ThyssenKrupps Multi, a Vertizontal Maglevator System
ThyssenKrupp calls it the Multi, but that sounds like a kitchen appliance. So yes, I coined this “Vertizontal” name to make it easier to write about on this blog. The term Maglevator is intended to address the fact that it is not an elevator anymore, it moves in any direction the maglev track takes it. The Magnetic levitation track is the dominant concept now. The system lacks a simple way to say what it is and this works for me.
Otherwise known as the world’s first rope-less, horizontal-vertical elevator system, has been installed inside the ThyssenKrupp purpose-built innovation test tower in Germany. Named Multi, the groundbreaking system has been developed by the elevator manufacturer to address a variety of issues with systems using wire rope to move elevator cabins in a shaft.
The use of multiple maglev-adapted cabins, which operate in the same shaft on an electromagnetic track, makes it possible to travel sideways as well as up and down.
Leveraging the linear motor technology developed for the magnetic levitation Transrapid train, the cabins move up one shaft, travel horizontally, and then come down another in a continuous loop, much like a metro system inside a building.
Exchanger mechanisms like railway switches help to guide the cars, which are mounted with carbon-fiber bearings called slings that allow them to change direction.
Antony Wood, executive director of The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has hailed the system as “the biggest development in the elevator industry since the invention of the safety elevator some 165 years ago.”
ThyssenKrupp first unveiled its ambitions to build the system back in 2014.
The company now reports that Multi can achieve up to 50 percent higher transport capacity and reduce peak power demand by as much as 60 percent when compared to conventional elevator systems.
“These two factors mean a dramatic improvement for high-rise buildings,” said the brand in a statement. “Additionally, since Multi can move sideways as well as vertically, and without any height limitations, it enables unprecedented possibilities in the architecture and design of buildings.”
Because it runs on magnets and motors, Multi requires fewer and smaller shafts than conventional cable-operated elevators. ThyssenKrupp says that the system can increase a building’s usable area by up to 25 percent.
Currently, elevator-escalator footprints can occupy up to 40 percent of a high-rise building’s floor space, depending on the building height.
In addition, it requires lower peak power permitting a better management of the building’s energy needs.
“We believe Multi is a genuine game-changer that will truly transform the way people move, work and live in our built environment,” said ThyssenKrupp’s chairman of the executive board, Andreas Schierenbeck, at the system’s launch.
“It will reduce waiting times for passengers and take up significantly less space within the building. Multi is a key offering that truly represents a landmark revolution in the elevator industry.”
Following the installation of the system across three shafts at ThyssenKrupp’s 246-metre-tall test tower in Rottweil, Germany, the German multinational announced that OVG Real Estate would be Multi’s first customer.
The European real estate business has outlined plans to install the system in the new East Side Tower building in Berlin, which has been touted as the world’s most sustainable office building.
Other game-changing technologies envisioned for the future include antigravity plating incorporated into the Metapallets, and portal technology for the maglev track corridors. Cities of the future will eliminate barriers to space and mass while reducing energy needs and saving time for all residents.
