Control algorithm for multi-car elevators with high transportation flexibility

Recently, multi-car elevator (MCE) consisting of several elevator cars in a single elevator shaft received great interest as transportation systems for high-rise buildings. Algorithms for efficiently controlling elevator cars are necessary to put MCEs to practical use. We propose an algorithm for controlling MCEs to reduce passenger-waiting time. The algorithm allocates requests to elevator cars by using a local search method to reduce the waste time during which cars cannot transport passengers. We show that the proposed algorithm performs well by simulation.