Elevcon USA 2012

Elevcon USA 2012, in Miami Beach, Florida, marked the first time the event was held in the U.S.

May 22-24 marked the first time Elevcon was held in the U.S. The International Association of Elevator Engineers (IAEE), which organizes the event, had, on numerous occasions, tried to bring Elevcon to the U.S. but was unable to find a host able to do so. For this year, however, welcome circumstances arose when Elevator World, Inc. invited Elevcon and granted cooperation and sponsorship. The assistance of John Antona of Miami Beach, Florida, where the event took place at the Deauville Beach Resort, and Robert S. Caporale of Elevator World furthered the feeling of appreciation, which continued in National Elevator Industry, Inc. sponsorship and an invitation from main sponsor Otis for all participants to join the company for a dinner cruise.

The industry’s worldwide media attended the congress. In addition to ELEVATOR WORLD, their ranks included Lift Report from Germany (represented by Ulrike Götz) and Elevatori (represented by Fabio Liberali and Matteo Volpe). A press conference was held to provide statistics on the event and respond to the journalists’ questions regarding both Elevcon as a whole and the IAEE General Assembly meeting, which took place on May 22. At this meeting, the general assembly voted to keep John Inglis as president for another term and to elect new executive board members. Robert Nicholson of Seattle, Michael V. Farinola of Philadelphia and Antona were elected to the newly expanded nine-person IAEE Board of Executives to encourage an IAEE USA branch similar to IAEE HK-China. A Certification Committee, consisting of IAEE members Nicholson, Dr. Albert P. So, TAK Mathews, Farinola, Caporale and Joseph Stier, was also appointed.

The main topics of the IAEE General Assembly & Elections on May 24 were promoting IAEE and Elevcon via newsletters and announcing to association members that the ability to accept membership payments by credit card is active on the IAEE website (www.iaee-association.com). Finding a new sponsor for the next Elevcon was also a concern.

IAEE’s Elevcon committee, composed of Stier, Ami Lustig, Antona, Caporale, Sefa Targit and So, had prepared a program of 40 presentations. U.S. code experts were present, and a discussion comparing U.S. and European standards was held. The concurrent poster sessions also covered important subjects. As usual, the event provided the opportunity for participating companies to meet with multiple potential customers in a single location. Elevcon further helped exhibitors market their products with a number of promotional campaigns and advertising techniques, such as banners, posters and stickers.

Elevcon 2012 had 120 engineer participants. They were pleased to meet new people and improve their knowledge of the vertical-transportation industry. Lerch Bates Inc., KLEEMANN, TÜV SÜD, Schindler, DigiGage, KONE, Toshiba Corp., Mitsubishi Electric, GAL/Hollister Whitney, Arup, Wittur, Minnesota Elevator Inc., Hilti, Warner, Deems Consulting, Liftinstituut Holding, Fortune Consultants, Pfeifer Drako, Mayr, Schwartz Plastics and others exhibited.

 Otis also had a large presence, and on the evening of May 23, it offered participants a dinner cruise. Here, IAEE chairmen Lustig and Stier presented certificates of appreciation to the Elevcon 2012 organizers. Next, Volpe and Liberali presented the Elevatori High-Tech Award. The technical commission that assigned the award was made up of Antona, So, Caporale, Liberali and Volpe. The authors of the five papers selected as finalists included Karl Weinberger of Schindler, Tim Ebeling of Henning, Shinichi Noda of Toshiba, Elena Cortona of Schindler, and Ferhat Celik of Blain Hydraulics GmbH. The final vote was in favor of Weinberger, who received a plaque and an Apple iPad presented by Volpe. The subject of his paper is a patented Schindler product that places brakes directly on the elevator cabin. It is expected to launch internationally in the near future.

Though low marks were given for the hotel, feedback for Elevcon 2012 was generally “very good.” The next Elevcon event will take place in 2014 at a location yet to be announced.

Elevcon Presentations

During the three-day congress, the following papers were presented, all of which have been published in Elevator Technology 19: Proceedings of Elevcon 2012. Copies of this book can be obtained from Elevator World at www.elevatorbooks.com or IAEE at www.iaee-association.com.

• “Two Elevator ‘Firsts’” by Dr. L.E. Gray (College of Arts & Architecture, University of North Carolina-Charlotte)
• “The Future City – A Study on Urban Development and Future Transportation Needs” by Dr. E. Cortona and F. Schmid (Schindler)
• “Passenger Batch Arrivals at Elevator Lobbies” by J. Sorsa, J.-M. Kuusinen and Dr. M.-L. Siikonen (KONE)
• “The Impact of Traffic Variations on Elevator Performance” by T. Christy (Otis)
• “Difficulties in Comparing the Results of Lift-Traffic-Simulations” by H.M. Jappsen and O. Rieke (Jappsen Ingenieure)
• “Actual Rope Research and Products for Elevator Applications” by Dr.-Ing. W. Vogel (Pfeifer Drako Drahtseilwerk GmbH)
• “Cultural Challenges to Elevatoring – Case Study India” by TAK Mathews and N. Raghavan (TAK Consulting Pvt. Ltd.)
• “Elevator Virtual Window Reduces Passengers Stress and Attracts Their Attention” by A. Gorilovsky (Stein Ltd.) and D. Gorilovsky (ST1 Aufzuege GmbH)
• “Elevator Designs – Asian Perspective” by K. Rajah Venkatraman (Fortune Consultants)
• ”Lifts Energy Consumption in Greece: Existing Situation and Potential Savings” by N. Spyropoulos and L. Asvestopoulos (KLEEMANN)
• ”Methods for the Safety Integrity Determination of an Electric/Electronic/Programmable Electronic System” by A. Mutu, Y. Pang and Dr. G. Lodewijks (Delft University of Technology), and J. van Vliet (Liftinstituut)
• “New Design Provisions for Anchor Channel Fastenings According to CEN” by Dr. Sc. Techn. M. Merz (Hilti Corp.)
• “The Street Called ‘Asansor’ and Water-Powered Elevator Installation in Izmir” by E. Barlas (Barlas Consultancy), and Dr. C.E. Imrak, E. Kayaoglu, A. Candas and Y.Z. Kocabal (Mechanical Engineering Faculty, Istanbul Technical University) 
• “Implementation of Counterweight Adjustment to Achieve Energy Savings” by A. So (Asian Institute of Built Environment) and C.T.C. Wong (Asian Institute of Built Environment and Yau Lee Holdings Ltd.)
• “On-Going Activities in Elevator Energy Codes, Standards and Classifications” by R. Fargo (Otis)
• “A Load & Temperature Compensation Method for Green Hydraulic Lifts by Means of Inverters” by Dr. K.F. Celik (Blain Hydraulics GmbH)  
• “Development of an Active Elevator Monitoring Device” by X. Wu, Y. Liu, X. Wang, W. Wang, C. Xie and D. Qiu (Research Center, Academy of Special Equipment Inspection and Test)
• “Optimizing Maintenance and Repair Cost Reduction by Adopting Intelligent Lift System Sensors” by T. Ebeling (Henning GmbH & Co. KG)
• “Advanced Elevator Maintenance Network During a Major Seismic Disaster” by M. Nakamura, Y. Shibata and K. Mabuchi (Hitachi Building Systems Co., Ltd.)
• “Elevator Car Brake” by K. Weinberger (Schindler)
• “Electro-Magnetic Vibration Analysis of High Power Elevator Traction Machine” by S. Noda, S. Mizuno, K. Ozaki, M. Matsushita and I. Asami (Toshiba Corp. Power and Industrial Systems, R&D Center)
• ”Modelling and Analysis of Guide Rail Brackets and Attaching Parts” by S. Elmali (Institute of Science and Technology, Istanbul Technical University); A. Canda, E. Kayaog lu and Dr. C.E. Imrak (Mechanical Engineering Faculty, Istanbul Technical University); and S. Targit (Asray Co.) 
• ”The Revolutionary Future of Elevator Technology in North America” by J. Antona (Elevator Safety Section, Miami Beach, Florida)
• ”Trends in Safety Codes and Standards for Elevators and Escalators” by E. Gharibaan (KONE)
• ”Innovation with Safety in the Elevator Industry” by L. Bialy (Otis)
• “Adsimulo – An Expert System for the Design of Passenger Lift Services” by A. Godwin, K. Zienowicz, P. Smolenski, C. Manning and C. Meng (Lerch Bates Ltd.), and J. Francik (Kingston University)
• “Average Waiting Time of Destination Control Systems” by H. Aoki (Elevator Laboratory, Ltd.)
• “Evaluating the Elevator Round Trip Time under Up-Peak Traffic Conditions Using the Monte Carlo Simulation Method” by L. Al-Sharif, H.M. Aldahiyat, L.M. Alkurdi and M. Al-Adhem (Mechatronics Engineering Department, University of Jordan)
• “BACnet Protocols for Lifts and Escalators Go for Public Review” by A. So (Asian Institute of Built Environment) 
• “Comparison of Simulation Models for Elevator Systems” by Dipl.-Ing. I. Pletschen and Dr.-Ing. S. Rohr (ThyssenKrupp Aufzugswerke), and Dr.-Ing. R. Kennel (Technische Universität München)
• “Complex Wire Rope Models for Lifts” by C. Erdönmez (Turkish Naval Academy, Department of Mathematics), and Dr. C.E. mrak and Ö. Salman (Istanbul Technical University, Mechanical Engineering Department)
• “Adjustable Connections to Concrete Elevator Shafts” by C. Gage (Halfen GmbH)
• “Recent Developments in Electronic Safety Gears: UCM Solution” by M. P. Hasenrader (Wittur GmbH) 
• “How Safe Safety Is? Current Issues in the Available Guidance for Safety Achievement” by J. van Vliet (Liftinstituut)
• “Elevator Certification Processes – Global Approach and Regional Certification” by D. Schroeter and C. Schumann (TÜV SÜD America Inc.) 
• “The Inspection of 1010 m/min Elevators in Taipei101 Building 7 Years after Beginning Operation” by T. Nakagawa, M. Nakamura and S. Matsuo (Toshiba Elevator) and N. Togashi (Toshiba Corp.)
• “Quality Control of Vertical Transportation Using Common Mobile Devices” by E. Rousoudis, L. Asvestopoulos and N. Spyropoulos (KLEEMANN)
• “Electric Site Survey – On Quest of Elevator Parameters” by Dr. T. Tyni, R. Kontturi and P. Perälä (KONE)
• “Relationship Between Escalator Accident Frequency and Commuter Pattern” by W. W.-h. Lam (MTR Corp. Ltd.) and E. W.-m., Lee (City University of Hong Kong)
• “Modelling of Passenger Falls on Escalators and the Control of Braking Systems to Prevent Them: Putting It All Together” by L. Al-Sharif (Mechatronics Engineering Department, University of Jordan)