The people of Aitovo have developed a solution costing from UAH 5,000 so that residents of one of Kyiv's residential complexes will no longer get stuck in elevators. How does the know-how work?

But now there are technical solutions available that allow you to avoid getting stuck in elevators during stabilization outages. For example, the Yaskravyi residential complex on Minsky massif launched a system developed by local residents of the city.

«Finally, our building has managed to implement a solution that will allow all of you to use the elevators without the risk of getting stuck in them during a power outage. The installation of this system in our building has been completed, the testing period is currently underway, so far we can state that the system is working perfectly!», — the local condominium association notes on its website.

Developers Andriy (as a non-binary person, they ask to be referred to in the plural, and we respectfully responded to this request, so further in the text this is the developers' positioning — Ed.) told dev.ua about what the latest solution is.

Recall that non-binary individuals are people who do not experience their gender identity as exclusively male or female. dev.ua learned what an IT product is that prevents an elevator from stopping between floors.

An idea whose time has come

Andriy, who has been working as freelancers in IT since he was 17, said that he came to this decision when he observed outages in the house of his acquaintances, which is located not far from their complex and is in the same group as it. Then, focusing on the outages in the house of his acquaintances, which consistently occurred 10–15 minutes earlier than in their complex, they introduced an analogue of SvitloBot for the Yaskravy residential complex, which warned residents about upcoming outages.

«The idea came up to warn people that there will be a power outage. Getting stuck in elevators is especially dangerous when a person, for example, suffers from claustrophobia or diseases such as epilepsy,» Andriy says. Previously, according to them, we used to focus on the house of my friends, where the lights were turned off 10–15 minutes earlier than our complex. Now we focus on the office, which is located much closer, the difference in power outage is only three minutes. During this time, the elevator just has time to get where it needs to be.

In addition, Andriy has previously collaborated with the condominium association of his complex on various solutions such as video surveillance, access control, and uninterruptible power supply. Currently, three out of seven buildings in the Yaskravyi residential complex use the preventive elevator stop solution. Others are in the process of implementation.

Technical aspect and price of the issue

Developers Andriy said that the system for preventive elevator stop works like this — first, the cloud service receives a warning signal from a nearby address where a shutdown has just occurred. This can happen, for example, using an Android smartphone, GPS tracker or «SvitloBot». Then the «cloud» sends an emergency command to a Wi-Fi relay connected to one or more elevator control stations, giving the appropriate signal by closing the contacts. Depending on the type of control station and its software, it is possible to configure the elevator to stop with the doors open on the nearest floor or the destination floor.

When power is restored, the Wi-Fi relay is triggered, and the elevators return to operation. Specifically, in the Yaskravyi residential complex, the developers used a Sonoff Wi-Fi relay with special firmware.

To transmit a signal from a neighboring address, which is to be disconnected a little earlier, Andriy used a GPS tracker with a built-in battery (in this particular case, Teltonika FMB-920). For such purposes, a number of Android smartphones can also be suitable. The developers emphasize that the tracker or smartphone must be permanently installed at the selected address and have a stable Internet connection (2G connection is enough).

A solution accessible to everyone

Technically, the system, with its nuances, can be installed on any elevator, even old Soviet ones (it is currently already working on OTIS, Sigma, and Arkel elevators). The main thing is to comply with three basic conditions: the presence of a relatively reliable source of warning about a power outage; stable Wi-Fi in the room where the elevator control station is located; and the elevator company’s willingness to assist in installing the system.

The developers assure the security of the solution, because they use an encrypted (TLS1.2) MQTT connection to communicate with the «cloud». Each relay has a unique login and an automatically generated long password. And in general, according to Andriy, the worst that can happen in case of unauthorized access to the system is that the elevators will stop on the floor with the doors open or the system will not work during a power outage.

The Aitov team estimated that the basic cost of the solution is currently about 5,000 UAH. These funds will allow you to purchase the necessary equipment. Its installation is paid separately. If you need to buy and «reflash» one or more Wi-Fi relays to modify the solution, this will make the solution several thousand UAH more expensive, but will still leave it in a very affordable price segment.

Plans for a useful elevator expansion

The developers emphasize that since the device is located in an elevator room, its installation should only take place in cooperation with the elevator company. In fact, according to Andriy, there are already agreements with several elevator companies on system cooperation, so that they will be the ones to directly connect and install this system.

Currently, the developers are not sure that their solution has the potential of a startup, they do not intend to take any legal actions regarding copyright registration. But they would like it to be a temporary solution, and permanent power outages will remain a thing of the past. «I want to believe that power outages are a temporary thing after all. I have heard of several cases when people tried to get out of elevators on their own and fell into the shaft. At least, that is what the elevator operators told me,» they note. Andriy is also ready to «fine-tune» the technology depending on the needs and capabilities of other residential complexes.

Users are delighted

dev.ua asked Serhiy Tyshchenko, the head of the condominium association at building No. 33 on Kulzhenkiv Street in the Yaskravyi residential complex, how effective and life-saving Andriy’s decision is. In short, he is delighted.

However, striving for the ideal, he adds that it would be even better if there was a «point» as close in time to their disconnection as possible, but it needs to be found.

Tyshchenko sees no downsides to this decision. «If, for example, the lights don’t turn off for some reason, we just turn the elevators back on. I see a signal on my smartphone when the elevators turn off and on. It’s all „automatic,“» the head of the condominium association notes.

According to him, in some buildings of the complex, much more expensive systems are installed to implement a «pull-up» system, when the elevator reaches the floor despite the power outage. «But this cannot be implemented on all elevators. And it is much more expensive, for example, such a system costs about 70,000 UAH for one of my elevators. So the price here is simply not comparable,» adds the head of the condominium association.

Residents of buildings where the solution is installed, surveyed by dev.ua, respond positively to Andriy’s development. Although the head of the condominium association says that, as always and everywhere, they are dissatisfied. Someone complains because the elevators stop while there is still electricity for some time, and they could reach their floor. The reason is simple: it is impossible to synchronize this technical solution 100% — unless DTEK warns each building about the exact time of shutdown, which currently does not seem realistic.

Valeriy Nikitchenko, the chairman of the board of the Kyiv City Housing Association, has not yet heard about the implementation of such a system, but he clearly sees prospects in it. The only thing he doubts is the possibility of implementing this system for old elevators in a budget-friendly and easy way, but he is interested in studying the issue.

However, he added that in order to comment on this in detail, he would first like to familiarize himself with the nuances of this decision.

*This text was prepared especially for dev.ua by Igor Vishnevsky.

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