LIFTS

ELEVATORS AND ECOLOGY

Ecology is at present so popular topic that it also enters the elevators branch. Many producers of electric lifts without machine rooms call them “ecological” and show only the motor power ”forgeting” about many important facts that, from the environment protection point of view and preventing climate changes, force us looking at these systems in a different way. Firstly, it results from a lot of energy needed to produce these massive devices and the solid shafts in which they run. Secondly, the electric elevators, on average, consume more energy in the stand-by mode (waiting time for a user’s call) than during travel. The total energy consumption is thus comparable for both types of the lifts. However, last GMV’s solutions within new technologies caused that the balance is tipped in the favour of hydraulic lifts with the newest NGV-DRY unit.

Hydraulic lifts are much more pro-ecological than electric ones what results from the following advantages of hydraulic lifts:

• Low total weight of the hydraulic lift (approx. 40-60% lower than the electric lifts weight), this means also lower energy consumption needed to manufacture and transport the lift.
  
  
  WEIGHT COMPARISON OF LIFTS READY TO DISPATCH FROM THE FACTORY
  Hp = 10 m, 4 stops
  
• Small number of parts in a hydraulic lift – including moving parts, a simple construction, no massive counterweight and its guiding. They are characterised by long durability and hence an additional advantage for the environment: no necessity to produce too many spare parts.
• Ultra-light shaft construction in comparison with electric lift shafts thanks to forces concentration mainly on the shaft bottom and usually on one shaft wall.
• Small size of the shaft make its construction requires the removal of less ground for the foundation and the use of less material for building it.
• Easy utilization of working medium. The hydraulic fluid after 5-10 years of use undergoes 100% recycling process.
• No drive with permanent magnets that exist in majority of machineroomless electric lifts.
• Low energy consumption in a hydraulic lift thanks to GMV technology.
  The hydraulic elevator drive operates only during upward travel. During downward travel, the gravity force is used – the engine is switched off. GMV continuously modernizes its products and the lately developed DRY type unit with NGV valves block ensures lower electric energy consumption than in in machineroomless electric lifts.
  
  
  
  
  
• Low noise level thanks to the hydraulic lift drive (unit) location outside the shaft.
  The The machineroomless electric lifts have a drive in the shaft. This makes easier the noice distribution on all floors of a building. To reduce the noise inconvenience, the lift shafts are separated by additional concrete shaft walls (dilatation) from rooms in which people stay or the shaft is built in the central part of staircase. Both above methods waste a building internal area and require an additional energy consuming heavy concrete construction.

	More about lifts
	Comparison of hydraulic and traction lifts

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