and high-rise applications. •used for low-rise applications of 2-8
•Much higher travel speed than stories. 
hydraulic.

•Principle : see - saw •Principle : Pascal’s pressure principle

•Components : control system, sheave, •Components : tank, motor, valve,

motor, counterweight, guiding rail. actuator.

•The machine room is located at the •The machine room is located at the
upper most level, i.e., on the terrace. lowest level adjacent to the elevator
shaft.
• Now a days there are intricate governers and switching schemes to
carefully control car speed in any situation.
• Buttons have been giving ways to key pads. Virtually all-Commercial
elevator operate automatically and the computer age has brought in
the microchip based capabilities to operate vast banks of elevators with
precise scheduling, maximum efficiency and extreme safety.
• Today different lifts Acts and rules govern the installation of lifts in
different cities, which are intended to ensure safe installation and
operation of lifts. However there is no uniformity in these rules
regarding minimum standards of Installations.
 Construction Aspects of Lifts
• The municipal regulations set out the
standard space requirements for various parts
of a building and requirements of lights and
ventilations, the building services, lifts, fire
safety, etc. However, some of these norms
occupy the buildings and use lifts, for which
the occupant load should be worked out.
Construction Aspects of Lifts
 Construction Aspects of Lifts
• In every building with height more than 16-m at least one lift
should be provided.
• Over speed governer, that operates the safety gear on the car
in the event of it exceeding a certain speed.
• The machine room should be of adequate size of working and
height should not be less than 1.98 m.
• The machine room should be easily accessible and provided
with locking arrangements.
• The machine-room should not be used as storeroom.
• The machine room should be provided with an insulated
portable hand lamp for examining the machinery.
Machine Room less Elevators

Thisrevolutionaryelevatorsystemisbasedonthefirstmajorbreakthroughinlifttechnologyi
nnearly100years.Designedinitiallyforbuildingsbetween2and20stories,thissystemempl
oysasmallersheavethanconventionalgearedandgearlesselevators.Thereducedsheavesi
ze,togetherwitharedesignedmotor,allowsthemachinetobemountedwithinthehoistwayi
tself,eliminatingtheneedforabulkymachineroomontheroof.
Observation Elevator

The observation e levator puts the cab on the outside of the building. Glass-walled
elevator cars allow passengers to view the city scape or the building’s atrium as they
travel.By eliminating the hoistways, the observation elevator also offers owners,architects
and builders valuable space-saving advantages.
Double-deck Elevator
Express elevators- An express elevator does
not serve all floors. it moves between the
ground floor and a sky lobby.