Building Services

VI Semester , Architecture

Part A - Mechanical Ventilation

Part B - Lifts and Escalators
Part C - Fire
Part B - Lifts and Escalators
Elevators / Lifts - Introduction
• „A lift or an elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently
moves people or goods between floors (levels, decks) of a building, vessel or
other structures.
• Elevators are generally powered by electric motors that either drive traction
cables or counterweight systems like a hoist, or pump hydraulic fluid to raise a
cylindrical piston like a jack.
• „Considered a requirement in all buildings over three storeys
• „Minimum standard of service – one lift for every four storeys with a maximum
distance of 45 m to the lift lobby
Elevators / Lifts - Introduction

• Lift — An appliance designed to transport persons or materials between two or more

levels in a vertical or substantially vertical direction by means of a guided car or
platform. The word ‘elevator’ is also synonymously used for ‘lift’.
• Lift Car — The load carrying unit with its floor or platform, car frame and enclosing
bodywork.
• Lift Landing — That’ portion of a building or structure used for discharge of passengers
or goods or both into or from a lift car.
• Lift Machine — The part of the lift equipment comprising the motor and the control
gear therewith, reduction gear (if any), brake(s) and winding drum or sheave, by which
the lift car is raised or lowered.
• Lift Pit — The space in the lift well below the level of the lowest lift landing served.
Elevators / Lifts - Introduction
• Lift Well — The unobstructed space within an enclosure provided for the
vertical movement of the lift car(s) and any counterweight(s), including the lift
pit and the space for top clearance.
• Lift Well Enclosure — Any structure which separates the lift well from its
surroundings.
• Passenger Lift — A lift designed for the transport of passengers.
• Position and/or Direction Indicator — A device which indicates on the lift
landing or in the lift car or both, the position of car in the lift well or the
direction or both in which the lift car is travelling.
• Rated Load (Lift) — The maximum load for which the lift car is designed and
installed to carry safely at its rated speed.
• Rated Speed (Lift) — The mean of the maximum speed attained by the lift car in
the upward and downward direction with rated load in the lift car.
Introduction
Facts:
• Today's record is held in Taiwan, where passengers in the
Taipei 101 building are flung from the fifth to the 89th
floor in 37 seconds, a speed of 1,010m (3,313ft) per
minute. - by TOSHIBA ELEVATOR AND BUILDING SYSTEMS

• The Yokohama Landmark Tower in Japan moves its

passengers at 750m per minute, while the world's tallest
building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa, has a lift that moves at
600m per minute.
• London's Shard, the tallest building in Western Europe,
has lifts that move at 360m per minute
Types of Elevators

1. According to hoist mechanism.

2. According to building height.
3. According to building type.
4. According to Special uses.
Types of Elevators
1. According to hoist mechanism - Generally Two Categories

• Traction (Electric - Pull)

• Virtually limitless rise (high & mid rise)
• High speeds, but high installation cost
• Hydraulic (Push)
• Limited to heights of about 60 ft. (6 stories)
• Lower speeds
• Lower initial cost – higher power consumption
• Climbing Elevator
• Pneumatic Elevators

The systems are distinguished primarily by their hoisting mechanisms.

Electric Traction Passenger Lift
• The car, cables, elevator machine, control
equipment, counter weights, hoist way, rails,
penthouse, and pit are the principle parts of a
traction elevator installation.
• The car is a cage of some fire-resistant material
supported on a structural frame, to the top
member of which the lifting cables are fastened.
By means of guide shoes on the side members,
car is guided in its vertical travel in the shaft.
• The car is provided with safety doors, operating-
control equipment, floor-level indicators,
illumination, emergency exits, and ventilation.
Electric Traction Passenger Lift
Electric Traction Passenger Lift
• Four to eight cables, depending on the car speed and capacity, are placed in parallel; in
general, each rope is capable of supporting the entire load. The minimum factor of
safety varies from 7.6 to 12.0 for passenger lifts and from 6.6 to 11.0 for freight lift.
• The counter weight is made up of cut steel plates stacked in a frame attached to the
opposite ends of the cables to which the car is fastened. Its weight equals that of the
empty car plus 40% of the rated live load.
• It serves several purposes: to provide adequate traction at the sheave for car
lifting, to reduce the size of the traction machine, and to reduce power demand
and energy cost.
• Higher initial cost due to strengthen the overhead machine room floor, which must
carry the additional structural load of the counter weight.
• The shaft or hoist-way, is the vertical passageway for the car and counterweights. On
the side walls are the car guide rails and certain mechanical and electrical auxiliaries of
the control apparatus.
Geared Traction Machines
Geared traction machines
• A geared traction machine has a worm
and gear interposed between the driving
motor and the hoisting sheave. The
driving motor can therefore be smaller,
cheaper, high-speed unit rather the large,
low-speed unit required by a gearless
installation.
• These are used for car speeds up to 2.3
m/s and maximum rise of about 90 m.
• With an appropriate drive and control
system, a geared traction machine can
give almost the same high-quality,
accurate, smooth ride as is available from
a gearless installation
Gearless Traction Machines
• A gearless traction machine consists of a DC or AC
motor, the shaft of which is directly connected to
a brake wheel and driving sheave. The elevator
hoist ropes are placed around this sheave.
• The absence of gear means that the motor must
run at the same relatively slow speed as the
driving sheave, and these are generally used for
high-speed lifts, i.e. speeds from 2.5 m/s to 10
m/s.
• A gearless traction machine is superior to geared
machines because it is more efficient and quieter
in operation, requires less maintenance, and has
longer life.
Electric Traction Passenger Lift
Arrangement of
Elevator Machines,
Sheaves and Ropes
Hydraulic Lift
• The major advantage of hydraulic unit is the absence of
an overhead machine room and traction equipment.
• Elevator load is carried by the ground not by the
structure.
• Hoist-way is smaller due to the absence of a
counterweight and its guide rail.
• Cars can be lowered manually by the operation of oil
valves.
• Essentially there is no lifting limit.
• Operating expensive is higher due to absence of
counterweight.
• These are limited to low-rise, low-speed applications.
Ride quality is also inferior.
Hydraulic Lift
Hydraulic Jack Arrangements
• Holed Hydraulic: In-ground
cylinder extends to a depth equal
to the rise of the elevator cab.
Current codes require double-
bottom cylinders with leak
detection and containment
• Holeless Hydraulic: use a
telescoping hydraulic piston as the
driving machine, eliminating the
need for an in-ground cylinder.
Currently limited to a height of
about 3 stories
• Roped Hydraulic: use a telescoping
hydraulic piston and a hoist rope
and pulley system to increase
speed and travel heights
Climbing Elevator

They hold their own power device on them,

mostly electric or combustion engine. Climbing
elevators are often used in work and
construction areas.
Pneumatic Elevators

Pneumatic elevators are raised and

lowered by controlling air pressure in a
chamber in which the elevator sits.
By simple principles of physics; the
difference in air pressure above and
beneath the vacuum elevator cab
literally transports cab by air. It is the
vacuum pumps or turbines that pull
cab up to the next Floor and the slow
release of air pressure that floats cab
down.
Types of Elevators
2- According to building height

A- Low-Rise buildings (1- 3 stories)

Buildings up to about (1 to 3) stories typically use hydraulic elevators because of their
lower initial cost

B- Mid-Rise buildings (4 -11 stories) Buildings up to about (4 to 11) stories typically

use Geared Traction Elevators

C- High-Rise buildings (12 + stories)

Buildings up to about 12+ stories typically use Gear-Less Traction Elevators

Types of Elevators

3- According to building type

Elevators will be classified according to building type to 6 main types as follows:

• Hospital Elevators.
• Residential /Domestic Elevators.
• Agricultural Elevators.
• Industrial Elevators.
• Commercial Elevators.
• Parking buildings Elevators.
Hospital Bed Elevators
• One of the features of bed elevators should
be its ability to transport the patient has
smoothly as possible with minimal amount
of bumping and jostling.
• Many contemporary bed elevators are
manufactured to consume extremely low
amounts of power and to be durable with a
number of safety features built-in.
• Hospital bed elevators generally draw very
little power so that should there be a power
outage they are still operational off the
hospital's backup power supply.
• Most often there will be a rear and a front
entry to the elevator cabin.
Residential /Domestic Elevators
Passenger Elevators

They can be built either inside the home or outside the home and
can be pneumatic vacuum, electric, hydraulic or cable elevators.
Most often domestic elevators designed for carrying passengers in
a residential setting only carry perhaps two to four people safely
and comfortably.

Stairway Elevators
Stairway elevators are generally installed in homes
This type of domestic elevators simply runs on a rail up and down
and existing staircase. They can run either in a straight line or
around a curved stairway. Stairway elevators can be constructed
both inside and outside the home
Residential /Domestic Elevators
Wheelchair Elevators on an Incline
Most often this type of elevator is called for when there is
not adequate space to facilitate a more spacious vertical
wheelchair elevator.

Dumbwaiters Elevators

They are small freight elevators intended to carry objects

rather than people.
A simple dumbwaiter is a movable frame in a shaft,
dropped by a rope on a pulley, guided by rails; most
dumbwaiters have a shaft, car, and capacity smaller than
those of passenger elevators, usually 100 to 1000 lbs
Parking Elevators
Conventional Parking Elevators
The conventional parking elevators are built to move vehicles to upper or lower levels of
the building because of their space saving feature.

Auto Car Parking Elevators

As against cars being driven (on
ramps) or carried (in car lifts) to
different levels in conventional multi-
level parking, cars are driven at only
one level for parking or retrieval, Cars
are parked in steel pallets and a target
pallet comes up or down to the
driveway level at the press of a
button, for parking or retrieval.
Agricultural applications:

Bucket Elevators
Bucket elevator used to move crops
which have been newly harvested up
and into silo. Bucket elevators are
manufactured in such a way that they
can move heavy loads quite easily.
They can be belt driven or chain
driven and they can move vertically,
horizontally or at an incline
Industrial Elevators:
Hoist Elevators
They are also commonly used to load equipment and supplies on large seagoing
vessels.

Incline Elevators
The equipment and supplies are placed on a form of
conveyor belt that continues turning bringing the
cargo up to its destination where it is quickly
unloaded as the belt continues turning around. This
is a much quicker method of loading and unloading
cargo than with a hoist elevator because there is no
stopping to unload
Commercial Elevators
• Commercial passenger elevators
• A passenger elevator is designed to move people between a building's
floors. Passenger elevators capacity is related to the available floor space.

• Freight elevators
• A freight elevator, or goods lift, is an elevator designed to carry goods,
rather than passengers.
• Freight elevators are typically larger and capable of carrying heavier loads
than a passenger elevator, generally from 2,300 to 4,500 kg.
• Freight elevators may have manually operated doors, and often have
rugged interior finishes to prevent damage while loading and unloading.
• Although hydraulic freight elevators exist, electric elevators are more
energy efficient for the work of freight lifting.
Commercial Elevators
• Commercial Dumbwaiter

• They are economic solution for moving

material from floor to floor in a multi-
level commercial environment. They can
carry loads up to 750 lbs.
• Typical materials handled in a commercial
environment can be Food, Dishes &
Cutlery, Documents, Clothing, ...
Observation Elevators

The observation elevator puts the cab on the

outside of the building. Glass-walled elevator
cars allow passengers to view the cityscape or
the building’s atrium as they travel. By
eliminating the hoist ways, the observation
elevator also offers owners, architects and
builders valuable space-saving advantages.
Double-deck Elevators

• Double-deck elevators save time

and space in high-occupancy
buildings by mounting one car
upon another.
• One car stops at even floors and
the other stops at the odd floors.
• Depending on their destination,
passengers can mount one car in
the lobby or take an escalator to a
landing for the alternate car.
Basic Elevator Components:

The standard elevators will include the following basic

components:
• Car.
• Hoistway.
• Machine/drive system.
• Control system.
• Safety system.
Lift Components:
Pit:
• Located below the lowest landing level, containing buffers
• For slower lifts – spring-type buffers
• For higher-speed lifts – oil loaded buffers
• Depth of pit varies from 1.4 to 2.8 m

Shaft:
A lift shaft should incorporate the following features:
• Water tightness
• Means of drainage
• Plumb, vertical sides
• Smooth painted finish
• Ventilation void for emission of smoke
• Permanent inspection lights
• Have no other services except those necessary for operation of lift
Lift Components: Machine Room
Normally located above the well,
containing:
•winding gear
• traction sheave
• control panel
• over speed governor, and
• other components
Lift Components: Machine Room
Noise from motors and winding gear must be
contained with adequate insulation and
absorbent bedding for machinery
• An overhead universal beam for raising and
lowering equipment and parts during
maintenance is essential
• Adequate day lighting and supplementary
artificial light
• Fan assisted ventilation to remove excess heat
from electric plant
• A locked door (key with security staff)
provides the only access to the machine room,
except for a trap-door over the landing area –
this is specifically for raising and lowering
items of machinery
Elevator Control System
Elevator Control System is
the system responsible for
coordinating all aspects of
elevator service such as
travel, speed, and
accelerating, decelerating,
door opening speed and
delay, levelling and hall
lantern signals.

It accepts inputs (e.g. button

signals) and produces
outputs (elevator cars
moving, doors opening, etc.).
 Elevator Control System
Automatic
• Response to one call from either lift car or landing. No further calls are accepted until
the car is at rest.
• Only suited to light occupancy and low-rise buildings up to five floors.

Directional (up & down) collective

• Two call buttons are provided at each intermediate landing, one for up and the other
one for down.
• The lowest and the highest landings only require one button. A full set of destination
buttons are provided in the car.
• Landing callers simply press the direction button and the call is stored
• On a downward journey, the lift stops at all floors where downward callers are waiting or
where passengers want to go out.
• Likewise upward, operating in sequence in response to stored calls.
Lift Controls
Group collective Programmed control
• Applied where groups or banks of lifts • This is an improvement of the group
occur in large buildings, using an collective system, incorporating time-
interconnected collective stored control controlled functions, where demand is
system known to be particularly high on some
• This permits the closest lift travelling in floors at certain times.
the desired direction to respond, rather • The lift cars can be programmed to be
than passengers waiting for one specific available at the ground floor during arrival
lift or having to press every lift’s button. times and at upper floors during departure
times.
• This lends itself to routines found in office
blocks, where regular hours are worked.
Safety Devices

Over speed governor - a steel rope passes round

a tension pulley in the pit and a governor pulley in
the machine room. It also attaches to the lift car's
emergency braking system. Over speeding locks the
governor as it responds to spring loaded fly-weight
inertia from the centrifugal force in its accelerating
pulley. This also switches off power to the lift. The
tightening governor rope actuates the safety braking
gear.
Safety Devices
Safety gear - hardened steel wedges are arranged in
pairs each side of the lift car to slow down and stop the car
by frictional contact with the car guide rail. Slow- and
medium-speed lifts have pairs of hardened steel cams
which instantaneously contact a steel channel secured to
the lift wall.
Sky Lobby
• In very tall buildings, elevator efficiency can be increased by a
system that combines express and local elevators.

• The express elevators stop at designated floors called sky

lobbies. There, passengers can transfer to local elevators that
will take them to their desired floor.

• By dividing the building into levels served by the express

elevators, the local elevators can be stacked to occupy the
same shaft space. That way, each zone can be served
simultaneously by its own bank of local elevators.
 IDEAL LIFT
Ideal performance of an elevator installation will provide
• comfortable acceleration and rapid transportation
• smooth and rapid braking
• accurate automatic levelling at landings
• quick, quiet operation of doors
• good floor status and travel direction indication
• easily operated car and landing call buttons
• smooth, quiet, and safe operation of all equipment
• comfortable lighting
• reliable emergency and security equipment
The Standard Elevators Layouts:

Arrangement (A): Arrangement (B):

Car with side opening door and the Car with central opening door and the
counterweight is located at the back wall counterweight is located at the back wall.
The Standard Elevators Layouts:

Arrangement (C): Arrangement (D):

Car with side opening door and the Car with central opening door and
counterweight is located at one side. the counterweight is located at one
Elevator Car Types:
Standard car size:
To prevent overloading of the car by persons,
the available area of the car shall be limited and
related to the nominal/rated load of the
elevator.

The following image shows the standard car

sizes related to the elevator nominal loads.

The number of passengers shall be obtained

from the formula:

Number of passengers = rated load /75

Where 75 represent the average weight of a

person in Kg.
 DESIGN CONCERNS -
• Circulation efficiency
• Location & arrangement (prevent bottlenecks)
• Coordination with lobby, stairway & corridor
• Fire & safety regulations
• Handling capacity (quantity of service)
• Interval or waiting time (quality of service)
• Consideration by lift functions like Passenger, goods, firemen,
shuttle, observation
1. Positioning of a Building’s Elevator
Design Considerations
Design Considerations
Design Considerations
DESIGN OF LIFT LOBBY
2. Design of openings
Door openings
>3’-6” for simultaneous loading/unloading
<3’-6” for singular loading
Doors
single slide (24-36”)
center opening (42-60”)
two-speed, side opening (42”)
two-speed, center opening (60”)
3. Time & Traffic
Quality of service refers to some type of time
measurement relating to passenger waiting time.
The method used to evaluate this dimension is
“average interval.”

Quantity reflects the ability of the elevator or

escalator systems to as they develop. handle traffic
loads

“Handling capacity” is the standard used to evaluate

this dimension. For elevators, sufficient capacity
should be provided so that arriving elevators
accommodate all waiting persons and the mobility-
impaired.
No. of lifts and handling capacity
• Number of floors to be served by the lift; Floor to floor distance;
• Population of each floor to be serve~ and Maximum peak demand; this demand
maybe unidirectional, as in up and down peak periods, or a two-way traffic
movement.

Preliminary Lift Planning

• population or the number of people who require lift service
• handling capacity of the maximum flow rate required by these people.
• interval or the quality of service required

Population
• Average population density can vary from about one person per 4 m2
to one person per 20 m2
 Definitions

• Interval (I) or Lobby Dispatch Time:

• the average time between departures of cars
from the lobby.

• Average Waiting Time:

• the time spent by a person between arriving
in the lobby and leaving the lobby in a car.
Average Lobby Waiting Time = 0.6 × Interval (I)
• Car passenger capacity (p)
passengers per car
• Handling Capacity (HC):
the maximum number of passengers
that can be handled in 5 minutes of
time. A system’s handling capacity is
determined by two factors - car size
and interval – and is independent of
the number of cars.
HC= 300(p)
I

• Percent Handling Capacity (PHC):

the minimum percentage of the
building population that the system
must handle in 5 minutes.
• Travel Time or Average Trip Time (AVTRP):
average time spent by the passengers from
the moment they arrive in the lobby to the
moment they leave the car at an upper
floor. It is the sum of the lobby waiting
time plus travel time to a median floor
stop.

In a commercial building context, a trip of

less than 1 minute is highly desirable, a 75-
second trip is acceptable, a 90-second trip
is annoying, and a 120-second trip is the
limit of tolerance.

Note: car size

: floor to floor height
• Round Trip (RT) Time: average time required
for a car to make a round trip - starting from
the lower terminal and returning to it. The RT
time during up-peak traffic conditions, used
for calculating elevator requirements is the
sum of 4 factors:
• time to accelerate and decelerate
• time to open and close doors at all stops
• time to load and unload
• running time.
 Parameters
Building population
•typical area per person
•based on net area and building type

Office building efficiency

•net usable area as a percentage of gross area
Parameters
Elevator equipment
recommendations:

• building type
• car capacity
• rise
• speed
 Sizing Equations

Handling capacity (HC): HC=300p/I

Interval (I): I=RT/N
5-min. handling capacity (h): h=300p/RT
Number of cars (N): N=HC/h
 Example Problem
Design an elevator system for a 10 story, single purpose
tenant, office building that provides an “good” level of service.

Construction level is “normal”

Floor height: 12’-0” floor to floor
Floor area: 15,000 net square feet (nsf) each
Step 1: Determine Percent Handling Capacity (PHC)

Office building
Investment

range  11.5-13 %
say 12%

PHC=0.12
 Step 2 : Determine Interval (I)

Office building
“Good” service

I=25-29 sec
Step 3: Determine Building Population

Office building
Single tenant
Normal construction
range  90-110 sf/person
say 100 sf/person

Pop= 9 floors@15,000 nsf

100sf/person
Pop=1350 people
Step 4: Determine Handling Capacity (HC)

PHC=0.12
HC=0.12 x 1350 people

HC= 162 people

Step 5: Determine Rise & Select Car

9 floors (above lobby)

12’-0” floor-floor

Rise=9 x 12’-0’
Rise=108’

Select Car:
2500# car
@400 fpm
Step 6 : Determine Average Trip Time (AVTRP)

12’-0” floor-floor
2500# car
400 fpm
9 floors

AVTRP= 64 sec
Step 7: Determine Round Trip Time (RT)

12’-0” floor-floor
2500# car
9 floors
400 fpm

RT= 112 sec

Step 8 : Verify Single Car Capacity (p)

2500# car

p= 13 people
Step 9: Determine 5-minute Handling Capacity (h)

h=300p/RT

h= 300 x 13/112
h= 34.8 people
Step 10 : Determine number of cars (N)

N=HC/h

N= 162/34.8
N= 4.7 cars
say 5 cars
Step 11: Confirm Interval (I)

I=RT/N
I= 112/5
I= 22.4 sec
Required I  25-29 sec
Design exceeds performance
requirements
Step : 12. Repeat Until Performance Complies

Try 4 cars (2500 lbs., 400 fpm)

11. (Re)Confirm Interval (I)
I=RT/N
I= 112/4
I= 28 sec
Required I  25-29 sec
Design meets performance
requirements
 12. Repeat Until
Performance Complies
Performance is in compliance

Use 4 cars (2500 lbs., 400 fpm)

Escalators:
• The moving stairway, also referred to as an escalator or an electric stairway,
was first operated at the Paris Exposition in 1900.

• Its modern successors deliver passengers comfortably. rapidly, safely. And

continuously at constant speed and usually with no delay at the boarding level.

• Where large numbers of people are anticipated, such as airports and railway
terminals, department stores and shopping malls, several escalators will be
required and can be grouped in a number of ways to suit the building functions

• The angle of inclination is normally 30°, but may increase to 35° if the vertical
rise does not exceed 6 m and the speed is limited to 0.5 ms-1
Escalator:
Escalator:
Escalator Arrangements:
Escalator Arrangements:
Escalator Arrangements:
Escalator Arrangements: Crisscross
Escalator Arrangements: Parallel
Escalator
Step Speed
• Escalator speeds vary from about 90 feet per minute to 180 feet
per minute (27 to 55 meters per minute)
• An escalator moving 145 feet (44 m) per minute can carry more
than 10,000 people an hour – many more people than a standard
elevator
Escalator Capacity:
The following formula can be used to ascertain capacity and compare
efficiencies and suitability of escalators at building design stage:
N = 3600 x P x V x cosθ
L

Where,
• N = number of persons moved per hour
• P = number of persons per step
• V = escalator speed (ms-1)
• L = length of step (m)
• θ = angle of incline
Escalator Capacity

Example
An escalator of 30o incline, one passenger per step, a speed of 0.5 ms-1 and
400 mm tread or step length.

N = 3000 x 1 x 0.5 x cos 30

0.4

= 4500 x cos 30o

= 3897 nos. persons moved per hour
Travelator:
• A moving walkway, moving sidewalk, or travelator is a slow
conveyor belt that transports people horizontally up to the
practical limitations of about 300 m.
• They work in a similar manner to an escalator. In both cases, riders
can walk or stand. The walkways are often supplied in pairs, one
for each direction.
• They are particularly useful in large railways and airports terminals,
as well shopping complexes, and may be inclined up to about 15o
where level differentials occurs.
Travelator:
• Speed range between 0.6 and 1.3 ms-1, limitations being imposed
because of the difficulty in getting off.
• Combine with walking, the overall pace could be about 2.5 ms-1.
• Materials for travelators must be flexible or elastic and include
reinforced rubber or composites and interlaced steel plates or
trellised steel.
• The latter two have the facility to deviate from the conventional
straight line.
Travelator: