Intended users
- Building owners (clients)
- Architects
- Mechanical engineers
Need you’re trying to provide a solution or support for
This tool is intended to be used for determining the type and number of elevators to be installed. For high-rise buildings, elevators for vertical travel have a significant impact on the convenience of the people using the buildings. On the other hand, adding more elevators may increase the ratio of the area occupied by elevators to the total floor area, thereby reducing the usable floor area. This tool will help determine what the appropriate specifications and number of elevators are for the target occupancy (floor area) of the building. It also allows the user to verify that the floor can be used effectively by selecting the elevator specifications.
Inputs
Assume a commercial office building consisting of floors with the same layout.
Design variables
- Target building occupants (people / floor)
- Building height
- Story height (meters)
- Number of floors (#)
- Elevator specifications
- Elevator capacity: Shaft size (square meters), Passengers (people)
- Elevator speed (meters / second)
Constants
- Ratio of common area (stairs, restrooms, machine rooms, hallways, etc., other than elevators) to floor area: 15%
- Average office space per person: 15m2 / person
- Peak elevator passengers: 12% of building occupants in 5 minutes
Underlying logic of the model you’ll implement
- Based on the number of building occupants, determine the number of peak passengers for the elevators in 5 minutes.
- Calculate how many trips are required to handle the peak passengers in 5 minutes, based on 1. and the capacity of the elevator.
- Assuming that the elevators make a round trip from the first floor to the top floor in one operation, calculate how many trips each elevator can make in 5 minutes based on the elevator speed and building height.
- Calculate the number of elevators from 2. and 3..
- Calculate the area of the elevator shaft from 4. and the size of the elevator.
- Calculate the usable floor area (tenant occupied area) based on the target building occupants.
- Calculate the floor area using 5., 6., and the percentage of common areas other than elevators.
- Calculate the ratio of the usable area to total floor area from 6. and 7.
Outputs
- Number of elevators (#): Is it necessary to change the specs to increase or decrease this value?
- Floor area (square meters): Can this area be built on the site?
- Ratio of the usable area to total floor area (%): Is the floor being used effectively?