KONE UltraRope: Breakthrough Elevator Hoisting Technology

Real-world regenerative braking performance depends on multiple interconnected factors including motor efficiency, vehicle mass, and terrain characteristics. Motor efficiency (typically around 90%) means not all kinetic energy can be recovered—of every 10 kWh available, only 9 kWh reaches the battery while 1 kWh is lost as heat. This efficiency loss affects both uphill climbing (requiring more initial energy) and downhill recovery (yielding less returned energy), resulting in approximately 15% overconsumption compared to ideal conditions. Vehicle mass impacts energy consumption linearly: heavier vehicles require proportionally more energy to accelerate and climb hills but recover proportionally more energy during descents. A van three times heavier than a 1,500 kg car will consume three times more energy going uphill but recover three times more energy going downhill. Despite superior downhill recovery, heavier vehicles generally have less favorable overall energy balances due to increased uphill energy requirements. These factors collectively determine the practical effectiveness of regenerative braking across different vehicle types and driving conditions.

Regenerative braking, which converts kinetic energy from stopping vehicles into electricity, can be scaled up from individual electric vehicles to city-wide transit systems to power infrastructure like subway stations, traffic lights, and EV charging points, as demonstrated by Barcelona's MetroCHARGE project that captures energy from subway stops to power 28 stations and charge electric vehicles at reduced rates.

Elevators use a counterweight system to balance the weight of the elevator car, making vertical movement more energy-efficient; when the car goes up, the counterweight goes down, and vice versa, reducing the energy required by the motor.

This section covers advanced energy recovery and loss analysis in elevator systems. It explains regenerative braking, where kinetic energy converts back to electrical energy during deceleration with efficiency η2. The deceleration force is F2 = -m × v0/t2, and the work done equals the kinetic energy lost: W2 = -(1/2) × m × v0². The recovered energy equals this kinetic energy multiplied by η2, while loss equals (1/2) × m × v0² × (1 - η2). The total energy loss combines losses from both acceleration and deceleration phases: E_total_loss = (1/2) × m × v0² × (2 - η1 - η2). This demonstrates how bidirectional energy conversion and efficiency factors determine overall system energy performance.

Elevators operate using a counterweight system. As the elevator car moves down, the counterweight moves up, and vice versa. This system balances the weight of the elevator car and its contents, making the elevator more energy-efficient. The counterweight is connected to the elevator car by cables and moves in the opposite direction to maintain balance.

This presentation by Fraunhofer IKTS experts covers advanced non-destructive testing (NDT) and structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques for carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP), including high-frequency eddy current methods for inspecting roving, preforms, and finished components, as well as acoustic and ultrasound-based approaches for detecting defects and monitoring structural integrity throughout the manufacturing and operational lifecycle of composite structures.

Guided Wave Tomography enables real-time imaging of delaminations in carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) hat profiles by instantaneously comparing the inspected part with a reference pristine part, eliminating the need for signal interpretation and allowing detection of defects in complex composite geometries.

Self-sensing materials use the structural material itself as a sensor rather than embedding separate devices. In carbon fiber composite materials, electrical resistance changes in response to mechanical deformation or damage. This approach offers advantages over traditional embedded sensors including lower cost, higher durability, larger sensing volume, and no compromise to mechanical performance. The technique enables real-time structural health monitoring throughout the aircraft structure.

Composite manufacturing and structural health monitoring technologies developed by CSIR/NAL include: (1) Vacuum enhanced resin transfer molding reducing infrastructure requirements and energy consumption; (2) Real-time resin flow monitoring systems combining GUI-based software, hardware, and optical sensors; (3) Structural health monitoring enabling real-time damage detection of composite structures without requiring external load application during inspection; (4) Fiber Bragg grating sensor packaging for railway applications providing immunity to electromagnetic interference; (5) Shape memory alloy stent manufacturing using close-split cylindrical shaping tools with self-locking design; (6) Carbon fiber steam stitching technology with separate pathways for steam and fiber movement.

Carbon fiber structural components undergo 100% non-destructive testing using external laboratories. This process maps overall thickness across each component zone, verifies carbon fiber layer compaction conformity, and confirms weight specifications. External laboratory testing ensures absolute safety certification for these high-performance components, independent of the original manufacturer's quality control.

A German engineering company has created the world's first rope-free elevator system that uses magnetic technology which allows elevators to travel sideways as well as up and down. The test tower will be launched in 2016.

MULTI is a revolutionary rope-less elevator system developed by thyssenkrupp that uses linear motor technology to enable multiple elevator cars to move independently in both vertical and horizontal directions within a single shaft, dramatically increasing building transportation capacity while reducing shaft requirements by up to 60% and decreasing energy consumption by up to 60% compared to conventional rope-dependent elevators.

Rope-based elevator systems face fundamental limitations as buildings increase in height. The self-weight of cars, ropes, and compensation ropes creates a maximum travel height limit. Additionally, rope systems restrict building shapes to vertical configurations and cannot provide horizontal transportation. Linear motor technology, traditionally used in horizontal maglev trains, can be adapted for vertical use by rotating the motor 90 degrees. This eliminates ropes entirely, removes self-weight limitations, enables unlimited vertical travel height, and allows for sectional construction enabling buildings to extend elevator systems over time.

The MULTI elevator, developed by a German company, uses magnetic levitation technology with linear motors and electromagnets along the shaft to propel cabins without cables, enabling simultaneous multi-cabin operation and horizontal movement between buildings without passengers exiting.

Ropeless elevator systems use self-propelled electric vehicles that travel autonomously in conventional shafts, eliminating the need for hoist ropes and allowing multiple cabs to operate independently; these systems achieve greater energy efficiency through regenerative braking during descent, enable narrower building cores by reducing shaft requirements, and provide unlimited vertical travel without height limitations or wind-related shutdowns.