James Ray
Engineering Design VI
February 4, 2011
Escalator Efficiency Controller
Consider the number of malls that are present in America. The typical person has
one or two within short driving distance of them. And these are not taking account the
super malls with more than three levels. In order to go from level to level, there is
typically an escalator expediting the process. And this escalator is running from the time
the mall is open and until the mall closes. If a mall is open from 10am-10pm, that is
twelve hours of continuous operation but are all of the escalators in continuous use?
While there are times when there is a large volume of people utilizing this service, there
are times, like when the mall opens in the morning, when the escalators are bare. The
focus of this project will be to create a device to help cut down on the useless working
time.
In order to accomplish this task, a mechanism must be chosen to determine when
the escalator is use. This can be accomplished with a motion detector or a weight
analyzer system. This would communicate with the mechanical device within the
escalator as to if it needs to be in use. The escalator would then go into motion for an
allotted amount of time.
More specifically, the device will also determine the amount of traffic at a
specific time. In other words, if one person utilizes the escalator and then a few seconds
later another person does, the time the escalator will not simply double. The escalator
will begin running and there will be a delay between the that and the start of the timer.
This is to allow another person to utilize the escalator without having the escalator stop
and then start. If during this timer function another person comes to the escalator, the
program will loop back to the delay function.
In utilizing this device quite a few things will happen. By not having the escalator
be in continuous motion, this cuts down on the wear in tear on the internal mechanisms
within the escalator. By doing this, less time and money is put into repairing and upkeeping the escalator. Also, this cuts down on the amount of downtime that is required to
work on the escalator. By cutting down the downtime, a higher volume of people will be
able to utilize the escalator over the course of the day. This will allow the people to
easier get to the stores on that level, thus potentially increasing revenue. The time and
effort spent on repairing this device would be considerably less.
In addition to this, power costs will be greatly decreased. It takes a considerable
amount of power to keep something of the scale of an escalator in motion. However a
motion sensor takes very little and can even be battery operated. This drastically cuts
down on the cost. A weight recognizer can even be put into a low power idle state, such
as a computer has a screensaver.
This product is simply a supplement to the already implemented escalator system.
Simple modification of the control system would be needed. Mall owners would have a
small modification to the area in front of the escalator or the floor in front of the escalator
to implement this device.
The majority of the time spent developing this device will be spent in making a
proper algorithm to make sure the most efficient delay time will be implemented. A
super mall and a local smaller mall should not have the same delay time. Time must be
spent surveying the flow of shoppers within the malls. The time of day and day of the
week must be considered.
As for the physical development of the product, a programmable chip must be
used. The chip must be able to accept the signals from the sensor and trigger the start of
the program, which will then switch on the power to the escalator or off.
For the device itself, the appropriate sensor must be chosen. If the sensor is a
weight type sensor, the parts must be able to withstand the weathering of the people
walking across it. Since this device would be under the tile it would not directly be
exposed to the shoppers, but rather the moving or depressed parts must be made of a very
sturdy plastic. This would be much like how a scale works internally. However, if a
motion type sensor is utilized, the sensor would be mounted and a simple occasional
change of light bulbs will be in order. The sensor would wirelessly send a signal to the
actual device and trigger the program.
In order to accomplish the fabrication of this design, a person knowledgeable in
circuitry would be needed. The device must be in some way incorporated into the
existing circuitry of the escalator. The program will send a signal to the control of the
power supply.
Being that this device is relatively simple in the amount of parts incorporated,
manufacturing cost will be relatively low. A bulk cost would be in the installation of the
device. The worth will greatly outweigh the money put in. A mall will save a great deal
in power costs which makes the device very valuable. The larger malls will have more
escalators which results in more power usage. Larger malls will benefit greatly from this
device.