IoT in Elevators

How Connected Elevators Are Changing Maintenance, Safety and Operations

By Arun Aggarwal
Founder, Global Lift Academy

The Elevator That Can Speak

For more than a hundred years, elevators have been maintained almost in the same way.

The elevator stops.

The customer calls.

The maintenance company sends a technician.

The fault is rectified.

The elevator starts running again.

Then everyone waits for the next breakdown.

This model has served the industry for decades, but it has one major weakness.

It is reactive.

It waits for the problem to happen first.

Unfortunately, passengers do not remember the thousands of trips that an elevator performs safely every day. They remember the one day when the lift stopped working.

Today, expectations have changed.

Customers expect elevators to be available all the time. Building owners expect complete transparency. Maintenance companies are under pressure to reduce downtime and improve response times.

This is where the Internet of Things, popularly known as IoT, is beginning to change the rules of the game.

For the first time in history, elevators are learning to communicate.

They are beginning to tell us what is happening inside them.

They are beginning to tell us when something is not right.

In a way, elevators are beginning to speak.

What Exactly is IoT?

The term sounds complicated, but the idea is very simple.

IoT means connecting physical equipment to the internet so that it can continuously collect and share information.

Every elevator generates an enormous amount of information.

• Motor current
• Voltage
• Temperature
• Door opening time
• Door closing time
• Vibration
• Brake operation
• Floor levelling accuracy
• Battery condition
• Number of trips
• Energy consumption

Traditionally, most of this information simply disappeared.

Nobody knew what happened inside the elevator between two maintenance visits.

Today, with IoT, every piece of information can be captured, analysed and presented in a meaningful way.

The elevator is no longer a black box.

It becomes visible.

The Lost Art of Examination

Many younger professionals in our industry may not know this, but maintenance was once very different.

In the old days, the maintenance technician was often called an Examiner.

The word itself is interesting.

He was not merely a repair technician.

He was expected to examine the elevator.

He would listen to the sounds.

Observe the machine.

Study the condition of the ropes.

Check the behaviour of doors.

Feel vibrations.

Notice unusual smells.

Watch how the elevator accelerated and stopped.

A good Examiner could identify problems long before a breakdown occurred.

Many failures were prevented because of this process of examination.

Unfortunately, this practice has gradually disappeared.

The number of units under maintenance increased. The pressure on costs increased. The availability of skilled manpower reduced. Maintenance became more routine and less analytical.

In many cases, the process of examination has almost vanished.

And perhaps this is one of the reasons why breakdowns and customer dissatisfaction have increased.

Can IoT Bring Back Examination?

To a large extent, yes.

IoT can help us bring back the lost art of examination.

The elevator can continuously examine itself.

Twenty-four hours a day.

Seven days a week.

It can monitor parameters that no human being can continuously observe.

It can identify trends that may remain invisible during a short maintenance visit.

It can detect very small changes that may eventually develop into major failures.

In many ways, IoT acts like a digital examiner that never sleeps.

But Technology Cannot Replace Human Judgement

This is extremely important to understand.

No sensor can completely replace an experienced maintenance professional.

A sensor can tell us that vibration has increased. But it may not always understand why.

A sensor can tell us that current consumption has increased. But it may not know whether the cause is mechanical resistance, poor lubrication or an alignment issue.

A human being can still notice things that no sensor can measure.

• An unusual sound
• An abnormal smell
• Poor housekeeping
• Loose components
• Signs of misuse

The future therefore does not belong to humans or technology.

It belongs to humans working with technology.

Should Physical Examination Continue?

Absolutely.

In fact, IoT should not eliminate examination.

It should improve examination.

The frequency of routine visits may change, but detailed examination should remain an important part of maintenance.

For non-critical components, a detailed examination at least twice a year may be appropriate.

For critical safety devices, a detailed examination at least once every quarter should continue.

Elevators are passenger transportation systems.

Safety can never depend entirely on software.

Technology can assist.

Technology can guide.

Technology can warn.

But the responsibility of examination will always remain with trained human beings.

Monitoring the Health of the Motor

The motor is the heart of the elevator.

Its condition tells us a great deal about the health of the entire system.

By continuously monitoring:

• Motor current
• Voltage
• Power factor
• Temperature
• Energy consumption
• Vibration

the system can identify:

• Overloading
• Mechanical resistance
• Bearing deterioration
• Electrical abnormalities
• Poor alignment

The beauty of IoT is that it does not simply capture information.

It studies trends.

A small increase in motor current over several weeks may indicate a developing problem long before a breakdown occurs.

The Door System: The Biggest Source of Complaints

Ask any maintenance company where most complaints originate.

The answer is usually the same.

Doors.

Doors work continuously.

Thousands of opening and closing cycles take place every month.

The system experiences wear and tear.

Rollers wear out. Tracks become dirty. Sensors deteriorate. Adjustments change.

An IoT system can continuously monitor:

• Door opening time
• Door closing time
• Door motor current
• Number of cycles
• Door lock operation
• Obstruction events

A gradual increase in door operating time can indicate a developing problem.

Maintenance can then be planned before passengers start experiencing failures.

Monitoring Power Quality

Power supply problems are becoming increasingly common.

• Voltage fluctuations
• Phase imbalance
• Harmonics
• Frequency variations

Poor power quality can significantly reduce the life of electronic components.

IoT systems can continuously monitor:

• Voltage
• Current
• Frequency
• Power factor
• Harmonic distortion
• Phase failure

This information becomes extremely valuable during troubleshooting and failure analysis.

Making Elevators Safer

Perhaps the biggest contribution of IoT will be in the field of safety.

Connected elevators can continuously monitor:

• Brake operation
• Automatic Rescue Device health
• Battery condition
• Door lock status
• Machine room temperature
• Controller temperature
• Emergency alarms
• Levelling accuracy

Abnormal conditions can immediately generate alerts.

Potential problems can be identified before they become incidents.

Safety becomes proactive instead of reactive.

Remote Monitoring: The New Control Room

Imagine managing hundreds or thousands of elevators spread across different cities.

Without IoT, this would be almost impossible.

With IoT, every elevator can be monitored from a central dashboard.

The control room can instantly know:

• Which elevators are running
• Which elevators are under fault
• Which elevators are repeatedly stopping
• Which elevators require maintenance
• Which elevators are heavily utilised

This information changes the way maintenance companies operate.

Resources can be planned better. Response times improve. Customer satisfaction increases.

The Role of Edge Computing

Not every decision should wait for the cloud.

Certain decisions need to happen immediately.

If a motor suddenly overheats, the elevator should not wait for instructions from a distant server.

If vibration reaches dangerous levels, action should happen instantly.

This is where Edge Computing becomes important.

A small industrial computer or gateway can analyse information locally and make decisions within milliseconds.

Only important events and trends need to be sent to the cloud.

For elevators, this combination of local intelligence and cloud monitoring is likely to become the standard architecture of the future.

The Future of Elevator Maintenance

The maintenance engineer of tomorrow may receive messages such as:

• “Motor current is gradually increasing.”
• “Door performance has deteriorated by twenty percent.”
• “Battery health of the rescue device is reducing.”
• “Brake response time is changing.”

The elevator itself will ask for maintenance.

Breakdowns will reduce.

Downtime will reduce.

Resources will be used more efficiently.

Customers will receive better service.

A New Chapter for the Elevator Industry

The elevator industry stands at an important moment.

For years we relied entirely on periodic visits and human observation.

Tomorrow, we will have something more powerful.

Continuous monitoring.

Continuous examination.

Continuous learning.

IoT will not replace the Examiner.

It will give the Examiner a new set of eyes and ears.

And perhaps that is the real promise of connected elevators.

Not replacing human expertise.

But making it smarter.

Because the elevators of the future will do much more than move people between floors.

They will continuously watch themselves, understand themselves and quietly tell us when they need our attention.

And that may be the biggest change our industry has seen in decades.

Arun Aggarwal
Founder
Global Lift Academy