The Schindler PORT Technology revolutionizes the science of optimizing traffic flow through a building while offering personalized service and access control.
The Personal Occupant Requirement Terminal, or Schindler PORT Technology, is a powerful software system that uses information to guide and transport people quickly and safely to their individual destinations, communicating with them through a simple yet elegant device called Schindler PORT.
Among the standard features included in the PORT Technology are a number of advanced options to further tailor the system to your needs.
PORT Technology was designed to bring a new dimension to the use of barriers in the building entry process. With PORT, not only can each entrant be verified as valid but an elevator for their preferred destination floor can be ordered and its identity communicated, right at the barrier. And, because this is a PORT control, we can guarantee that the elevator will provide the best possible journey in the prevailing traffic conditions.
Each PORT is equipped with a reader, which can communicate with any compatible Radio Frequency device ranging from a simple card to a smartphone. This can be used to provide special features during normal elevator operation or, when the PORT is incorporated into a barrier, to provide an access control system that is fully integrated with the elevators.
Parking can be configured such that the system uses real-time statistical data to determine the most likely demanded floors during the current time period and parks the elevators accordingly. Alternatively, the customer can pre-define parking floors.
When the PORT is used in conjunction with a barrier, this feature prevents a user passing their card back across the barrier to facilitate entry of another person by invalidating the second transaction at this barrier or any others nearby.
This optional feature is to discourage passengers from entering into a cabin, for example with a colleague, without using their badge. If a passenger boards an elevator without using their badge, a sanction is applied when this badge is used again. This may range from a warning message on the PORT screen to a requirement to reset the badge at the security desk in the lobby.
In many tall buildings it is desirable to maximize elevator hoistway usage by deploying double-deck elevators. With conventional systems these can prove very frustrating for the user as, for example, a lower-deck cabin stops repeatedly because of a service requirement at the upper-deck or there is confusion as to what cab must be entered at a lobby. With PORT Technology this issue is virtually removed. Since we know all the passengers and their destinations in advance, the double-deck elevators do not stop more often than single deck elevators. In addition, the advanced signalization provided by the PORT screen eliminates any passenger confusion.
A shuttle service between two floors can appear to be the simplest of elevator operations. In fact, if it is not optimized, there is potential to transport far fewer people that theoretical capacity and cause long waiting times. The PORT Technology Shuttle control uses passenger volume assessment tools to set up an advanced service pattern that at all times maximizes the flow through the system while minimizing wait times.
In a sky lobby environment where passengers are being delivered to the area by elevators from the main lobby and then re-boarded into elevators to higher floors, there is always a concern that overcrowding may occur. By comparing the number of people delivered to the sky lobby with the number leaving, the system can detect this possibility and adjust the delivery volume until space has been created.
Since PORT Technology knows who has been delivered to each floor, it can build up a picture of the population distribution at each floor. In the event of the need to evacuate, the system can decide which floors can be evacuated via the stairwells without overcrowding and advise those occupants to take them using its screen. At other floors, it can offer an elevator evacuation and, since it knows the population, can bring enough elevators to take everyone on a specific floor at once, thus avoiding panic.
In normal circumstances the elevator configuration is designed to provide excellent service to its occupants. There may be times, however, due to an unusual influx of visitors or large-scale loss of elevator cabs (for example due to construction) when this is no longer the case. Using the advance communications capability of PORT Technology, passengers can be instructed to either walk down one flight of stairs to pick up their elevator or be delivered one flight above their destination. This would be undertaken to combine required stops and therefore, by making elevators more rapidly available, to significantly increase the handling capacity of the units.
During low traffic periods, a typical elevator system, in an attempt to minimize waiting times, will assign individuals their own cab. Since an elevator is counterbalanced at half load, this results in many trips with highly unbalanced loads and consequently high energy consumption. In ECO mode, “low traffic” trips are planned to allow for reasonable rather than minimal waiting times. This means that all elevators are not needed, thereby providing significant energy savings that are increased by biasing the number of passengers per car to be as close to the balanced load as possible.
For customers who have the need of detailed information relating to the operation of their system, a comprehensive reporting package is available.
Especially suited to large elevator groups or straight-line configurations in heavy-traffic commercial buildings, PORT can increase handling capacity and reduce travel times – each by up to 35%.
PORT reduces crowding both in the lobby and inside the car, by allocating passengers to individual floors. PORT offers fully integrated building access, and myPORT – elevator control and security building access from your smartphone.
The PORT Technology ECO monitors the traffic conditions continuously and keeps average waiting times below or at the specified level, while saving the maximum of energy possible.
With Schindler's PORT Technology, you have the potential to remove many of the existing constraints on interior layouts, thereby allowing you greater freedom when designing the next generation of buildings.
The PORT Technology offers different ways to travel through buildings without ever touching an elevator or even a door.
With Schindler PORT Technology, a building owner or architect can easily design applications to accommodate a wide range of needs in real time. Whether it’s helping to meet new energy efficiency goals, updating security, scheduling maintenance, or adapting to people with special needs, unprecedented levels of customization can be achieved.