Elevator Traction API
Traction-elevator engineering maths as an API, computed locally and deterministically — the counterweight, hoist-motor and rope-traction numbers a lift engineer or building-services designer sizes a passenger elevator with. The counterweight endpoint gives the balancing mass = the empty car plus a fraction of the rated load (the overbalance, typically 40–50 %, 45 % common), so a 1,000 kg car rated for 1,000 kg uses a 1,450 kg counterweight — the car and weight balance near half load and the machine is sized for the worst-case imbalance, not the full load. The motor-power endpoint uses that: because the counterweight cancels most of the car, the motor only lifts the out-of-balance load = rated load × (1 − overbalance), so power = that × g × speed ÷ efficiency (~65–75 % geared) — a 1,000 kg lift at 1.5 m/s needs only about 11–12 kW, half what a counterweight-less hoist would draw. The traction-ratio endpoint checks the friction grip: a traction elevator moves the ropes by friction over the sheave, so the available traction (e^(μθ), the capstan equation) must beat the T1/T2 tension ratio at both worst cases — a full car at the bottom and an empty car at the top — and it returns the governing ratio. Everything is computed locally and deterministically, so it is instant and private. Ideal for lift-design and building-services tools, vertical-transport and MEP utilities, and engineering calculators. Pure local computation — no key, no third-party service, instant. Sizing estimates — follow the lift code and maker data. 3 compute endpoints. For block-and-tackle use a pulley API; for capstan friction a capstan API.
api.oanor.com/elevator-api
