Lift Report

The wire rope celebrated its 175th birthday in 2009. Since its invention, it has been one of the essential design elements of our technological society. The invention of the steel wire rope by senior mining advisor Julius Albert marked the beginning of intensive analysis of the service life steel wire ropes running over sheaves, a branch of research which is cultivated in depth to this day in a variety of research institutes. The results of service life analyses (for example by Mül1952, Fey2000) have impacted on the dimensioning rules applied to rope traction in a variety of applications. Early examples include the DIN 15 020 standard, as well as more recently the EN 81-1, Annex N.

At the interlift 2009 the VFA Forum once again scheduled a number of highly interesting speeches by and for elevator industry professionals. Included among them was a very descriptive lecture by Thomas Lernet, technical manager at Meiller Aufzugtüren GmbH in Munich. He addressed the highly topical subject of vandalism in elevators, as well. The talk included descriptions of effective preventivemeasures that are in harmonywith the wide variety of safety requirements in force in Europe.

The launch of a new product is always beset with a whole series ofchallenges and problems. The development phase is followed by the initial production phase, the market launch, advertising and then finally, and hopefully, market establishment.

We hinted in our last Editorial that the interlift 2009 was responsible for the completion of a practical, much needed community service project. Wolf-Dietrich Schreier from Eibenstock, a lift industry specialist, and Dr. Klaus John, from Peru, visited the interlift conference to gather donations for building a lift in the Diospi Suyana Hospital in the Andes.

VFA-Interlift e.V. was initially established in 1987 as the Association for Advancing the Use of Lifts and Escalators (it changed its name to VFA-Interlift e. V. – Association for Elevator Technology, in 1995). The 11 founding members defined their goal as “advancing the use of passenger conveying devices”. The initiative originated from the small to medium sized business sector. Component manufacturers and specialty dealers, together with lift manufacturers, created a platform with which to further their interests.

Elevcon 2010, the 18th world congress of the International Association of Elevator Engineers in Lucerne, presents an outstanding list of proposed presentations and posters by leading experts from all over the world within the vertical transportation industry. The congress and exhibition of industry innovations are planned for three days at one of the most prestigious sites in Lucerne, the KKL Lucerne Congress Centre on the lake.

The Technical Academy of Heilbronn is inviting specialists and interested parties from around Europe and the whole of the lift and elevator world to take part in the 4th European Lift Congress in Heilbronn on October 19 and 20, 2010. Following on from three successful events already staged since the launch in 2005, the European Lift Congress has gained an established footing alongside other national and international events in the European lift industry calendar and is acknowledged among experts as a major information platform.