Nirvana Systems Ltd - Case Studies

A very busy backpacker hostel with a group of three high rise elevators.
The elevators were 1950s era relay logic with an electronic modular overlay (EMO) for grouping and traffic control.
When the EMO failed and could not be replaced the customer was faced with a very large expense and a delay of twelve months or more to replace or upgrade all three elevators.
We designed, built and installed a replacement for the EMO system.
The customer's elevators were fully operational within a few weeks at a fraction of the cost of a full controller upgrade.

A duplex pair of four storey elevators at Auckland Hospital.
The controllers were relay logic with a microprocessor based Semag traffic control system.
When the traffic controller failed and parts were not available we were asked to design a replacement.
We installed a PLC into each existing relay logic controller and wrote software to mimic the functionality of the traffic controller.

An international Hotel in Fiji with a duplex pair of ten storey elevators.
The elevators had been recently upgraded but the grouping system did not work and the supplier would not resolve the problem.
As a result the elevators could not communicate with each other and would often both sit idle while hall calls went unanswered for long periods.
We were asked to attend site to resolve the communications and traffic control problems.
We were unable to access the software due to password protection and the supplier would not assist.
We completely re-wrote the software from scratch for both elevators to get the system operating reliably with the existing hardware.

An international hotel in Rotorua with a duplex pair of five storey elevators.
After fire damage to one elevator the customer was faced with a very large expense to upgrade both elevators.
We repaired the fire damage and installed two Nirvana Elevator controllers while keeping one elevator operational at all times.
The elevator interiors were renovated with new fixtures, stained wooden wall panels and improved car lighting.
Invertors were fitted for smooth door control.
The project was completed for a fraction of the cost and in a third of the time required for a traditional equipment upgrade.

An international hotel in Christchurch with a duplex pair of passenger elevators and a simplex goods elevator, seven storeys.
Jim Toseland from Elevator Installations did a complete refurbishment of these elevators following the Christchurch earthquake.
We provided three Nirvana Elevator Controllers for the refurbishment and assisted with final commissioning.

A heritage building in Auckland with a single four storey manual elevator.
We replaced the original DC motor with a modern AC motor and installed a Nirvana Controller.
The classic elevator interior was retained with the original attractive attendant controls polished and restored.

A luxury motor yacht with a simplex 5 storey hydraulic elevator.
The crew needed the onboard elevator upgraded while it was undergoing a fitout in Auckland.
We were the only company that could provide and install a new controller within the short timeframe.
We installed a Nirvana Elevator Controller in very cramped conditions above the main ship generators.

An Auckland apartment building with a single low rise elevator.
The elevator used a mechanical impulse selector for position control.
The selector was worn out and unreliable. As a result the elevator would frequently lose position and become unavailable.
We designed and installed a solid state replacement for the selector.

An Auckland apartment building with a simplex five storey PLC based elevator.
The manufacturer was unable to produce a fire service operation to comply with the NZ Standard (NZS4332P).
We modified the existing software to provide fire service which was fully compliant with the NZ standard.

An Auckland office building with a group of four high rise elevators.
The incumbent service provider had upgraded the fixtures in the elevators but was unable to obtain position signals to drive the new in car position indicators.
The elevators used an obsolete microprocessor computer system for all position and traffic functions, which communicated with the elevator via bursts of data on a serial bus.
We designed and installed circuit boards on each elevator to extract position data from the data stream and convert it to signals which could be used by the position display boards.

An Auckland office building with an extremely old four storey elevator.
The elevator operates on 500VDC, and was originally designed to operate on the supply voltage from the Auckland tram lines.
The incumbent service provider needed to fit a control station on the cartop but modern switchgear cannot operate at these voltages.
We re-designed the elevator controller to operate on 100VAC but retained switchgear needed to drive the existing 500VDC machine, then added a cartop station as required.

An Auckland school with a two stop hydraulic elevator. The original PLC had failed and the original software was not available.
We replaced the PLC and wrote custom software to control the elevator utilising the original controller hardware and circuitry.

Note: Replacing failed PLC's is something we have done quite a lot of.
The following list is just a few jobs on which we have installed a PLC replacement:
EDS building, Otahuhu College, Gate Pa School, Glenburn Retirement Village, Newmarket Pools, 41 Charlotte Street Apartments, Dick Smith Electronics, 280 Queen Street, Pakuranga Park Village, 9 Fox Street Apartments, 8 Madeira Lane Apartments, Domestic Terminal, 131 Lincoln Road, 5 Auburn Street Apartments, 320 Kohimarama Road,
6 Clayton Street, 10 Montel Avenue.

On numerous occasions we had need of a datalogger to assist with the diagnosis of transitory faults.
We were unable to locate a suitable commercially available product so we developed our own.
The Nirvana datalogger will interface directly with the Nirvana controller to record any internal event but also has 48 external digital inputs and an analogue input capability.
It will record events to within 1/100th of a second and produces reports for analysis which are configurable and searchable.
It has nine triggers which can be configured to place a marker in the datastream when complex preset combinations of events occur.
The Nirvana datalogger has been used on several occasions where the fault would have been otherwise un-diagnosable.

Many elevator installations have no electrical wiring diagrams on site, despite this being a legal requirement.
We have traced out all circuitry and produced accurate, laminated circuit diagrams for numerous customers.

An Auckland office Tower with a group of three 12 storey elevators.
Rain had entered the elevator shafts and two elevators were out of order as a result.
We surveyed the damage and wrote a report for the insurance claim.
We diagnosed and replaced all damaged circuit boards, shaft information components and door motor equipment.