Modernisiation
The right time for modernisation depends on a wide variety of factors. In addition to the fundamental necessity and costs, the time frame is usually an important aspect. ELEVCO offers all modernisation measures from a single source. We adapt flexibly to our customers’ budgets and time requirements and, on request, divide larger measures into small steps in order to meet budget plans and minimise downtime. On request, we also offer financing for the modernisation costs.
The most common reasons for modernisation are as follows:
- Requirements of risk assessments
- Reaching the wear limit
- Tapping into energy saving potential
- Visual enhancement
- Value enhancement: Investment aspects for letting or selling the property
ELEVCO offers the optimal modernisation solution for all requirements and responds to your individual needs – for lift systems of all kinds, types and manufacturers.
The most common modernisations concern
the following systems and components.
Select your modernisation programme from ELEVCO:
The operation of a lift system involves many regular switching sequences, which place heavy demands on the mechanical parts of the electrical and electronic components of the control system and its peripherals. The higher the number of trips a lift system makes, the greater and faster the wear and tear. While individual components are replaced from time to time over the lifetime of a lift, the control system as a whole eventually reaches its performance limit.
On the other hand, the long service life of ELEVCO lifts means that control technology in general undergoes significant developments during the product life cycle of our systems. Accordingly, wear and tear and further developments are the most common reasons for modernising a lift control system.
As one of the last German lift manufacturers, we produce our control systems in-house – in our new control system production facility at our main plant in Kiel, which was built specifically for this purpose. Unlike the well-known lift companies, we only use control components and processors in our self-manufactured lifts that are truly open, i.e. freely accessible and available to any specialist company.
This allows our customers to remain independent in their choice of service provider for maintenance, troubleshooting and repairs, and means they run no risk of being overcharged by the lift manufacturer due to a forced marriage resulting in high maintenance costs.
ELEVCO manufactures control systems of the highest technical standard and state-of-the-art technology, meets all the relevant legal requirements and uses the highest quality components available on the market … giving our customers freedom of choice!
Many conventional gear machines still do not have frequency controls. Retrofitting offers corresponding potential for improvement, which, in addition to improved driving characteristics, leads to a reduction in impact forces on worm gears, ropes and drive pulleys. Wear is greatly reduced, thereby increasing service life.
Frequency converters help to meet current requirements for lift car holding accuracy and reduce the energy consumption of the system. Depending on the existing drive and technology used, the potential energy savings can be up to 40%. The starting current of a modern frequency control system is 1.5 times the rated current of the motor, – compared to 3.5 times for controls without frequency converters.
Nothing is pressed more often in a lift than a button… and nothing is looked at more often than the control panels! Control panels suffer accordingly from the ‘ravages of time’ in terms of wear and tear and design. A distinction is made between so-called external call buttons and lift control panels. The latter contain all button functions and display elements.
ELEVCO offers a wide variety of tableau designs from its own production. Our standard designs are elegant and timeless in their application. Made from 2 mm thick stainless steel over the entire height between the base and ceiling strips of the cabins for easy folding out for accessibility during servicing.
The high-precision laser-manufactured ELEVCO panels already comply with EN 81-70 ‘Accessibility of lifts for persons, including persons with disabilities’ in their basic design and are equipped as standard with high-quality round RT-42 buttons from Schäfer with elegant white illuminated rings. They feature large TFT four-colour displays as standard, which show all the necessary user information.
That said, there are virtually no limits to the design: we offer tableau designs in almost all finishes with all available button technologies in a free choice of colours and permissible materials. Our tableau range includes vertical and horizontal arrangements in any length and design, and an enormous selection of button designs – including capacitive glass buttons and flat buttons developed and manufactured in-house for special applications in confined spaces and invisible housing.
ELEVCO develops and manufactures lifts of all drive types and sizes … and has extensive experience in the modernisation of all technologies. We are familiar with all the advantages and disadvantages of the respective applications and advise our customers according to their specific requirements – not for profit!
Our portfolio includes:
- Hydraulic, cable-hydraulic and cable lifts
- with or without gearbox,
- as a drive pulley or drum design,
- Machine room-less with drive unit in the shaft head, in the shaft side wall or in the shaft pit.
- with the engine room above, above adjacent, below adjacent, or at any floor level,
- Hung 1:1, 2:1 or 4:1,
- with one, two or four push or pull pistons, with or without earth drilling
The type and extent of wear and tear, as well as the environmental and application-related requirements or changes requested by our customers, are decisive factors in the decision to overhaul, exchange or replace equipment with new technology. While the economic preservation of existing technology is all too easily neglected in favour of newer technology today, the current state of the art often offers several options that need to be analysed in detail.
Not only do we have expertise and experience in all drive technologies, but as developers and manufacturers of drive concepts of all types, sizes and designs, we also master the art of optimal application and installation in existing, often confined spaces.
Drive technology poses the greatest challenge in modernisation – it offers the greatest potential for wrong decisions and therefore requires the most experience. ELEVCO has this experience and will show you the optimal solution, whether rope or hydraulic, with or without gearbox – we modernise your drive and optimise your lift: quieter, faster, more reliable, more economical, better!
Old systems with existing doors
The lift door: always in motion! Nothing in a lift is subjected to greater wear and tear than the doors – especially the cabin doors. Lift doors are therefore considered the number one source of faults in any lift. Experts estimate that an average of three out of four faults are caused in the area surrounding the doors.
This stress leads to regular wear and tear. Usually, this wear and tear is addressed during maintenance, or ideally even prevented by regularly replacing the individual parts that show visible signs of wear. Nevertheless, lift doors also reach their structural limits when subjected to the physical stress of their current use.
In these cases, and in cases of high operating age or expiry of spare parts availability, modernisation of the doors through replacement becomes unavoidable. Depending on the model type and wear, this is done either by completely replacing the doors or by using so-called conversion kits that are adapted to the basic structure of the existing doors.
The variety is as vast as the number of manufacturers and their model types over the last 50 years. At ELEVCO, we have the necessary expertise to modernise all door models of any age.
Old installations without cabin doors and with manual swing doors
While modern lift systems have been required to be equipped with automatic cabin doors throughout Europe since the introduction of EN 81 at the latest, many older systems still do not have cabin doors and have manual swing doors.
The retrofitting of automatic cabin doors has been required by law for many years now in accordance with the German Industrial Safety Regulation (BetrSichV). Furthermore, when combined with automated sliding shaft doors, these enable unrestricted and easier use, especially for older people and people with disabilities, but also for commercial applications with industrial trucks such as pallet trucks.
ELEVCO offers a wide range of retrofit options with telescopic sliding doors, folding doors and automatic swing doors, tailored to your specific application and the spatial conditions at your lift installation site.
Investing in your lift door is an investment in the safety, reliability, availability, versatility, speed and comfort of your lift system!
The cabin: The face of every lift!
The cabin is the most prominent, largest and – apart from the lift doors in non-glazed, enclosed shafts – the only ‘communication surface’ facing the observer – the lift user.
The cabin has a very special psychological significance: for a certain period of time, it is a kind of cage for all occupants, which they can only leave if the lift control system allows them to do so.
Anyone standing inside cannot help but look at at least some part of it, because experience shows that people avoid eye contact with strangers, whether out of politeness, embarrassment or even fear, especially in confined spaces. This makes the design of lift cabins particularly important.
The cabin design offers the simplest and most effective way to perceptibly enhance an elevator system. It can help alleviate the unpleasant feeling of confinement and counteract the tendency towards vandalism.
The usual functional and visual factors influencing an elevator cabin are the lighting, ceiling, walls, flooring, doors, ceiling, base, partition and impact protection strips, as well as handrails and control panels.
We offer practically endless variations of individual and numerous standardised designs in virtually all available and approved materials, surface types and colours, from the simplest to the highest quality linings for existing cabins: From painted surfaces in the RAL colour of your choice, to textured, sanded or specially etched or coated stainless steel panels, laminate panels of any make, to painted, foiled, printed or backlit glass cladding and natural stone coverings, ELEVCO offers unlimited design options and ideas for lift cabins.
The same applies to the choice of flooring – whether individual or matching the entrance area of the shaft access points – and the diverse world of light fixtures and sources, which are of particular importance in elevator cabins. We design your individual elevator cabin with you and/or for you. For those who want to be inspired and are looking for the best design quality at the best prices, we have developed our iLift® design series.
