The Latest Groundbreaking Vertical Transit Innovations
Date Posted: December 8, 2015
Posted In: Ideas,
From Sourceable: While the term “transportation infrastructure” usually conjures up images of highways and railway lines or bridges and tunnels, vertical transit facilities are becoming increasingly important even in spacious, land-rich nations such as Australia, given the increasing density of major urban centers and the proliferation of high-rise property developments.
Here is a rundown of some of the most eye-catching and remarkable innovations to emerge recently in the field of vertical transit systems:
The World’s Largest Spiral Escalator
The developers of the Shanghai New World Daimaru Store have made the world’s largest spiral escalator the centerpiece of their new shopping mall’s main atrium. The vertical transit system extends across six stories of the recently opened department store’s full 12-story height, and consists of a dozen escalators arranged into a helix formation.
Mitsubishi Electric, the developer of the elevator, has been producing spiral elevators for three decades, and its innovations in the area include the use of customized chains that are capable of responding to movement angles in order to ensure smooth, consistent motion, as well as a design which adjusts the center of the spiral based on the gradient of the elevator in order to maintain stable speeds.
Solar-powered Elevators
A sustainable social housing project situated in the French community of Reze near Nantes will host a solar-powered elevator as part of efforts to ensure that the development is net energy positive. Otis’ Gen2 Switch elevator will derive more than 80 per cent of its power from a set of four solar panels installed on the roof of the eight-story Les Bouderies housing projects.