Prague, At Last!

Elevcon 2023, the 23rd International Congress on Vertical Transportation Technologies, provides an in-depth look into the future of VT in the Heart of Europe.

When you drive into Prague from the airport, your first impression on the outskirts is that the approaching buildings are large blocks of yellow, orange and grey. But, as the vista opens into the city center, the true beauty of the Czech capital becomes apparent. Ancient buildings stand alongside the most modern imaginable. Awe-inspiring statuary is everywhere, and then, the Danube River appears flowing through the city — a castle at one end and many beautiful bridges spanning it.

Our hotel too, was deceptive: just an entrance mid-block to a building that looks very old and a small sign: Grandior. We drag our luggage over electric train tracks and cobblestones. Inside it is bright and shiny — very modern and huge! It is like a hidden city.

What am I doing in Prague in the middle of tourist season? It is, at last, the Elevcon Congress. The event had been delayed over three years due to the pandemic and the unfortunate deaths of two of the primary organizers. Prague had been the planned destination since 2020.

Bülent Yılmaz, ELEVATOR WORLD managing director for the Türkiye, Europe and Middle East magazines, met your author at the airport. The first night, we walked to an Italian restaurant nearby. He had been to three other European events in the past 10 days, so we quickly divvied up jobs. I would write, and he would take the photos.

Day 1 

Every morning began in the enormous, very modern breakfast room of the Grandior. Here, you could have eggs any style, fruit, cheese and an amazing assortment of breads. Your author is a breakfast lover — especially when someone else cooks it. A sign of the future was the robot scooting along the aisles waiting to take away dirty dishes. 

Elevcon 2023, the 23rd International Congress on Vertical Transportation Technologies, opened to approximately 100 visitors and four vendor booths. All of EW’s magazines were present with current issues laid out. Dr. Marja-Liisa Siikonen, chairwoman and program manager, opened the meeting. She shared a brief history of Elevcon, which started in 1989 and has been held primarily in Europe. A three-year delay occurred when the event scheduled in 2020 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, in 2021, organizers Ami Lustig and Joseph Stier died within days of one another. They, along with John Inglis (Australia), were the event organizers.

Siikonen then turned the mic over to Gil Stier, Joseph’s son, who reorganized Elevcon for 2023. Stier spoke of his father, who he said “knew nothing about elevators,” but was a media person who liked bringing people together. He spoke of the International Association of Elevator Engineers (IAEE), whose formation preceded Elevcon by five years.

The first session was “Elevator Communications and Information Systems,” chaired by Dr. Stefan Gerstenmeyer, Global Cluster lead, TK Elevator. He introduced Petr Chovanec from 2N Telekomunikace, Czech Republic, who spoke on the “Future of Elevator Emergency Communication After Traditional Fixed Lines.” He emphasized that the industry needs to be ready to sunset 2G and 3G and move on to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). Next up was Christian-Erik Thoeny, member of the Advisory Board, CEDES Group, Switzerland. “IoT Takes the Elevator World into Industry 5.0” was his subject. He observed that “data is the new oil of the 21st century” and needs to be managed. He noted how digital twins could organize and make sense of data.

Session two was “Elevator and Shaft Components,” chaired by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Mazen Ayoubi, head of research, PohlCon GmbH, Germany. He introduced Prof. Dr. C. Erdem İmrak, ITU Elevator Technologies Laboratory, Türkiye, who presented the next two papers: “The Simulation of Seismic Effects on Guide Rail Fasteners and Re-Design of Brackets.” He represents a lab in Türkiye where experiments were carried out and brackets were redesigned. Elevators in the recent earthquakes in Türkiye were not equipped with the new brackets. The next paper was “Finite Element Analysis of Glass Panels With Bolted Connections Designed for a Running Car.” The purpose of this paper was to investigate stress around the drilled holes in a glass façade while the car is running. The final paper of the session was “Elevator Component, Strength Evaluation, Adhesion,” presented by Akira Nagao, Hitachi Building Systems Co., Ltd., Japan. It evaluated elevator car flooring using adhesive bonding.  

Following lunch, Day 1 sessions continued with programs on Safety Components. The chairperson, again, was İmrak. The first paper, “Selection Criteria for Safety Components – Based on Elevator Brakes for Traction Machines,” was presented by Alexander Hutler, key account manager, mayr® power transmission, Germany. He emphasized “You don’t know what you don’t know.” So, all safety components must meet essential requirements. He was followed by Dr.-Ing Stephan Rohr, chief technology officer, ELGO Batscale AG, Liechtenstein, whose paper was “The State-of-the-Art and Future of Safe Shaft Information Systems.” Rohr maintained that mechanical safety can now be replaced by electronic safety, which provides status information and the ability to easily merge different events. Next was Ayoubi, presenting “Comparison Study on the Performance of Acoustic Insulation Element for Guide Rail Connections Using Anchor Channels With Channel Bolts.” This paper invited elevator noise comparisons when using channel connections with serrated edges. The last paper of the day was “Enhancing Escalator Safety With Optic Fiber Sensing Technology” given by William T. A. Au from Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Fiberoptic technology is used in Hong Kong’s 10,000 escalators and 40,000 elevators to predict from a great distance when failure will occur and can be prevented. PolyU’s Prof. Hwa-Yaw Tam also spoke on the topic. 

The first day ended with a workshop by Rohr about how to obtain shaft information for safety with a device from his company, ELGO. This was followed by a lovely reception in the hotel atrium put on by the organizers. It was a casual gathering that included beer, wine and appetizers. 

Day 2

The topic for the morning was “Modernization and Ride Comfort,” moderated by Dr. Albert So from the Hong Kong branch of IAEE. He is a visiting professor at the University of Northampton, U.K. So introduced Mikko Kontturi, KONE Industrial, Finland, who presented the paper “Digital Elevator Survey — Improving Modernization Site Surveys” by Darren Batey, Customer Solutions manager, Major Projects, KONE. The topic was how KONE is moving to digital site scanning to improve accuracy and safety for modernization jobs. This paper was followed by “Estimation of Parameters Affecting Ride Comfort” in Elevators presented by Keisuke Terada, Toshiba Infrastructure Systems. The company uses a combination of subjective and objective evaluation to analyze ride comfort. The next paper was a change in the schedule, “Elevator Wire Ropes Inspection: Regulations, State of the Art, Statistics” by Bruno Vusini. His paper expounded on the drawbacks of dependance on visual inspection of wire rope, while touting new methods.

After a mid-morning break, the subject changed to “Elevator Group Configuration and Design,” chaired by Raymond Spiteri, managing director of TVI Services Ltd. The first paper was “Divider Beam Design as Part of the Elevator Standard Design,” presented by Michael Merz, competence manager, Hilti Corp., Liechtenstein. He noted that, traditionally, the divider beam is installed by others, but it is better when installed by the elevator company as part of the design. Next was “Design Challenges in Asia Due to Manufacturer Differences,” presented by K. Rajah Venkatraman, Fortune Consultants, India. He compared the specifications of all the major companies, observing they are all different. The final paper before lunch was “Multifunctional Lift Design for Slender Luxury Towers” by Hongliang Liang, Aliang Lift Design Studio Ltd., U.K. Liang described the time-space design of a double decker when the top and bottom are used for different purposes.

After lunch, the topic for the afternoon session was “Maintenance and Condition Monitoring.” The chairperson was Sefa Targıt, vice president of MAKFED (Turkish Machinery Federation), Türkiye. First up was John Koshak, managing partner, eMCP LLC, U.S., with his paper on “Vertical Equipment Maintenance.” The author emphasized performing physical maintenance (and bidding on that maintenance) using a schedule based on a computerized survey system that he designed produces enhanced safety and longer equipment life. He was followed by Dr. Krishna Mishra from the University of Tampere, Finland, who presented “Condition Monitoring of Elevators Using Deep Learning and Frequency Analysis Approach.” He noted that this research will help various predictive-maintenance systems detect false alarms and reduce unnecessary visits by service technicians. Next up was Gerald Zwettler, senior researcher, University of Applied Sciences, Austria, who presented “Automatic Detection of Objects Blocking Elevator Doors Using Computer Vision.” This paper presented an approach using a depth-perception camera to identify objects blocking an open door to determine the elevator state and need for maintenance. Following a coffee break, a workshop was given by Esko Kilpinen, with ModuSolutions, Finland. The subject was “Remote Monitoring of Elevators and Authorized Third Party Access to Elevator Data.”

The evening began with a sightseeing tour using the electrified train system and followed by much walking. Prague has mostly cobbled streets and a very hilly terrain, which was challenging for some, so a few took one of the ubiquitous Ubers to the beer hall where the final evening festivities were planned. The gala dinner was wonderful: Beer and wine were consumed, and traditional Czech food was served, including goulash, pork and sauerkraut and other East European specialties.

Day 3

The first topic of the day was “Elevator Planning and Simulation.” The chairperson was Robert Nicholson, president of Architectural Elevator Consulting, U.S. First up was Dr. Janne Sorsa, with KONE in Finland, who spoke on “A Procedure to Estimate Elevator Energy Consumption Using Traffic Simulation.” Sorsa noted that energy consumption is easy to compute in low-rise buildings, but challenging in high-rise or multipurpose buildings, so KONE developed a program to simulate the traffic to assess energy consumption. He was followed by M. Scott Hampson with Arup in Australia, who presented “Vertical High Schools, The Future or Failure?” Vertical high schools are becoming more common in many crowded cities, and Arup was engaged to provide a vertical-transportation solution for one. The challenges were outlined in the paper. Next up was Henri Hakonen with KONE in Finland. His paper, “Simulation-Based Design of Transportation Systems in Buildings,” described key advances in the simulation of people in buildings combined with game software to develop the “People Flow Simulator.”

Following a coffee break, the next session, “Emergency and Evacuation,” was chaired by Sorsa. He introduced the first presenter, Ari Kattainen, leading expert, Codes and Standards, KONE, Finland. In his paper, “Evacuation Lift Standards,” he stated that all code bodies are working on qualifications for lifts to be used for evacuation of disabled people. Next up was Shohei Kondo, Toshiba Elevator & Building System Corp., Japan. His paper, “Enhancement of Auto-Recovery Function for Elevators After an Earthquake,” detailed Toshiba’s system that performs self-diagnosis to tentatively restart elevators to normal service after an earthquake. His paper was followed by İmrak, who presented “A Field Study on the Damage of Elevators After the Twin Earthquakes.” This study was conducted by AYSAD in and around Malatya in Türkiye. The earthquakes resulted in considerable loss of life and damage to buildings and elevators. It was concluded that, in seismic zones, buildings and their elevators should be designed to withstand seismic shocks.

The morning session concluded with the High-Tech Award from Italy’s Elevatori magazine. This award recognized the best out of all the papers and was presented by Eng. Matteo Volpe, editor of Elevatori, to Hakonen for his paper, “Simulation-Based Design of Transportation Systems in Buildings.”

After a lunch break, the last afternoon was brief but dynamic. The session was on “Future Elevator Systems,” and it was chaired by Siikonen, MLS Lift Consulting and 2023 Elevcon chairwoman. First up was Yuval Valiano-Rips from Rips Elevator Group, Israel, and SPACECIALIST with the paper “Elevators on the Moon Are Closer Than You Think.” Valiano-Rips emphasized, once again, that elevators in space are less than a decade away and the elevator industry needs to get involved. He was followed by Siikonen reading from “A Brief History of Multidirectional Rope-Less Elevator Systems” written by Dr. Lee Gray, University of North Carolina Charlotte, U.S., who was unable to attend. Gray maintains that, as many as 150 years ago, multiple cars in a shaft, ropeless elevators and multidirectional travel were considered for elevators. The final selection was “Study on Linear Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines (LPMSM) for Ropeless Lifts” presented by So. In the paper, rationales for why ropeless elevators based on LPMSMs will become important in the future were outlined. So maintained that, as buildings get taller, this is the only answer that makes sense.

Siikonen thanked all for attending and adjourned the gathering. It was considered a well-attended and well-managed event. Participants all received bags and the Elevator Technology, Proceedings of ELEVCON 2023 book, edited by Siikonen. 

References

[1] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_of_Franz_Kafka

[2] ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/castle-scenes-and-ice-cream-dreams-in-prague