Alternative Drive System For Deck Edge Elevator

The objective of this work is to develop a new elevator drive system, eliminating the complex hydraulic system now used. The existing hydraulic drive system is made up of several subsystems and components, such as, pumps, piping, tanks, electrical components, and hydraulic components. It uses hazardous fluids. The new system will not use hydraulics or any other hazardous material/fluid. The electric drive system will retain safety features equivalent to the hydraulic system. It will be lighter and take up less space. Phase II work will mitigate areas of technical risk through prototype design, manufacturing and test, engineering modeling and analysis, and additional research. Jered and Power Superconductor will design, build and test a scaled version of the Linear Synchronous Motor used in the system design. The primary objective of the prototype testing is to verify the ability to produce predicted thrust at a given electrical loading while maintaining acceptable thermal conditions. The motor will be about one third the length of the full-scale motor and is expected to produce about 15,000 pounds of thrust. A shortened reaction rail will be used. Cost and test facility capability have been considered together with desired risk reduction goals in setting the prototype size.