What is a screw drive elevator?
April 18, 2025
Screw drive elevators are a type of elevator. There is a threaded bar, attached to a motor, going the height of the elevator. There is also a threaded part attached to the elevator. When the motor spins, the elevator moves. This drive system is usually seen on wheelchair lifts.
How do screw driven lifts work?
The screw driven lift is brilliant in its solution. The lift is driven by a screw and nut system, a popular technology originally developed in Sweden. The screw lift is based on an electric motor causing a nut to rotate around the screw and in this way move the nut (and the lift) up or down. There are several ways to design the screw and nut to achieve the best performance in terms of noise and energy consumption. A screw lift where the pitch of the screw is such that the nut (land the lift itself) stops by its own friction is called a self-locking screw lift. If another pitch is chosen for the screw, a special nut brake is needed instead.
The SWIFT screw lift is uniquely designed to optimize the user experience in terms of noise and smooth operation. At the same time, in a Tesla-inspired manner, we have been able to ensure that the energy created when going down can be returned to the batteries. In this way, every 4th ride is free and if the power goes out in the house, the elevator will be able to run on its batteries just as normally.