The Schindler PORT Technology revolutionises the science of optimising traffic flow through a building while offering personalised service and access control.
Perfection is quite a challenge in a modern facility where each trip may involve taking one or more means of vertical transport, obtaining access to secure areas, navigating to unfamiliar offices and so on – all the while just wanting to be at your destination and get on with the job at hand.
With The PORT Technology by Schindler, the Personal Transit Management system, the travellers’ only requirement is to simply communicate their identity and required destination at a PORT Terminal. The PORT Technology takes care of the rest by planning and executing a seamless journey using an optimal route designed to take the shortest possible time to complete.
Among the standard features included in The PORT Technology are a number of advanced options to further tailor the system to your needs.
PORT Technology was designed to bring a new dimension to the use of barriers in the building entry process. With PORT, not only can each entrant be verified as valid but a lift for their preferred destination floor can be ordered and its identity communicated, right at the barrier. And, because this is a PORT control, we can guarantee that the lift will provide the best possible journey in the prevailing traffic conditions.
Each PORT is equipped with a reader which can communicate with any compatible Radio Frequency device ranging from a simple card to a smartphone. This can be used to provide special features during normal lift operation or, when the PORT is incorporated into a barrier, to provide an access control system which is fully integrated with the lifts.
Parking can be configured such that the system uses real-time statistical data to determine the most likely demand floors during the current time period and parks the lifts accordingly. Alternatively the customer can pre-define parking floors.
When the PORT is used in conjunction with a barrier, this feature prevents a user passing their card back across the barrier to facilitate entry of another person by invalidating the second transaction at this barrier or any others nearby.
This optional feature is to discourage passengers from entering into a cabin, for example with a colleague, without using their badge. If a passenger boards a lift without using their badge, a sanction is applied when this badge is used again. This may range from a warning message on the PORT screen to a requirement to reset the badge at the security desk in the lobby.
In many tall buildings it is desirable to maximise lift hoistway usage by deploying double-deck lifts. With conventional systems these can prove very frustrating for the user as, for example, a lower-deck cabin stops repeatedly because of a service requirement at the upper-deck or there is confusion as to what cab must be entered at a lobby. With The PORT Technology this issue is virtually removed. Since we know all the passengers and their destinations in advance the double-deck lifts do not stop more often than single deck lifts. In addition the advanced signalisation provided by the PORT screen eliminates any passenger confusion.
A shuttle service between two floors can appear to be the simplest of lift operations. In fact if it is not optimised there is potential to transport far fewer people than theoretical capacity and cause long waiting times. The PORT Technology Shuttle control uses passenger volume assessment tools to set up an advanced service pattern that at all times maximises the flow through the system while minimising wait times.
In a sky lobby environment where passengers are being delivered to the area by lifts from the main lobby and then re-boarded into lifts to higher floors there is always a concern that overcrowding may occur. By comparing the number of people delivered to the sky lobby with the number leaving the system can detect this possibility and reduce the delivery volume until space has been created.
Since The PORT Technology knows who has been delivered to each floor it can build up a picture of the population distribution at each floor. In the event of the need to evacuate, the system can decide which floors can be evacuated via the stairwells without overcrowding and advise those occupants to take them using its screen. At other floors it can offer a lift evacuation and, since it knows the population, can bring enough lifts to take everyone on a specific floor at once thus avoiding panic.
In normal circumstances the lift configuration is designed to provide excellent service to its occupants. There may be times, however, due to an unusual influx of visitors or large-scale loss of lift cabs (for example due to construction) when this is no longer the case. Using the advance communications capability of The PORT Technology, passengers can be instructed to either walk down one flight of stairs to pick up their lift or be delivered one flight above their destination. This would be undertaken to combine required stops and therefore, by making lifts more rapidly available, to significantly increase the handling capacity of the units.
During low traffic periods, a typical lift system, in an attempt to minimise waiting times, will assign individuals their own cab. Since a lift is counterbalanced at half load, this results in many trips with highly unbalanced loads and consequently high energy consumption. In ECO mode “low traffic” trips are planned to allow for reasonable rather than minimal waiting times. This means that all lifts are not needed thereby providing significant energy savings which are increased by biassing the number of passengers per car to be as close to the balanced load as possible.
For customers who have the need of detailed information relating to the operation of their system, a comprehensive reporting package is available.
Especially suited to large lift groups or straight-line configurations in heavy-traffic commercial buildings, PORT can increase handling capacity and reduce travel times – each by up to 35%.
PORT reduces crowding both in the lobby and inside the car, by allocating passengers to individual floors. PORT offers fully integrated building access, and myPORT – lift control and security building access from your smartphone.
The PORT Technology ECO monitors the traffic conditions continuously and keeps average waiting times below or at the specified level, while saving the maximum amount of energy possible.
With Schindler's PORT Technology, you have the potential to remove many of the existing constraints on interior layouts, thereby allowing you greater freedom when designing the next generation of buildings.
The PORT Technology offers different ways to travel through buildings without ever touching a lift or even a door.
Best-in-class traffic management
PORT Transit Management represents a major expansion of system capability from the baseline PORT. From initial building entry through onward travel and finally exit a truly integrated solution, enabling secure and convenient travel is available. It includes a range of terminals, with specialised applications for visitors, parking, doors, offices and residences.