I were doing my thesis about optimization on elevator system at my university building (Petra Christian University) I need information about how to calculate elevator energy consumption (in ampere) in corelation with number of passenger being carried (in weight)

-- Rudy Setiawan (rudy@peter.petra.ac.id), April 27, 2000

Answers

The energy required to lift the passengers is simply related to weight, lift distance and time. Simple physics 101 stuff. But if your concern is about utility power consumption, it is a lot more complicated than just passenger weight. The rest of the moving machinery can easily be 3-4 X the mass of the passenger capacity. You need to know how the motor control (drive) provides the starting and stopping energy necessary to accelerate and decelerate the inertial mass of elevator, counterweight, ropes, and payload. (i.e. - where does the energy go when the elevator stops? Is some of it recovered?) And, if there is an m-g set, what is it's energy consumption between floor runs. If its an hydraulic elevator, there is a whole 'nother set of questions, all related to energy use and efficiency.

An interesting study might be to record watt-hour meter info for just the elevator with a head count of pasenger travel monitored for a typical 24 hour day.

-- Don Vollrath (dvollrath@magnetek.com), April 27, 2000.

See also http://www.loadresearchonline.com. This might be a source or receptacle of information for your study.

-- Don Vollrath (dvollrath@magnetek.com), April 27, 2000.

While prior responses are correct that the following is basic stuff, it occurs to me that perhaps this is what you need for your purposes.

The horsepower required by an elevator system is:

(Unbalanced load x Speed / 33,000) x Efficiency

Wherein the load is in pounds, the speed in feet per minute and efficiency is a decimal indicating the percentage efficiency of the system (100% = 1.0).

The Gross load consists of the live load (weight of passengers) and the dead load (weight of car, car frame, etc.). Unbalanced load is the portion of this load not counterbalanced.

Rules of thumb: dead load is equal to rated capacity on passenger elevators. efficiency = 50% for hydraulic elevators, 60% for geared traction, 80% for gearless traction. Typical hydraulic elevators are not counter balanced, so unbalanced load is Gross load. Typical traction elevators are counterbalanced 40%, i.e., unbalanced load = 60% of rated capacity.

Perhaps this is too simplified for your purposes, but it is somewhere to begin.

Best of luck with your project!

-- John Brannon (akaelevman@AOL.com), April 27, 2000.

i need information about elevators design motor,counterweight and type of motorused for the builing and control if can be provided. regards shak

-- shakri.a.allaith (shakri_allaith@hotmail.com), May 08, 2004.

Elevator Energy Consumption: There is a new software that has been developed that can look at different types of drives and passenger loads and simulate the traffic in the building, providing complete details of the energy consumed. If you are interested in more details, let me know.

-- Lutfi Al-Sharif (al_sharifvtc@compuserve.com), June 08, 2004.

Otis already has a page on their website for energy consumption...go to otis.com and check it out

-- dayle (daylebrenda@iprimus.com.au), June 09, 2004.