The elevator opens its doors to the worldbut in digital format. LU-VE, a Varese-based multinational leader in refrigeration and air conditioning solutions, has exploited the technologies developed in the sector of doors for refrigerated counters and the potential of the Internet of Things, to transform the mirrors of lift cabins (but not only ) into a powerful and revolutionary new object. The mirrors become multimedia "windows" connected to the Internet, on which to display different types of contents: from information (security and commercial), to photos and videos, to advertising and digital signage, up to instructions for maintenance technicians. elevator.
Gateway – The IoT Mirror for Lift Cars, this is the name of the technology (patented in Italy and patent pending at European level), offers new functions never seen before in a cabin, starting with a mirror with touch-screen technology able to communicate with the user and with the external (via web). The contents can be modified in real time and remotely. The entire system is in fact a product governed and managed via the web (network cable or wi-fi). Thanks to IoT technology, the LU-VE "magic mirrors" will no longer be limited to just reflecting the images of the passengers, but they will be able to be used to display interactive contents: quick video news, weather forecasts, environmental images but also customizable advertising according to the needs, interactive information about the building and its surroundings. A hotel structure, for example, will be able to present customers with the breakfast menu, happy hour hours at the bar or events organized on site.
The new features introduced by Gateway also aim to ensure greater safety and efficiency of the vehicles. In the event of an alarm, with the application of a micro webcam it allows audiovisual communication between the cabin and the security/assistance service. Audio-video communication combined with touch screen technologyit also allows maintenance personnel to connect to the service centre, access files (manuals, instructions and documents) to speed up and make any interventions on the system more efficient, as well as see the metrics and operating parameters of the system, in time real.
The solution was designed and developed by TGD –Thermo Glass Door, a company based in Pavia and controlled by LU-VE Group, specialized in the design and production of glass doors and closing systems for each area of the refrigeration market. Gateway is in fact the derivation of a TGD patent that transforms the doors of supermarket refrigerators into IoT tools available to the point of sale and to consumers.
The first "magic mirrors" have already been sold to Wittur, an Italian-German group of components for lifts, which is promoting them on the Italian market: the first Gateway in the world was delivered in 2018 in Italy, in a prestigious hotel in Montecatini, in Tuscany. The presentation on the international market is expected at the Interlift – The World of Elevators international fair, in October in Germany, after Gateway was presented at Elevcon 2018 Berlin, to the scientific community of the vertical transport sector over the past year.
“The tests had very positive feedback – explains Fabio Liberali, member of the Board of Directors of LU-VE and creator of the “magic mirror” together with Alessandro Cremaschi, head of New Business Development of TGD – The prospects are certainly interesting, both economically, given that for us the investment was minimal in the face of potentially high margins, and because the technology could find other applications, for example in the field of facial recognition, useful for generating personalized information based on the characteristics of the individual”.
