Lifts

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Lifts are provided in various buildings to move personal and goods in vertical
direction.
 Types of lifts
Following types of lift are according to functions

1 Passenger lifts: These are used in building to move people up and down.
These are used in residential high-rise flats (generally g+4 onwards) offices,
shopping complexes, Multiplexes, Hospitals, Hotels etc. These come in various
capacities of 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 16, 20, (272 to 1360 kg of load).
Home elevators are small passenger elevators that are available in 3 persons
(200 KG loading) capacity.
The speeds of passenger elevators can be 0.5 M/S for g+3 0.75 to a maximum of
7 M/S for very tall towers above 20 floors.

2 Hospital stretcher lifts: These are used for movement of patients on

stretchers or persons. They are available in various sizes like 15 persons (1020
Kg) to 26 persons (1768 Kg). They are 2.4 meters in depth to accommodate
stretchers.

3 Goods or freight lifts: These are used for moving goods along with people
inside the buildings. They are available in 500 to 5000 Kg. capacities. Entrance
to the lift can be as wide as 2.5 meters in case of the largest elevator.

4 Automobile elevators: Automobile elevators are provided in multistoried

parking lots, Vehicle Service stations, Automobile show rooms etc. These are
2.5x 5.1 meters inside and have doors at either end of length and are designed
for a capacity load of 2500 kg.

5 Dumb waiters: These are used to move only goods from one floor to the other
especially. These carry load up to 100 to 250 Kg. The car size of lift is generally
0.7 m to 1.0 meters and car height of 0.8 to 1.2 meters. These are used in hotels
and hospitals etc for moving cooked food, housekeeping material to various
floors. The door sill recommended at a height of 0.75 meters above floor level.

 Lift Features

Doors: Each lift shall have 2 set of door. One door moves with the lift car (car
door) and the other set remains stationery at each landing level (Hoist-way door).
Lift doors can be of various types.

1. For lift operating in smaller height buildings, low speed, small capacity with
budget constraints, manually operated doors are used. These can be
collapsible gates or swing doors. Lift movement is prevented in case the
 lift car door or lobby door remains open. Thereby passengers are
protected.
2. For lift operating for tall buildings, public building, unattended elevators etc
automatic doors are provided. These can be Center opening doors (2
shutters opening either side) or two speed doors (two shutters opening on
the same side.) The automatic doors work automatically even when
operating in unattended mode. In this case the passenger is protected by
two methods. A) Electro mechanical pressure detection: Slight load on the
door is detected and the lift doors roll back. B) Electronic door detector: In
intelligent system, a beam of rays will detect any object in way of the door
and the doors will roll back. Both these mechanisms will prevent the
passenger getting trapped in the door.
3. Doors are available in various finishes like aluminum paneled or powder
coated. Glass doors are also available.
4. Lift can be had with 2 sets of car doors opening in different directions if
necessary. These can be at opposite ends. These are generally manual
doors when the lifts get installed in old buildings.

Controls inside the car: Lift controls inside the car are

1. The passengers inside the car can choose the level to which they wish the
lift car to move by pressing the button. The lift car can simultaneously take
a program for moving to various levels and arrange by itself in a sequence
irrespective of the sequence in which the program has been fed.
2. The buttons have glowing as well as embossed numbers for the benefit of
normal and blind people.
3. There is a facility for keeping the door open for a longer time than the
programmed period.
4. There is facility to close the shutter earlier than the programmed period.
5. In case of emergency, alarm can be sent out and a buzzer goes on in the
lobby space.
6. Emergency stop button
7. Overhead fan
8. Grab rail for balance
9. Indicator for direction in which the car is moving and the floor by which it is
passing.
10. Alarm goes on in case an unattended car is overloaded with passenger.
The lift car does not start till the extra load is offloaded.
11. For larger capacity cars there can be two control panels inside the lift for
ease of access.

Controls in the lobby

1. Call buttons when a call is to be registered including the direction of travel.

2. Display showing position of lift and its direction of movement.
Other features
1. Lifts can have Glass panel in walls opposite to the door so that the
passengers can have the benefit of view of the atrium.
2. The panel can be of 1 glass panel, panel of 3 glasses, Panel of 5 glasses
or even cylindrical glass panel. These are standard designs.

Lift planning

Basic planning for vertical movement: The quality of vertical transport system is
important as it will increase acceptability and reputation. If it goes wrong, it can
lead to frustration and irritation for end users.
The considerations for design are number of floors, floor distance, population of
floor, type of building occupancy, Maximum peak demand of passengers per 5
minutes etc are specified by the clients. The elevator designers can specify the
numbers, speed and the sizes of elevators, entrance and control system.
The quality of service is judged by the time interval at witch an elevator is
available at the base floor level to the commuter and the time taken in
transporting the people. The waiting period is round trip time / number of
elevators. The handling capacity or quantity of service provided is base on
percentage of population transported in 5 minutes peak period.

1 Offices: Offices are categorized into Unified tenancy and Diversified Tenancy
offices.
Unified tenancy offices do not have staggering of time hence will have a higher
peak period handling load, estimated at 15 to 25 % of building population. In
diversified tenancy office building the load can be 10 to 15 % as the timings get
staggered.
Peaks may get caused due to lunch hours, leaving hours and due to basement
parking, conference halls, restaurants etc.
The service interval of average 20-25 seconds will indicate excellent quality,
average 35 to 40 seconds shall be good quality and average 45 seconds shall be
poor quality.

2 Hotels: In hotel building traffic peak occurs at morning hours and evening
hours when people check in and out and also go to restaurants etc. The load can
be about 10% of hotel population (5% in each direction). The Conference halls
and Banquette need to be considered as large crowds move from one place to
the other. The service will be considered okay even if the waiting period is 60
seconds and 30 seconds can be excellent. Additional lifts may be provided for
movement of food, linen and staff

3 Residential Buildings: In residential buildings the peak is caused early in the

morning and the lifts shall be designed for a population of 6% of the inhabitants.
The time of service interval should be considered properly. The local authorities
generally specify number of lifts desirable for given number of floors.
4 Hospitals: should have proper number of lifts. The peak is caused due to
movement of patients, staff and visitors. Additional lifts may be considered for the
movement of catering services, linen, waste disposal etc.

5 Specialized Buildings: Specialized buildings such as markets, leisure centers,

shopping malls, retail developments, air terminals, entertainment complexes will
need proper study of activity loads and circulation density.

Location of elevators: Elevators must be located centrally in building. They

must be close to the entrance so as to reduce walking distance. The lifts should
be grouped together as far as possible to provide quality service. But one or two
lifts may be placed away in remote areas so as to reduce the walking distance
from activities placed in remote areas of the building.

Grouping: The grouping of elevators must be in such a way that it forms a lobby.
The users or inhabitants of the building should not be required to move through
the group of people waiting for the lifts in the lobby space.
The width of lobby can be 1.5 times the depth of elevators placed on one side.
The width can be two times if elevators are placed on both the sides.
In very tall office buildings, the elevators are divided into those catering to odd
numbered floors and even numbered floors. They can also be divided into once
catering to lower half floors and upper half floors. Such lifts of similar
characteristics should be grouped together.

Fire fighting considerations: Each lift lobby should have a staircase next to it
and should be enclosed type to act as fire escape.
One lift from the group should have a separate structural enclosure so that it can
be used b firemen in case of fire or any other emergency.

Elevator Arrangements
Elevator arrangements shall generally mean the configurations used for
hoisting. These are due to physical limitations of dimensions and loading, speed
and capacity of elevators and optimum utilization of floor space.

Drive system will mean the system by which the elevator is made to move.
These are
1) Hydraulic system: These work on hydraulic pressure supplied by
fluid in flexible hose. The pressure is developed with electric
motorized pump whish helps push the car up. The descent is due to
gravity. These systems are suitable for low-rise buildings where
elevator traffic is not very heavy. These do not require a machine
room at top but a small cubicle should be provided at ground level
for locating the pump.
2) Electric motor systems: These are driven by electric motor and
the motion is transmitted to the car with help of pulley and ropes.
There are various types of systems of controlling the motion.
 A) Single speed AC geared electric: In this system the speed is
generated suddenly with a jerk and the riding is not very comfortable. The system
is low cost and shall be used in low budget buildings where the stopping of car
need not have accuracy. The car may stop around 75 mm below or above the
landing level depending on loading. VTR machines are used to replace this
category. These machines have less noise, save machine room, easy to repair
and reduce load on structure.
B) Variable Voltage Variable Frequency (VVVF) geared machines:
These systems have more accuracy, control, are smooth and give high operating
efficiency. These are geared systems and work on variable frequency and
voltage.
C) VVVF gearless machine. These work on DC current and are useful
for high speed, are cost effective and give a smooth drive.

Construction for lift

Foundation for lift shall be capable of taking load of lift shaft, lift room, lift and
equipment, goods and people and its movement.
The lift shaft needs a pit of size specified by the company. It is necessary that the
lift pit shall be watertight and shall remain watertight throughout the life of the lift.
It should withstand the impact of guides and buffers.
The lift shaft shall have external wall 230 BK wall with necessary RCC structure
or 150 RCC wall. The front wall of the lift shaft shall be preferably 230thk
brickwork. The lifts placed on one side of the bay shall have one common shaft
without any walls in between. But one of the lifts to be treated a fire lift shall have
a separator screen wall. In case of lift not being fire lift, a separator screen of wire
mesh shall be provided. No service pipes, ventilating shafts, electrical conduits
shall pass through the lift shaft.
The height of slab of lift machine room above the last serviced floor shall take
care of the overhead distance (generally 4000 to 4500 in various cases as
specified by the company.
The lift machine room shall have a trap opening with a trap door of specified size.
The lift machine room slab must be designed to take specified load of lift
machine. The roof of the machine room shall have I section or hooks for hoisting
the machine. The room slab must have holes for cables of lift and counterweight
and shall be finished by grouting.
The lift machine room must have ventilation and protection from rain.
A 440 volt 3 phase 4 wire electric supply connection is necessary for the lift. A
single phase 230 volt supply is necessary for such fitting as general lighting, fan,
exhaust fan etc. The lift shaft shall have one 100W bulk head fitting per floor. The
control of these shall be from the machine room. There shall be a light in the pit
controlled from ground level. The car light shall have a switch in the machine
room. LCB must be provided for safety.
The guides, lift car, counterweight, buffers, hanging cables, car doors and control
panel , lobby doors, lobby control panels, control wiring, control panel in lift
machine room, lift machine etc is all equipment supplied by the company.