A Breakdown of Key Elevator Components

When you need an elevator installed or you’re looking for maintenance or repair services, it’s important to know what elements make up an elevator. Each elevator is designed differently but has a similar makeup. Here is an overview of the key components of an elevator. 

Mobility Features

Car/Cabin

The cabin is the main part of the elevator. This is where passengers will get on, press a button for where they need to go, and disembark from the elevator. With passenger elevators, the cabin is the central part where passengers are carried. In freight elevators, objects will sit inside the car or cabin. 

Door

The doors of an elevator are where riders enter and exit the car. There are two kinds of elevator doors: manual and automatic. Manual doors are opened with the help of elevator operators or passengers. Automatic doors are automatically opened through electricity. 

Cable

A cable is used to support the car and pull the car. It connects the elevator car to the controller where power and signal information is transferred through traveling cables in traditional elevators. It’s a multi-conductor wire that is always in motion. 

Hoistway

Hoistways move an elevator up and down. It includes gaps between the walls and floors which helps the elevator move more smoothly and safely. 

Traction Machine

A traction machine, also known as the elevator machine, has a motor, drive sheave, brake, and machine bed plate. This helps pull the cabin up and down in an elevator that uses ropes. The motor of the traction machine moves the pulley shaft so the cabin can move in the desired direction within the hoistway. This element should be maintained and checked regularly in case of issues that come up.  

Counterweight

Elevator cars are balanced by heavy counterweights that weigh the same amount as a car when it’s loaded about 50%. Think of the imagery of a see-saw; when the actual elevator goes up, the counterweight goes down or when the elevator goes down, the counterweight goes down. This helps put less strain on the cables which makes the elevator safer to operate. 

Electricity Feature

Controller & Drive Unit

An elevator controller is a system that controls the elevators whether they are manual or automatic. It is located right in the elevator’s machine room and has several electronic components to help the elevator run smoothly and safely. The functions of an elevator are controlled by this system. 

A drive unit is also part of the control system of an elevator. However, this controls the up-and-down movement of the elevator, incorporating the motor, drive system, and control system.  

Safety Features

Guide Rails

These T-shaped elevator components are positioned throughout the elevator shaft. They are installed vertically within the hoistway to guide and direct travel for the elevator car, and to stop the elevator at the floor needed.

Buffers

As its name says, it acts as a buffer, preventing possible accidents and injuries. These safety features can stop a descending car by controlling the kinetic energy of the elevator car. 

Safety Break

The job of a safety break is to prevent an elevator from crashing. If somehow a cable snaps in an elevator, there is a good amount of safety systems created to prevent it from malfunctions. At the top of each car, there is a spring-loaded mechanism that has hooks attached. Once the cable has broken, the hooks spring outward and jam into the metal teeth of the guide rails.