Can TWIN elevators make buildings more energy efficient?
Sustainability made simple
Muriel Vega murielvega
© thyssenkrupp
Every morning you get to work and impatiently wait for the elevator to reach the lobby. We've all been there. ThyssenKrupp's TWIN elevators hope to reduce your wait time along with your building's footprint.
With two cabs and one shaft, this new technology handles higher crowds with less space and energy. By reducing the number of shafts necessary, less construction and materials are needed and less energy is wasted with empty elevators.
The TWIN elevator system has two cars, arranged on top of each other, that operate in one hoistway. Each elevator has its own traction drive, controller and safety features. They also share the same guide rails and landing doors. The cars move independently in the hoistway, with a minimum separation at all times for safety reasons.
You can also park elevator cars not in use during off peak times.
This is a big deal because elevators have a big physical footprint in a building. By putting two cars in one shaft, one can get away with few shafts, since stacking the cars increases capacity by 40 percent. It also saves a bit of energy.
The TWIN elevators are already available in several countries, including Germany, Saudi Arabia, Russia, South Korea and the largest group of TWIN elevators in the world housed in London's Botholph Building.
The first group of TWIN elevators in the United States will be installed in midtown Atlanta at the recently announced Coda, a collaborative building to be developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Thyssenkrupp's installation of its five TWIN elevators, two escalators and seven conventional elevators at Coda will begin in 2018.
You can see the TWIN elevator at work here.
Thyssenkrupp's TWIN elevators have a very unique feature that could save buildings energy and space.
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