Green construction hoist with customized energy regeneration system

Abstract

Construction hoists are large energy consumers in building construction sites. The application of green technology to hoists can be a useful means to reduce energy consumption during construction. We propose a green construction hoist that uses an energy regeneration system (ERS) to reduce its operating energy requirements. The energy regeneration system was customized to improve its energy-saving efficiency and to cope with exposed weather conditions as well as power supply problems. The prototype was applied to an actual building construction project to verify its operating performance, which showed a cost-effective, stable performance for an energy recovery of 55.5% on average. It is expected that the proposed system can be employed as a practical means to save energy usage in construction sites. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.