Rory Smith is a Visiting Professor in Lift Technology at the University of Northampton and a Consultant to Peters Research Ltd. He has over 50 years of lift industry experience and worked for ThyssenKrupp Elevator for the past 25 years in various regions including the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Southern Europe and the Middle East .
He was involved in ThyssenKrupp’s Internet of Things. Rory's areas of special interest are Robotics, Machine Learning, High-Rise Design, Traffic Analysis, Dispatching Algorithms and Ride Quality. Numerous patents have been awarded for his work.
Codes and Standards at first glance appear to be an arbitrary collection of rules, regulations, and dimensions. However, most codes and standards are based on basic safety principals, known risks, and science.
The safety fundamentals behind codes and standards and defined in ISO/TR 1107-1 for traction lifts and ISO/TR 1107-2 for escalators are presented.
The risks to be addressed, as well as the persons and objects to be safeguarded as defined in EN 81-1 are reviewed. Although EN 81-1 has been superseded by EN 81- 20 and EN 81-50, the abbreviated list of risks in EN 81-1 is still valid and perhaps easier to understand.
The science, mostly physics, and how it is applied are explained in simple terms.
How the risks, safety fundamentals, physics and standards are applied to safety gears, brakes, and buffers are explored.
THE SCIENCE BEHIND LIFT AND ESCALATOR CODES & STANDARDS
Rory S. Smith
Peters Research Ltd, USA.