An illustrative example elevator system includes a frame, a first elevator cab, a second elevator cab, and a plurality of sheaves associated with the first and second elevator cabs, respectively. A suspension assembly suspends the first and second elevator cabs within the frame. The suspension assembly has two ends in a fixed position relative to the frame. The suspension assembly includes a positive drive load bearing member along a first portion of a length of the suspension assembly and at least one other second load bearing member. A machine includes a drive sprocket that moves the positive drive load bearing member to cause movement of the first and second elevator cabs relative to the frame.

An elevator system and a multi-deck car for an elevator system. The elevator system has a multi-deck car that moves up and down along an elevator guide rail in an elevator shaft and comprises a first car and a second car connected to and located below the first car, wherein the second car is provided with a stop-support device configured to be operably engaged with a mating device mounted at a pre-set position on the elevator guide rail and/or the inner wall of the elevator shaft, for stopping and supporting the multi-deck car at the pre-set position upon engaging of the stop-support device and the mating device. The invention not only has advantages of quick and convenient operation, but also can effectively ensure the safety of both elevator equipment and field workers.

An embodiment elevator includes a cage located on a hoistway and a raising/lowering driving device configured to raise and lower the cage in an up-down direction. The cage includes a first chamber having a first space as an inner space and a second chamber having a second space as an inner space, the second chamber is coupled to an upper or lower side of the first chamber, and a height of the first chamber is greater than a height of the second chamber in the up-down direction.

An illustrative example elevator system includes a frame, a first elevator cab, a second elevator cab, and a plurality of sheaves associated with the first and second elevator cabs, respectively. A suspension assembly suspends the first and second elevator cabs within the frame. The suspension assembly has two ends in a fixed position relative to the frame. The suspension assembly includes a positive drive load bearing member along a first portion of a length of the suspension assembly and at least one other second load bearing member. A machine includes a drive sprocket that moves the positive drive load bearing member to cause movement of the first and second elevator cabs relative to the frame.

A method for a passenger-allocation in a multi-deck elevator group where the decks of the elevator cars are stacked above each other and being mounted in a car frame to be moved synchronously in an elevator shaft utilizes an improved allocation strategy. The method is performed by a control unit to dispatch the elevator cars for serving any passenger call which can be entered as a landing call or a car call, wherein a call creates plural allocation proposals calculated by an optimization algorithm carried out by the control unit for dispatching an elevator to a passenger call. The allocation proposals are then processed in a routing algorithm defining one serving deck to be taken for the allocation of a specific call, which routing algorithm is restarted for any further incoming call independent of whether a further incoming call is creating new elevator allocation proposal(s) or when a reallocation timeout has passed. A computer program carrying out the method is further disclosed.

A method of operating an elevator system includes: receiving an evacuation call from a first evacuation floor; moving a first compartment of a multi-compartment elevator car to the first evacuation floor; opening a first door of the first compartment when the first compartment arrives at the first evacuation floor; monitoring, using a first sensor system, a remaining capacity within the first compartment; and closing the first door when at least one of a first selected period of time has passed and the remaining capacity within the first compartment is equal to a first selected remaining capacity.

A method of operating an elevator system includes: receiving an evacuation call from a first evacuation floor; determining an evacuation zone surrounding the first evacuation floor; determining a number of passengers on each floor within the evacuation zone; determining a set of adjacent floors within the evacuation zone that have a highest combined passenger number, the set of adjacent floors including a first adjacent floor and a second adjacent floor; and moving a multi-compartment elevator car to the set of adjacent floors with the highest combined passenger number, the multi-compartment elevator having a first compartment and a second compartment; wherein the first compartment arrives at the first adjacent floor and the second compartment arrives at the second adjacent floor when the multi-compartment elevator car arrives at the set of adjacent floors with the highest combined passenger number.

A lift system may include at least two cars that can be moved in a lift shaft, at least two drives each of which is configured to drive one of the cars for movement within the lift shaft, and a frame device. The at least two cars may be positioned within the frame device that is movable in the lift shaft. The at least two cars can be moved relative to one another within the frame device by way of their respective drives.

Elevator system passengers are transported in one or more of a plurality of elevator cars. The elevator cars can require different amounts of energy to operate. Passenger trips can be allocated to one car or another car based on the expected energy consumption for the trips in one or the other car.

Embodiments are directed to detecting motion of a building housing a multi-deck elevator system, determining, by a processing device, that the detected motion of the building is greater than a threshold, and controlling access to at least one deck of the elevator system based on determining that the detected motion of the building is greater than the threshold such that the at least one deck still is enabled to traverse a hoist-way of the elevator system.