April 8, 2013—Schindler, a global provider of elevators and escalators, has harnessed the sun’s energy and its design team’s ingenuity to introduce what it says is the world’s most advanced affordable, solar-powered elevator system.
Inspired in large part by its partnership with the revolutionary Solar Impulse project, the zero fuel airplane aiming to fly around the world propelled only by solar energy, the Schindler Solar Elevator is a hybrid system designed to supply up to 100 percent of the elevator’s power needs from rooftop solar panels and a proprietary Hybrid Energy Manager (HEM) that stores the solar energy in batteries until needed. The trailblazing technology used to develop the elevator underscores the company’s dedication to developing innovative, sustainable solutions for urban mobility challenges, says Schindler.
According to the company, solar panels can supply most of the Schindler Solar Elevator’s power requirements, which will vary depending on size and daily traffic. Backup power needs are provided by a one-phase grid connection, which is significantly simpler and less costly to install and operate than the standard three-phase connection. The Schindler Hybrid Energy Manager collects and stores the clean energy generated from the solar panels and the elevator operations to provide backup energy supply should a power interruption occur, the company explains.
The new solar elevator system uses a standard Schindler 3300 gearless machine room-less elevator, which is reportedly already up to 60 percent more energy efficient than hydraulic elevators. The elevator system includes many features that are designed to save energy and reduce costs: stable start; a frequency converter with an energy-efficient standby power mode; controls that automatically switch car lights to standby mode, and light-emitting diode (LED) car lights.
The Schindler Solar Elevator is commercially available in Europe and India in 2013, and will be available in the United States and other global markets in 2014. Schindler sees the elevator as a “major step forward” towards creating net-zero energy buildings in urban environments. The system is currently available for residential and low-rise commercial buildings. Further refinements will make the system even more efficient, says the company.
