Amazing technology is a marvel of engineering. The most unusual technologies in elevators The most unusual technologies

Technology

The world is improving every day, inventing and discovering something new, and without these achievements, we would not have come so far.

Scientists, researchers, developers and designers from all over the world are trying to implement something that will simplify our lives and make it more interesting.

Here are some technologies future that take our lives to a completely different level.

New technologies of the future


1. Biorefrigerators


A Russian designer has come up with a concept for a refrigerator called "Bio Robot Refrigerator" that cools food with biopolymer gel. It has no shelves, no compartments, no doors - you just stick your food into the gel.

The idea was proposed by Yuri Dmitriev for the competition Electrolux Design Lab. The refrigerator uses only 8 percent of the house's energy for the control panel and does not need any energy for the actual cooling.

The fridge biopolymer gel uses light generated at cold temperatures to preserve food. The gel itself is odorless and non-sticky, and the refrigerator can be wall or ceiling mounted.

2. Ultra-fast 5G internet from solar-powered drones


Google is working on solar-paneled drones that distribute super-fast internet in a project called Project Skybender. In theory Drones will provide Internet services 40 times faster than in 4G networks, allowing you to transfer gigabytes of data per second.

The project involves the use of millimeter waves to provide a service, since the existing spectrum for transmission mobile communications too full.

However, these waves have a shorter range than a 4G mobile signal. Google is working on this problem, and if all technical problems can be solved, the Internet of unprecedented speed may soon appear.

3. 5D disks for eternal storage of terabytes of data


Researchers have created a 5D disc that records data in 5 dimensions that lasts for billions of years. He can store 360 terabytes of data and withstand temperatures up to 1000 degrees.

The files on the disk are made up of three layers of nanodots. The five dimensions of the disk refer to the size and orientation of the dots, and their position within the three dimensions. As light passes through the disk, the dots change the polarization of the light, which is read by the microscope and polarizer.

The Southampton team that develops the disc has been able to get the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Newton's Optics, Magna Carta and the Bible onto the disc. In a few years, such a disk will no longer be an experiment, but will become the norm for data storage.

4. Injection of oxygen particles


Scientists at the Boston Children's Hospital have developed microparticles filled with oxygen that can be injected into the bloodstream allowing you to live even if you can't breathe.

Microparticles consist of a single layer of lipid capsules that surround a small oxygen bubble. The 2-4 micrometer capsules are suspended in a fluid that controls their size, as larger bubbles can be dangerous.

When injected, the capsules collide with red blood cells and transfer oxygen. Thanks to this method, it was possible to introduce 70 percent of oxygen into the blood.

5. Underwater transport tunnels


Norway plans to build the world's first underwater floating bridges at a depth of 30 meters under water using large pipes wide enough for two lanes.

Given the difficulty of moving around the area, Norway decided to work on the creation of underwater bridges. The $25 billion project is expected to be completed in 2035.

There are other factors to be considered, such as the influence of wind, waves and strong currents on the bridge.

6. Bioluminescent trees


The development team decided to create bioluminescent trees using an enzyme found in some jellyfish and fireflies.

Such trees will be able to illuminate the streets and help passers-by see better at night. A small version of the project has already been developed in the form of a plant that glows in the dark. The next step will be the trees that light up the streets.

7. Roll-up TVs


LG developed a prototype TV that can be rolled up like a roll of paper.

The TV uses polymer-based LED technology to reduce the thickness of the screen.

Apart from LG, other major electronics manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony and Mitsubishi are working on making screens more flexible and portable.

Technology development in the future

8. Bionic lens for lightRhuman vision


Canadian doctor is going to conduct clinical trials "bionic lenses" that improve 100% vision by 3 times with an 8-minute painless operation.

The new lens will be available as early as 2017, improving the natural lens of the eye. During the operation, a syringe injects a saline lens into the eye, and after 10 seconds, the folded lens straightens and rests over the natural lens, completely correcting vision.

9. Spray clothes


Spanish designer Manel Torres invented the world's first spray-on clothing. You can spray on any part of the body and then take it off, wash it off and wear it again.

The spray is made from special fibers mixed with polymers that give the fabric elasticity and durability. This technology will allow designers to create unique garments with original designs.

10. DNA-derived portraits


Student Heather Dewey-Hagborg creates 3D portraits from DNA found on cigarette butts and chewing gum on the street.

She introduces DNA sequences into computer program, which creates the appearance of a person from a sample. Usually, during this process, a 25-year-old version of a person is issued. The model is then printed into 3D life-size portraits.

11. Shopping in virtual reality


One of these shops was opened at the railway station in South Korea, where you can place an order by photographing the barcode and your purchases will be delivered to your home.

Chain of stores home plus installed six screen doors with life-size images of shelves filled with items you would buy in a supermarket. Under each item there is a barcode that can be scanned and sent using the app.

You can place an order at the station on your way to work, and the goods will be delivered to your home in the evening.

12. Self-driving cars


Expected that by 2020 there will be about 10 million unmanned vehicles, which will reduce the number of deaths by 2,500 between 2014 and 2030.

Many car manufacturers have already begun to implement some of the automatic driving features in their cars.

There are also many companies trying to develop technologies for self-driving cars, such as Google, which announced a self-driving car prototype. A fully autonomous vehicle is expected by 2019.

13. City under the dome


Construction underway in Dubai a mall called the "Mall of the World" covered by a retractable dome which controls the climate inside, and supplies air conditioning.

The complex will cover an area of ​​4.46 km2 and will include major center beauty and health, cultural and entertainment area, hotels with 20 thousand rooms and much more. This will be the largest shopping center with an indoor theme park.

14. Artificial leaves that convert carbon dioxide and sunlight into fuel


Scientists have developed new solar cells that convert carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into fuel using the sun.

While many attempts have been made to convert carbon dioxide into something useful, this is the first time an actual method has been developed. Unlike other technologies that require precious metals such as silver, this method uses a tungsten-based material that is 20 times cheaper and 1,000 times faster.

These solar cells use carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to produce syngas, a mixture of hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide that can be directly burned or converted into hydrocarbon fuels.

Technologies of the near future

15. Plasma force field that protects cars from accidents and collisions


Boeing has patented a method to create a plasma field by rapidly heating the air to quickly absorb shock waves.

The force field can be generated using lasers or microwave radiation. The plasma created is air heated to a higher temperature than the surrounding air, with a different density and composition. The company believes that it will be able to reflect and absorb the energy generated by the explosion, protecting those inside the field.

If the technology can be brought to life, it will be a revolutionary development in the military field.

16. Floating cities


Floating ecopolis called Lilypad, was proposed by architect Vincent Callebaut for future climate refugees as a long-term solution to rising sea levels. The city can accommodate 50,000 people using renewable energy sources.


Sometimes it seems that in recent decades the world seems to have frozen in place, and humanity does not invent anything other than new smartphones. Fortunately, this is not the case - there are many real technologies that are quite capable of surprising even the most whimsical critic. Some are designed for war, others for peace, but all in one way or another advance civilization into the future.


Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is a tiltrotor that combines the functions of an airplane and a helicopter, the only serial one in the world. True, he made his first flight back in 1989, but he got into the series relatively recently, in 2005. Depending on the rotation of the screws, this device is able to take off and land like a helicopter, and in the air switch to airplane mode, accelerating up to 565 km / h.


Bionic prostheses are a natural evolution of artificial limb technology. In the 21st century, replacements for arms and legs are made from carbon fiber and titanium alloys, but most importantly, recent developments allow them to be controlled with the help of the mind. Such a leg was received, for example, by the Icelander Gudmundur Olafson, who lost the opportunity to walk as a child. The bionic limb reads signals from living muscle tissue and reacts like a real one.


The invisible material from Dallas NanoTech consists of carbon nanotubes, creating an effect similar to mirages in deserts. So far, the technology has not been developed enough to be used for military purposes, since the material heats up quickly and strongly, but you can’t refuse it in spectacularity.


The electromagnetic railgun was presented at the Science and Technology Expo in February last year. It can fire at seven times the speed of sound, hitting targets up to 177 kilometers away. This is just a sample, but a real weapon based on it is planned no later than 2028.


LaWS is a working laser weapon capable of not only blinding, but also sinking enemy boats. An experimental prototype of this futuristic cannon was installed on the USS Ponce in August 2014 and successfully passed initial tests.


Ion thrusters are not the newest, but certainly a fantastic invention that has become a reality. Prototypes of the first functioning ion thrusters were installed on NASA's Deep Space 1 and Dawn probes as early as 1959, and the technology has continued to evolve ever since.


Bionic eyes are a technology that is on a par with bionic limbs. Last year, Britain performed the world's first bionic retinal implant surgery on an 80-year-old man suffering from dry macular degeneration and completely blind. Now, with the help of a new retina and special glasses, he began to see the outlines of objects and people again.


Self-guided bullets are a rather frightening invention. Previously, it could only be found in movies or video games, but now it is gradually approaching reality. EXACTO, a prototype of a real homing bullet in .50 caliber from the American agency DARPA, with the help of modern system guidance is capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to two kilometers.


Organs grown in the laboratory to replace those that have fallen into disrepair have long been an unattainable dream for mankind. Now experts from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland have been able to grow functioning mouse organs using stem cells. For humans, this technology is not yet suitable, but the experiments are not over.


ITER is an international experimental thermonuclear reactor, which has been under development since 1988. The project involves EU countries, India, China, Russia, USA, Japan, Korea and Kazakhstan. Initially, the work was planned to be completed by 2016, but the deadline has shifted to 2025. However, for the sake of thermonuclear energy, it is worth waiting an extra decade.

Since childhood, most of us have known about the most common types of special equipment, such as: dump trucks, cranes, bulldozers, excavators, etc. Have you ever encountered the most unusual special equipment, which is rarely seen in Everyday life? Not!? Then I propose to get acquainted with rare, strange, but amazing machines.

The most unusual and rare special equipment

Paving Slab Laying Machine

In urban areas, one can often observe such a picture that workers construction organizations they are shifting paving slabs, which they just made recently. Because of her swelling or she "floated". This is due to the quality of the work performed and, of course, the human factor. The picture looks different when builders use unusual special equipment - a tile-laying machine called TIgerStone. The photo below shows a typical example of this technique.

With its miniature size, this unit easily bypasses the whole team of workers in terms of the amount of work performed in one shift. For example: 1 team lays out from 70 to 120 m2 of paving, in turn, this rare machine copes with at least 300 m2 of paving stones. That's it.

The unit is used very simply, moving on a wide caterpillar platform, workers quickly lay out the necessary tile pattern on a special inclined surface. On this surface, in turn, the tile pattern moves to a previously prepared part of the paving surface. The side guides of the unit during the production of work do not allow the pattern of paving slabs. Due to their weight, the tile bricks are laid evenly without any gaps and defects, and most importantly, quickly and efficiently.

Ink carriers

Exists trucks which transports other equipment, there is special equipment that transports even large tanks, and there is also such an unusual special equipment that specializes in transporting animal carcasses called - ink carriers. The photo shows one of the types of special vehicles for transporting meat carcasses.


The engineering team designing special freezing containers of a machine designed to transport carcasses has to solve one very difficult task. Meat carcasses - cargo that must be transported suspended from the ceiling. And it's not easy. The load-bearing frame of the roof, and with it the side walls of the freezer container, must be structurally designed to take heavy loads, that is, to be very strong and reliable. Another pitfall is that when transporting carcasses, they sway, which can lead to the danger of skidding on sharp turns.

It is difficult for a designer to ensure reliability, since the weight of the unit container often suffers due to the increased strength of the frame, which in turn affects the amount of payload transported. So they have to maneuver and I will say that they succeed and not bad.

Building Destroyers

If there is a special technique for building, why not invent an unusual technique for destroying buildings, structures and other things. Such machines already exist and are robotic equipment. They are used instead of the already known dismantling equipment within the city with high density buildings, in places where the structure is difficult to demolish, and often dangerous. The photo shows a sample of a rare technique - a robot-destroyer.


One of the smallest units for destruction is a robot that weighs only 550 kg. It is very easy to drive through doorways and works mainly in small spaces. Most of such robotic equipment has a large set of removable attachments such as hydraulic hammers, hydraulic tongs, choppers (mulchers), buckets of various sizes, and so on.

The main advantage of such a unique and rare technique is the quietness, safety and complexity of the work performed. The latest designs such equipment incorporates anti-vandal 3D cameras and 3D positioning systems for finer work in hazardous areas.

Large Tree Transplant Machine

Special technique is mainly designed to greatly simplify manual labor work force. But what if this work is done by human forces but is simply unrealistic? For example, to transplant a large-sized adult tree? The engineers have thought of everything! Look at the photo shows a machine that can transplant adult trees.


Of course, the maximum length of a transplanted tree depends on the unit used and the length of its gripping knives. For the beautification of the city this species rare special equipment very useful and already used in the European Union and North America. AT Russian Federation there are such machines, but they are very few, mostly small-sized equipment.

Tree recycling - shredder

The machine considered just above carefully replants trees, landscaping the city, but there is a machine (more correctly, attachments for an excavator) that destroys them in a matter of minutes, turning them into a pile of sawdust. This unusual equipment for special-purpose equipment is one of the varieties of a mulcher - a shredder of trees and shrubs (dcr). The photo below shows such equipment installed on an excavator.

The shredder is used to quickly dispose of large standing trees, without the involvement of lumberjacks. It is used to prepare clearings for newly installed power lines, gas and oil pipelines, as well as for pre-preparation of a construction site in a forest area where conventional equipment cannot pass.

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Since the elevators were removed into shafts with blank walls and equipped with automatic doors, their device has become a secret with seven seals. Especially for curious children's eyes. But we, adults, know that an elevator is a simple machine: a cabin, a winch, a counterweight. And we don’t know that various interesting technologies are being introduced in this area – the sphere of lifting and lowering citizens and cargo.

Oleg Makarov

A simple example. We are used to the fact that multi-storey buildings are usually crowned with rectangular turrets exactly above the landings: these are the engine rooms of elevators, and you can’t do without turrets - where to put the winch, control cabinets? But it turns out that it is quite possible to manage. And thereby save building materials and working time, which were usually spent on these "architectural excesses".

24 boxes

Ever since Elisha Graves Otis cut the rope on which the wooden hoist hung with an ax, and the hoist did not fall and thereby left the brilliant American inventor standing on it alive, the urban revolution has taken place in the world. A safe elevator that did not fall, even if all the ropes holding it burst, opened the way for the mass construction of high-rise buildings, and then real skyscrapers. Otis demonstrated his experience back in 1854, and the company named after him is still in operation and is one of the world's largest manufacturers of lifting machines. It is even more interesting that the Otis company has long been rooted in Russia, has built its enterprises here and produces elevators with minimal use of imported components.


"PM" as part of a group of journalists was invited to an elevator factory in St. Petersburg, where we were surprised to find that ... it was impossible to see an elevator at the elevator factory. The thing is that the machine is not delivered to the construction site in ready-made- It's not technological. The elevator is mounted directly on the spot from the units and parts delivered from the enterprise, packed in boxes (manufacturers say "in the form of cargo places"). How many of these packages will be depends on the manufacturer. Some factories pack future elevator in six boxes. At the Otis factory, the elevator is distributed among 24 weights - they believe that this will be much more convenient for installers.

Machine tools and barcodes

The company mainly works with sheet metal different thickness (up to 4 mm). Blanks are delivered to the factory in the form of "cards", that is, sheets with optimal dimensions for cutting out one or another part - this reduces the amount of waste. Metal is cut, stamped, bent, while there is no terrible squealing and roaring in the workshop: many operations are carried out in closed chambers using a modern CNC machine. Elevators are made in a conveyor way, and the main principle is as follows: one set after another is made. That is, if you need to produce a batch of 25 elevators, do not first make 25 copies of one part, then 25 copies of another, etc. No, first all the parts for one elevator, then for the second, and so on 25 times. It seems unusual, but modern computer-controlled technology copes with such a task easily. For example, a bending machine, receiving a workpiece, scans a barcode and immediately loads the processing program. A workpiece with a different barcode will arrive - the machine will simply switch to another task. All machines are connected at the same level by special tables such as roller tables, on which it is easy to roll even a massive metal part. Production is organized in such a way as to avoid welding and painting, which do not fit well into the conveyor process: non-welded one-piece joints and metal sheets already applied with paint or coatings are used. There are few people in the shop. According to fashionable lean technologies, there should be no more than one worker per production operation.

The PULSE system constantly measures the electrical resistance of the steel cords (cores) inside the polyurethane belt. If the cords for one reason or another begin to collapse, their resistance changes. This means it's time for a new belt.

Less with a belt

The picture shows one variation of a modern Otis elevator winch that uses straps instead of traditional twisted straps. steel ropes. Smaller diameter pulleys are suitable for belts, which leads to a reduction in the size of the winch itself.

Lighter and cleaner

The diagram shows the structure of the polyurethane belt used in new elevators. It uses thin steel ropes. The belt is not inferior in strength to a conventional rope, but has less weight and does not require lubrication. Belts have been replacing ropes in elevators since around the turn of the century.

In the end, all the nodes of the future elevator, as already mentioned, are laid out in boxes (the largest cargo space contains the load-bearing structure of the cabin and the ceiling) and sent to the customer.

For hotels and vandals

Actually, we managed to look at the elevator cabins only in the demonstration room of the enterprise. Interior design options for cabins largely depend on the customer. If the car has to work in a respectable hotel, then there is a designer control panel with beautiful luminous buttons, and an LCD display on which you can turn commercials with sound, and metal-plastic walls of interesting colors. But if the elevator lives in the harsh conditions of sleeping areas, the requirements for it are completely different. The first is anti-vandal buttons, which are extremely difficult to rip out of their nests without a special tool and which, to the disappointment of young hooligans, are completely impossible to set on fire. True, they are deprived of glamorous lighting. The second is the painted cabin wall panels, which must also be resistant to mechanical stress. For cab lighting, Otis standard are LED lamp. Yes, they are more expensive than gas-discharge ones, but they consume much less electricity, and most importantly, they are practically insensitive to the number of on-off cycles. The LEDs will stay on for the entire 25 year life of the elevator, and every time the car is idle, the electric lights will turn off. That is, if the elevator is not moving, it will not consume electricity at all, which corresponds to the highly environmentally friendly Class A energy efficiency.


deep roots

At the entrance to the building of the enterprise, two devices were put up for inspection. One of them is an elevator winch, which was installed at one of the St. Petersburg sugar factories in 1903 and served faithfully for 80 years. Yes, yes, Otis was in Russia in those days and even equipped the Winter Palace with lifting devices. The old winch is black and bulky. It used a gearbox in the form of a worm gear. Next to a modern winch. It is much more compact, and there is no gearbox. The winch is driven by an electric motor with a frequency converter, which allows you to smoothly control the speed of rotation of the shaft without any gearboxes. These are the ones that are used in the modern generation of elevators.


Our trip to St. Petersburg was timed to coincide with the start of production in Russia of an elevator called Gen2, which just embodied all the latest "green" innovations in the field of lifting devices. Those who have not looked into elevator shafts for a long time would probably be very surprised to learn that Gen2 moves, being suspended with the help of not traditional steel wire ropes, but flat belts, which consist of a series of thin steel ropes surrounded by a polyurethane sheath. Such a belt is as strong as a traditional twisted rope, but has two important advantages. First, it does not require lubrication, and lubrication is an environmental pollution factor. She stains the room, dirt sticks to her. Secondly, a thick twisted rope has significant restrictions on the bending radius - the pulley on which it is wound must have a diameter of at least several tens of centimeters, otherwise the rope will begin to fray itself. The belt is much more flexible, it can be wound around a pulley with a diameter of about 6.5 cm. And this, along with the lack of a gearbox, is one of the factors that made it possible to miniaturize the winch, so that a special engine room is no longer required to accommodate it. All equipment can be placed directly in the mine. Therefore, today Otis releases two versions of Gen2 in our country - with and without the use of a machine room.

Electricity - in heat!

The empty cab is lighter than the counterweight by half its load capacity. Thus, in the operation of the elevator, the force of gravity is used and the engine works only with an imbalance of two objects. When a fully loaded car rides down or an empty car rides up, the elevator does not need additional power. On the contrary, its engine acts as a generator. Previously, the energy generated by it was dissipated using powerful resistors.

There is no extra energy

The Otis Gen2 elevators use the ReGen regenerative drive. With the help of power electronics, the electricity generated by the motor is converted to standard voltage and frequency and returned to the building's electrical network. The recovery mode of the elevator is indicated by indicators in the cab.

lift power plant

By the way, the design of the belts plays a role in improving the safety of the entire elevator. The metal cores of the belts are connected to the PULSE electronic control system. At the beginning of operation, the system measures the electrical resistance of all cords, and then does this every subsequent 3 s. If the device detects a change in the resistance of at least one of the cores, the elevator will receive a command to stop at the nearest floor. And after the disembarkation of passengers, the cabin will be blocked until work is done to replace the belt, which shows signs of wear.

The elevator has a cabin and a counterweight consisting of a frame filled with concrete and cast iron elements. The weight of the counterweight is usually equal to the weight of the cab plus half of its capacity. Thus, the winch motor does not have to pull up the entire weight of the elevator, it only works with the imbalance that occurs between two objects. If an empty cabin moves down, this requires energy from outside, otherwise it will never overcome a heavier counterweight. In this case, the motor turns the winch. But if the empty cabin goes up, then it does not need additional energy, on the contrary, the winch pulley spins the motor shaft, and it starts to work as a generator. The question of where to put the energy generated in this way was traditionally solved with the help of powerful resistors, which actually converted electricity into heat and dissipated it. With the Gen2 elevator, this waste is put to rest. The system features a ReGen regenerative drive that feeds the energy generated by the electric motor back into the building's power grid, giving the current a standard voltage (380 V) and a standard frequency (50 Hz). The indicator in the cab shows passengers what exactly the elevator is doing at the moment - consuming electricity or generating it.


It is impossible to open the elevator shaft door if there is no cabin behind it, since the outer doors are locked. The motor with a frequency converter provides the Gen2 cabin with a smooth and precise “mooring” to the floor (in the older generations of elevators there were only two fixed speeds, switching between which was done using a gearbox). Then the so-called movable cab release engages with the locking mechanism of the outer doors. And these doors do not open by themselves, but only with the help of the cabin door drive. In general, as you can see, new technologies in the field of materials science and energy saving make it possible to improve the elevator and make it more and more “smart”.

 

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