Hyundai Elevator will jointly develop core technologies for ultra-high-rise elevators with GS Engineering & Construction. The goal is to minimize the stack effect (the phenomenon of air moving through vertical spaces inside a building) in ultra-high-rise elevators to improve operating stability.
Hyundai Elevator said on the 20th that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for "joint development of ultra-high-rise elevator technologies" with GS Engineering & Construction at the company's R&D Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul.
The MOU was pursued to reduce elevator operation inconveniences and potential safety degradation caused by the stack effect in ultra-high-rise buildings. The stack effect refers to the phenomenon in which air inside a building moves along vertical spaces such as stairwells or elevator shafts due to a pressure difference created by temperature differences between the interior and exterior of high-rise buildings. The stack effect is known to cause door opening and closing errors, reduced heating and cooling efficiency, the spread of polluted air from underground parking lots to upper floors, and rapid vertical spread of smoke in the event of a fire.
Hyundai Elevator and GS Engineering & Construction will collaborate on analyzing the stack effect and establishing prediction models, developing high-pressure elevator doors that respond to changes in hoistway pressure, advancing AI (artificial intelligence)-based elevator control technologies to address strong winds and the stack effect, and verifying performance and collecting data by building a test environment, in order to secure technologies and design criteria optimized for ultra-high-rise buildings.
Hyundai Elevator also plans to pursue industry-academia cooperation to analyze the stack effect and advance AI-based prediction models.