Today, elevator technology is still based on similar mechanical principles, using electric drive for vertical traction. At the moment, the skyscrapers all over the world seem to climb higher than the general. Behind these towering towers, the giants of the elevator industry have begun to wrestle with technology. An "alternative" industrial revolution is gearing up.
In the next two years, real estate developers are still building more than 180 buildings over 250 meters high, three times the number of giant buildings built throughout the 20th century. Under the huge market demand, industry giants such as KONE Group, ThyssenKrupp Group and Otis Elevator are also concentrating on exploring more technical possibilities.
Founded in Helsinki, Finland, KONE is one of the world's largest suppliers of elevators and escalators. The group manages more than 50,000 employees nationwide. Recently, they are at a depth of 350 meters deep in the lab of the active limestone mine, challenging the limits of physical elevators. The technology that KONE is testing involves not only the ultra-light lifting materials they have patented, but also all aspects of mechanical technology, stochastic resonance and free fall.
In Germany, the ThyssenKrupp Group's elevator project development department also set up a 246-meter test tower in the southwestern city of Rottweil, and tried to perfect their magnetic levitation technology design. If this progress comes true, the elevators we ride in the future will no longer need cables and pulleys. In addition to vertical transport, it will also achieve lateral movement, even beyond the limitations of the interior and exterior of the building, providing architects with a range of bold directions and possibilities. Andreas Schierenbeck, head of the department, said that the technology is expected to be officially launched in 2020, but at this time, he is already worried that other competitors will be the first to implement this design.
According to Freedodia Group, the annual global production and maintenance of elevator equipment will increase from $96.7 billion in 2016 to $114 billion. Such a large rate of development has also benefited from China's rapid urbanization. The old elevator brand Otis is also about to work, and a tall 270-meter test tower belonging to their team is about to settle in China.
The three companies just mentioned, together with the Schindler Group of Switzerland and Mitsubishi Electric of Japan, form the top five giants in the current world. Their high level of global business has discouraged other new players who are interested in spoiling. But in fact, the iterative update of technology does not give the elevator a stronger value. Their role is to quickly and safely carry a certain number of passengers to the floor they want to go to, no matter the world's first super building. Or an ordinary office home, the mission of the elevator is just that.
“Elevator manufacturing is based on rate data after all,” Fu Qiong, who was responsible for the design work of Jeddah, answered in an interview. Jeddah, built by Saudi Arabia, is planning to refresh the world's first skyscraper. This huge building of more than 1,000 meters will soon be the champion of the Burj Khalifa in 2019.
The elevator transportation system, which is about to rank among the top in the world, has been won by KONE. Of course, the details of the cooperation between Guitar Tower and KONE are strictly confidential, and a technology called UltraRope is the core of their competitiveness. Due to the weight advantage of carbon filaments, their technology can double the running height of the elevator car to 1000 meters. At the same time, it has no limitations on lubrication and frequency resonance, and thus avoids problems such as high-level elevators running poorly due to strong winds.
Traditional cables are often carried by large mechanical devices and more powerful equipment, which is why even the top skyscrapers like the Burj Khalifa and the London Shards can only choose multi-segment elevators for passengers. . According to the data of the skyscraper center, KONE has already cooperated with buildings of more than 500 meters in several buildings, and will install them in the world's top elevator equipment. And these partners are all concentrated in Asia, and the installation price of each single elevator equipment can reach 500,000 US dollars to 1 million US dollars.
KONE’s strengths in the elevator sector have helped make it the largest non-financial company in Finland. What's more, in the past 10 years, their successful strategic layout in China has also greatly increased their share price, and the current market value has exceeded 30 billion US dollars.
However, in the competition with other competitors, they still have the disadvantage of the speed of the elevator. In the 632-meter Shanghai Tower completed in 2016, the 121-story NexWay elevator system built by Mitsubishi has set three records, one of which is the 73.8 km per hour. This record, after a month, was again broken by the system of Otis to build the Lotte World Tower in Seoul, South Korea.
However, for elevator technology, the biggest obstacle to achieving innovation lies in the limitations of the human body. Regardless of the number of elevators rising, they must fall at a reasonable speed of no more than 10 meters per second, otherwise it will trigger a variety of physical discomfort.
In the ever-rising skyscrapers, the big players in the elevator industry are also playing such interesting digital games. Of course, faster, more efficient elevators are always the tenants who serve the building. Therefore, this short-minute user experience is especially important for the image of these world-class buildings.
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