SBIR Phase II: Hyprlift Vertical Transportation System Prototype

这个小企业创新研究第二阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业化潜力将促进未来城市中心越来越高的摩天大楼内下一代垂直交通的发展。成功的商业化将提高美国在不断扩大的260亿美元“智能”电梯市场的经济竞争力。由此产生的产品将使建筑业主能够以更少的电梯井满足其建筑物内的吞吐量和乘坐质量的运输需求，从而在建筑核心内释放出更有价值的可折叠空间。除了向目标客户群提供的这一价值主张和其他价值主张外，这些产品还可以减少城市扩张和使用它们的建筑物的碳足迹，提高人口密集城市居民的生活质量。此外，作为该项目的一部分开发的技术可以应用于其他可持续发展的行业，如电动汽车和储能。其智力价值包括开发和验证围绕新型动态牵引驱动技术构建的完整垂直运输系统所需的所有核心子系统。这项研究将分四个主要阶段进行。首先，将创建一个经过修改的牵引驱动单元（TDU），将最初的概念验证设计重新包装成一个更紧凑、更高效的机制，同时也完全实现了主动悬架和驻车制动。接下来，将建造一个完整的电梯轿厢原型，其中包括四个新的TDU，一个专有的控制系统，以及乘客电梯轿厢所需的所有标准现成机电系统。第三，将建造一个横向转运站（LTS）原型，这将允许出租车在相邻的竖井之间转移（从而在建筑物内“循环”），这是最终系统的一个关键特征。每个子系统都将单独验证，这些实验将在项目的第四阶段达到高潮：在所有正常电梯操作中原型轿厢重复行进到指定的“停止点”，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercialization potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will facilitate the development of the next generation of vertical transportation within the ever-taller skyscrapers of future urban centers. Successful commercialization will enhance the economic competitiveness of the United States in an expanding $26 billion market for elevators with “smart” technologies. The resulting products will allow building owners to meet their intra-building transportation needs of throughput and ride quality with fewer elevator shafts, freeing up more valuable lettable space within building cores. Aside from this and other value propositions delivered to the target customer segments, these products could reduce urban sprawl and the carbon footprints of buildings that utilize them, enhancing the quality of life for citizens of densely populated cities. Further, technologies developed as part of this project may be applied to other sustainable industries, such as electric vehicles and energy storage. The intellectual merit includes the development and verification of all core subsystems required for a complete vertical transportation system built around a novel dynamic tractive drive technology. This research will be conducted in four primary phases. First, a revised tractive drive unit (TDU) will be created that repackages the initial proof-of-concept design into a more compact and efficient mechanism that also fully implements both an active suspension and parking brake. Next, a complete elevator cab prototype will be constructed that incorporates four of the new TDUs, a proprietary control system, and all standard off-the-shelf electromechanical systems required for a passenger elevator cab. Third, a lateral transfer station (LTS) prototype will be constructed, which will allow cabs to transfer between adjacent shafts (and thus “circulate” within a building), a key feature of the eventual system. Each of these subsystems will be validated individually, and these experiments will culminate in the fourth phase of the project: repeated travel of the prototype cab to designated “stops” with all normal elevator operations, as well as fully-automated LTS docking and transfer.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.