Assorted Applications
Aug 1, 2020
A variety of products, from new elevator systems to software, are on show.
New Modular Elevator Line
Schindler launched its new modular elevator generation in June. The models, Schindler 1000, Schindler 3000 and Schindler 5000, include lower CO2 emissions, “touchless technology, advanced connectivity and additional digital services,” the company added. Its goals are to provide a more seamless and interactive user experience and improve the way elevators look and feel, while giving architects increased design freedom and providing building owners with real-time performance tracking, adaptive maintenance and touchless transit management with Schindler PORT. Common existing touchless solutions, such as gesture-controlled landing operating panels and an interface that allows users to remotely interact with the operating panel with the myPORT smartphone app (ELEVATOR WORLD, February 2016), are included.
The 1000 is for low- to mid-rise residential buildings, the 3000 is for flexibility for use in a wide range of buildings, and the 5000 is for faster handling times for higher passenger volumes with a focus on ride quality. Schindler has begun releasing the systems globally, starting with Asia and Europe. They are already available in Australia, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
www.schindler.com/addingtheextra
Solar Pneumatic Elevator
Miami-based Pneumatic Vacuum Elevators LLC (PVE) now offers a solar-powered, air-driven residential elevator. The Solar Powered Air Driven Home Elevator is designed to consume little energy and be installed anywhere. It has zero carbon emissions, is freestanding and can be run completely off the grid by being fully integrated with solar panels. The company says the solar package is available for its PVE30, PVE37 and PVE52 models, the largest of which have an inside cabin diameter of 43.5 ft, inside cabin height of 79 in. and capacity of 2025 lb (EW, May 2014).
Industrial Lubricants
Slipit Industries of Tillson, New York, offers SLIPIT Sliding Compound and SLIPIT Spray Lubricant. The former product has been manufactured since the 1940s, when Otis used it on a range of components, from controller contacts to position indicator guides to guide rails to car gates and door/gate tracks. SLIPIT says Otis is still a customer today, adding that elevators and escalators are its longest-served industry. “We now proudly serve many essential industries, including food services, manufacturing, trucking” and even the U.S. Navy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the company added. It quotes elevator technician Harry Jones as commenting, “Used this magical stuff on a door that nothing could quiet down; this did the trick. It’s got a white base unlike most lubricants and basically disappears visually after application.
Flexible Surface System
Fridley, Minnesota-based Stylmark has launched the AXIA™ Flexible Surface System. The aluminum architectural extrusion system was created to enhance surfaces for commercial, hospitality and retail environments, including elevator cab interiors. Panels are available in five styles in stock sizes of 12 ft X 4 in., though the company also custom fabricates them to fit. It is intended to complement Stylmark’s TrimMaker® aluminum extrusion product line. Like those products, AXIA can be anodized for color matching.
Car Sterilization and Purification Fan
Parts Specialists Inc. of Posen, Illinois, has released the UV Fan designed to sterilize elevator cars and purify the air within them. The product replaces existing fans and boasts a built-in negative ion generator and ultraviolet (UV) lamp. It continuously circulates air in the car, which produces positive pressure inside. This allows air to flow out when the car stops and the doors open. When the car is moving, the fan delivers air from the hoistway into it. Along the way, the air is sterilized by the UV light and ionizer in the fan. Negative ions settle the dust in the car to help create a safe environment. Air is then exhausted back into the hoistway.
When tested for coronavirus strain HCoV-229E sterilization, the multi-wing-impeller unit killed the virus at a rate exceeding 99.99%. It uses 25 W from a 110-VAC, 60-Hz input. It has a ventilation rate of 160 ft3 per minute. Dimensions are 16.3 X 8.2 X 6.4 in.
Safety Program Management App
Helios of NYC has relaunched its Mobile Safety Platform with many updated and new features. The app’s “COVID Ready Check” tracks employees’ health and safety as they arrive at work each day. Employees’ answers to a customizable set of questions, their health and the health of those with whom they may have come in contact are documented. Mechanic, vehicle and jobsite safety audits and the ability to track internal certification requirements have been added. Employees can use the app as a timesheet by checking in and out, and they can use it to make personal protective equipment requests.
In a partnership with Elevator World, Inc., the app now includes a library with a dozen Elevator World-published books aimed at mechanics, including the 2020 Elevator Industry Field Employees’ Safety Handbook (ELEVATOR WORLD, July 2020), that may be purchased. Pages can be bookmarked, and information can be highlighted. Elevator World also includes its Safety Meetings (EW, May 2017), which can now be reviewed in the app and (optionally) digitally signed for validation that each has been completed. Each mechanic is required to answer a series of yes-or-no questions. These are (optionally) scored to verify understanding of the safety topic. The completed safety meeting is then automatically sent back to the supervisor and recorded in each mechanic’s folder. Using a web-based management dashboard, a supervisor can view and resend uncompleted or failed tasks, review scoring and print or download documents.
The product is used by more than 3,000 mechanics from both large and small elevator companies across the U.S., both union and nonunion.
Elevator Advertising
Eastidea Integrated Solutions of Shanghai offers the EI-MINI lifter and EI-Slim Dual compact digital signage products for elevators. The company says they are lightweight and easy to install and include onboard Addreality artificial-intelligencebased digital signage software. Operators can log in to the platform from a computer or mobile device and create or update their content or advertising campaigns by picking from hundreds of predesigned templates and/or customizing them. Data streaming is in real time, and advertising results can be collected and analyzed to help learn the audience.
Homing in on people’s desire for information, EI provides digital signage solutions for more than 20 cities and towns in China. Estimating 18 billion passenger trips per year in the U.S., it looks to expand its 700,000-plus-elevator user base. “It provides a variety of opportunities for advertising business,” the company says. “Today, elevator advertising is one of the best mediums for. . . facilities to inform their audience, because you have a chance to reach your customers when they are most alert.”
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