Development of energy-saving elevator using regenerated power storage system

Various measures have been strongly focused upon to prevent global environmental problems. One of them has been the development of energy saving methods for electrical apparatus. In contrast, a standard elevator with a diode rectifier consumes regenerated power from its electric motor as heat in resistors. As a result, the entire elevator system suffers a remarkable energy loss. This paper proposes an energy-saving elevator capable of storing regenerated energy and capable of discharging the stored energy during operation. The result is a highly efficient elevator system. This paper also focuses on three methods for elevator systems: load-leveling method, storage method, and energy-saving method. The technical possibilities of these methods are successfully verified through prototypes. With the energy-saving method in particular, a 31% energy saving is attained due to the use of nickel metal-hydride (Ni-MH) batteries.