Lift Report

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is evolving as a major technology with growing number of users. Initially it has been used to track goods and assets in retail, manufacturing, hospitals and storage systems, but it has evolved to have many applications outside these areas. RFID is the technology behind car keyfobs, public transportation access (such as the London Transport Oyster card), ski resort lifts passes, distributed spatial sensory systems, security badges for access control into buildings, etc. The field of elevator seems to be a potential area for the integration of RFID technology towards the increase of its smartness and the provision of appropriate information, especially to disabled users. The proposed work describes the characteristics of the RFID technology and presents some of its applications, combined with its potential use in elevators for assisting people with disabilities, i.e., blind people, to function and access them more efficiently.

Energy efficiency, ecological efficiency, environmental compatibility – all issues which, as in countless other sectors, have become an established aspect of the elevator industry. While only a few years ago, increased speeds and higher elevators at the lowest possible prices were generally at the forefront of development objectives, today research tends to be driven by the achievement of greater economy and sparing use of resources. The design of the first machine roomless elevator in 1996 sparked a move towards ever smaller and more efficient drive systems which questioned existing concepts and consequently marked a departure into a number of new directions. Even counterweights have become surplus to requirements – a development which nobody would ever have envisaged only a few years ago.

Anyone who follows the news will certainly not have missed reports on changes in the world’s climate. In the meantime the cause has been unequivocally identified as the increased output of greenhouse gases , triggering a rise in global temperatures. This doesn’t sound half bad for the average Central European, but global warming will undoubtedly bring about some serious changes:

The first time event, organised by VIRGO Communication, was called in as a forum for questions of the lift industry – of national and international concern – in between the bi-yearly lift exhibition IEE Expo in Mumbai. 

It is not often that an elevator is a major stylistic device in an architectural design . Building owner Claude Konrath, together with the design offi ce – Dagli+ Atelier c’architecture s.à.r.l. – turned a panorama lift into exactly that kind of eye-catcher.