Google 10100 Project : Emergency Elevator
*** This is the Emergency Elevator System that has been submitted to Google Project 10100
This idea and its theory can be adopted, used, and applied by anyone in the world (except in the United States) without prior permission from the inventor, Kwon Woo Kim, since the patent application has been filed only in the U.S.A.
1. To sum up this idea
This idea is designed to safely and expeditiously evacuate people from a high-rise building and transport rescue workers to the affected area of the building during an emergency, such as a fire or a terrorist attack, by providing an emergency elevator system that does not rely on electric power and uses only the weight of the passengers in the elevator cars.
2. To elaborate on this idea
[Structure] This elevator system is comprised of two elevator shafts and each shaft has an elevator car of the same weight. These two elevator cars are interconnected by hoist cables A and B: Cable A hangs on the primary pulley system located at the upper portion of the elevator shafts, and cable B hangs on the secondary pulley system provided at the lower portion of the elevator shaft. These cables work to pull the two elevator cars up and down. As the heavier car descends by gravity, the lighter car in the other shaft ascends simultaneously. One of the elevator cars will always stay on an upper floor level and the other one on the ground level. A liquid reservoir, deep enough to absorb the impact of the descending elevator car, is provided at the bottom of the elevator shaft. As the elevator car descends, hits the reservoir, and creates a splash, it will slowly start to submerge into the liquid reservoir and cause the overflow of the liquid which will pass through a hole that is connected to the bottom of the other elevator shaft.
Each of these elevator cars is locked to the elevator shaft at the top by an automatic locking system and each elevator car is equipped with a device to manually disengage the lock after the passengers get on board. Installed in the elevator cars are a wireless TV camera, screen, and an intercom system that will monitor the inside of the other car and help communicate with each other. The elevator cars are also equipped with simple devices that generate electric power either automatically or manually in order to run the screen and intercom. In anticipation of the case where only one evacuee enters the descending elevator car, or there is no descending evacuee but only ascending rescue workers, handles and gears are installed for the evacuees or rescue workers to crank manually. A gear handle is connected to the gear that is meshed with the perpendicular gear installed on the elevator shaft wall, which will cause the elevator car to move.
This elevator system can be installed on the interior, exterior, or in the center of a building, either new or old and regardless of the height or location. This system can be installed on any floor; it would be convenient to install this system on designated floors of the building. For example, if this system is installed on every 4 th , 5 th , 6 th , or 7 th floor, the people inside the building will first attempt to escape through the emergency stairs if the floor is not equipped with the system. As the evacuees go up or down the stairs, then they will reach an emergency elevator system.
[Theory of operation] These emergency elevators are operated by the weight of the people. For example, if 30 passengers, each weighing 90 kilograms (200 pounds), board an elevator car on the 110 th floor of the World Trade Center building and the other car on the ground remains empty, the elevator car will descend like an object weighing 2,700 kilograms (6,000 pounds) as soon as the locking lever is manually turned only half way. And if 15 rescue workers, each one also weighing 90 kilograms (200 pounds), were on board in the ascending car, the descending elevator car will drop like an object weighing 1,350 kilograms (3,000 pounds) because the ascending elevator car will counterbalance the other 1,350 kilograms (3,000 pounds). As the heavy load of the elevator car falls at a fast speed and hits the liquid reservoir at the bottom of the elevator shaft, it will create a spectacular splash before slowing down to a complete stop. This liquid splash will also contribute to the control of the fire as it cools and wets the elevator car, cables, and other parts of the building such as the elevator shaft. In the meantime, the other elevator car operating simultaneously will ascend at the same speed and be locked to the elevator shaft by an automatic locking system to allow rescue workers to leave the car and evacuees to get on board.
3. What are the problems that can be solved through this idea?
This elevator system can be installed in high-rise buildings of any height and can be used during any emergency, such as a fire, by allowing the evacuees to move to the ground and transporting the rescue workers to the affected areas of the building safely and expeditiously. It will avoid the loss of peoples’ lives as well as damage to the property. The operation of this system will not require any electric power or other preparation measures. Once the evacuees enter the elevator car and turn the locking lever half way, it will reach the ground level in a few seconds and if at this time, there are rescue workers in the other elevator car, it will simultaneously ascend to the floor where the evacuees boarded. If the evacuation depends on the emergency stairs alone, the process of moving the evacuees from the 110 th floor to the ground and the rescue workers from the ground to the 110 th floor will take an enormous amount of time because the stairs, the only exit route at such a time, will be overcrowded. In addition, if the emergency stairs were blocked by fire, smoke, or toxic gas, such movement will become impossible. This emergency elevator system can be operated without being affected by the fire or smoke and it will take only 10 to 15 seconds for both elevator cars to simultaneously descend and ascend, moving 30 passengers from the 110 th floor to the ground and transporting 15 rescue workers from the ground to the same floor. This process can be repeated as much as needed and the size of the elevator cars can be made to accommodate any number of persons from 1 up to 50 or more. If this emergency elevator system was in place on every 8 th floor in the 110-story World Trade Center building for a total of 13 systems, it would take about 7 minutes for 3,000 people to evacuate to the ground and 1,500 rescue workers to be deployed to the affected floors. This idea will provide the solution to the problem when a building of 4 stories and higher is stricken with a fire or other disaster that could threaten the precious lives of people and the valuable property.
4. If this idea is materialized, who would benefit the most from it and what kind of benefits are they?
They are the occupants who reside or work in the 4 th and higher storied buildings, visitors, fire-fighters who are deployed to contain the situation at the time of fire or other disasters, and also the insurance companies who have to pay the compensation for the property damage as well as the personal injury and other casualties. If a fire breaks out in a 4 th or higher storied building and emergency stairs are blocked by fire or smoke, there would basically be no emergency exit route available and the peoples’ only hope is in the arrival of the fire trucks equipped with elevated ladders. Any type of imminent danger can develop prior to the arrival of the fire equipment trucks and there is also a limit to the range the fire truck ladders can reach. Under any circumstance, there must be a better way to allow the people to escape safely from the building and to help the firefighters move inside the building to contain the fire and rescue the people from the disaster. We are witnessing more and more high-rise buildings sprouting all around us and it means an ever more number of people inhabiting these places. In case a large scale fire erupts in one of these buildings, the only way to protect the lives of those people inside is to provide the means of a speedy evacuation. In this sense, I am totally convinced that this emergency elevator system is the best way to serve that purpose. The greatest benefit people will get is nothing other than their own lives and the preservation of property.
5. What is the first step to take in making this idea a reality?
The first thing to do in realizing this idea is to gain publicity or develop public awareness. Those people living or working in the high-rise building must be well aware of the fact that if a large scale fire breaks out in their building, their escape routes are very limited. Most likely the conventional elevator system cannot be used and jumping from the building’s windows is also not an option. Emergency stairs are the only means of exit available to them and those stairs can be used effectively if the building is not that tall (less than 4 stories) and if there aren’t many occupants in the building. However, in the typical modern high-rise building, these types of stairs are not sufficient to evacuate a large number of people and transport rescue workers to the affected floors in the building simultaneously and as efficiently, safely, and quickly as possible. Therefore, in order to realize this idea, we need to let many people know that there exists a system they could rely on in times of crisis. First of all, we must get in touch with the government agencies and the people involved in private sectors of construction and the building owners. This emergency system will not require a great amount of expenditure to install. We must put in our best efforts to let the public know that high-rise buildings are exposed to the danger of enormous loss both in terms of human lives and property damage when a disaster occurs. Instituting a law requiring the installation of this system should follow. In this regard, if we invite the media, government officials, insurance company representatives, and other civilians to conduct a simulation, then they could confirm with their own eyes about the results of the system and hopefully they will volunteer to go out and try to install the system on their own or to rally efforts to make the system installation into a law.
6. What would be the best result we can expect from this idea when it is adopted and successfully implemented? And how can it be measured?
This idea was initially conceived while I was watching the World Trade Center buildings in New York caught in flames on the TV screen during September 11, 2001. My heart simply ached to think that several thousand peoples’ lives would have been saved only if the buildings had a more efficient emergency system in place. This idea could have spared the precious lives of those people who were either destroyed by fire or crushed to death by the falling objects that rained down on them. The essential merits of this emergency system are its speed and also the safety that it can maintain under any circumstances. Suppose another fire or disaster of a similar scale strikes a building like the World Trade Center, this emergency elevator system would operate smoothly throughout the building without being interrupted by fire, smoke, or toxic gas. It would allow those people caught in the building to evacuate and the firefighters with their equipment to be moved and deployed at an incredible speed ranging from at least the several hundreds to the thousands or even tens of thousand times as fast as the conventional emergency stairs. The result would be the fastest fire containment possible, the minimum damage to the property, and the prevention of injuries and casualties. Such a result can be evaluated by conducting the simulations and the effectiveness of this system can be also measured accurately by observing the statistics from incidents that actually took place.