Wonkavator is real! Multi-directional elevator can go sideways, slantways and backways - TomoNews
- 7 years ago
ROTTWEIL, GERMANY — German engineering conglomerate ThyssenKrupp has turned a fictional multi-directional elevator into a reality.
ThyssenKrupp’s Multi elevator system is the first ropeless elevator system. It uses the same magnetic levitation technology in bullet trains to drive the elevator cabins.
The elevator system features exchangers, which is a section of the track that rotates to change the direction of the cabin, allowing it to travel horizontally or even diagonally.
“When we decided to take this type of exchanger, which was one in about 20 different concepts we immediately saw, we found that this would also allow not only the change from vertical to horizontal but also to maybe any other angle in between,” Markus Jetter, Head of product development for systems and components at ThyssenKrupp told Wired UK.
Standard rope and pulley elevators can only rise to about 500 meters and thus skyscrapers require building multiple elevators, sometimes on top of each other, in order to run from top of the building to the bottom. Elevator shafts can take up a significant amount of building floor space.
The Multi elevator is built within a single, slim shaft that can fit as many cabins as needed. This technology could increase a building’s usable area by up to 25 percent and release the constraints in skyscraper designs.
The system is being tested at the 246-m tall test tower in Rottweil, Germany. Three of the elevator shafts of the tower will be used to test the Multi elevator system.
ThyssenKrupp’s Multi elevator system is the first ropeless elevator system. It uses the same magnetic levitation technology in bullet trains to drive the elevator cabins.
The elevator system features exchangers, which is a section of the track that rotates to change the direction of the cabin, allowing it to travel horizontally or even diagonally.
“When we decided to take this type of exchanger, which was one in about 20 different concepts we immediately saw, we found that this would also allow not only the change from vertical to horizontal but also to maybe any other angle in between,” Markus Jetter, Head of product development for systems and components at ThyssenKrupp told Wired UK.
Standard rope and pulley elevators can only rise to about 500 meters and thus skyscrapers require building multiple elevators, sometimes on top of each other, in order to run from top of the building to the bottom. Elevator shafts can take up a significant amount of building floor space.
The Multi elevator is built within a single, slim shaft that can fit as many cabins as needed. This technology could increase a building’s usable area by up to 25 percent and release the constraints in skyscraper designs.
The system is being tested at the 246-m tall test tower in Rottweil, Germany. Three of the elevator shafts of the tower will be used to test the Multi elevator system.