Mary DErrico Environmental Design II Hydraulic Transportation (#9) Vertical Transportation: Special Topics: Under this topic we will

discuss elevators that move in dedicated shafts; some examples including, an elevator with the traction machine placed on top of the shaft, elevators with special shaft arrangements, special cars, and elevators with lifting arrangements other than cable traction. Special Shaft Arrangements: The main problem with traction elevators is that they have a full height basement-topenthouse shaft which occupies valuable building space. However, not all of that space is occupied at once but rather in segments. Because this problem has affected many involved, especially the finance-conscious building operators, development of high-speed drives and sophisticated control systems has significantly grown. The increase in this development has been stimulated by the desire to enhance the efficiency of elevator use of building space. Another solution lies in the innovative use of the shaft space: to have more than one car use a single shaft. Sky Lobby Elevator System: The sky lobby elevator system is commonly found in skyscraper buildings and high-rise multiple use buildings. The solution involves transporting large groups of people from the street lobby to an upper lobby called the sky lobby or plaza. From this point people can access other elevators that lead to different parts of the building.

The Traditional Approach: Primarily used in a tall, single purpose building Zoning the structure Creating banks of elevators to serve groups of floors within those zones The main difficulty with this solution is the upper zone cars travel through a long, expensive blind shaft in order to reach the floors being served. Sky Lobby/Plaza Approach: Stacks two or more shafts vertically with a lobby in between

The sky lobby/plaza approach would have a more effective result in which two cars would be operating in the equivalent of a single full-height shaft. The sky lobby is used primarily where a clear differentiation in building use occurs. This usually consists of office areas below and residential units above, resulting in a dual purpose or program of the building. Advantages: Mitigates annoyance felt by passengers resulting from a lengthened trip The sky lobby is attractively appointed and may serve as an upper observation floor Breaks up the long trip on the elevator [an elevator trip that is broken up by a lobby stop is thought to be less annoying than a slightly shorter but still long, uninterrupted one] Most of the lower section occupants never use the sky lobby, where as the passengers heading for the upper zones can use a sky lobby shuttle traveling from the entry level, to the sky lobby where they will be able to continue their journey in an upper section car. A separate, single shaft, upper zone elevator serves the upper-zone passengers, who prefer not to use the sky lobby, to get to their destination directly from the entry level. Example: The John Hancock Center in Chicago by I. M. Pei is composed of stacked multiple buildings with a sky lobby/plaza distinctly dividing the differentiation in building use.

Double-Deck Elevators: Double-Deck Elevators can be considered an old technique that has recently been revived and revised to answer the needs of tall buildings such as the Sears Tower and the Citicorp Tower. The purpose of the Double Deck Elevator is to limit the otherwise prohibitively large amount of space occupied by elevator shafts. The DDE aims to: increase shaft capacity decrease the number of local stops increase the rental area available The technique can be combined with sky lobbies for further space economy (i.e. Sears Tower).

Figure 32.2 (a) A double-deck car serves to increase car capacity and decrease shaft space. Coincidence of calls in the upper and lower cars reduces the number of local stops made by the double-deck unit (Courtesy of Otis Elevator Co.)

Diagram to illustrate: Double-Deck Elevators vs. Conventional Traction Elevator

Figure 32.2 (b) Graphical representation of the space saved in a 40-story building by the use of a double-deck elevator (Courtesy of Otis Elevator Co.)

Hydraulic Elevators: Conventional plunger-type hydraulic elevators are different than typical traction type elevators (these are raised and lowered as a result of the tractive force of cables attached to or passing under the car). Major Differences: Hydraulic elevators are raised and lowered quite simply by means of a movable rod called the plunge, which is rigidly fixed to the bottom of the elevator car There is an absence of cables, drums, traction motors, elaborate controllers, safety devices and penthouse equipment These elevators are inherently inexpensive and are the indicated choice for low speed (up to 200 fpm, low rise (up to 65 ft) applications Construction of the plunger pit does not present difficulties The absence of a penthouse is very desirable

Historical interest: The first hydraulic elevator used water as the system fluid, which was supplied at sufficient pressure from roof water tanks. These tanks were kept full by building water pumps.

Today all hydraulic elevators use oil and obtain their motive power from a sealed oil-piping circuit powered by an oil pump.

Components of a typical hydraulic unit: Plunger Fluid tank Controller Two car buffers In-ground cylinder How the system operates: This system operates the same way as a hydraulic automobile jack: Oil from a reservoir is pumped under the plunger which in return raises it and the car The pump is stopped during the downward motion At this point the car is being lowered by gravity and controlled by the action of bypass valves The bypass valves also control the positioning of the car during the upward motion Control systems for hydraulic elevators are similar to those for traction type elevators: Collective and selective collective

Figure 32.3 Phantom view of a conventional holed hydraulic elevator, so called because the elevator car rests on a hydraulically activated steel plunger that descends into a hole in the ground. The hole is actually a buried hollow steel cylinder into which oil in pumped, under pressure, to raise the car. The oil pump is inside the fluid tank. (Illustration courtesy of Otis Elevator Co.)

Door arrangements for hydraulic elevators are the same as in traction type elevators: Single Slide Center Opening Two speed Automatic leveling is readily available and is standard for all automatic hydraulic units.

Major inherent advantages of hydraulic units: Absence of an overhead machine room Absence of a penthouse Absence of traction equipment No limit to the load that can be lifted Elevator load is carried by the ground and not the structure Contrast: traction units place a large structural load on the penthouse and machine room floors and overhead steel Hoist-way is smaller due to the absence of a counter weight and guide rails Cars can be lowered manually by the operation of oil valves (they are immensely useful and important in the event of control equipment failure or a power failure) Guide rails project over the car and if these are camouflaged the impression of a freestanding elevator car is given Used for open spaces; i.e. shopping malls and stores (can be combined with glass to create an enclosed space; also can contain observation type cars)

Major inherent disadvantages of hydraulic units: Operating expense: very expensive to operate hydraulic units o Since a hydraulic elevator is not counterweighted, a relatively large motor is required to drive the oil pump o All the energy is lost in heat Limited to low-rise, low-speed applications Ride quality is inferior to that of a good traction unit; although it is acceptable for residential, mercantile, and industrial applications Because oil changes with temperature, the ambient temperature of the space containing the pump and oil storage tank must be controlled to maintain ride quality and performance High inrush current taken by the pump each time it start, which is every time the elevator travels upward, requires a stiff power supply to avoid problems of light slicker and other undesirable line voltage fluctuations Noise from pump and motor plus piping noise can be disturbing Plunger type of hydraulic elevators have had problems with oil seepage in ground; this violates EPA regulations dealing with groundwater pollution

Hydraulic elevators are best applied to low-speed, low-rise applications, including office buildings and residential buildings up to four stories in height, low-rise department stores, malls, basement and garage shuttles, theatre elevators and stage lifts, and freight applications of all sorts (especially for heavy loads).

A useful application for hydraulic elevators is for the use of handicapped persons who cannot use escalators or negotiate stairs.

Typical dimensional and layout data for standard hydraulic plunger units along with capacities and application recommendations are given below:

Hole-Less Hydraulic Elevators: Where drilling a plunger hole presents difficulty, a hydraulic installation using a telescoping plunger or a roping arrangement can be used instead, resulting in a hole-less hydraulic elevator All sections move simultaneously is more complex than a simple plunger unit and requires more maintenance (however maintenance is simplified) The ride in the telescoping jack arrangement is not as smooth as that on a straight plunger elevator due to the simultaneous movement of the jacks telescoping sections, causing a degree of jerk

Types of Hole-Less Hydraulic Elevators: Telescoping jack design: Single jack arrangement The single jack arrangement causes a lateral stress in the building due to the cantilevered car

Figure 32.5 Hole-less hydraulic elevator driven by a single telescoping jack. The cantilevered car exerts a lateral structural load on the building. This arrangement is used less than the two-jack mechanism (Courtesy of Otis Elevator Co.)

Dual jack arrangement More frequently used Supported on both sides therefore all the vertical elevator load is transferred directly to the ground
Figure 32.6 Dual-jack hole-less hydraulic elevator. The balanced vertical load is borne by the ground only, with no building component. The unit illustrated is suitable only for a low-rise (two stop) installation, with a car weighing no more than 2500 lb. (Courtesy of Otis Elevator Co.)

Roped Hydraulic Elevators: A roped hydraulic elevator is simpler than the telescoping plunger unit because it uses only a single moving jack section instead of the two/three in the telescoping unit for the same rise. It accomplishes this by using a 2:1 roping (standard in the US); meaning the car travels twice as far as the piston, the rope passes over a pulley in the piston crosshead, one end of the rope is attached to a fixed point in the pit below the car and the other end is attached to the base of the car; the piston (plunger, jack) lifts the crosshead, which in turn lifts the car twice as far Arrangement shown uses a single jack and a cantilevered car

Other possible arrangements include using two jacks to eliminate the lateral building load Simplicity and reliability of the single or double jack roped arrangement has made it the most common choice for low-rise, light to medium duty hydraulic elevators

Reference:

Stein, Benjamin, Reynolds, John S., Grondzik, Walter T., and Alison G. Kwok, Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings. 10th ed. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2006.