Intelligent monitoring for city elevators
A worker checks the maintenance records of an elevator in a residential complex in Hongkou District on Tuesday.
Around 40,000 elevators in Shanghai have been equipped with remote-monitoring installations connected to the city's comprehensive operation management platform, enabling automatic monitoring and alarms to improve the response to emergencies, Shanghai's market watchdog announced on Tuesday.
The installations can spot sudden breakdowns and if people are trapped, automatically sending the information to the city's intelligent elevator platform, the Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation said.
The platform will then locate and identify the elevator using the city's elevator database and GIS (Geographic Information System) and alert maintenance and repair companies.
Workers will be able to check videos showing the inside of the lift and immediately arrange a rescue, the administration said.
The platform will also send the information to property management companies.
Anyone trapped inside can follow the progress of rescue operations on a screen in the elevator.
In the event of any delay, the platform will alert market watchdogs, property management and neighborhood committees.
"The mechanism relies on technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data and artificial intelligence, and changes the traditional practice of riders' dialing for help and the manual dispatch of rescue workers," said Wang Zhigang, deputy director of the administration's special equipment safety supervision department.
"It significantly cuts rescue time and improves rescue efficiency,” he said.
The installations will also record and evaluate the whole rescue process to regulate procedures and prevent similar incidents in the future. Any irregularities in rescue efforts will be recorded in the city's credibility system of elevator maintenance and repair companies, the administration said.
"Via image recognition technologies, the installations can also capture uncivilized elevator taking behavior and alert neighborhood committee officials and property management staff, who will then educate those involved and stop these behaviors immediately to eliminate potential safety hazards," said Wang Ye, a developer of the system.
Shanghai's intelligent elevator platform monitors the operation of about 40,000 elevators via remote-monitoring installations.
The city's newly built elevators will all be equipped with the system while it will gradually cover all 270,000 elevators in the city, the administration said.
Meanwhile, the administration issued a notice allowing maintenance companies to adjust maintenance frequency of elevators from the mandatory once every 15 days to times based on the real situation.
Maintenance companies must conduct 24-hour real-time monitoring on the operation of elevators via remote-monitoring installations if they look for a change in maintenance based on the real operation and conditions of elevators, the administration said.
"The new practice shifts focuses from the frequency of maintenance to maintenance effect, and will make maintenance and repair work more scientific and accurate," said Wang.
Maintenance companies are required to upload their maintenance records to the city's intelligent elevator platform and inspections will be beefed up to ensure the safe operation of the city’s elevators, the administration said.
