New Elevator Travels at 21 Meters per Second
Hyundai Elevator announced on May 21 that it has developed the world's first carbon fiber belt-type elevator that can travel at an incredible 1,260 meters per minute or 21 meters per second. It was the second feat following the development of the then world's fastest elevator (1,080 meters per minute) in December 2009.
The new elevator uses a carbon fiber belt that weighs only one sixth of a metal rope commonly used in elevators. The new elevator has extended the distance that an elevator can move from 600 meters to beyond 1,000 meters, while using 30 percent less electricity.
In particular, its high inherent vibration frequency enables safe operations by preventing resonances from winds and earthquakes that may occur in high-rise buildings. In addition, the company more than doubled elevators’ lives by coating the surface of a carbon fiber belt, which has excellent thermal stability and tensile strength, with a polymer material to enhance the coefficient of friction and abrasion resistance.
On top of that, various advanced technologies were applied to give the system strong global competitiveness. They are a high-speed big-capacity traction machine that make it possible for an elevator to operate normally even in wake of a failure in part of the system as it is loaded with a nine-phase motor; a control system with a high-speed central processing unit (CPU) and a real-time operating system; a streamlined capsule cage which reduced air resistance seven percent and boosted comfort and stability thanks to the application of biomimetics; and a special ceramic safety device with stronger wear and heat resistance.
When this system is applied to the world’s current tallest building, Burj Khalifa (828 meters tall), the time to reach the highest floor from the first floor can be reduced by 20 percent from the current 57 seconds to 46 seconds. Now people have to transfer in the middle due to a distance limitation. But the new system can make it possible to move from the first floor to the top floor at once without the hassle of a transfer.