Does an Elevator's 'Close Door' Button Really Work and Other Questions

It can sometimes be wonderfully fascinating to discuss with other riders about whether the “Close Door” and “Open Door” buttons inside an elevator actually work.

Years ago, in an article in the New Yorker, the writer suggested that the “Close Door” button was only there for psychological reasons, helping to calm impatient riders.

At the National Association of Real Estate Editors annual conference on Wednesday in Atlanta, Monica Miller Brown of TK Elevator addressed that and many more issues, including how elevators can contribute to sustainability best practices. The session was moderated by Tony Wilbert, CoStar News.

The prevailing opinion is that “close door” buttons do work, it’s just up to the building to determine if they want them to be active.

How Can AI and Machine Learning Improve Performance?

TK Elevator has been in business for 40 years, but lately has gained loyal customers through its attention to energy conservation and its helping clients solve for rider and operational challenges by using artificial intelligence and machine learning to perform more economically and efficiently.

Elevators can use as much as 10 percent of a building’s overall energy, Miller Brown said.

“By testing and advising and helping buildings select the elevator type best suited for them, we’ve designed ways to cut that to 2% to 3%,” she said.

One example is the destination dispatch model, which assigns a person to a specific elevator in the bank based on the floor they wish to reach.

“This can make the elevator system 35% more efficient, and can even allow the building to use, for example, five elevators instead of six, given the time it saves the riders,” Miller Brown said.

TK also has designed a “twin elevator” model that can economize the space for the elevator shaft.

When’s Best Time to Service Them?

Machine learning helps buildings track their elevators’ performance and can determine when repairs are needed before it becomes an inconvenience.

“Buildings would always prefer doing service when they want, and not at 5 p.m. on a weekday afternoon,” Miller Brown said.

How Fast Is Fast?

She said that TK Elevator provides the fastest elevators in the Western Hemisphere at One World Trade Center in New York.

Those move about 2,000 feet per minute (or 23 mph), compared to TK’s more common 1,500 feet per second and much greater than the 150 to 300 feet per minute found in hydro elevators working in parking garages, for example.

Who Gets to Choose?

She said that while the architect will specify an elevator for a given project, the general contractor is usually the one who purchases it, and the owner is the one who pays for it.

“It’s important to educate all three parties on what they can and should get so the right decision is made,” Miller Brown said.

Miller Brown said her company knows when crucial times are for their customers and typically assigns a technician to the location in case service is needed. Among those times are move-in/move-out days in college dormitories and full-time at One World Trade Center.

The elevators are built on a 12-acre site in Middleton, Tenn. Miller Brown said clients can visit the plant and see exactly what takes place. “Our saying goes, ‘Once someone comes to the plant, they are a customer for life,’ ” she said.

For those watching this week’s baseball playoffs in Atlanta, the TK Elevator building can be seen, brightly lit, over the outfield fence at Truist Park.