Evaluation of an Elevator Emergency Stop Device With a Magnetorheological Fluid Damper Controlled in Conformity With the Elevator Safety Guide

During the operation of an elevator emergency stop device, the elevator cage decelerates significantly. Some passengers have been injured in emergency stoppages because they were subjected to a large impact force from the elevator emergency-stop device. Therefore, we focused on the passengers´ safety in elevators and proposed an emergency-stop device with a spring and a magnetorheological fluid damper that enables the damping coefficient to be varied continuously by controlling the magnetic field. In this paper, based on the International Standard and the guide for elevators, we evaluate the performance of three types of emergency stop device, namely, the conventional mechanical emergency-stop device, a stop device with a controller designed for a full complement, and a stop device with a revised controller.