Engineers at one of the world’s leading elevator companies, ThyssenKrupp, have shown off an elevator system dubbed ‘TWIN’, that would see two elevators on the same shaft. In some countries, the system has been installed and have been working for quite some time, but for others, two elevators on one shaft is unheard of. Four years ago the company released the report that showed the very first elevator system that had two cabs working on one shaft, minimizing time and costs in a company. The tagline for the project is 2 cabs, 1 shaft, 0 crowds.
They also say that the traditional elevator systems for 16 passengers, would theoretically make 15 stops, however, with their technology there would be only 4 stops, due to double the number of cabs on one shaft. The company says with fewer stops than a traditional system, there is less energy consumption that occurs. Another energy saver is that if there is not a lot of foot traffic occurring during the day, one out of the two elevators can be parked during off-peak times. The company says with one shaft, the number of construction materials necessary on site will also be lowered. According to TechInsider, the United States will be seeing their first Twin elevators in a building at Georgia Tech in 2018. The number of buildings that currently utilize the Twin system sits at 200, worldwide.
Safety is obviously a huge concern for people, who are afraid of a second elevator cab crashing down into the first one. However, ThyssenKrupp says they have it all handled with a four stage safety system that regulates the minimum distance the two cabs can be from each other.
To see how it all works, check out the promotional video below. You could be riding one of two elevators quite soon.