GLOSSARY
Glossary
ACVF / V3F / VF
AC Variable voltage variable frequency – the method by which the motion (acceleration and deceleration) is controlled
ACVF Drive / Inverter
The device which varies voltage and frequency supply to the machine to control the machine speed.
Average Travel (Transit) Time (ATT)
Is the average period of time, in seconds, which an average passenger takes to travel from the main terminal floor to the requested destination floor measured from the time the passenger enters the lift until alighting at the destination floor.
Average Waiting Time (AWT)Avergae Time to Destination
Is the average period of time, in seconds, that an average passenger spends waiting for alift, measured from the instant that the passenger first registers a landing call (or arrives at the landing) until the instant the passenger can enter the lift
(ATD) / Average Journey Time (AJT)
Is the average period of time, in seconds, measured from the instant an average passenger first registers a landing call (or arrives at the landing) until alighting at the destination floor
Brake
An electro-mechanical device used to prevent the elevator from moving when the car is at rest and no power is applied to the hoist motor.
Buffer
A device designed to stop a descending car or counterweight beyond its normal limit of travel by storing or absorbing and dissipating the kinetic energy of the car counterweight. A buffer can be a spring buffer or oil buffer.
Capacity Factor / Car Capacity
The % of the rated capacity to which the elevator car will normally be loaded.
Car / Cabin
The load carrying unit including its platform, car frame, enclosure and car door.
Controller
A device which serves to control the equipment to which it is connected (machine / door operator etc.)
Counterweight
A weight which counterbalances the weight of an elevator car plus a part of the capacity load
Elevatoring
Is the technique of applying the available elevator technology to satisfy the traffic demands in a building, involving calculations and simulations of the elevator system performance on basis of estimations of population and patterns.
Elevators / Lifts
A hoisting and lowering mechanism, equipped with a car which moves in guide rails and serves two or more landings with the purpose of transporting people, freight etc. In British English and other Commonwealth countries, elevators are known more commonly as lifts
Escalators
A power driven inclined continuous stairway used for raising or lowering passengers
Fire lift
The designated lift which can be recalled to the designated landing through a device like a fireman's switch and permitting special operation by the fire fighters or other authorized emergency personnel
Handling Capacity (HC)
The total number of passengers that it can transport in a period of 5 minutes as a percentage of the total building population
Hoistway
A shaft way for the travel of an elevator or dumbwaiter. It includes the pit and terminates at the underside of the overhead
Interval (INT)
Is the average time between successive lift car arrivals at the main floor with cars loaded to any level
Machine
The power unit which applies the energy necessary to raise and lower an elevator or dumbwaiter car . The normal machines would be a geared traction machine or a gearless traction machine.
Moving Walks
A type of passenger carrying device on which passengers stand (or walk) and in which the passenger carrying surface remains parallel to its direction of motion and is uniniterrupted. They can be horizontal moving walks or inclined moving walks.
Over head
The upper end of the elevator hoistway. Measured from the top landing level to the bottom of the machine room floor slab (or the hoistway roof for machine room less elevators or basement drives)
Over Speed Governor
A mechanical speed control mechanism. Normally it will be a centrifugal device used to stop and hold the movement by initiating the activation of the safety gear as well as cutting of power to the drive motor and brake
Pit / Pit Depth
That portion of the hoistway extending from the sill level of the lowesy landing to the floor at the bottom of the hoistway.
Rails
Normally steel T-section with machined guiding surfaces installed vertically in a hoistway to guide and direct the course of travel
Rope
A construction of twisted fibres or wire to form a inter-twisted strong cord. Wire rope is an assembly of multi-wire twisted around a fiber or steel core
Round Trip Time (RTT)
Is the time in seconds for a single car trip through a building from the time the car doors open at the main terminal landing, until the doors reopen, when the car has returned to the main terminal floor, after its trip through the building.
Safety Gear
The safety gear is a mechanical device for stopping the car by gripping the guide rails in the event of the car speed attaining a predetermined value in a downward direction of travel, irrespective of what the reason for the increase in speed may be. The safety gear can be instantaneous or progressive. The counterweight will also be provided with safety gears if the area below the pit is to be occupied. In recent times the car also be provided with safety operating in both directions.
Traffic Analysis
Analyses to determine the likely performance of the elevator system
Travel / Rise
The vertical distance between the bottom terminal landing and the top terminal landing of an elevator, dumbwaiter or escalator
Vertical Transportation System
The mechanical transportation system to move people and material within a building like elevators, escalators, moving walks, dumbwaiters etc.