You may have heard the story of being stuck in an elevator from your spouse or friend, or you may have witnessed fatal elevator accidents in various movies and TV series. In fact, these mechanisms are not as scary as we thought.
So, how do elevators work and, as we all know, what happens if one of the ropes that hold them up breaks?
In fact, elevators have much more safety mechanisms than we anticipated.
Inside the elevator systems, the steel ropes bolted to the cabin are coiled on a pulley. The pulley is a mechanism with a grooved surface located at the top of the elevator shaft. The task of the pulley grooves is to grip the steel ropes, so the electric motor in the elevator rotates the pulley, allowing the ropes to move as well.
The ropes that lift the elevator are also attached to a counterweight suspended on the opposite side of the pulley. That is, both the car itself and the counterweight move on steel rails.
Each of the ropes in the elevator is usually made of different lengths of steel materials wrapped around each other.
Elevator ropes, which have a very durable structure, are very long-lasting in terms of wear and tear. But of course, these ropes also have the possibility of breaking, albeit rarely. So what happens then?
Pulley elevators often have between four and eight ropes in total. This means that even if one rope breaks, the others will keep the elevator afloat. In fact, even if a single rope remains intact, the elevator continues to function.
Well, let’s say all the ropes in the elevator are damaged. Even in this case, there is no need to worry. Because elevators have an electronic brake system.
Sensors found in most modern elevators can detect the car accelerating downwards, revealing a metal brake that extends from the bottom of the elevator car and sits on the guide rails.
Also, many lifts have a tightly closed clamp on the pulley. This type of brake always stays compressed unless you apply force to release it. Again, this means that when there is no electricity, the pulley will be braked mechanically.
Again above the brakes are counterweights that attach to opposite ends of the cables. These weights are usually slightly heavier than an empty car. Even in the absence of any braking system, this counterweight; If the elevator is empty or not too full, it will go up slowly, and if it is full, it will lower the elevator slowly.
Of course, in addition to all these safety measures, various elevator accidents may occur, but it is possible to say that most of these accidents are caused by human errors rather than mechanical malfunctions in elevators.
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