World’s First Cable-Free Elevator Zooms Horizontally and Vertically Using Maglev Tech

The German engineering firm ThyssenKrupp first announced the idea of a maglev elevator way back in 2014 to a mixture of excitement and disbelief. Now, three years on, it has performed its first public test of the technology in a dedicated elevator experimentation tower in Rottweil, Germany.

As you can see in the video above, the elevator, known as Multi, doesn’t use a cable at all. Instead, it runs on rails that act as linear motors, using magnetic fields to accelerate cabins along their length. When a cabin stops at a floor, those rails can rotate so that it can move off to the left or right rather than continuing up or down.

ThyssenKrupp's vision is of a system of several such shafts placed next to each other, so software might plan routes that take cabins between shafts and around congestion, saving people time.

(MIT) TechnologyReview.com, June 23, 2017 - World’s First Cable-Free Elevator Zooms Horizontally and Vertically Using Maglev Tech. (animated GIF showing tech. Warning: Only 5 free visits to the site per month!! Use wisely)

"Ten Forward! I feel the need for a Romulan Ale!"

One company is putting this in their building. The cost is 5x more than regular elevators. One major advantage over regular elevators is that you do not have to switch cars when you reach the end of your rope (couldn't help myself! ). That is why hi-rises do that (hop in one elevator to a floor, de-board, then get on another to continue the trip), the cable can only be so long for safety concerns.

The guides run vertically but at floors they can rotate, like a car on display, and let you run on horizontal tracks. You only need to design your building so the tracks take you to your desired destination. Only downside I see, people no longer knowing what side of the building is "North"! Kind of like today, how nobody remembers telephone numbers anymore.

We were discussing EPS conduits on another thread. Then cloaking devices. Fusion drives. Phasers. That Gene Rodenberry really gave us some road-map! You can now add, "Turbo lifts" to the list!

The future is now!!

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

This is so cool - I'd like to see it in action.

P.S.

The future is now!!

a reply to: FamCore

Found a video!



nvm. Vid just talks about how it works... the video/animated GIF at the MIT site is better. You see the tracks rotating like a lazy Susan.

I would like to ride in one!

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF I find nothing useful in technology, except... creating the opportunity for 90% of humanity to slave their asses off, in the name of the other 10% who promised in return to lead them in Heaven(problem-free state of existence due to the heavenly technological capabilities). But this all is just a con made by the same tribe of con-artists who were banished from the temple. Yes, "them".

I'll state it once more - There is NO such thing as real Utopia. Tech. is utopical dream for intellectual infants. I'm serious.

a reply to: Argentbenign

"Utopia" literally means, "no place" or a place that does not exist.

Dystopia is even more meaningless as far as words go.

Even so, without such words, the concepts cannot be talked about, mulled, bantered about, kicked to the ground, examined... etc., without spending an awful lot of time and more words. Tech is the same way. To see what comes of it, you have to dream it up first then build it. How you use a tool or even view one is your choice.

Left my flank open! Don't care. Call me a tool. In the end that is all technology really is, a tool.

MULTI harnesses the power of linear motor technology to move multiple cars in a single shaft both vertically and horizontally!

* magnetic system enables faster elevators to be built
* horizontal movement allows more than one cabin per shaft
* horizontal movement allows more efficient routing where there was no routing flexibility before
* magnetic and ropeless system removes 500 meter height limit for one elevator shaft
* 50% more capacity and half the wait times

NextBigFuture.com, June 23, 2017 - Cable free elevator has been built and it will boost capacity and cut wait times in half.

They can run multiple cars in the elevator shafts. They also move faster. Taller buildings?

Since they can go sideways, as long as there is a standard size, you could connect buildings to each other! The article says "imagine all of the Vegas strip accessible from your hotel room." Travelling at 5 meters per second!

(Video with article)

originally posted by: Argentbenign
a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF I find nothing useful in technology, except... creating the opportunity for 90% of humanity to slave their asses off, in the name of the other 10% who promised in return to lead them in Heaven(problem-free state of existence due to the heavenly technological capabilities). But this all is just a con made by the same tribe of con-artists who were banished from the temple. Yes, "them".

I'll state it once more - There is NO such thing as real Utopia. Tech. is utopical dream for intellectual infants. I'm serious.

I agree there is no utopia, but if you hate tech that much, shouldnt you be somewhere else besides on a computer, posting to an internet forum?

What are the safety mechanisms on this? I cant watch the video right now.

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF
A tool, yes. But whom needs that tool and for what?

The first answer that comes to mind is progress, human progress. Human social progress. We all see there is huge social change that tech brings. We knew tomorrow won't be the same. It's a transition, yes, but towards what??

Spiritual debilitation. Most likely.

If you value your elevator, more than human spirit, then I understand you, but alas then count me not as one of your friends.

originally posted by: pirhanna

originally posted by: Argentbenign
a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF I find nothing useful in technology, except... creating the opportunity for 90% of humanity to slave their asses off, in the name of the other 10% who promised in return to lead them in Heaven(problem-free state of existence due to the heavenly technological capabilities). But this all is just a con made by the same tribe of con-artists who were banished from the temple. Yes, "them".

I'll state it once more - There is NO such thing as real Utopia. Tech. is utopical dream for intellectual infants. I'm serious.

I agree there is no utopia, but if you hate tech that much, shouldnt you be somewhere else besides on a computer, posting to an internet forum?

What are the safety mechanisms on this? I cant watch the video right now.

Thank you sir, for the good question. I'll be brief.

I hate NOT my enemies.

I hope that gives you clear understanding of the paradox you pointed at.

LOL !

I work for TKE and this is not going to go well, trust me .

I have 30 years experience in the elevator industry.

Soooooo many things to go wrong !

Ask me anything about it.

a reply to: Groot

Neat!

Thinking of the changing over from vertical to horizontal... does it still attach to the wall or run on tracks in the floor?

Thanks for offering to answer questions. Kind of like a mini AMA!

originally posted by: TEOTWAWKIAIFF
a reply to: Groot

Neat!

Thinking of the changing over from vertical to horizontal... does it still attach to the wall or run on tracks in the floor?

Thanks for offering to answer questions. Kind of like a mini AMA!

I have never seen one in action in person, but from the videos I have watched, The back of the cab has a set of rollers which keep it secured to the tracks on the wall behind it, much like a roller coaster.

As the rotating track moves, so does the roller guide and motor system behind it does.

But, I am perplexed on the need for horizontal travel.. Passengers could walk, or use moving walks if it is of a great distance.

a reply to: Groot

Thanks. The MIT site showed the rails on the wall rotating over from vertical to horizontal. Now I get it. It is already in the rail guide while the whole thing rotates.

As for the horizontal travel, 5 m/second is faster! People are lazy. Hop in a box, push a button, step out of the box.

Controlling all this is going to be a PITA! The controls for just your regular elevator involve much more than people think. Now add in horizontal travel, coordinated switching of tracks, multiple cars in the shaft, and that is just moving them around. As mentioned, the safety system needs to account for both travel modes too. How would, "return to ground floor" work if this is whizzing horizontally?

What are the obvious issues you see?

so this R&D is to remove a minutia of walking 1 yard to switch elevators only in high rise building requiring elevator switching because of the height of the building...


we're just adding to the fuc-kerie . I imagine the initial accident or failure rates will be by a massive margin compared to cables.

a reply to: odzeandennz


A point would be one could make a much larger building.

originally posted by: TEOTWAWKIAIFF
a reply to: Groot

Thanks. The MIT site showed the rails on the wall rotating over from vertical to horizontal. Now I get it. It is already in the rail guide while the whole thing rotates.

As for the horizontal travel, 5 m/second is faster! People are lazy. Hop in a box, push a button, step out of the box.

Controlling all this is going to be a PITA! The controls for just your regular elevator involve much more than people think. Now add in horizontal travel, coordinated switching of tracks, multiple cars in the shaft, and that is just moving them around. As mentioned, the safety system needs to account for both travel modes too. How would, "return to ground floor" work if this is whizzing horizontally?

What are the obvious issues you see?

All elevator companies have cut back on maintenance people to keep the older elevators working, that there can be many units shut down any giving time here in the states.

This thing has way to many moving parts, meaning many things to break or not work. It works great in a test tower, but out in the real world, things are not perfect.

Over in foreign countries, they do not have the codes that we do regarding safety, so adapting these units to the USA codes prove very problematic.

The list goes on, like making sure all the tracks are aligned correctly, ect.

originally posted by: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

The German engineering firm ThyssenKrupp first announced the idea of a maglev elevator way back in 2014 to a mixture of excitement and disbelief. Now, three years on, it has performed its first public test of the technology in a dedicated elevator experimentation tower in Rottweil, Germany.

As you can see in the video above, the elevator, known as Multi, doesn’t use a cable at all. Instead, it runs on rails that act as linear motors, using magnetic fields to accelerate cabins along their length. When a cabin stops at a floor, those rails can rotate so that it can move off to the left or right rather than continuing up or down.

ThyssenKrupp's vision is of a system of several such shafts placed next to each other, so software might plan routes that take cabins between shafts and around congestion, saving people time.

(MIT) TechnologyReview.com, June 23, 2017 - World’s First Cable-Free Elevator Zooms Horizontally and Vertically Using Maglev Tech. (animated GIF showing tech. Warning: Only 5 free visits to the site per month!! Use wisely)

"Ten Forward! I feel the need for a Romulan Ale!"

One company is putting this in their building. The cost is 5x more than regular elevators. One major advantage over regular elevators is that you do not have to switch cars when you reach the end of your rope (couldn't help myself!

). That is why hi-rises do that (hop in one elevator to a floor, de-board, then get on another to continue the trip), the cable can only be so long for safety concerns.

The guides run vertically but at floors they can rotate, like a car on display, and let you run on horizontal tracks. You only need to design your building so the tracks take you to your desired destination. Only downside I see, people no longer knowing what side of the building is "North"! Kind of like today, how nobody remembers telephone numbers anymore.

We were discussing EPS conduits on another thread. Then cloaking devices. Fusion drives. Phasers. That Gene Rodenberry really gave us some road-map! You can now add, "Turbo lifts" to the list!

The future is now!!

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

This is totally cool, I'd ride in one no problem. The Germans are top notch engineers, i'd trust them.

a reply to: odzeandennz

The German engineering firm ThyssenKrupp first announced the idea of a maglev elevator way back in 2014 to a mixture of excitement and disbelief. Now, three years on, it has performed its first public test of the technology in a dedicated elevator experimentation tower in Rottweil, Germany.

(Source: technology review article)

R&D is over. It is being demoed with one order it looks like.

I think that a mag-lev elevator is cool in and of itself. I think the horizontal movement is too soon. You would need some kind of city-wide demo to make it worthwhile. Maybe like a world's fair or something.



a reply to: Groot

We have an elevator where the doors don't always open--from the inside! You have to wait until somebody calls the elevator to get out. Happens randomly. Getting stuck in there sucks.

Now have the mag-lev turntables (just one not working is enough and they have at least 4 rotating at the same time). And electricity! Or the coolant to get the mag-lev working. Each would probably need a maintenance person. I see what you mean by "moving parts."

Still is cool as all get out. And I suppose somebody has to be first...

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

We have an elevator where the doors don't always open--from the inside! You have to wait until somebody calls the elevator to get out. Happens randomly. Getting stuck in there sucks. Now have the mag-lev turntables (just one not working is enough and they have at least 4 rotating at the same time). And electricity! Or the coolant to get the mag-lev working. Each would probably need a maintenance person. I see what you mean by "moving parts." Still is cool as all get out. And I suppose somebody has to be first...

Have you tried the door open button or pushing a car call button? We call elevators cars.
It is cool as hell, IMO, but from someone who works on them, I can envision the nightmarish scenarios. What happens when you get stuck? How will an elevator guy access the unit if it can not be fixed from the remote controls?