4 ms·
There seems to be a lot of interest in minimizing the amount of time users need to wait to get onto the elevator, but this is not the only variable you can opti
by jsaxton86 15y ago
There seems to be a lot of interest in minimizing the amount of time users need to wait to get onto the elevator, but this is not the only variable you can optimize. Elevators use a lot of power, and a lot of elevators (especially low traffic ones) are programmed to minimize the amount of power used. For example, the author's suggestion that elevators travel to the ground floor after every trip is highly inefficient and expensive.
- alexchamberlain 15y agoI don't know alot about Physics, Engineering or Elevators, but I do know that there is some magical force at work in the world that once made an Apple fall on someone's head. Could we not utilise this force for the better and, perhaps even, recoup some energy?
- ChillyWater 15y agoI think elevators are usually counter-balanced so that the motor doesn't have to really lift anything except the occupants. Maybe not though ...
- srl 15y agoThe are, with the effect (and I'm guessing intent) that an electrical/motor failure won't lead to the elevator plunging 20 stories and killing all occupants. Software engineering could (and should) learn a few things from mechanical engineering. People have been saying that for decades, but it bears repeating...
- ww520 15y agoCrash driven design. Design your software such that it can recover from a crash to a known state and continue. Make life so much simpler. Shutdown is just a matter of power off. Startup always does a recovery before starting.
- nialo 15y agoThere's a separate emergency brake system to prevent the elevator from falling, because you also need to be safe if the cables holding the elevator up break (this is actually the technology that lead to the first elevators). The counterweight is probably primarily just to reduce power/energy requirements.
- jsaxton86 15y agoYeah, they have elevators that do that. Here's some marketing literature I found if you're interested: http://www.kone.com/countries/en_gb/products/elevators/konemonospaceplatform/energyefficiency/Pages/default.aspx http://www.kone.com/countries/en_gb/products/elevators/konem...