PROFILE
50 percent of build plans are taken up by elevator shafts , which has proven to be an inefficient use of space , with shafts traditionally housing a singular cabin . With the removal of ropes , more cabins can be placed in the same shaft , and are propelled through the use of linear motors and magnetic levitation technology .
With regards to passenger safety , Sesma is passionate that the MULTI will be even more advantageous than traditional elevator systems . He explains : “ In any line of the shaft , there is a linear motor which is propelling the cabin . If there is an emergency , we can close parts of the shaft . Because it is multidirectional , we can reroute the cabins , even if there is loss of power .
“ If we need to rescue people in any elevator , what we are doing is lowering or taking the cabin to the closest floor possible . In the case of MULTI , it is exactly the same . The linear motor is not just acting in one direction ; it not only propels but can also be used as a brake . If you think of the metro ; if there is a fault , the rest of the metro keeps running .”
With the MULTI ’ s unique design , a cabin will be available every 15-20 seconds , with four cabins placed in every shaft , allowing for an increased number of passengers to be transported at any one time . “ In the psychology of elevator transportation , it is about waiting times - not moving times ,” reflects Sesma . “ It is also about managing that waiting time . What MULTI is giving us is first of all is the possibility to cater for increased traffic through having more cabins , which then gives full flexibility in building while reducing the floor space needed for elevator shafts by 50 percent .”
Concerns surrounding bottlenecks in the elevator shafts have been eradicated through the use of inbuilt exchangers , enabling the cabins to move freely from one shaft to another . “ Once we have multi-cabins which can go multi-directional , the system starts to be scalable due to the combination of these two elements ,” adds Sesma , allowing architects to design cities differently , alongside new buildings and the development of new and existing infrastructures .
The MULTI has been constructed to be fully modular , allowing various elements to be replaced with minimal downtime and increased accessibility for engineers . By increasingly
10 January 2017