How does a curved escalator work

Use our convenient online tool to help efficiently plan an escalator installation project. The free service includes useful tools for calculating passenger traffic, creating layout drawings, and applying escalator specifications. Mitsubishi EZ-Assist System. With graceful arcs that flow elegantly through any building space, Mitsubishi Electric spiral escalators widen passenger perspective and add new contours to the surrounding area.

Escalators drawing an arc once said to be physically impossible. There is a reason that this could only be achieved by Mitsubishi Electric. Escalators drawing arcs unique in appearance. The rotational moment is complex in form, with the longitudinal movement closely intertwined.

To accomplish this, although the concept had long existed around the world, it had not been successfully achieved.

At first glance, these escalators appear to have curvatures without any special features. But the arcing structures achieved use elaborate, sophisticated technologies only capable of being realized applying the design, manufacturing, and installation skills of expert engineers. Brochure 5. Design Discovery of the "Centralized motion method" principle Most curving escalators once proposed around the world were based on methods for movement in a concentric circle.

But none ever made it to market. Even though the speed of horizontal movement when creating a semi-circle is regular, making it possible to move concentrically, the structural problem is that movement in the horizontal direction slows to the extent that there is vertical movement in the inclined section. Mitsubishi Electric overcame this issue by developing the "centralized motion method," in which the central point moves in stages based on the angle of incline.

For example, a special chain capable of supporting a wide variety of angles required for the spiral orbit was introduced to move the steps. However, in curved escalators, each step moves in a more complex manner, not only moving up and down but also tracing the shape of semicircle. In the past, some experts believed that escalators will not move in a curve unless the step-moving chains could freely expand and contract.

It is said that Japanese engineers conducted numerous calculations over and over again, drawing out over blueprints, in order to solve this difficult problem.

Eventually, they found out that the blueprint should be drawn by providing separate center points to the three parts with varying slopes.

This thought process was based on making a device just by changing the length of the chains, without requiring them to be expanded or contracted.