In a world that largely relies on elevators to ferry people from one floor of a building to the next, it is remarkable how inefficient current systems are in terms of favoring passenger convenience over the increasingly important aspect of reducing energy consumption. Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Electric looks set to buck the trend with the announcement of its development of multi – elevator smart control technology that can not only reduce energy use by up to 10%, but do so while adding a mere few seconds to passenger waiting times.
The multi – elevator smart control technology developed by Mitsubishi Electric selects which elevator to send to which particular floor based on a combination of both operational efficiency and energy consumption. The system is able to predict an elevator system’s congestion levels throughout the course of a day so as to configure an algorithm that best suits both operational convenience as well as consumption of energy. This means, for example, focusing on operational efficiency during peak times while maximizing energy reduction during lull times.
Mitsubishi Electric is planning to roll out the technology with limited elevator models from April of this year, with further plans to incorporate the smart control system into other models.