Active Roller Guide System for High-Speed Elevators

Mitsubishi Electric has developed an active roller guide system to suppress the lateral vibration of high-speed elevators. Lateral vibration is mainly caused by guide rail deformation and guide rail alignment error. Development of the system required that we first actually measure the guide rail displacement in several hoist ways and introduce a new simulator capable of enabling us to design the optimal active vibration isolation system. Next, we used the simulator and rail displacement data to design an active roller guide system that suppresses the lateral vibration of elevator cars. We manufactured an active roller guide and conducted experiments with actual elevators in experimental towers. Experimental results show that the active roller guide system is capable of reducing the lateral vibration of elevator cars to nearly half.