Inside an Otis door operator
Added 2022-07-08 22:58:54 +0000 UTCSomething well designed for a change. The Otis stuff tends to be well engineered, and this is quite a pleasing unit. It's a universal door operator controller designed to drive a beefy 3-phase door motor from an integrated variable frequency drive. It has to be strong, because it drives both the elevator car doors and landing doors, which can be quite heavy. It also has to be able to close them slowly at end of travel, while still engaging mechanical and electrical interlocks. (While still avoiding crushing wee babies.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voa2VXnQbFw
The PCB is up to the standards of older Otis stuff, with just a couple of LEDs. One showing a processor heartbeat and the other doing mysterious diagnostic things.
Most of the depper diagnostics are done from the classic Otis serial terminal. A chunky dumb terminal with magnetic material on the back so it can be stuck to steel panels while programming and diagnostics are being carried out.
My involvement with lifts (elevators) is firmly in the electromechanical era before they became so tightly regulated that it became a specialist industry of its own. That said, there are still electrical engineering companies with elevator divisions.
It's interesting to note a cross-over between the theatre engineering and elevator industries with some companies manufacturing equipment for both industries (Notably Furse and Hall), and Otis occasionally getting involved in theatre equipment maintenance. (Not sure if they still do that.)
Comments
I use an app to adjust the audio. Sometimes it updates and changes the parameters a bit. I'll check that out.
Big Clive
2022-07-10 23:22:43 +0000 UTCNot sure. 4000 seems a lot for a test.
Big Clive
2022-07-10 23:21:40 +0000 UTCIt actually needs more exploration. It left me with more questions than answers.
Big Clive
2022-07-10 23:19:49 +0000 UTCI think they still use the universal serial terminal with modern equipment. Certainly, on a Ukrainian elevator engineering channel the units make a regular appearance. Otis stamps down on UK and USA channels belonging to their engineers.
Big Clive
2022-07-10 23:19:03 +0000 UTCA wonderfully efficient board. Mixed mode with plenty of testpads. Maybe the Nth iteration of something that just kept getting better over the years. Thanks, Clive.
Mike Page
2022-07-09 13:16:21 +0000 UTCI think the C167 was a C166 with MPU? I remember when the C166 came out; it was heavily pushed in the UK through the Keil C51 channels (I had used a fast Siemens 8051 clone with MPU). I decided to skip 16 bits and go straight for 32 bit ARMs.
Mike Page
2022-07-09 12:56:46 +0000 UTCThat terminal must be ancient - back to the days before Toughbooks. Nowadays it'd be a phone app. That said, I use a Windows app to configure all but my most basic designs. Can't arsed with Android.
Mike Page
2022-07-09 12:51:05 +0000 UTCOf course it is an Infineon, would be disappointing otherwise :) Infineon chips are made in Austria/Germany and thus are a staple for German engineering. Low-Cost, very capable, thought in most engineering schools, and geared towards the typical "German industry" (cars, control applications, etc.). The Infineon chips usually feature units for motor control, but the description is somewhat obscure. Usually somebody would employ the CCUs (capture / compare units) which are geared towards motor control. The developer hardware kits and the available software were always absurdly high quality, and usually creating software to control various things was as easy as click-click-click, setup the frequencies, parameters, conversions, power saving modes, Template code gets generated, fill in 2-3 lines of C code to give it some logic. Done. I got my engineering degree being educated on the C167 myself, and some of my fam even ended up working for the Infineon factory in Villach (Austria).
Stefan Szomraky
2022-07-09 10:16:32 +0000 UTCIt was sad that they gone but what got me was they were going to pull the tower down but it ended up being listed it now i think a grand two listed building use see it a lot when i was younger i dont live that far away from it . One thing they use to do a xmas they would put a xmas tree on top of the tower LOL :)
Mort
2022-07-09 03:05:06 +0000 UTCDid you say it was a recon unit? If so perhaps the 4000 is just them testing it after repair
Neil Tonks
2022-07-09 02:51:34 +0000 UTCJust some feedback about the sound. Did you change your audio recording setup for this video? The mic is peaking quite often.
Michael Dunn
2022-07-09 02:17:41 +0000 UTCExpress had a very good reputation. I'd guess they were guzzled up by one of the corporates.
Big Clive
2022-07-09 00:46:02 +0000 UTCI did notice that. Perhaps it's never had or needed an update.
Big Clive
2022-07-09 00:45:18 +0000 UTC...mmmm, lead-based solder!
Russell Levine
2022-07-09 00:37:33 +0000 UTCWas Wadsworth lift maintenance for me.
2022-07-09 00:09:26 +0000 UTClove the vid you ever here of express lifts? and of the Northampton light house ?
Mort
2022-07-08 23:46:39 +0000 UTCThe closest I've been to this kind of equipment was having to go on top of a newly installed Otis Elevator about 8yrs ago to clean off construction debris. For some reason they built the elevator shaft, installed the elevator, then cut the roof open for the fire vent doors on top of the shaft.
Dustin S Cochran
2022-07-08 23:20:45 +0000 UTCIf you didn't notice, the software date of 2007 coincides with the 2007 date of manufacture on the label.
Dustin S Cochran
2022-07-08 23:17:01 +0000 UTC
