World's fastest lift built in China
April 26 BBC
Hitachi has said it will install a lift capable of reaching speeds of
72km/h (45mph) into a skyscraper in Guangzhou, southern China.The lift,
the fastest in the world, would take 43 seconds to go from the first to
95th floor in the Guangzhou CTF Financial Centre, the company said.
The skyscraper is scheduled to be completed in 2016.Currently, the
Taipei 101 building in Taiwan holds the record for fastest lift - it can
travel up to 60.6km/h.Hitachi promised a "comfortable ride" even at high
speeds in the new lift.
The lifts would prevent ear blockages, Hitachi said, by artificially
altering air pressure in the car.Dr Gina Barney, an expert in lift
technology, said protecting passengers from discomfort was a big
challenge for high-speed lifts.When you're travelling that distance,
you're going to get pressures on your ears changing," she told the
BBC.That's probably the most significant problem with high-speed travel
in buildings - people suffer some pain.
Hitachi said guiding "rollers" that adapted to warping caused by wind
pressure would mean the ride remained smooth.And brakes able to resist
extreme heat would activate in the "unlikely" event of a malfunction.The
building will have in total 95 lifts, two of which will be operate at
the ultra-high speed.
Twenty-eight "double-decker" lifts will also be installed into the
building.The Guangzhou CTF Financial Centre will house office, hotel and
residential space.If the Hitachi lift performs as well as the company
has said, it will comfortably top the global chart for fastest lift.
Today's record is held in Taiwan, where passengers in the Taipei 101
building are flung from the fifth to the 89th floor in 37 seconds, a
speed of 1,010m (3,313ft) per minute. |