An Elevator Control Algorithm Optimizing Privileged Use

Abstract

Elevators are expected to fulfill the many different needs of passengers, which also differ depending on the type of building they are in. The absence of flexible software algorithms cause some elevators to be allocated to private usage in busy places like hospitals, hotels, and malls. Often this allocation, taking into consideration the ratio of private to public passengers, is unbalanced; in which case, heavily-used elevators, on top of risking breakdowns and becoming out of service, operate unsatisfactorily. In this study, a control algorithm has been developed to authorize both private and public users, instead of distributing elevators between private and public passengers. In this way, service times for all users were optimized. The algorithm was tested with 100 scenarios on a prototype, while a total of 55000 scenarios have been simulated with Excel program. Differences in duration of both waiting and travel times have been compared yielding results which show significant advantages.