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First Cable-Free Elevator Zooms Horizontally and Vertically Using Maglev Tech
- gcb0 9y agohow well will credit cards and storage media survive being inside the linear engine "rotor" ?
- TD-Linux 9y agoThe linear motor is confined to the rails behind the cabin. It's basically a bigger version of the linear motors seen on some CNC equipment.
- loeg 9y agoOne function of elevator cables is the emergency brake system (fail closed) — hope the power in this mag system is really really redundant!
- contingencies 9y agoMaybe they are based on electropermanent magnets - ie. defaults to on, current switches off.
- ComputerGuru 9y agoI'm not sure how the elevator works, but if you've ever tried to toss a magnet down a copper tube, it appears to defy gravity - no electricity involved. Something similar could work to create a "fail-proof" elevator.
- zbjornson 9y agoIt could still have the type of safety brake that mounts under the car and engages when excessive downward motion is detected.
- k26dr 9y agoI'm guessing there is a mechanical failsafe in place, but I want to see test data proving it works before I get in one of these
- MrBuddyCasino 9y agoThey have emergency batteries, and a mechanical brake if those fail, just like regular elevators.
- dx034 9y agoPlease not. I wouldn't want to put my life in the hand of a (hopefully charged) battery. Any failsafe in an elevator must be mechanical and work with total loss of power. Anything else would fail at some point. This happens with other product at some points. But elevators are one of the few products trusted by nearly everyone because they never kill anyone.
- MrBuddyCasino 9y ago"and a mechanical brake" This is what you want, they built in into their product.
- ProxCoques 9y ago"One function of elevator cables is the emergency brake system " With this maglev system (as with conventional elevators, trains and trolleys), there is a speed governor system. When the governor spins too fast, the centrifugal force activates a braking system.
- booblik 9y ago5 times as expensive to install, and looking at all those moving parts probably 10 times as epensive to maintain.
- dx034 9y agoThat's only for the first version. It's not unlikely that they can compete by price in the future. First versions of a new technology are (nearly) always more expensive than the existing, mass produced product.
- digitalshankar 9y agoUsername checks out.
- tonyedgecombe 9y agoElevators are a huge constraint in tall buildings, something like this could have a dramatic impact on overall building costs.
- digitalshankar 9y agoGoing horizontally and vertically in an elevator is like playing side scrolling games but this time you are inside the game! Very exciting!
- GenericsMotors 9y agoHow does this behave in the event of a power failure?
- dwhabcdefg 9y agoI'm curious to learn about the routing algorithms for this -- more precisely, how they differ from 1-d elevator scheduling routines.