‘Funicular’ escalator has energy-saving potential
The Levytator curved escalator developed by City University has the potential to use half the energy of conventional designs, according to a research paper presented to the UK Symposium on Lift and Escalator Technologies. This escalator is based on a continuous loop of curved modules that can follow any path upwards, flatten and straighten out before descending again — carrying people all the time.
Such a Levytator has just one power source to compensate for the difference in weight between people going up and those going down — creating substantial energy savings.
The research paper suggests that a fully loaded Levytator would use about 80% of the power of two traditional escalators carrying the same number of people. A Levytator fully loaded going down and empty going up would use half the power.
Other benefits of the Levytator include all steps being accessible from above for maintenance and no excavation for installing it.
