1.1 What problem are we going to solve with the DIGITAL TWIN?


Did you know that riding in an elevator used to be dangerous business? So, it was until Elisha Otis, of Otis Elevator Company fame, invented a device that could prevent a passenger elevator from falling if its rope broke. It debuted precisely 160 years ago at the E.V. Haughwout and Company store in Manhattan on March 23, 1857.

Otis had demonstrated how it worked a few years earlier in a dramatic demonstration at America’s first world’s fair at the Crystal Palace (now Bryant Park) in New York City. He rode the platform high in the air and ordered the rope cut. The crowd cheered, but the elevator stopped in place safely. This was the starting point for massive elevator adoption.

Today, we have public elevators to help us get to our homes in the city. But you've almost certainly experienced a broken elevator. That´s why, at IMH Advanced center in Manufacturing, we are developing a Digital Twin is of public elevators in Ermua, to seamlessly improve maintenance.

                                      Elevator Digital Twin made with Django and Babylon.js


In the next image you can see the full set of parameters retrieved in the Digital Twin.

                                                              Main screen of the Digital Twin

1.2 What about the hardware? 


The wireless sensor inside the elevator cabin in charge of sensing, is based on a STM32WB55CG which has 1 MByte of flash memory and 256 kBytes of SRAM; and the BMA400 low-power accel for wake-on-motion. Height variation is tracked precisely on every wakeup interval. The board sleeps at ~7 uA current and uses a few mA in "normal" operating mode.

                                           Wireless sensor inside the elevator cabin

                                               Render of the wireless sensor node



                                                      PCB render development by PCBArts

                                                           Render of the closed enclosure


1.3 Want to see one of the real elevators?

Here you have a photo. Stay tunned for the video!