1Focus onMRL
The Future Is NowBy Sally Wilk
The wave of the future, saysShannon Knall, manager of
internationalpublic relations for Otis ElevatorCompany, is a move
towards creatingbuildings in which the machine room iseliminated.
Building OperatingManagement, October 1, 2000
W. John Reinartz of Reynolds &Reynolds Electronics, Inc.
agrees. Herewe are eight years later and it appearsthat it is
happening.
Reynolds & Reynolds Electronics,Inc. was founded in 1989 and
isrecognized today as the leading supplierof emergency return
systems to theelevator industry. Until seven years ago,Reynolds
& Reynolds (R&R)concentrated their efforts on thehydraulic
market. W. John Reinartzjoined Reynolds & Reynolds in Januaryof
2001 as their Vice President of Sales.He accepted the position of
President inlate 2002 and took the company in a newdirection.
Market research indicated thatthe elevator controller market
wasforecasting increased sales of tractionelevators. R&R
paralleled the directionby designing new products for thetraction
market.Going Green
This is a historic time for the UnitedStates and for the world.
The world isgoing green. The green movement iswell underway and
many companies areahead of the curve. These companiesinclude, but
are not limited to, KONE,Otis, Schindler, ThyssenKrupp andReynolds
& Reynolds.
While KONE still provides itshydraulic customers with an
outsourcedsolution, KONE believes the future is inMachine
Room-Less, gearless
technology for low to mid risebuildings. KONE states that it
wasthe first elevator escalator company tointroduce the Machine
Room-Lessconcept to the industry and to thisday, has installed over
300,000worldwide.
KONES EcoDisc in aMachine Room-Less Application
Otis went green as early as 1997.In an Otis Elevator press
release andin the August 19, 1997 edition of TheHartford Courant
News, Otisannounced that it would supplyelevators . . . for the . .
. Conde NastBuilding at 4 Times Square . . . inNew York City. Otis
won thecontract in part on its approach to theenvironment, health
and safety . . . .This will be the first installation in theUnited
States of high-speed elevatorswith AC (alternating current)
variablefrequency drives, [said Otis VicePresident Ray Moncini.]
Thesedrives consume less energy andoperate more cleanly than
traditionalDC elevator drive systems. AC-powered elevators improve
indoor airquality, Otis [said.] Since their motorgenerators dont
use carbonlessbrushes, they dont produce carbondust particles that
can infiltrate
2Focus onMRL
heating, ventilating and airconditioning systems.
Schindlers SPEC-DATA Sheetfor the 400A Traction ElevatorSystem
states that the elevatorreduces the amount of vertical
andhorizontal building space required . . .. The 400A consumes 30%
lessenergy than traditional gearedmodels and is eco-friendly.
According to the US GreenBuilding Council, The Leadership
inEnergy and Environmental Design(LEED) Green Building RatingSystem
encourages and acceleratesglobal adoption of sustainable
greenbuilding and development practicesthrough the creation
andimplementation of universallyunderstood and accepted tools
andperformance criteria. LEED is athird-party certification
programand the nationally acceptedbenchmark for the
design,construction and operation of highperformance green
buildings.ThyssenKrupp is a proud member ofthe US Green Building
Council.
Reynolds & ReynoldsElectronics, Inc. has alwaysencouraged
elevator OEMs to usebattery backup as a method forpassenger rescue
as opposed to themore expensive and lessenvironmentally friendly
dieselgenerator solution.Keeping Up With Technology
The building market expects thatan elevator will have the
capability ofpreventing passenger entrapment inthe event of a power
outage. For thepast twenty years, elevator contractorshave offered
battery backup units(BBU) to their hydraulic elevatorcustomers.
However, contractorswere not able to offer BBU fortraction
elevators because these unitsdid not exist.
In 2002, Reynolds & ReynoldsElectronics began designing the
TractionPowervator, an Emergency RescueUnit designed specifically
for tractionelevator systems. Up until the late 1990s,BBU for
traction was not feasiblebecause the batteries could not supportthe
high power draw required by thelarger DC, AC and SCR
motorsassociated with early traction elevatorsystems.
When OEMs began adopting theVVVF motor technology,
R&Rrecognized that it was possible to designan emergency rescue
unit that tookadvantage of the decreased power drawof the VVVF. The
challenge was tocreate an emergency battery backup unitdesigned for
traction elevators thatwould work with the physics of theelevator
to enable the elevator controlsystem to move the elevator car to
thenext available floor (up or down,depending on the weight of the
carversus the counterweight) at InspectionSpeed and open the
elevator doors inorder to prevent passengers from beingtrapped
inside. Reynolds & Reynoldswas awarded CSA certification for
theirnow patented innovation.
T-REX Project Parking Garage
The first OEM to marry thistechnology with their elevator
systemwas KONE on their T-REX Projectin July of 2003 as specified
by LerchBates. T-REX was a TransportationExpansion Project that
transformedthe way people in the metro Denverarea traveled along
the southeastcorridor of Interstates 25 and 225.The project used a
multimodaltransportation approach to addresssome of Denvers traffic
problemsand was referred to as the nextgeneration of transportation
projectson the www.trexproject.com website.
Reynolds &Reynolds ElectronicsTraction Powervator
The Future Is NowToday, many elevator consultant
specifications call for a battery backupunit for traction
elevators. Mostindependent controller manufacturershave
investigated, purchased and/ortested traction battery backup
systemsfor their controllers. Several of themajor elevator OEMs are
offeringbattery backup as an optional featurefor their traction
elevators. It seemsthat Shannon Knall of Otis was rightin 2001 when
she said, The wave ofthe future is a move towards creatingbuildings
in which the machine roomis eliminated. Welcome to thefuture.