Title: Emergency braking mechanism for an elevator using hydraulic and pneumatic actuation

Authors: Nitin Rohatgi; Krutarth Mehta; Parijat Sarkar; T. Christo Michael

Addresses: School of Mechanical and Building Sciences, VIT Chennai Campus, Chennai 600127, Tamil Nadu, India ' School of Mechanical and Building Sciences, VIT Chennai Campus, Chennai 600127, Tamil Nadu, India ' School of Mechanical and Building Sciences, VIT Chennai Campus, Chennai 600127, Tamil Nadu, India ' School of Mechanical and Building Sciences, VIT Chennai Campus, Chennai 600127, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: The proposed idea aims at replacing the current safety mechanisms used by the elevators (i.e., governors) which are rope-based safety mechanism to rope independent, actuated by pneumatic and hydraulic cylinders. The proposed safety mechanism is lightweight and mounted on the top of the elevator. The mechanism involves a pneumatic cylinder actuating a hydraulic master cylinder using a class 1 lever for mechanical advantage. The hydraulic cylinder will pressurise the brake fluid and supply it to the callipers mounted on the elevator body. Callipers will cling to the guide rails upon actuation, thus stopping the elevator in very short distance. The effective force to be stopped by the callipers was calculated and parts were designed accordingly. Analyses of parts are done by considering maximum forces acting on hydraulic calliper mount and lever arm for varying thickness. Through calculations and analyses, the proposed system was found to be safe and reliable.

Keywords: safety mechanism; elevator; pneumatic cylinder; hydraulic master cylinder; class 1 lever; guide rail; hydraulic calliper mount; lever arm.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRS.2019.097021

International Journal of Reliability and Safety, 2019 Vol.13 No.1/2, pp.125 - 137

Received: 27 Sep 2017
Accepted: 13 Jun 2018
Published online: 14 Dec 2018 *

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