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Maglev Elevators by 2008?
An anonymous reader writes "CNN is reporting that the first magnetic levitation elevators could hit the market as soon as 2008. The Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corporation has stated that the same technology used to develop high speed trains will soon be available in their elevators. From the article: 'The maglev elevators will be quieter and more comfortable and will travel 300 meters (984 feet) per minute -- not as fast as the company's conventional lifts that can move up to 1,010 meters (3,314 feet) a minute, Toshiba said.'"
The fastest elevator in the world, made by Toshiba, is located in Taiwan at 'Taipei 101' (you get to the 89th floor in ~32 seconds). It has a pressurized cabin and aerodynamic spoilers on it. I've been on it a couple times and it is actually quite comfortable and smooth. They have a cool scale model of it at the observation level. Worth a visit if you're anywhere near the area.
--SONET (who lost his password years ago)
Yeah, but it's cool, which is why every company that wants to have the most high-tech building will want it. :)
Actually, it is most certainly all the things you describe, but remember, this is the first generation of these things. As time goes on, the cost will go down, and efficiancy will increase. My guess is that the designers are looking ahead to the super-skyscrapers they see coming down the road, and they want an elevator that is fast and easy to maintain. True, maglev isn't either of those things, yet, but they obviously want to see if it can be further refined.
And another good thing about this is that any maglev research is good for other projects, such as trains. SoI say that this could turn out to be a good thing.
Dang, that was really funny! How did you come up with that all by yourself? (inside joke, don't think too hard)
A maglev excells in the taller buildings where cables become a liability. Cable elevators are just like a striped set without parity, lose one bit and you've lost it all. The friction brakes on the car are the parity and those would be there in the maglev version as well.
-nB
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
3,314 fpm = ~55fps
If you're bowhunting, that is fast enough to kill medium sized game
(learned that watching Myth Busters & their episode about paper cross bows)
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
This has 2 major advantages.
1. There should not be a height restriction. Cables on elevators have a tendency to swing around at resonance points. This limits the length of the cable and the height of the shaft as a result.
2. It should be possible to run more than one elevator in a single shaft. Have a single up-shaft and a single down-shaft, then at the floor the elevator could move to the side. Many buildings have a large portion of their floor plates used by elevator shafts serving other points in the building. You can do things like express elevators to other lobbies but otherwise this limits the practical height of the building.
We know how to build a building that is several thousand meters in height. Aside from construction costs, transporting people to those upper floors has been the large difficulty. This might solve the transportation problem.
Rod Taylor
A maglev excells in the taller buildings where cables become a liability.
Try telling that to Betty Lou Oliver. In 1945 a plane crashed into the Empire State Building, causing an elevator cable to be sheared. The elevator holding Oliver fell 75 floors and she survived. Why? Because the cable below the elevator formed a coil at the bottom of the shaft which cushioned the landing.
Czech language for absolute beginners
Well, when they build these, they can put a big spring down there. Happy?
:-/
I reckon the guide rails could taper in a bit when you reached the bottom of the shaft - say, over the last 20ft. Your falling car could then wedge itself in and stop slower than just hitting the deck. You could survive decelerating from 100mph in 20ft, although you'd be pretty pissed off about it.
Probably end up just crushing the car like a coke can though
You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
There is a lot of hype here.
Wouldn't this also induce considerable resistance to motion when the elevator was in normal operation?
If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
Without any cables or other signifigant moving parts, a mag-lev elevator can move in 3D, in diagonal and horizontal shafts in addition to vertical shafts. In fact, without cables, a mag-lev shaft can easily pass from one building to another.
In fact with proper computer controls, several mag-lev elevators can be placed in the same shaft, and an elevator can switch from one shaft to another.
Although this won't be useful for a traditional tall skinny building, wide building complexes would benefit. Think 3D!
"Won world war II against all comers"
Umm.. this doesn't sound like the US, who only joined WW2 when it was halfway through and when it was obvious who was going to win. The UK was the only one to stand up against all-comers - they were fighting when Russia was on Germany's side, and fighting alone at that. Incidentally, if any one country could be said to have 'won' WW2 it was probably the Russians.
In fact US technological innovation is suprisingly poor. It rarely invents anything. Maglev is a good example - it was invented by UK engineer Eric Laithwaite in the 1970s. What the US excels at is setting up companies to develop and market ideas which were usually first created in Europe. Your examples of space travel and cars are good ones - both created first in Germany.
I grant you that the US is amazingly good at self-deception. If something was 'not invented here' it doesn't exist for the US until Hollywood creates the illusion that an American was 'really first'. Perhaps that's why you think of Maglev as new technology?
Now consider the possibility that there would just be two elevator shafts - an "up" and a "down" - just like there are two parallel railroad tracks. If a floor requires a stop the elevator cabin would leave the main shaft (so as to not block the other cabins in that shaft) and comes to a halt in that floor's "station". Really, think of it as a vertical train system rather than an elevator. The train stops only by request, and only where there is a station with a turn-out track.
Such a "railroad-like" elevator system would make high-rise architecture a great deal more practical. Even if an ultra-high-rise would need four elevator shafts (two up and two down), it would still be a huge improvement over the 16 or more that are needed now, and service would surely be much better.
Also, since the down-elevator would be slowed by passing through a magnetic field, much of its potential energy could be recovered as induced electricity, which could be used to help lift other cabins. It would be sort of like a virtual counterweight. It's possible the energy efficiency of a maglev elevator could be competitive with a cable elevator.
Wouldn't this also induce considerable resistance to motion when the elevator was in normal operation?
Yes and no. It would induce considerable resistance to motion at different speeds than intended. When working normally, there is a moving electromagnetic field, and the elevator moves along with it.
It's the same principle as a regular electric motor. As long as there is power, it rotates at the same speed as the magnetic field rotates. If the power fails, the motor turns into a generator or alternator, creating electricity instead of using it. This can be used for braking, and is used for braking in e.g. electric locomotives.
Otis demonstrated the system in public by cutting the cable (actually a more easily-cut rope, for demonstration purposes) while he was in the lift. As soon as the cable tension failed, the dogs sprang out, engaged the shaft and Otis only dropped a few inches. Of course, modern systems use different safety devices, but the original Otis one would not work with a maglev drive.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
After travelling around in Japan for a while with Shinkansen I really wish the Eu would make themselves useful and try to establish a Eu system for high speed trains. If I could jump on a train in Sweden and go all the way down to Germany/France directly that would be *so* much nicer than going by the small and cramped airplanes.
I wouldn't have to bother with all the crap associated with airtravel neither. (Though it's pretty decent compared to what I hear about the US. We're not all treated as terrorists.)