Double-deck elevator

Double-deck elevators at Midland Square, Nagoya, Japan

A double-deck elevator or double-deck lift is an elevator with two cars attached together, one on top of the other. This allows passengers on two consecutive floors to be able to use the elevator simultaneously, significantly increasing the passenger capacity of an elevator shaft. Such a scheme can prove efficient in buildings where the volume of traffic would normally have a single elevator stopping at every floor. An example, a passenger may board one elevator (which serves only odd-numbered floors) on the third floor while another passenger may board another elevator (which serves even-numbered floors) on the fourth floor. The elevator serving even floors is actually on top of the elevator serving odd floors in the same lift shaft. When a passenger disembarks from the even-floor-serving elevator at level 30, for instance, the passengers in the odd-floor-serving elevator beneath it are kept waiting until the elevator doors above close.

Architecturally, this is important, as double-deck elevators occupy less building core space than traditional single-deck elevators do for the same level of traffic. In skyscrapers, this allows for much more efficient use of space, as the floor area required by elevators tends to be quite significant. (The other main technique is shared-shaft elevators, where multiple elevators use different sections of the same shaft to serve different floors, with skylobbies separating the sections.)

Double-deck goods/passenger elevators

Not all double-deck elevators are used to transport passengers simultaneously in both decks. Sometimes one or more elevators in a building has a double-deck car, where the second deck is used for transportation of goods, typically outside of peak traffic periods. This technique has the advantages of preventing damage to interior fixtures due to impact from trolleys, and does not require a dedicated shaft solely devoted to a goods-only elevator car. During peak periods, the car is switched back to passenger mode, where it can expedite passenger movement into or out of the building.

As of 2011, no triple-deck elevators have been built, although such a design had been considered for the 163-floor Burj Khalifa before the final design was scaled back to double-deck.[1] Also, Frank Lloyd Wright had envisioned five-deck elevators in his 1956 proposed Mile High Illinois.

List of structures with double-deck passenger elevators

Asia

Australia

North America

South America

Europe

Middle East

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Burj Dubai, Dubai, at Emporis.com". Emporis. Retrieved 1 March 2007.

External links

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