2006-07-05 04:48:03 · 11 answers · asked by Lisa M 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
more specifically, when you press the elevator button, what happens? do elevators respond to heat or a spark that is caused when you push button?
2006-07-05 05:00:26 · update #1
It's a complicated process that you'll best learn about not through a one or two sentence explanation, but by seeing the link below: this will tell you all about how they work.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/elevator.htm
2006-07-05 04:57:04 · answer #1 · answered by The Answer 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
What everybody else is trying to say is that there has to be a circuit that is completed somewhere. But you are asking about the sensors on the buttons, aren't you...?
There are two kinds. Some of them detect infrared, but it is not your body heat. There is an infrared source (like a light emitting diode, only infrared) and a sensor, which detects the REFLECTION of the infrared off your finger.
Others detect the static charge on your body as you walk along and your shoes cause friction on the floor.
Have you ever seen a Van de Graff static machine...? Those big towers with the big balls, and lightning shooting between them...? They use those big balls because it is easier for static to build up and stay on balls than on any other shape. Sharp points and edges make for easy disharge of static electricity. (That's why lightning rods are pointy!)
So, when you stick out your finger, the extra electrons your feet scraped off the floor flow out to the fingertip and the charge is concentrated there, because they all repel one another but there is nowhere for them to go. This tiny voltage is detected by a circuit (usually using a special transistor called a Field-Effect Transistor.) There is a static charge, but there isn't an actual spark.
But, in either case, whether it is static or infrared, there is eventually a circuit that closes (a relay) and the motors controlling the doors are activated, and you step inside. That involves combinational logic circuits, like one fellow said. But I don't want to make it any more complicated.
I hope this helps. Think of this, next time you get on an elevator! Can you think of an experiment to determine whether they sensors on the elevator you use are infrared or electrostatic...?
2006-07-05 05:31:12 · answer #2 · answered by cdf-rom 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sparks
2006-07-05 04:51:49 · answer #3 · answered by Groo The Wanderer 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ditto maximus.... is it a joke? if you are really unaware, go to some site or refer few books ..lol its all totally engineering...there are steel ropes which pulls up the cabin by driving motors and gears. there are controls from each levels (floors ) for start and stop, and other safety controls .. its so difficult to mention you. really asking are you kidding? there is another answer .. while you press the button, a small stone fells on the head of four guys sitting under the cabin and they carries you up to desired floor and stops there.
2006-07-05 05:41:22 · answer #4 · answered by shaun 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some buttons are heat sensitive, others are merely a button-type switch (like most doorbells) completing a circuit.
2006-07-05 04:51:14 · answer #5 · answered by aboukir200 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its a machine. Pushing the button activates the ropes and box to move up and down.
2006-07-05 04:51:33 · answer #6 · answered by vinible2006 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. It is the same principle as when your doorbell button is pushed. A low voltage current.
2006-07-05 04:52:09 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The button completes a circuit for which floor you want.
2006-07-05 05:00:31 · answer #8 · answered by ZZ 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
check out
http://www.otis.com/aboutotis/elevatorsinfo/0,1361,CLI1,00.html
2006-07-05 04:52:15 · answer #9 · answered by dcbowls 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no. they work using sequential logic and control system.
2006-07-05 05:13:56 · answer #10 · answered by enggkid 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋