On March 15, the Yongjia Oubei Fire Department in Wenzhou received an emergency call reporting that a resident was trapped in an elevator. At the time of the malfunction, one passenger was riding the elevator alone to the 16th floor. After a power outage, the elevator stopped and the passenger was trapped inside. Inspection revealed that the elevator car had stopped near the 6th floor. Fire rescue personnel arrived at the 6th floor and contacted the elevator manufacturer's maintenance staff. Within just a few minutes, the firefighters and maintenance workers opened the elevator door and safely rescued the trapped passenger.
Here we would like to remind everyone: if you are trapped in an elevator, do not panic. Be sure to call for help immediately. Elevators are equipped with numerous safety devices. Only when safety devices such as the safety gear fail will the elevator car descend rapidly. However, even then, the hydraulic buffer serves as the final line of defense to protect passenger safety.
So, how does the hydraulic buffer act as the last safeguard for passengers in an elevator? The hydraulic buffer itself is a safety device installed at the bottom of the elevator shaft, beneath the car. When the elevator car moves up and down, due to factors such as cable traction friction, insufficient braking force, system control failures, etc., the elevator may overshoot the bottom terminal and accelerate out of control. At that moment, the hydraulic buffer provides a cushioning effect to prevent the sudden drop of the car from subjecting passengers to excessive impact forces.
In fact, the principle of the hydraulic buffer is easy to understand: it uses the attenuation of liquid flow to mitigate the gravitational impact of the elevator car. When the hydraulic buffer is struck, the piston rod is pressed into the cylinder, pushing the piston so that oil flows from orifices of different sizes into the oil chamber. As the stroke decreases, the orifices gradually close, achieving linear deceleration of the moving object.
Safety has always been a major concern for people. Installing a hydraulic buffer at the bottom of an elevator provides more comprehensive protection for elevator safety.
