Mathematics project- DESIGNING A FREIGHT ELEVATOR

Yijie Jiang 10/04/2011 Mathematic HL Turun Normaalikoulu

Introduction

As we all know, a heavy-duty freight elevator is used to raise and lower equipment and minerals in a mineshaft. We are going to create a suitable model for the motion of the elevator in the shaft, which involves the position of the elevator and the time taken. There are also a set of specifications to consider during our job according to different situations our model may be applied to.

Analyzing a possible model

The formula y = 2.5t 3 15t 2 represents the position of the elevator, y, measured in meters ( y = 0 represents ground level) and t represents time measured in minutes ( t = 0 is the starting time). We know that the trip up and down the shaft, ignoring time spent at the foot of the shaft, is approximately six minutes and that the depth of the shaft is no more than 100 meters. Then if we graph the function y = 2.5t 15t , x = 1
3 2

in parametric mode in a calculator, we are able to

visualize the motion of the elevator inside the shaft. (Graph 1)

  

Graph 1: The parametric function of

The points in the graph represent where the function starts and stops while it runs from t = 0 to t = 6, which indicates a six minutes procedure. The line represents the motion of the elevator which starts at ground level (y = 0) and falls to a depth of 80 meters (y = 80) and then rises back up to

y = 2.5t 3 15t 2 , x = 1

ground level. The position (displacement) of the elevator against time can be presented by the table 1. Time (t) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Position (displacement) in meters (y) 0 12.5 40 67.5 80 62.5 0

Table 1: The relationship between the time and the position of the elevator If we graph the original model in function form, we are able to get another graph. (Graph 2) In this graph, we are able to observe the procedure of the motion of the elevator more clearly. The y axis represents the position (displacement) of the elevator and x axis represents the time t. The elevator starts at the point (0, 0) which represents the position of the elevator is at the ground level and the time t equals 0. When t = 4 , the elevator reaches its maximum height which is 80 meters and when t=6, the elevator goes back to the origin which is the ground level.

Graph 2: The function of the position (displacement) of the elevator against time If we are going to graph the velocity functions according to the original function, we should take the derivative of the formula y = 2.5t 3 15t 2 which is y = 7.5t 2 30t because velocity is the rate change of the position (displacement) against time. With the new formula, we are able to achieve the velocity graph. (Graph 3) In the graph, the zero value of the velocity means that the elevator is stopped, the negative value of velocity means that the elevator is going apart from the ground level and the positive value of velocity means that the elevator is going towards the ground level. The velocity function matches the position function in indicating that the elevator goes down and then goes back up because in the function graph, when t=4, the elevator reaches its maximum height and in velocity graph, when t=4, the velocity of the elevator equals to zero and the changing point from negative value to positive value.

Graph 3: The function of the velocity of the elevator against time If we are going to graph the acceleration graph according to the original formula, we should take the derivative of the velocity function y = 7.5t 30t that we calculate above which is
2

y = 15t 30 because acceleration is the rate of change in velocity. With the new formula, we are
able to achieve the acceleration graph. (Graph 4) As we can see in the graph, the acceleration is always increasing at a constant rate. When the value of the acceleration is negative, the velocity of the elevator is decreasing and the elevator is moving downwards. When the value of acceleration is positive, the velocity of the elevator is increasing and the elevator changes direction to moving upwards. When t=4 the elevator is at the maximum and rest, the velocity is zero but the acceleration is still increasing which means it had increased to zero from negative velocity. When the elevator speeds up, velocity is increasing when acceleration is increasing whose interval is from 2 t 6 . When the elevator slows down, velocity decreases when acceleration is still increasing whose interval is from 0 t < 2 .

Graph 4: The function of the acceleration of the elevator against the time

The model we are interpreting above is a relatively good model for the motion of the elevator itself because it clearly indicates the relationship between the position (displacement) of the elevator and the time. With the help of this model, we can easily identify what is the position of the elevator according to time. However, it also has some weakness or problems according to different situations. The most important ones are that the model does not take in to consider how will the time it stops and the weight it loads influence the elevator. We are not able to find out what the motion of the elevator is when the elevator is full of equipment and minerals or the elevator stop at bottom or top for several minutes. In this way, the model above is limited in some situation.

Creating my own model

When we are going to create our own model for the motion of a heavy-duty freight elevator used to rise and lower equipment and minerals in a mineshaft, there are several specifications we must take into consider. It can be concluded into two parts. The first one is to consider the weight of the load in the elevator, and the second one is to consider the stopping time during while the elevator is at the top or bottom. So the new model for the motion of the elevator is the piecewise functions listed below:

1 1 y = 2.5 p + 1t u 15 p + 1t u , 0 p 1 , u t 4 + 4 p + u 2 2 1 1 y = 2.5 p + 1t u w 15 p + 1t u w 2 2
4 + 4p + u + w t 6 + 6p + u + w y = 0 ,0 t < u y = 80,4 + 4 p + u t < 4 + 4 p + u + w
This is the model which involves load of the elevator. The letter p in the function is a constant which represents the division of the weight in the elevator and the maximum weight of the elevator. When p value is at its maximum which is 100% of the maximum weight of the elevator, the velocity is only half of the origin. Thats the reason why I put
3 2

0 p 1

1 p + 1 in front of t, it 2

indicates how the expand of the function related to the mass percentage. The letter u in the function represents the time taken at the ground level and the letter w in the function represents the time taken at the bottom of the mineshaft. They are also constant which means they are not changing in the function as an independent variable. The independent variable in this model is the time and the dependent variable in this model is the position of the elevator. When it takes sometime to load equipments or minerals both at the top and bottom of the mineshaft, the elevator

will remains constant in position. When the elevator loads something, the velocity and the acceleration of the elevator will decreases. Thus we need to add some factors in front of the t in order to expand the function and add the value of u and w to move the function rightwards. Graph 5 indicates the situation when it takes both one minutes to load the maximum weight of equipment and minerals in the top and bottom of the mineshaft.

Graph 5: The function of the elevator in the situation listed above For a mining company, it needs to consider the real-life situation for a freight elevator in a mineshaft which means time waited and weight loaded both involved. The original model is too ideal that ignores all these factors. In my model, I adjust these problems by adding constant to the equation according to different specifications. Then the model can work perfectly well.

Applying my model

My model can further apply to many other situations which involve upwards and downwards motion of a substance. If the depth of the mineshaft is changed, we can multiply the whole function by certain factor. In that case the velocity and acceleration also change. If we keep them constant, then we are not able to create a graph because velocity and acceleration are changing.