Elevator controllers: common misunderstandings related to compliance with ASME A17.1-2000/B44-00 safety code for elevators and escalators

摘要

At Motion Control Engineering, Inc. (MCE), how we respond to new elevator safety code requirements has changed dramatically since our company's early days. In the past, a few engineers would put their heads together and spend a few hours modifying our controller design to meet new code requirements. This simplistic process changed with the introduction of the ASME A17.1-2000/B44-00 Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators. These same engineers - now joined by a handful of others - would be involved in day-long meetings, some lasting well into the night, trying to understand just the intent of new language added to the code. The intent was so well hidden, that we were forced to submit requests for interpretation before the official release date. In addition, we hired code experts from the industry to help us with our task of interpretation and implementation of this new code. Never had we worked so hard to understand the reasoning behind the words.