Arrow Electronics helps Hong Kong engineers develop monitoring device for lift safety

Arrow Electronics has enabled Nikko Group, a Hong Kong-based lift services company, to incorporate IoT and sensor technologies in a solution that provides real-time data monitoring for a lift safety protection mechanism.

Following a series of fatal lift accidents in Hong Kong in recent years, the Electrical and Mechanical Service Department reported that 80 percent of lifts in Hong Kong have not adopted the recommended enhancement solutions set out in the government’s “Guidelines for Modernising Existing Lifts”.

This includes the installation of an Unintended Car Movement Protection (UCMP) device, which is a safety device that triggers emergency braking systems to prevent unintended lift car movements which may cause fatal injuries.

Powered by an integrated system with a microprocessor, sensors, LoRaWAN connectivity, and a cloud-based data dashboard, this monitoring device is able to track the operational status of the UCMP device.

The benefits of having access to real-time data are better deployment of lift maintenance resources and earlier detection of malfunction situations of the UCMP device which will help improve safety standards.

Francis Lau, director of Nikko Group, who is a registered lift engineer with 40 years of experience in the lift service industry, said, “With the rise of ageing buildings and lifts in our community, it is time that we embrace new technologies, new components and new approaches to modernise our lift maintenance service. We can’t succeed without the help from technology companies such as Arrow.

“Arrow has given us guidance on adopting innovative IoT technologies including wireless connectivity, sensors, system integration, and cloud-based data management. Their support has assisted us to overcome hardware design challenges, accelerate our solution development cycle, and reduce our R&D cost.”

Francis Lau and his engineers are among a community of 800 engineers and innovators who use Arrow’s Open Lab in the Hong Kong Science Park as a centre of innovative collaboration for creating, making and managing technology.

Established in June 2016, Arrow Open Lab is open to all technology entrepreneurs, companies, and organisations for pursuing innovation and product development and accelerating their design-to-impact journey.

“We are keen to assist large enterprises and tech start-ups or any innovators and creators to embrace and deploy IoT and smart technologies for improving our homes, communities, and lives,” said Simon Yu, president of Arrow’s Asia-Pacific components business.

“We believe Arrow is equipped with the technology know-how and engineering resources that they need to stay focused on what they know and do best and make the future better, for all.”