Elevator Controls.
Elevator Controls.
(31585 K)
Bukowski, R. W.; Fleming, R. P.; Tubbs, J.; Marrion, C.;
Dirksen, J.; Duke, C.; Prince, D.; Richardson, L. F.;
Beste, D.; Stanlaske, D.
NFPA Journal, Vol. 100, No. 2, 42-57, March/April 2006.
Keywords:
elevators (lifts); escalators; rescue; building design;
fire departments; ASME A17; NFPA 13; fire codes; high
rise buildings; evacuation; sprinklers; smoke control;
hositways; design applications; pumps; doors;
emergencies; training
Abstract:
It is important that all parties, from rescue personnel
to building designers understand the intent of the fire
service operation provisions of ASME A17.1, Safety Code
for Elevators and Escalators. The development of the
passenger elevator is tied directly to the emergence of
tall buildings. While various types of freight lifts
were found in warehouses and factories before the advent
of the high-rise, these were considered too dangerous to
move people. In 1854, however, Elisha Graves Otis
demonstrated an automatic safety brake that changed the
landscape. Within a few years, his steam elevators had
eliminated one of the major limits to building height.
But, while elevators proved to be one of the safest
forms of transportation, there were instances where
people were killed while using elevators during building
fires. Heat sometimes activated call buttons bringing
cars to the fire floor where smoke prevented the doors
from closing (light beams are in modern day elevators to
detect people in the doorway) and water in the shaft
sometimes shorted out electrical safety devices or may
have caused failure of braking systems. Thus, the use of
elevators for occupant egress or fire department access
was discouraged. In 1973, the elevator industry
developed a system that recalls elevators and takes them
out of service if smoke is detected in the lobbies,
machine room, or hoistway. Mandated in the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) A17.1, Safety
Code for Elevators and Escalators,1 for all automatic
passenger elevators, this system involves two distinct
phases of emergency operation.
