Patent ID: 7540356

Claim:
An apparatus for handling power outages in an elevator system in a building having a plurality of floors, the apparatus comprising: one or more elevators; an energy calculator connected to the elevators and capable of determining a total energy of the elevator system, a total energy required to handle a power outage, a plan to prepare and a plan to handle; and a movement controller connected to the elevator(s) and the energy calculator, wherein the movement controller receives the plan to prepare and the plan to handle from the energy calculator, and the movement controller executes the plan to prepare if there is no power outage and the movement controller executes the plan to handle if there is a power outage; wherein the energy calculator comprises a plurality of rules for determining the plan to prepare, the rules comprising: if the total energy in the elevator system is greater than the total energy required to handle a power outage, move an empty elevator down; if the total energy in the elevator system is less than the total energy required to handle a power outage, move an empty elevator up, reduce the speed of an empty elevator that is consuming energy and/or reduce the speed of an occupied elevator that is consuming energy.