Winch Drive Series — Building & Construction Vertical Transport

Winch Drive Planetary Gearbox for Lift Elevator

The traction machine gearbox in a passenger or goods lift carries people thousands of times each day in silence — operating in the confined machine room above the shaft with a noise specification that no other winch application demands, an EN 81 safety standard that governs every aspect of its design, and a duty cycle that accumulates millions of start-stop cycles across a 25-year building service life. The planetary gearbox nga nagmaneho sa winch for a lift must be quieter, more precise, and more fatigue-resistant per unit torque than almost any other industrial gearbox — while fitting in the restricted envelope of the standard lift machine room or, increasingly, the machine-room-less shaft head space.

500 – 15,000 Nm output torque
EN 81-1 / EN 81-20 compliant
<55 dB(A) in-cabin noise contribution
20 million cycle design life

Lift and elevator traction machines represent a unique confluence of noise, precision, safety, and fatigue requirements that sets them apart from every other winch drive application in this series. A passenger lift in a hotel or office building makes 300 to 500 trips per day — approximately 150,000 trips per year and 3 million trips over a 20-year building life — in a shaft that is acoustically coupled to every floor of the building. The gear mesh noise generated by the traction machine gearbox transmits through the building structure as low-frequency vibration that is perceived by building occupants as rumble or chatter, making the noise specification the single most demanding technical constraint after the EN 81 safety requirements. Korea Ever-Power supplies planetary winch drive gearboxes for traction lift machines, construction hoists, and industrial goods lifts — covering the full spectrum from compact residential lifts through high-speed commercial passenger lifts and heavy-duty industrial goods elevators — with noise, precision, safety, and fatigue performance matched to the specific requirements of each application category.

Lift and Elevator Applications: Residential to High-Rise Commercial

Lift elevator winch drive planetary gearbox — traction machine hoist drive building application

Residential and Light Commercial Lifts (500–2,000 Nm): Lifts serving apartment buildings, small offices, and retail premises typically carry 4 to 8 persons (320 to 630 kg rated load) at speeds of 0.63 to 1.6 m/s through travel heights of 12 to 50 metres. These machines make 100 to 200 trips per day — modest in absolute number but each trip involves a full acceleration, travel, deceleration, and floor levelling sequence that loads the traction machine gearbox at rated torque for 15 to 45 seconds. The critical specification for residential lift traction gearboxes is noise — the shaft is often adjacent to bedroom walls, and any gear mesh noise above the background level of 35 dB(A) in the building is unacceptable. Korea Ever-Power residential lift gearboxes are specified to contribute less than 48 dB(A) measured at 1 metre from the traction machine — a noise level that, after attenuation through the machine room floor and shaft wall, falls below the perceptible threshold in adjacent residential spaces.

Commercial and Office Building Lifts (1,500–6,000 Nm): Office and commercial building lifts carry 8 to 21 persons (630 to 1,600 kg rated load) at speeds of 1.0 to 2.5 m/s in buildings of 6 to 20 floors. These machines make 300 to 500 trips per day, with peak demand during morning arrival and lunchtime periods. The duty cycle intensity is higher than residential, and the gearbox must sustain full rated torque at rated speed continuously during peak periods. Noise specification is slightly less restrictive than residential — in a commercial building machine room with a concrete floor, the in-cabin noise contribution from the traction machine gearbox can be up to 55 dB(A) measured at 1 metre — but the smooth ride quality requirement is strict: any vibration above 30 mg (milli-g) in the vertical direction at rated speed is perceptible to building occupants and will generate maintenance complaints.

Industrial Goods Lifts and Construction Hoists (3,000–15,000 Nm): Industrial goods lifts in factories, warehouses, and hospitals carry loads from 1,000 to 5,000 kg at speeds of 0.25 to 1.0 m/s. These machines prioritise load capacity and reliability over ride comfort, and the noise specification is relaxed compared to passenger lifts. Construction hoists — temporary personnel and materials hoists installed on building facades during construction — carry workers at speeds of 0.5 to 2.0 m/s in rack-and-pinion or wire rope configurations, and the traction gearbox must withstand the construction site environment including dust, cement slurry, and outdoor temperature extremes while maintaining the EN 12159 (construction hoist) safety requirements equivalent to the EN 81 standard for permanent lifts.

EN 81 Safety Standard Requirements for Lift Traction Machine Gearboxes

Winch drive planetary gearbox lift elevator application — traction machine room and shaft drive system

EN 81-1 (electric lifts — safety rules) and its successor EN 81-20 (safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts) impose specific requirements on traction machine gearboxes that lift manufacturers must satisfy to obtain CE marking and comply with the EU Lift Directive 2014/33/EU. Korea Ever-Power lift traction gearboxes are designed and tested to meet these requirements:

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Brake Holding — EN 81-20 Clause 12.4

EN 81-20 requires the traction machine brake to hold the car with its rated load plus 25% (125% of rated load) in both the upward and downward directions, with the machine de-energised. The brake must hold this load without movement for the duration of the test. Korea Ever-Power lift gearbox SAHR brakes are sized to hold 125% of rated load in both directions, with the spring force calculated at the brake disc diameter to provide this holding torque at the minimum permitted spring preload throughout the spring working life of 500,000 engagement cycles.

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Overspeed Governor — EN 81-20 Clause 9.9

EN 81-20 requires an overspeed governor that triggers the safety gear on the car frame if the car speed exceeds 115% of rated speed in the downward direction. The traction machine gearbox output shaft speed is the reference for governor calibration — the gearbox must maintain a consistent and verified ratio between motor speed and car speed so that the governor trip speed corresponds accurately to 115% of the car rated speed. Korea Ever-Power lift gearboxes carry a ratio tolerance of ±0.1% to support accurate governor calibration.

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Machine Room-Less (MRL) Compact Envelope

Machine-room-less lifts — now the dominant design in new residential and commercial buildings — mount the traction machine in the shaft head space above the top floor landing, where the available volume is severely constrained. The traction machine gearbox must fit within a standard shaft head space height of 3,500 to 4,200 mm above the top floor level, including the sheave, motor, gearbox, and all safety equipment. Korea Ever-Power MRL lift gearboxes are designed with a maximum overall length from motor flange to sheave centreline of 380 mm for units up to 3,000 Nm output, enabling installation in standard MRL shaft head spaces without structural modifications.

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Type Examination — EU Lift Directive

The EU Lift Directive 2014/33/EU requires that traction machines (including the gearbox as an integral component) undergo type examination by a notified body before CE marking can be applied. Korea Ever-Power lift traction gearboxes hold type examination certificates from accredited notified bodies covering the applicable machine types and load ratings, enabling lift manufacturers to reference the Korea Ever-Power certificate in their own CE marking documentation without conducting a separate gearbox examination.

Korea Ever-Power Lift Elevator Winch Drive Selection Guide

ZL55 Winch Drive Planetary Gearbox 1 to 5 stage — residential lift and compact MRL traction machine drive

Korea Ever-Power planetary winch drive gearboxes for lift applications are supplied in the Lift Precision specification — all units include DIN 4 gear accuracy for minimum noise, sub-8 arcminute backlash for floor levelling precision, ratio tolerance of ±0.1% for accurate governor calibration, EN 81-20 brake holding certification at 125% of rated load, EU type examination certificate, and a 20 million cycle gear tooth fatigue rating as standard. All units use helical planetary stages with a minimum 18-degree helix angle for maximum noise reduction.

The ZL55 compact series covers residential and small commercial lifts up to 630 kg rated load. The ZR75 and 407AW cover the full commercial passenger lift range. The 414W3 series handles heavy goods lifts and construction hoists where sustained high-torque operation accompanies the noise and precision requirements of the lift application category.

Modelo Torque sa Paggawas Mga Yugto Sakop sa Ratio Lift Application Noise at 1 m Pagbalik-balik
ZL55 500 – 2,000 Nm 1–5 3.7 – 3,497 Residential lift, MRL 320–630 kg < 48 dB(A) < 8 arcmin
ZR75 1,000 – 5,000 Nm 2–5 5.1 – 4,884 Commercial lift 630–1,000 kg < 52 dB(A) < 8 arcmin
407AW 2,000 – 8,000 Nm 2–3 50 – 1,200 Commercial 1,000–1,600 kg, hospital < 55 dB(A) < 8 arcmin
414W3 4,000 – 15,000 Nm 3 100 – 2,500 Heavy goods lift, construction hoist < 65 dB(A) < 8 arcmin

Noise Engineering: Achieving <48 dB(A) from a Planetary Gearbox

407AW Winch Drive Planetary Gearbox Reducer — commercial lift traction machine low-noise drive unit

Achieving less than 48 dB(A) from a planetary gearbox transmitting several kilowatts of power to a traction sheave is an engineering challenge that requires coordinated design across the gear mesh geometry, gear accuracy, housing stiffness, bearing selection, and lubricant viscosity. Korea Ever-Power applies the following noise reduction measures specifically for lift traction gearboxes:

High Helix Angle Helical Gears (18–22 degrees): The helix angle of the planet gear determines the contact ratio in the face width direction — the fraction of face width that is simultaneously in contact across the gear mesh. A higher helix angle increases this contact ratio, smoothing the load transfer between successive tooth pairs and reducing the excitation force at the gear mesh frequency. Korea Ever-Power lift gearbox planet stages use 18 to 22 degree helix angles — higher than the 15 degrees used in standard industrial applications — increasing the face contact ratio to above 1.8 and reducing the gear mesh force ripple by approximately 40% compared to equivalent spur gears.

DIN 4 Gear Accuracy and Profile Crowning: In addition to DIN 4 profile and pitch accuracy, lift traction gearbox gears receive a light profile crowning — a deliberate, controlled convex modification of the tooth profile that concentrates the load at the pitch line and reduces the edge loading that generates high-frequency mesh noise at the tooth mesh entry and exit points. The crowning depth is between 3 and 6 microns on the planet and sun gear profiles — small enough to maintain the rated load capacity, large enough to eliminate the edge stress concentrations that amplify mesh noise.

Damping Ring Gear Mount: The ring gear in a standard planetary gearbox is rigidly pressed or splined into the gearbox housing — providing a direct transmission path for gear mesh vibration from the gear teeth to the housing exterior, where it radiates as airborne noise. Korea Ever-Power lift gearboxes use a ring gear mount with a rubber-metal isolation layer between the ring gear outer diameter and the housing bore — attenuating the gear mesh vibration transmission path by 6 to 12 dB(A) before it reaches the housing surface. This damped mounting approach is the single most effective noise reduction measure at the system level.

Ride Comfort, Floor Levelling, and VFD Interaction

ZR75 Winch Drive Planetary Gearbox 2 to 5 stage — commercial lift traction hoist smooth ride drive unit

Passenger lift ride comfort is quantified by the vibration level in the car — specifically the peak acceleration in the vertical direction during rated speed travel, measured in milli-g (mg). A ride with less than 20 mg vertical vibration is imperceptible to passengers; 20 to 50 mg is detectable but acceptable; above 50 mg generates complaints. The planetary gearbox contributes to in-car vibration through two mechanisms:

Gear Mesh Vibration Transmission: The gear mesh force ripple at the gear mesh frequency — which for a 20:1 ratio gearbox with a 3-planet carrier running at 1,500 rpm motor speed produces a mesh frequency of 1,500/20 x 3 = 225 Hz — transmits through the traction sheave, wire ropes, and car frame as structural vibration. Korea Ever-Power lift gearbox damped ring gear mounting attenuates this transmission by 6 to 12 dB, reducing the in-car vertical vibration contribution from the gear mesh to below 5 mg — leaving adequate vibration budget for the rope, sheave, and guide rail contributions.

Floor Levelling Precision: At the end of each trip, the lift car must level to within ±5 mm of the floor landing — the tolerance required for safe and comfortable entry and exit. The VFD decelerates the motor, the car approaches the landing, and at the final positioning stage the motor creeps at 5 to 15 % of rated speed for the last 100 to 200 mm of travel. Any backlash in the traction gearbox causes the car to judder during this creep phase — the motor advances, the backlash absorbs the movement, and the car does not move until the backlash is taken up. Sub-8 arcminute backlash in the Korea Ever-Power lift gearbox eliminates this judder, producing smooth, continuous car movement through the entire levelling approach and landing within the ±5 mm requirement.

Encoder Compatibility for S-Curve Profiling: Modern VFD lift controllers use S-curve velocity profiling — a trapezoidal velocity profile with sinusoidal jerk limiting at the acceleration and deceleration transition points — to minimise the jerk sensation perceived by passengers during speed change. The motor encoder provides the velocity feedback for S-curve tracking. Korea Ever-Power lift gearboxes include a precision encoder mounting provision concentric with the motor input shaft to within 0.01 mm TIR, compatible with all major lift VFD encoder types and resolutions — ensuring that the encoder reads true motor velocity without eccentricity-induced velocity ripple that would corrupt the S-curve tracking and generate perceptible jerk at speed transitions.

Construction Hoists: EN 12159 and Outdoor Environment Requirements

Winch Drive planetary gearbox construction hoist installation — building facade temporary personnel and materials hoist

Construction hoists — the temporary personnel and materials hoisting systems installed on building facades during construction — share the safety standard framework of EN 81 (through EN 12159) but differ from permanent lifts in several important engineering aspects:

Outdoor Environment — IP55 Minimum: Construction hoist traction gearboxes are exposed to outdoor weather — rain, wind-driven rain, cement dust from building operations, and ambient temperatures from -20°C to +45°C on most European and North American construction sites. The minimum ingress protection for construction hoist gearboxes is IP55 (dust protected, jet water resistant), compared to IP44 for standard lift machine rooms. Korea Ever-Power construction hoist gearboxes are specified at IP55 as a minimum, with IP65 available for sites in very heavy rainfall regions or where direct water jet exposure from concrete washing operations is likely.

Temperature Range for Seasonal Construction: Construction projects in northern climates continue through winter, requiring the construction hoist to operate at -20°C ambient. The gear oil must maintain adequate fluidity at this temperature for immediate start-up in morning conditions after overnight standstill. Korea Ever-Power construction hoist gearboxes are supplied with PAO synthetic gear oil with pour point below -45°C as standard for all construction hoist applications, covering the full seasonal range of European and North American construction site temperatures.

Removable and Reinstallable Design: Construction hoists are installed, operated for the duration of the construction project, removed, and reinstalled on a new building. The traction gearbox may be installed and removed 10 to 20 times across its service life. Korea Ever-Power construction hoist gearboxes are designed for repeatable installation — all mounting interfaces are machined to the same tolerances as permanent lift gearboxes, and the connection points for the drive sheave, motor, and brake hydraulic circuit are standardised to the common mast section dimensions used by the major construction hoist OEMs. The gearbox can be removed from the mast section and reinstalled on a new mast section within 2 hours without any alignment or shimming adjustment.

Factory Acceptance Testing and EU Type Examination

Korea Ever-Power gearbox testing centre — lift elevator traction machine noise and brake certification testing

Planetary gearbox gear processing — DIN 4 profile crowning and helical cutting for lift traction gearbox noise reduction

Korea Ever-Power lift traction gearboxes undergo a five-stage factory acceptance test that addresses the noise, precision, safety, and fatigue requirements specific to the lift application:

Noise Measurement: Run at rated speed and 60% rated torque in a semi-anechoic test enclosure. A-weighted sound pressure level measured at 1 metre in four quadrant positions. Maximum reading recorded and compared to the model-specific noise limit. Units exceeding the noise limit are returned for gear set inspection before re-test — the most common cause of noise limit exceedance is planet set tooth thickness mismatch that increases the load sharing variation between planets and amplifies the mesh frequency excitation.

Backlash Measurement: Measured using a precision rotary encoder as described for warehouse applications. Must be below 8 arcminutes. For residential lift gearboxes with a 48 dB(A) noise target, an additional backlash test is conducted at two operating temperatures — at 20°C (cold) and at 80°C (hot) — to verify that thermal expansion of the housing does not reduce backlash to zero at operating temperature, which would cause gear bind and a step increase in noise.

Brake Holding Test: Static hold at 125% rated load in both the upward and downward directions with motor de-energised. Zero car movement required. Brake disc temperature recorded. This test directly verifies EN 81-20 Clause 12.4 compliance and is recorded in the type examination dossier maintained by the notified body.

Vibration Measurement: Run at rated speed with dummy load equivalent to rated car load. Tri-axial accelerometer mounted on the output shaft housing. Peak-to-peak vibration at rated speed recorded in three axes. Vertical axis vibration must remain below 15 mg to ensure the in-car contribution stays within the 30 mg total vertical vibration budget, allowing the rope, sheave, and guide rail contributions to account for the remaining 15 mg budget.

Common Lift Traction Gearbox Failures and Prevention

Modo sa Pagkapakyas Gamot nga Hinungdan Detection Prevention
Gear mesh noise increase Planet bearing wear causing planet radial run-out — unequal tooth contact generating mesh frequency noise above specified limit Passenger complaints; noise measurement at annual service exceeds specification; vibration trending upward Annual vibration baseline measurement; replace planet bearing set as matched batch at first noise increase trend
Floor levelling judder Backlash increase from gear tooth wear — judder during slow creep approach to landing floor Passenger complaints about rough landing; landing within ±5 mm maintained but with visible car movement jerk Biennial backlash measurement; plan gearbox replacement when backlash exceeds 10 arcminutes before landing quality deteriorates below acceptable level
Brake spring fatigue SAHR brake spring set gradually losing preload after 500,000 engagement cycles — brake holding torque falling below 125% rated load requirement Annual brake holding test failure at 125% rated load; car moves during static hold with motor de-energised Replace brake spring pack at 500,000 cycles as planned maintenance; conduct annual brake holding test as EN 81-20 requires
Damped ring mount degradation Rubber-metal isolation layer in ring gear mount hardening with age — noise attenuation reducing, gear mesh noise increasing through housing Gradual noise increase over years despite no gear wear; housing vibration trending upward at gear mesh frequency Inspect ring gear isolator mount at 5-year overhaul; replace isolation elements at first sign of hardening or cracking
Oil contamination — cement dust (construction hoist) Cement dust contamination of gear oil through breather — cement forms abrasive calcium silicate particles in oil at gear tooth contact surfaces Elevated silicon and calcium in oil sample at quarterly check; accelerating gear noise increase on active construction site Fit IP65-rated labyrinth breather with dust filter; change oil quarterly on active construction sites regardless of oil condition

Why Lift Manufacturers and Building Owners Choose Korea Ever-Power

Korea Ever-Power manufacturing workshop — lift traction gearbox precision production and noise measurement

Korea Ever-Power quality certifications — lift elevator gearbox EN 81 compliance and EU type examination

<48 dB(A)

Residential lift noise specification — damped ring mount, DIN 4 accuracy, and 22-degree helical gears combining for inaudible gear mesh in adjacent living spaces

20M cycles

Rated gear tooth fatigue life — covering 25-year building design life at commercial lift duty cycle with load spectrum fatigue analysis

EN 81-20

Full compliance — 125% brake holding in both directions, ratio tolerance ±0.1% for governor calibration, EU type examination certificate

380 mm

Maximum overall length for MRL units up to 3,000 Nm — enabling installation in standard machine-room-less shaft head spaces without structural modification

Korea Ever-Power lift application engineers provide free traction machine gearbox sizing for lift projects — confirming EN 81-20 compliance, calculating the 20-year fatigue life at the specified duty cycle, and providing noise measurement data for building acoustic analysis. For construction hoist applications, we provide the EN 12159 compliance documentation required for temporary equipment approval on EU construction projects. Contact us with your car rated load, travel speed, duty cycle, and building type for a free compliance review and gearbox proposal within 48 hours.

Source Your Lift Elevator Winch Drive Planetary Gearbox

Whether you are designing a new traction lift machine, specifying replacement gearboxes for a lift modernisation project, or commissioning a construction hoist for a new building project — Korea Ever-Power delivers EN 81-20 compliant, sub-48 dB(A) noise rated, 20 million cycle life planetary winch drive gearboxes built for the precision, safety, and quietness that building lift applications demand. Send us your car rated load, travel speed, building type, and noise specification for a free compliance review, acoustic analysis, and gearbox proposal within 48 hours.

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