The 25th National Invention Exhibition—Belt and Road & BRICS Skills Development and Technological Innovation Competition, a three-day event, concluded on the afternoon of December 12 in Foshan, Guangdong Province. Attending the closing ceremony and presenting awards to the winning representatives were Cao Jianlin, Deputy Director of the Education, Science, Health and Sports Committee of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; Mao Yongtian, Vice Chairman of the Foshan Municipal CPPCC; Yu Huarong, Party Secretary, Executive Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the China Invention Association, among other leaders. The invention achievement “Research and Development and Industrial Application of an Intelligent Elevator Cloud System Based on Industrial Internet Architecture,” completed by Shanghai STEP Electric Co., Ltd., won the First Prize of the “Invention Entrepreneurship Award—Innovation Award.” Wang Peng, as a representative of the award winners, was invited to attend the award ceremony.

When Wang Peng took hold of the heavy award certificate, his whole heart was filled with warmth. “From the start of R&D in 2012 to industrialization in 2018, this project has been the result of six years of hard work by our team. It’s been a journey of continuous self-improvement, ultimately establishing China’s leading position in smart elevator control and elevator cloud technology on the global stage.”

This project leverages STEP robust talent pool and nearly 20 years of deep expertise in elevator control technology. By harnessing cutting-edge blockchain cloud platform technology, it offers customers three key features: accessory certification, elevator operational characteristic diagnostics, and an elevator monitoring dashboard. Blockchain technology ensures the secure and tamper-proof sharing of critical data throughout the entire lifecycle of an elevator, thereby safeguarding the integrity of elevator data. The project has introduced five innovative, original technological solutions, placing its overall technology at an internationally advanced level, with some technologies even taking a global leading position.

Overview of Innovation Highlights

No.1 Developed an intelligent elevator communication protocol based on the industrial internet architecture, and created a security protection device that takes into account the prevention of leakage of elevator manufacturers’ elevator communication protocols, thereby achieving reliable authentication of components.
No.2 Developed a cloud-based elevator cloud service platform that enables distributed collection of elevator operation and environmental data as well as cloud-side management, creating an enterprise monitoring dashboard that displays elevator passenger status and maintenance information.
No.3 Developed an online vibration detection and diagnosis system for elevators, as well as a technology for detecting intermittent elevator vibrations, resulting in the EOCD product—a solution that can effectively diagnose elevator operating characteristics.
No.4 Developed a cloud platform for intelligent elevator sensing and operation & maintenance services based on blockchain technology, and proposed a service-oriented cross-domain heterogeneous data integration and sharing technology.
No.5 Developed an elevator cloud system. Designed a database for storing and managing operational data from various types of elevators under multiple operating conditions, and leverages blockchain technology to synchronize, filter, and analyze real-time data.

The project has been granted 20 invention patents and 12 software copyrights, and has resulted in the publication of 37 academic papers and the publication of one international monograph. Currently, the research findings have been successfully applied by several elevator companies, providing strong support for ensuring elevator data security, safeguarding maintenance interests, guaranteeing the reliability of spare parts sources, and protecting spare parts-related benefits, with significant social benefits.

As for the research process and value of the project, let’s invite Wang Peng to give us an introduction!

Q: What considerations were behind the initial project proposal at the time? Were there any difficulties encountered during the research process?
The project’s initiation comprehensively takes into account both the rapid development of China’s internet and big data landscape and the practical needs of the elevator industry. It aims to maximize the enterprises’ technological strengths, leverage the advantages of elevator control products, and capitalize on the benefits of the elevator maintenance and service cloud platform, thereby actively promoting elevator companies to adopt the “Elevator Cloud + Maintenance” model and enhance both the intelligence and maintenance levels of elevators. Moreover, as the demand for new urbanization—such as smart elevators and networked maintenance services—continues to grow, providing intelligent and networked technical services for elevators has become an urgent necessity for future market development. These services will support elevator manufacturing, the retrofitting of existing elevators, elevator maintenance, and close integration with smart buildings.
The research did indeed encounter some challenges. For example, the key technologies involved in this project faced difficulties in conducting reliable operational tests at the product level. However, through the accumulation of field data and the dedicated efforts of our R&D team, we quickly overcame these issues.

Q: The project completion unit includes Zhejiang University. In your opinion, how has this approach of integrating industry, academia, and research played a role in achieving the project’s outcomes?
STEP has established a long-term cooperative relationship with Zhejiang University in areas such as talent development and scientific and technological research and development. The university and the enterprise are closely integrated, precisely aligning scientific research with market demands and accelerating the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements, ultimately bringing them to the market.

Q: What is the composition of our entire team?
The team has jointly trained 13 doctoral students and 36 master’s students. These highly skilled and specialized technical personnel will play a crucial role in accelerating the rapid development of STEP Elevators as well as industries such as industrial robots and intelligent manufacturing.

Q: How is the elevator cloud product launched by STEP based on these research findings performing in the market so far?
The elevator cloud platform and terminal products involved in this achievement were officially launched in April 2021. To date, they have served over 100 customers with nearly 30,000 elevators. The intelligent elevator communication protocol technology based on the industrial internet architecture, blockchain technology, and online vibration detection and diagnostic technology for elevator control circuits—all of which are part of this development—have already been deployed on nearly 2,000 elevators across more than 60 customer sites and have received positive feedback from the market.

Q: What value does the project hold for the development of China’s elevator industry?
First, it helps ensure the timeliness and quality of elevator maintenance, effectively preventing maintenance from becoming merely a formality. With the support of cloud-based elevator technologies, elevator maintenance personnel can quickly and accurately identify elevator malfunctions and carry out precise repairs. This also helps improve the technical skills of maintenance staff and promotes the healthy development of elevator maintenance services.
Second, it can enhance users’ satisfaction with elevator quality and maintenance services, ultimately creating a brand effect.
Once again, intelligent supervision of service elevators helps regulatory authorities implement smart oversight of elevators, playing a positive role in safeguarding people’s livelihoods.

Regarding the “China Invention, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation Award”
The China Invention, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation Award was approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2005 and established by the China Invention Association—a national first-level academic society. It enjoys the support of various government departments and organizations, including the Ministry of Science and Technology, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, and the National Intellectual Property Administration. The award aims to stimulate public enthusiasm for invention and entrepreneurship, enhance the creative vitality of the entire society, promote the commercialization and implementation of inventive achievements, lay a solid social foundation for vigorously advancing independent technological innovation, and contribute to the building of an innovative nation.

Email:
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