ANSYS DesignSpace Assists Champion Elevators in Achieving New Standards

• Functional Applications - Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES)
• Sensors - Autonomous Driving Sensors

• Buildings
• Cement

• Logistics & Transportation
• Product Research & Development

• Building Automation & Control
• Onsite Human Safety Management

• System Integration

Champion Elevators Inc., a Texas-based leader in the design and installation of rack-and-pinion driven elevators, faced the challenge of redesigning cost-effective, yet safe elevators that conform to the stringent building and electrical codes of the high-rise construction industry. The company had to ensure that their elevators met two different sets of standards - regulatory building and electrical codes, and safety standards that are essentially physical properties. After almost three decades in the business, Champion Elevators knew that conformance to building codes was a must. Given the obvious risks, engineers at Champion ran every job through analysis. Assuring safety and conformance to the codes and regulations fell into two very different types of engineering analyses. Safety assurances of the elevator — essentially measuring maximum stresses and ensuring adequate safety margins — was handled with ANSYS DesignSpace® software for finite element modeling and finite element analysis (FEM/FEA) from ANSYS Inc.

Champion Elevators Inc. is a Texas-based company that specializes in the design and installation of rack-and-pinion driven elevators. The company is a leader in its field and its elevators are used in a variety of settings including high-rise construction sites, offshore oil and gas rigs, refineries and power plants, port facilities and shipyards, and on ships. The company's basic design includes a tower assembled from standard segments, rigid ties to connect it to the exterior of the structure, electrically powered rack-and-pinion drives, sheet metal elevator cars, automatic braking, and spring-like buffers at the bottoms of the towers. The company prides itself on its ability to custom engineer unique products and each product is made to rigid specifications, as determined by the client and its own engineers. The company employs 150 people.

Champion Elevators used ANSYS DesignSpace to cut weight and cost on elevator cars while conforming to safety regulations. The company began re-engineering its products in 2000 to reduce weight and cost and simplify manufacturing. The major re-engineering effort went into the structure of the elevator car to reduce its weight, simplify its manufacturing processes and cut costs. The car redesign replaced the four springs with two urethane shock absorber systems. They weigh less, cost less, and simplified manufacturing since only two buffer attachment points were needed rather than four spring pods. A new landing gate door was designed not by engineers armed with computers and finite element software but by a long-time employee who did his calculations by hand. The redesign made them smaller and stronger. In fact, they got a much better safety factor so lighter steel could be used. They used DesignSpace to make sure the margins of safety were protected.

• The use of ANSYS DesignSpace has allowed Champion Elevators to maintain safety standards while reducing the weight and cost of their elevator cars. The software has enabled the company to conduct thorough analyses of their designs, ensuring that they meet all necessary safety and regulatory codes. The ability to conduct these analyses has been crucial in allowing the company to custom engineer unique products that meet the specific needs of their clients. Furthermore, the use of DesignSpace has facilitated the company's efforts to simplify their manufacturing processes, leading to cost savings. The company has also been able to protect the margins of safety in their designs, ensuring that their products are not only cost-effective but also safe for use. The successful implementation of DesignSpace has contributed to the company's growth and success, with the company now shipping systems to low-manufacturing-cost countries on the Pacific Rim and increasing its workforce from 35 to 150 in the past decade.

• Saved 45 pounds per elevator car
• Protected the margins of safety
• Allows Champion to work easily with materials, geometry and specifications