An underground high-rise elevator lab — in a country with no high-rise buildings. While it may seem counterintuitive, at KONE Corp.’s Tytyri, Finland, test facility, vertical-transportation research shaping the industry’s future is conducted in an active limestone mine. Descending to 350 m, the Tytyri laboratory is home to the world’s deepest elevator test shaft, allowing the company to take high-rise technology testing and innovation to the next level.
First opened in 1997, KONE’s high-rise laboratory at Tytyri was revamped two decades later in 2017. Extensive renovations allowed for expanded testing capabilities. Currently, the facility houses 11 test shafts, with seven dedicated to super- and mega-tall testing and four used for mid- and low-rise applications. Just looking at the surface-level building, one would never suspect that, in the depths below, elevators can travel over 300 m of travel height, allowing acceleration, speed, ride comfort, braking and deceleration testing that is not possible anywhere else. When the renewed research facility was first unveiled, KONE Chief Technology Officer (now Executive VP, New Equipment Business) Tomio Pihkala said:
“At Tytyri, we can push the limits of elevator physics like at no other place in the world. With extreme tests such as the free-fall test, we can drop an elevator frame weighing 10,000 km into a 200-m shaft and test safety gear performance, bringing the elevator to a controlled stop.”
KONE often invites customers to visit and see the technologies employed in their buildings in real operation. The Tytyri facility is part of the company’s global testing network, located at seven R&D sites in Finland, Italy, China, the U.S., Mexico and India.
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