IOT / REMOTE MONITORING AND DIAGNOSTICS SOLUTIONS FOR LIFTS

IOT / REMOTE MONITORING AND DIAGNOSTICS SOLUTIONS FOR LIFTS

EXPLANATION OF TECHNOLOGY AND BENEFITS, AND NEW MAINTENANCE REGULATIONS IN SINGAPORE AND ASIA AS A RESULT OF IOT

This blog from Elevating Studio contains the following;

• IoT solutions for Lifts and Escalators – how does it work?
• Key benefits from IoT in elevators and escalators
• Impact to Maintenance Costs
• Independent third party IoT systems vs Original Equipment Manufacturer IoT systems
• Change in Lift Maintenance regulations in Singapore related to IoT
• Notes

1. IOT SOLUTIONS FOR LIFTS – HOW DOES IT WORK?

A “Remote Monitoring & Diagnostics Solution”, also known as “Internet of Things” or “IoT” for elevators, is a system that continuously collects data from a lift in operation and performs analysis of the data collected for fault detection, diagnosis, and prediction of issues with the lifts, and will provide recommendations for preventative actions by the maintenance technicians of the maintenance contractor.

The IoT data will be collected by hundreds of sensors (proximity or position sensors, temperature, vibration, noise, humidity, etc), which are installed in the various electrical and mechanical components of the elevator system – such as the motor/machine, electrical drive, car door operator, on the lift car, at the door panels, inside the shaft, etc. In addition, the elevator controller, and the controllers of several other key elevator components (such as the electrical drive and door operator), will also continuously analyze the behavior and operation of those key components, and the elevator as a whole.

In case the behavior of the elevator starts to show discrepancies from the norm or average, the relevant signals and data is transmitted and will be analyzed remotely in the Cloud. For example, the door open or door close action suddenly takes a longer time, or the door will open and close several times on a certain floor before the elevator is allowed to depart. Such discrepancies from the norm will be detected and reported. In this example, the fact that the door will open/close repetitively and multiple times, can mean that there is some obstruction in the door sill, or there can be a worn or broken part in the door system, which will need to be rectified. If this issue is not resolved in a timely manner, at one point in time the elevator door may not close at all, and the elevator will stop functioning altogether, triggering a breakdown.

The data from the sensors and from the software of the elevator components is usually transmitted via cellular means (SIM card), which is located in- or near the elevator controller in the machine room. This data is then stored in the cloud from the elevator contractor, usually on a global scale, and the data is analyzed by advanced Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) software, such as IBM/Watson, Microsoft Azure, Huawei IoT and AT&T IOT, amongst others.

The AI system will analyze the data and compare the data of similar elevators or similar components and usage patterns, and similar events historically, and on a global scale. Based on the analysis, the AI system will determine if the event is considered an anomaly, and if the anomaly is significant enough to warrant an intervention. The AI will then send instructions to the elevator companies’ call centers or IoT engineers, who will assess the advice from the AI system, and they will plan the necessary preventative actions and provide instructions to the maintenance technicians accordingly, before any problems arise on site (for example a breakdown, mantrap, end-user complaint, or a repair need). In some cases, the conclusions/recommendations from the AI system are very clear and obvious, and the AI will send a direct and immediate instruction to the maintenance technicians, without intervention of the IoT engineers.

The AI will also provide information on what are the most likely root causes (maybe top 3-5), and at the same time, provide suggestions on what are the most successful remedial actions (again top 3-5).

Based on the criticality of the issue, the AI will also recommend WHEN the elevator should be inspected, adjusted, or repaired – either during the next planned maintenance visit, or, in case the situation is more urgent, a special intervention visit is planned to investigate and take the necessary action.

Once the technician is on site, he/she will be assessing the anomaly or event based on the instructions and guidance from the AI system. Once the situation is clear, the technician will back-report to the AI system what is the actual root cause, and what was the successful remedial action he/she had undertaken to fix the issue. The AI will learn from that feedback and will adjust the list of likely root causes and the most successful remedial actions accordingly, for the next time a similar issue is detected in any of the same elevators or components globally. In case the same issue is diagnosed again with the same elevator (after the initial or first correction was completed by the technician), the intervention was obviously not successful, and the AI will learn from that as well, and adjust the list of successful resolutions for the next time.

The above process is a simplified version of the reality – typically the AI will look at much more data, for example the design criteria of the component (for how many cycles is the component designed for, how long can it be expected to last), the usage (running milage or number of starts), other external or environmental aspects (impact of adverse weather, temperature, humidity, etc), and much, much more. In addition, the AI can also help identify very specific training needs and support/supervision, and other quality control actions for the technicians of the elevator contractor. Another benefit is that the AI can help to understand the actual reliability and performance of the parts and components, compared to the design or expected lifetime (Mean Time Between Failure / MTBF). Any early failure or batch quality problem can be identified quickly, and remedial actions can be taken, before it becomes a safety risk or reliability problem on a global scale. The opportunities for continuous improvements of the design, manufacturing, installation and maintenance of the elevator, are truly significant.

In short, the whole idea behind IoT is to find developing issues at an early stage, before the lift owner will detect or experience any issues, and to fix these issues before they become critical or cause a breakdown or mantrap.

It is clear that the continuous learning cycle for such IoT systems, by advanced and continuous learning AI analyzing a large number of similar/identical equipment on a global scale, can bring significant benefits for the elevator contractor and the owner alike. IoT for elevators is really a sophisticated symbiose of “man” and “machine”, based on a continuous learning cycle to improve quality, combining the knowledge and experience from the best and most experienced maintenance technicians globally, and sharing that knowledge and know-how with all other technicians, combined with thorough understanding of the behavior of the total installed base.

When such technologies and processes have been properly implemented, IoT can really help to reduce the risks for breakdowns and mantraps, and it will enhance the safety of the end-users, too. In fact, with IoT the elevator is monitored “real-time” and the equipment is “maintained” 24/7, so this is a great improvement compared to the old way of working (which is oftentimes based on “wait until it breaks”)!

In our experience, the breakdown rate of elevators and escalators with IoT can be reduced to less than 1-2 technical breakdown/mantrap, per equipment, per year – depending on the quality of implementation and the usage and age of the equipment (amongst others). To be clear, any breakdowns caused by external reasons (water ingress, vandalism/end-user caused, fire, electrical power issues, etc) are not included in this number. With equipment less than 10 years old, a reliability of 1 technical breakdown per year or less, can be possible to achieve.

2. KEY BENEFITS FROM IOT IN ELEVATORS AND ESCALATORS

The main benefits of an IoT system for the end-users and building owners are as follows;

• Improved safety and reliability, and reduced number of breakdowns and mantraps (due to the real time monitoring of the behavior and the preventative actions)
• Increased availability of the equipment (due to less breakdowns and mantraps, and reduced number of maintenance visits, the “up time” will increase)
• Improved overall maintenance satisfaction, and less disturbance or interruption of the building operation. The lower number of breakdowns, mantraps and maintenance visits also means less coordination and communication between the building owner/manager and the elevator maintenance contractor, which means less work and administration for everyone.
• The equipment as a whole will last longer, owing to the improvements in maintenance (we expect that the lifetime can be extended by several years, before modernization or replacement will be required).
• IoT will help alleviate the shortage of skilled resources and maintenance technicians in the industry.
• Increase in job satisfaction for the maintenance technician, as a result of more and better targeted training, more interesting job scope working with cutting-edge technology, increase in knowledge and know-how and career growth – and facing more happy and satisfied customers!
• Last but not least, IoT will improve the user experience and satisfaction for end-users, visitors and tenants, which will mean a reduction in the attrition rate of tenants.

3. IMPACT TO MAINTENANCE COSTS

A reduced maintenance frequency does not necessarily mean a reduction in maintenance costs.

Running an IoT function requires equipment, either inbuilt into your lifts or installed at a later stage as a retro-fit. IoT also requires an organization, including software and hardware, to analyze and interpret the data and the urgency of any issues occurring, and it requires the infrastructure to dispatch the technicians to conduct the necessary correction/preventative works – including training, monitoring and control of the technicians/engineers. In addition, the IoT system and software must continuously be maintained and updated with the latest new technology and components, specific training modules must be developed, including product life cycle management, such as the planning and executing of ‘call-back’ actions, etc. The provision of an IoT system will thus increase the costs.

Based on the IoT data analytics, the elevator service provider will know in advance which developing issues to fix at every visit, which will improve reliability, safety and will reduce the number of breakdowns and thus also mantraps.

Fixing developing issues before they cause a breakdown or mantrap will increase the costs for the maintenance providers, since the components will be replaced before they fail – so the actual lifetime of those parts will somewhat reduce, and thus the costs will increase. On the other hand, the sudden breakdowns and mantraps will be occurring less frequent, and most interventions can be planned in advance, which will somewhat reduce the costs for the elevator maintenance company. Whilst the costs for regular monthly maintenance will reduce (owing to the reduction in maintenance visits and the reduction in number of breakdowns and mantraps), the costs for the development, maintenance and operation of the IoT technology and the IoT Organization labor costs, and especially the training costs for the maintenance staff, will increase.

The elevator owners should not expect a significant reduction in the total maintenance costs as a result of IoT. We believe that most elevator contractors will aim for a slight increase in annual maintenance costs, for implementing the IoT function.

4. INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTY IOT SYSTEMS VS ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER (“OEM”) IOT SYSTEMS

There are several independent IoT systems for elevators available in the market, which have lately been developed by independent third parties, and not by the OEMs. These third-party IoT systems are only able to collect the most rudimentary and basic data, since these systems have a (very) limited number of sensors, and these systems are not able to (and they really must not!) interface with the elevator controller or other key elevator components, such as the machines, drives, door operators, etc.

This dramatically reduces the functionality, accuracy, and the effectiveness of the third party IoT system, compared to the OEM IoT systems. Third-party IoT systems will make their decisions based on a much smaller amount of data (owing to the fact that there are less sensors, and the third party IoT systems will interconnect with many different elevator brands and types of equipment, with a much smaller number of identical equipment connected, compared to the OEMs), and these independent third party systems may therefore include more “false calls” or may not detect critical issues at all.

In addition, the manufacturers, and designers of those independent third party IoT systems are not elevator companies, and they typically do not come from the industry. The suppliers from independent IoT systems have nowhere near the same level of knowledge and know-how compared to the OEMs, since they have not designed, manufactured, and installed the equipment, they do not maintain any elevators, and they do not have access to the design and life-cycle information, maintenance instructions, etc. The knowledge and knowhow and R&D background from the typical OEM elevator firms is typically spanning more than 100 years of elevator business (the oldest elevator company is 169 years old!), having designed, produced, and installed millions of equipment.

One other consideration is that most of the large global OEMs had developed and introduced the first versions of IoT already more than 35 years ago. These first monitoring systems were called Remote Monitoring Systems or “RMS”, and they were available for elevators and often for escalators, too. These first RMS/IOT systems were based on less advanced analytics and less sensors, and typically storing the data on local/national databases, and these systems had much less integration and benefits, compared to the latest generation “IoT” systems. Hitachi Elevator had developed their first RMS system already in 1987, which is now called Hitachi Remote Maintenance System. In 1988, Otis introduced REM (Remote Elevator Monitoring), which is now named “OTIS – ONE”. In the 1990s, Schindler introduced “Servitel” remote monitoring, which is now named “Schindler Ahead”, and Kone introduced KoneXion, which is now called “KONE 24/7 Connected Services”. ThyssenKrupp Elevator introduced VISTA in 2002, and it is now called “MAX”. Mitsubishi introduced Ele-FIRST in 2012, now called “BRIDGE”. Other Japanese and Korean elevator brands (Fujitec, Toshiba, Hyundai, Sigma, etc) all have developed their own versions of RMS many years ago, and they are now in the process of upgrading these systems into the latest generation of “IoT”. It is obvious that the decades of experience with the data and processes of implementing and using Remote Monitoring or IoT by the OEMs, will bring many advantages compared to the Independent IoT systems.

Independent IoT systems can provide some level of information about the operational status of the elevator, and it can usually detect when an elevator has broken down. However, the level of accuracy in the prediction of upcoming events, is not comparable to the technology of the OEM. The other issue is that the secondary benefits from the IoT system, such as the sharing of knowledge and know how between elevator maintenance technicians globally, developing training and development programs, sharing knowledge on specific life cycle management aspects (design life time vs actual lift time, etc), and the deep involvement and sharing of data and knowledge within the whole organization of the elevator company (R&D, spare parts supply, factory, installation and maintenance staff, IoT system department etc), is not possible when using independent third party IoT systems.

In the past, Elevating Studio had developed our own independent third party IoT system and we have done several projects to test these systems and their effectiveness. In addition, several of our team members have previously worked with the OEMs, and they were directly involved in the deployment and operation of the OEM IoT systems, too. And some of our colleagues were responsible for the R&D organizations within the OEM companies. As such, we can say we have a lot of first-hand experience in both independent IoT systems and IoT systems from the OEMs, their effectiveness and pros and cons of each system.

Based on our experience, we do not advise the use of independent third party IoT Systems. Installing third party IoT systems on an existing elevator maintained by the OEM can cause conflicts at installation and maintenance and will cause issues and disputes regarding liability and responsibility. Who will pay if the IoT system is calling for an intervention by the elevator maintenance company, whilst in fact the IoT sensor was faulty or dirty, or the algorithms are wrong? Who is responsible if the IoT system is damaged / affected by maintenance technicians during their maintenance visit, when they are just doing their job? What happens in case an accident occurs with the equipment and passengers are injured or worse, who is liable and responsible? Such situations will cause frictions between the OEM, the owner, and the supplier/provider of the independent IoT system, and the building owner will waste a lot of money (investment and maintenance of the IoT system) and even more time, participating in follow-up meetings and trying to manage the detailed discussions who is wrong/right, who is responsible and who should pay, etc. We have seen that third party IoT systems typically provide very little or no benefit and may in fact increase the costs and risks for the owner.

We believe that only in some very selected cases, where the owner has very large number of equipment which are all designed against rather standard and uniform design requirements and usage profiles, such as the case with Mass Rapid Transport (MRT/LTA), public housing (HDB), airports (Changi Airport Group), etc, an independent IoT system may make sense. In all other cases, an independent third party IoT system does not bring sufficient benefits and advantages – if any, in our opinion. Most independent IoT systems are only able to cater for elevators and there are no or limited options for escalators and autowalks. Another consideration is that the supplier and developers of independent third party IoT systems have all very optimistic business cases, which are not realistic and are not likely to happen. We foresee that many of these developers of third party IoT systems will eventually stop to offer and operate such IoT systems (as Elevating Studio has done, too..)

5. CHANGE IN MAINTENANCE REGULATIONS IN SINGAPORE RELATED TO IOT

Amendments To The Building Maintenance And Strata Management (Lift, Escalator And Building Maintenance) – Singapore Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Regulations before the 1^st of August 2022

Under the current elevator maintenance regulations in Singapore, it is the duty of the owner of a lift to engage a registered lift service provider to carry out the regular maintenance. All lifts (other than a home lift, a vertical platform lift or a stair lift) must currently be maintained at least once every month. Home lifts, vertical platform lifts and stair lifts, must be maintained at least once every three months, or according to the manufacturer’s recommendation, whichever is more frequent.

New BCA regulations for application of IoT in Elevators in Singapore from the 1^st of August 2022

To facilitate the adoption of IoT solutions for lift maintenance, the Building and Construction Authority (“BCA”) in Singapore has amended the Lift, Escalator And Building Maintenance (“LEBM”) Regulations.

From the 1st of August 2022, a lift owner together with a lift service provider, may apply to the Commissioner of Buildings (COB) under the new LEBM Regulations, to allow his/her lifts to be maintained at three-monthly intervals when provided with an IoT solution.

This is a significant reduction in maintenance visits compared to the current requirements, which stipulate that every lift and escalator must be maintained monthly (12x per year!).

Application for Approval to maintain IoT/RM&D Lifts at Reduced Frequency in Singapore

To assess the application for reduced number of maintenance visits, the Commissioner of Buildings (COB) will require the following information as part of the application process:

1. Performance data of the lifts (including maintenance findings detected by the RM&D Solution and servicing records) for at least 6 months.
2. Documentation demonstrating compliance with the Code of Practice (“COP”) for Design and Performance of Remote Monitoring & Diagnostics Solution for Lifts.

The COP, which provides the technical basis for a longer maintenance interval, includes:

• the minimum system architecture of the proposed RM&D solution must possess,
• proof of use of data analytics by the solution for predictive maintenance
• as well as meeting the indicators for the performance of the RM&D solution.

Upon written approval of the application, the lift service provider may carry out maintenance works based on the approved frequency, subject to the conditions the COB may impose.

6. NOTES

If the IoT Function does not reduce the breakdown rate or mantraps in your elevator or escalators, then something is not right.

In such cases you may need an Independent Vertical Transportation Consultant to check why the IoT Function does not have a positive impact, and to independently verify the quality of maintenance and health of the equipment. Such inspections will typically bring significantly more benefits and improvements, compared to independent third party IoT systems.

• The current process for implementing RM&D or IoT in Singapore is defined for elevators only. We expect that a similar process will be implemented for escalators and autowalks, too.
• All elevator companies have their own proprietary IoT systems, customer portals and user interfaces. For those owners who own/operate multiple brands of equipment in their buildings, there are several possibilities to integrate the IoT systems from the various OEM’s into one system or user interface, through Application Programming Interface (“API”). The owner then needs to develop his/her own User Interface or Building Management System (“BMS”), and each different elevator brand can interface with that BMS accordingly through the application of API’s. In that way, the building owner does not need to operate and use 2-3 or more different IoT system portals, from the different elevator brands. Please note that not all elevator companies have such API’s available yet.
• Singapore is the first country in Asia/South East Asia to regulate the use of IoT in elevator industry, in the way that it adds significant value to the building owners and the elevator maintenance contractors alike. As a result of IoT, the number of annual maintenance visits can be reduced, and at the same time, IoT will help to improve safety and reliability, which is a major step for the industry. We expect that the government regulatory agencies in other countries in Asia/SEA will follow in the years to come and will implement IoT in a similar fashion as in Singapore. Regardless of the legal status and whether or not the frequency of maintenance visits can be reduced, we opine that the implementation of IoT will be very beneficial for the elevator contractor and the owner, and IoT should be considered in any new building or any elevator modernization project.

In case you need an independent assessment and advice, to define a strategy or plan for implementing an IoT system for your elevators and escalators, and how to manage the IoT systems and integration between the various different brands and types of equipment, please contact us.

Over the years, Elevating Studio has inspected thousands of different elevators, escalators and autowalks, from all brands and types, and for many types of buildings. Our unbiased and independent inspections and advice typically bring significant improvements, in case of complaints related to the operation of elevators or escalators, for example in case of;

• high number of breakdowns and mantraps
• poor ride comfort and noise
• long waiting time or too full lift cars