Are there any standards for designing elevators 1

[DerekatMtIsa]

Before finite element analysis I understand elevators were designed simply by using very large safety factors to account for the dynamic forces.

Now my firm is using finite element to analyse some existing elevators and skips (for the underground mining industry) and we have found that, when the skip is designed as a whole unit, rather than seperate elements, the whole thing does not have the capacity it seems to have.

The problem we have is that there is very little guidance of any kind that we know of for this the design of lifts or skips. If anyone knows of any good references I would be very interested.

Thanks for your time

 

[CanuckMiner]

There are some ASME codes that cover elevators and escalators (ASME A17 series). Check the website

http://www.asme.org

for more information.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what these specifically contain, nor if the information would be of any value to you.

The South African Bureau of Standards has published a code of practice: SABS 0208-3 Design of Structures for the Mining Industry (Part 3: Conveyances) that discusses the loads and load factors to consider. The website for SABS is

http://www.sabs.co.za

If you're truly interested in mining conveyances (as opposed to elevators), I think you will find this document of interest.

Cheers and Good Luck,
CanuckMiner