While the motors are still being installed on the roof, a team of engineers on the 37th floor is already setting up the elevators for the lower stories. Ben Wells stands in the machine room with his laptop and checks whether the central computer is transmitting the signals from ground level to the right motors. He types in a numerical code, and the coils on one of the ten DAB-530 motors start moving. Ben enters more commands. “Now we’ll try out the emergency brake,” he says and hits the enter key. The motor stops abruptly. Shortly afterwards, Ben’s colleagues Mike Siegler and Scott Lahmers report by radio from the shaft: “3.27 meters braking distance,” they say. Ben smiles, “That was good, test passed!”
These elevators are the building’s vital arteries. That is also reflected in the architecture. A quick glance at the floor plan of the tower shows a small square inside a big square. “The new building has a strong core,” says Braman and knocks on the almost one-meter-thick concrete wall surrounding the elevator shaft. The old Twin Towers had an exoskeleton. When the Al-Qaeda terrorists crashed the planes into the towers on September 11, 2001, the outer skin was destroyed and the buildings became unstable. That cannot happen anymore.
Safety is a key aspect, and the elevators also play an important part in this. “In the past, if there was a fire the emergency elevator stopped just below the floor affected and the firefighters had to take the stairs to get to the source of the blaze,” says Braman. In the future, the shaft of the emergency elevator will be kept at negative pressure to prevent smoke from entering. The cab has a second door. In emergencies, it can be opened onto a separate corridor, from which the firefighters can assess the situation.
While the motors are still being installed on the roof, a team of engineers on the 37th floor is already setting up the elevators for the lower stories. Ben Wells stands in the machine room with his laptop and checks whether the central computer is transmitting the signals from ground level to the right motors. He types in a numerical code, and the coils on one of the ten DAB-530 motors start moving. Ben enters more commands. “Now we’ll try out the emergency brake,” he says and hits the enter key. The motor stops abruptly. Shortly afterwards, Ben’s colleagues Mike Siegler and Scott Lahmers report by radio from the shaft: “3.27 meters braking distance,” they say. Ben smiles, “That was good, test passed!”
These elevators are the building’s vital arteries. That is also reflected in the architecture. A quick glance at the floor plan of the tower shows a small square inside a big square. “The new building has a strong core,” says Braman and knocks on the almost one-meter-thick concrete wall surrounding the elevator shaft. The old Twin Towers had an exoskeleton. When the Al-Qaeda terrorists crashed the planes into the towers on September 11, 2001, the outer skin was destroyed and the buildings became unstable. That cannot happen anymore.
Safety is a key aspect, and the elevators also play an important part in this. “In the past, if there was a fire the emergency elevator stopped just below the floor affected and the firefighters had to take the stairs to get to the source of the blaze,” says Braman. In the future, the shaft of the emergency elevator will be kept at negative pressure to prevent smoke from entering. The cab has a second door. In emergencies, it can be opened onto a separate corridor, from which the firefighters can assess the situation.
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