Home elevators differ significantly from public passenger elevators in their technical specifications: for example, the load capacity cannot exceed 400 kg, the speed cannot exceed 0.4 m/s, and the lifting height cannot exceed 12 m. However, in reality, people often demand larger car areas or higher speeds, such as 1.0 m/s or 1.75 m/s, far exceeding the manufacturing specifications for home elevators. This overemphasis on appearance and decoration, while neglecting the essential safety of home elevators, is a misconception in choosing a home elevator. Therefore, correctly understanding the nature and technical specifications of home elevators or villa elevators is crucial.
Private Housing Elevator Selection:
The structure of private houses dictates that a machine-room-less home elevator structure should be chosen for home elevators or villa elevators. This maximizes savings in construction costs and space while maintaining the aesthetic appeal of the house.
Hydraulic Drive, Traction Drive, or Screw Drive: Hydraulic villa elevators are a traditional home elevator design, widely used in North America and Europe. However, due to factors such as oil leaks polluting the environment, excessive operating noise, and wasting large amounts of electricity, they do not conform to the modern elevator industry's environmentally friendly and energy-saving development philosophy. Like passenger hydraulic elevators, they are being gradually phased out. Their sales have plummeted globally over the past decade, accounting for less than 10% of the market, with the vast majority used in freight elevators or large-tonnage special elevators, and a small portion in home elevator designs. Traction elevators are widely praised for their high drive efficiency and more mature technology, but due to their strict requirements for shafts and counterweights (machine room elevators also require a pit machine room), they occupy a large area and have high construction costs, limiting their application in homes. In contrast, screw elevators, derived from accessible elevators, offer higher safety, have their own shafts, are more adaptable to different conditions, and occupy less space; however, their disadvantage is their slower speed.
Elevator Door Opening Methods
Manual doors are similar in structure to doors commonly used in homes, but with an added door lock linkage device and are heavier. They also lack a car door protection design, objectively posing a safety hazard.
Automatic doors, on the other hand, are similar to public passenger elevators, with double protection from both the car door and the landing door. However, over 95% of villa elevators choose side-opening automatic doors. This is because side-opening automatic doors maximize the saving of building space and make the most of the shaft width, while also being convenient for disabled and elderly users, fully demonstrating their usability.
PLC Control or Microcomputer Control
PLC control is short for "Programmable Logic Controllers," primarily used in early industrial applications and is the main control method for elevators. In the 1980s, after the emergence of microcomputer control systems, PLC control was still widely used only in simple freight elevators. However, it was largely phased out in passenger elevators. Therefore, choosing a precise microcomputer control system is the right choice.
Variable Frequency Drive (VF) for Home Elevators
Choosing a VF drive for home elevators makes operation more comfortable, smooth, and energy-efficient. For traction home elevators, a VVVF traction machine and inverter drive configuration is recommended.
LED Lighting
The biggest difference between LED lighting and traditional spotlights or incandescent bulbs is that it is brighter, more environmentally friendly, energy-efficient, and has a longer lifespan.
Choose Home Elevators with Automatic Rescue Devices (Power Outage Leveling) and Automatic Calling Devices: Private elevators differ from public elevators; they are for single-family use. Therefore, home elevators have higher safety requirements, especially for elderly people or children in the family. In the event of a sudden power outage or malfunction, choosing a home elevator with automatic rescue devices and automatic calling devices provides maximum safety for the family. Of course, manufacturers will require additional payment for the additional equipment.
