Summary
Human conveyance is an important part of our daily life. It makes it easier and faster for people to move from one location to another. The person does not have to put much effort in it, because the human conveyance system (HCS) requires the power for transport. The power usage of the HCS is sometimes not very efficient, but companies nowadays have energy saving solutions to improve the energy efficiency of the HCS.
For this survey, first a clear understanding about the definition of HCSs is required to scope the survey. Within the scope there are three types of HCS:
• Elevators • Escalators • Moving walks
For each system the a general description is given to get a clear understanding of what components are in these systems and the overlap between the different system components. This information is found on different websites, but not in scientific papers. There are a lot of papers about the individual energy consuming compo-nents and systems. This is required to go more into detail about each component and system. The energy efficiency of each component and system, is found in dif-ferent folders of HCS companies. Also industry norms and assessment criteria are important for HCS companies. This was studied at the end of the survey to know what needs and can be taken into account by HCS companies.
Out of the survey can be concluded that the general potential energy improvement sections are:
• Transmission and motor • Lighting
• Control systems • Weight
The transmissions and motors for HCS are nowadays permanent magnet motors with regenerative drive. A permanent magnet motor does not require a gearbox, so there will be no losses due to transmission.
For lighting often LED is used because it is more efficient and has a longer lifetime i
Energy savings for human conveyance systems
than incandescent and fluorescent lamps. This is also the case for LED displays instead of LCD displays.
There are different types of control systems, which include the standby and the movement algorithm. Escalators and moving walkways often do not have a specific movement algorithm as for the elevator, but they (and also the elevator) nowadays have the standby modus to reduce power consumption when the system is not in use. The two general movement control systems for elevators are conventional group control (CGC) and destination group control (DGC). DGC is more efficient, because the person is assigned to an elevator to achieve optimal movement patterns, with less energy consumption than with CGC.
Another important factor, mostly in the elevator, is the weight. By using lighter moving parts and material (for design and construction), the required power, to move the components, decreases.
