Skip this article if your heart skips a beat in an elevator. Thyssenkrupp is testing the world’s first rope-free, no-cable elevator at a test tower south of Stuttgart, Germany. Magnets do the heavy lifting instead of the traditional cable-and-pulley systems we’re used to. The MULTI, as it’s called, runs on magnetic levitation, the very same principle that powers maglev trains. And get this: the MULTI moves horizontally, diagonally and vertically.
The main attraction. Magnets make MULTI work. Here’s how: Every magnet has a north pole and a south pole. Similar poles repel each other and opposites attract. While permanent magnets are always magnetic, electromagnets need electric current. Give an electromagnet some juice and presto, you have a magnetic field, complete with north and south poles. Reverse the direction of that current and you reverse the poles. North becomes south, and vice versa. Maglev trains—and now, apparently, elevators—are first levitated, and then moved forward, by electromagnets oriented as a magnetic “highway.”
Time and space. If it works as planned, the MULTI magnetic elevator will be a money-saving solution for sure. A Columbia University study found that New York City office workers spend a cumulative 16.6 years waiting for the elevator. And that’s just New York. Twelve million elevators zoom up and down buildings worldwide, serving more than a billion people daily. That’s a lot of time! As for the money? Elevators are limited by cable length. The taller the building, the costlier the square footage because of the additional elevator shafts required to serve higher floors. Maglev elevators have no such restrictions. Thyssenkrupp engineers are testing MULTI south of Stuttgart, Germany. It is slated for installation in a Berlin office tower in 2020.
Magnetic solutions. Magnets can save time, money and provide safety in your industrial environment. AEC Magnetics has delivered tens of thousands of magnetic solutions to customers worldwide for more than 50 years. Off-the-shelf or custom, permanent or electromagnet, AEC has a magnetic solution for your application. Give us a call to discuss your business, your idea or your question. If it’s magnetic, it’s AEC.