Elevator Shunt Trip Requirements

[strap89]

I am having a heck of a time finding answers to elevator questions related to the shaft heat detector that shunt trips the elevator power. Any advice or pointing me to the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

If you have a heat detector in the elevator shaft (24" away from sprinkler and more sensitive than sprinkler head), I know this is supposed to shunt trip the elevator power. What I don't understand is when you have a battery lowering system, should this system also be disconnected and if so how is this typically achieved?

Thanks!

 

[roger]

Look into ASME A17.1

I always used a package control unit similar to THIS.

There are others, Eaton makes a similar unit.

Roger

 

[Rock86]

Take a look at this control panel. We spec it for elevators because it covers pretty much all of our needs when we have small elevator jobs.

Elevator control switch

Eaton's elevator control switch, an all-in-one power disconnect solution, enables one to meet NFPA, NEC and local building codes related to hydraulic elevator applications. Shunt trip disconnect, relays to receive FACP signal and monitor shunt trip control voltage, and aux contact for battery...

www.eaton.com

Basically, how I understand it... the elevator heat detector sends tells the elevator to lower down before the sprinkler goes off. The shunt trip is required to be manually reset.

 

[Rock86]

Look into ASME A17.1

I always used a package control unit similar to THIS.

There are others, Eaton makes a similar unit.

Roger

Yeah... What he said. HAHAHA.

 

[jap]

Unlike others, our area doesn't use Elevator Control Switches anymore.

Common setup is shunt trip breakers in the feeder panels with a disconnect for the elevator and cab lights with a set of Aux. contacts for cab recall.

JAP>

 

[gadfly56]

Take a look at this control panel. We spec it for elevators because it covers pretty much all of our needs when we have small elevator jobs.

Elevator control switch

Eaton's elevator control switch, an all-in-one power disconnect solution, enables one to meet NFPA, NEC and local building codes related to hydraulic elevator applications. Shunt trip disconnect, relays to receive FACP signal and monitor shunt trip control voltage, and aux contact for battery...

www.eaton.com

Basically, how I understand it... the elevator heat detector sends tells the elevator to lower down before the sprinkler goes off. The shunt trip is required to be manually reset.

Maaaaybe. The appendix notes in NFPA 72 suggest you are permitted to put in a delay, but usually it just cuts the power. This permissive was inserted in the 2010 edition of NFPA 72. If you are on an earlier edition, the cutoff has to be immediate. Your AHJ may require something different.

 

[strap89]

Thank you all for the replies. I'm looking more for an answer to specifically the battery lowering system. Say I don't have an all in one package and I have a disconnect in the elevator room (with aux contact) and a shunt trip breaker in the main electrical room. If the fire alarm system shunt trips the main breaker, how does the battery system shunt as well? The battery system can't tell the difference between a shunt trip or an outage but it can tell when someone flipped the local disconnect switch. It sounds to me like you need an additional relay from the shunt trip coil auxiliary contacts or an additional fire alarm system relay interfaced with the elevator controller to distinguish the difference.

 

[jap]

Unless I'm mistaken, the N/O auxiliary contacts in the elevator disconnect are used to close a cab recall circuit coming from the elevator controller,
not to shunt trip the breakers feeding the elevator.

The shunt trip process is controlled by the Smoke and Heat detectors installed in the elevator shaft itself tied to the shunt trip breakers, not from the auxiliary contacts in the elevator service disconnect.

Someone more knowledgeable about such will probably chime in.

JAP>

 

[gadfly56]

Unless I'm mistaken, the N/O auxiliary contacts in the elevator disconnect are used to close a cab recall circuit coming from the elevator controller,
not to shunt trip the breakers feeding the elevator.

The shunt trip process is controlled by the Smoke and Heat detectors installed in the elevator shaft itself tied to the shunt trip breakers, not from the auxiliary contacts in the elevator service disconnect.

Someone more knowledgeable about such will probably chime in.

JAP>

Not tied into the detectors, unless it's a truly ancient system where the detector is equipped with a relay base, and only the heat detector. Nowadays we use an addressable relay module with the hoistway heat detector as an input. Also the machine room heat detector if the machine room is sprinklered.

 

[Bluegrass Boy]

I am having a heck of a time finding answers to elevator questions related to the shaft heat detector that shunt trips the elevator power. Any advice or pointing me to the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

If you have a heat detector in the elevator shaft (24" away from sprinkler and more sensitive than sprinkler head), I know this is supposed to shunt trip the elevator power. What I don't understand is when you have a battery lowering system, should this system also be disconnected and if so how is this typically achieved?

Thanks!

It has been a long time but,,, the last one I did we were supplied a contactor/ device from the fire alarm control equipment company that was compatible with their equipment. It was not Simplex with the dip switches for addressing, but another brand that you locked in a smoke detector on something like a tablet and programmed in the address of the device. We mounted the contactor in a 4-11/16 box close to the disconnect with the shunt trip inside. The contactor communicated with the main fire alarm panel the same as the smokes and pull stations. Some call it “map net”. If the system was in alarm, the elevator was recalled down to one of the first , second, or third floor depending upon if one of the first choice floors had a smoke detector in alarm status. Then the contactor would shunt the main for the elevator through the main fire alarm panel. It was a separate 120v circuit used to shunt.
I don’t believe ours had battery system tied in with it. The same type of contactor was also installed near the elevator controls to communicate for elevator recall.

 

[TheElevatorGuy]

Hello Strap89,

Circuits in the elevator shaft should not powered if the sprinklers are on in the shaft. Water in the elevator shaft (sprinkler switch or water flow switch) should automatically activate the shunt trip mainline and prevent the battery from working. All circuits need to be off in the elevator shaft.