Elevator is one of the most important means of transportation, according to statistics, about 7 million times of elevator movement, only one accident occurs. However, technical problems often occur and users need to know how to handle them to ensure the safety of themselves and people around them.
Here are 8 common elevator problems, users need to pay attention to avoid and handle when the situation occurs.
Elevators use electrical energy to operate, because this energy source depends on the entire electrical system in the area, there will be situations of power failure, or rare electrical problems due to short-circuit or fire. When there are problems, the elevator also stops operating, even when the elevator cabin is moving between floors.
The automatic rescue system ARD (Automatice Rescue Device) is mandatory in the elevator design to ensure safety in this situation. This system works according to the following mechanism: when the elevator stops suddenly due to power failure, the reserve energy source will be activated automatically and bring the elevator to the nearest floor, opening the door to let people in the cabin move out.
In case the ARD system is also broken, the elevator should be equipped with some other options to avoid risks. The building can prepare generators and fuel sources (gasoline, oil) always available, or equip other automatic rescue systems such as SRS (Self Rescue System). With this feature, when the power fails and the ARD fails, you just need to press the button to activate the SRS feature, the elevator will automatically move to the nearest floor and open the door for passengers to step out.
Elevator incident due to power failure occurred in Hanoi in June 2019
In addition, to ensure that these rescue features work stably when something goes wrong, users should also ensure elevator maintenance. Test these features by suddenly disconnecting the electrical system.
In the process of moving, the elevator hangs is the case you can most easily see: the elevator is operating, suddenly stops, out of service. The cause of the elevator stop operating may be due to a power failure as in item 1 or the previous maintenance and repair process is not good, leading to a malfunction of certain parts and details of the elevator, not operating normally. Elevator suspension problems can also occur because the components of the elevator have not been replaced or maintained on time, leading to errors during operation. In addition, the elevator hangs can also be caused by errors arising from the power source with phase loss, phase reversal. At that time, the elevator system will also stop operating and be suspended to protect the equipment.
If you encounter an unexpected hang-up situation, you can try the automatic rescue buttons like ARD, SRS first, if still not effective, you need to press the rescue bell system or use the internal phone, the Emcall feature .. to search and rescue from the outside, from the maintenance unit, to rescue the elevator.
If the elevator cabin is stuck and cannot be opened, even if it is hanging or has reached the level of the floor, you should absolutely not pry the door or climb up to pry the roof of the cabin, do not stomp or exercise vigorously to make the cabin lower to the floor. These behaviors are all very dangerous, easily causing the elevator cabin to fall freely.
The elevators are designed with a travel speed in accordance with the capacity and driv technology, PIT, OH, etc. Elevator speed will change depending on the stop, calculated to always operate. stable. However, in actual operation, there will be a situation where the elevator has a problem in the system that can cause a situation of loss of speed control, the elevator car moves too fast.
To prevent this situation, the elevator needs to be technically designed according to technical regulations, with enough space and a guaranteed damping system. In addition, elevators are often equipped with governor (also known as an elevator speed limiter). This part has the role of controlling the elevator speed, controlling the elevator to move at a certain speed within the allowed time. In case the elevator exceeds the speed, this unit will act as a rescue device to ensure the safety of the people taking the elevator.
With a traction elevator, if the cable is broken or the brake is broken, elevator will have a dangerous accident that is the elevator free-falling. This incident can also lead to injury or even death of the elevator user.
In this situation, the speed governor also comes into play. When the elevator has an unexpected problem causing the elevator to lose speed control and fall freely, the mechanical brake system will be activated to help the cabin stick to the rail to avoid an accident.
The incident of the elevator fell freely 84 floors in the US, but fortunately there were no human casualties
Elevator door not closing is quite common problem. The cause is that the elevator may be stuck with foreign objects in the door, in the groove, so the elevator door cannot be closed. In fact, this is a feature that ensures our safety from the situation when the door of the elevator is closed, limbs and people are stuck. Elevators can be installed with light curtain (photocell – point) or safety shoe (safety shoe), elevators can also combine both of these systems.
Elevator and point infrared blinds are usually installed in car doors
In the situation where the person has completely entered the cabin but the door still does not close, you should step out and observe if there is any foreign object entangled in the elevator, if no obstruction is detected, the elevator door still does not close, please contact the elevator technical department immediately to find out the cause, absolutely do not operate the elevator when the landing door or the cabin door is not closed.
This problem is not dangerous, but it will disrupt your elevator travel and take you more time to handle the problem. When you encounter a situation where the elevator cannot close the door, step outside and observe for any foreign objects entangled in the elevator to remove. In the event that you cannot detect the error that causes the elevator to not close the door, you should call the elevator technical support department to help handle the error.
Elevator stops incorrectly can arise because the elevator is not maintained, cleaned regularly and on time, so there is a problem with the rails, it can also be due to a system error with the call board leading to the failure to record the command. exactly.
In this situation, if you are outside, do not enter the elevator cabin, stop using the elevator immediately and report to technical support for handling. If you are in the cabin, you should use the rescue features equipped for the elevator to go to the nearest floor, when the elevator stops, you should not rush out immediately, but should wait and observe to be sure. The elevator cabin has stopped stably and then stepped out, avoiding the situation where the cabin is drifting while you have not stepped out completely.
The situation where the landing door was opened due to failure to comply with technical regulations caused people to take the stairs to fall into the well. This is a relatively common situation recently when the manufactured elevators do not meet the specified technical standards, creating a high risk of casualties, especially from high floors. In principle, the elevator door is always guaranteed not to open when the cabin has not stopped correctly thanks to the guiding shoe and doorlock system. When these two devices malfunction or the door hinges are released due to the force of the impact, it is extremely dangerous.
At the landing door, the elevator door should have the necessary warning
When incidents occur, someone is trapped in the elevator cabin, if the rescue technician is not properly trained and does not have a standard rescue operation, it will lead to ineffective handling of the situation, causing people to be injured. trapped may fall down the shaft or suffer more serious injury. According to an expert of the Institute of Elevator Technology, there have been many such cases in Vietnam and around the world. This is also a problem for the training and standardization of rescue personnel.
In order to prevent unfortunate incidents from happening, elevators need to be regularly maintained in accordance with regulations (at least once every 3 months for homelift, 1 month for public elevators). In addition, elevators should also be upgraded to include advanced safety technologies that can reduce the risk of incidents. And when an incident occurs, in addition to immediate handling to ensure the safety of people, the elevator also needs to be checked, inspected, maintained immediately before normal operation.
