Ever frustrated about waiting for elevators and thinking there must be a better arrangement of default positions to minimise waiting time? Here’s an app I wrote you can try out! I wrote this with UCL Institute of Child Health in mind – so a 5-storey high building. Use the website for best experience.
You can customise:
- number of elevators
- elevator speed
- door operation time
- distribution of destinations, and call volume for:
morning-peak;
evening-peak; and,
non-peak hours
With my simulations, the best configuration with default setting + elevator speed = 4.0, door operation time = 0.2 minute per stop:
Morning-Peak: with avg. wait of 0.54 minutes.
1 lift on ground floor
1 lift on 3rd floor
Evening-Peak: with avg. wait of 0.24 minutes.
1 lift on ground floor
1 lift on 4th floor
(Assuming half the calls for elevator per hour than morning peak)
Non-Peak: with avg. wait of 0.14 minutes.
1 lift on 2nd floor
1 lift on 3rd floor
(Assuming even fewer calls per hour)
Of course – I still need to update my assumptions on number of calls, elevator speed, and distribution of journeys. And there are quite a few other things I did not consider in this simulation, such as multiple stops.
I think a model like this reveals insight I don’t directly think of, such as, when elevator speed is fast enough, it does not really matter what configuration of default is set; or, when call load is really high, the small amount of operation time add up exponentially.
Nerdiness and jokes aside, I suppose this would be a good exercise/tool to communicate research findings to the public – but creating these interactive models with immediate feedback – to justify decision-making, resource distribution, and the many different stakeholders & things one need to balance.
It has been a fun little practice!
JosePhD 