Incline wheelchair elevators - features and type

Incline elevators are designed to help people with limited mobility to overcome the stairs, steps in front of entrances to buildings, as well as other places where there is a difference in height.

They are parallel rails mounted on a rigid frame. A platform with a mechanized (most often electric) drive moves along them. It allows a simple push of a button to move the disabled person together with the wheelchair from a lower point to a higher one, or vice versa. If necessary, it is also possible to create an intermediate stopping point.

Benefits of installation

Tilt elevators offer many benefits to both individuals with limited mobility and the organizations in which they are installed. They include:

  • more affordable price and faster installation speed compared to vertical elevators. This is due to the simplicity of the design, which does not require a rigid self-supporting frame or a pre-prepared shaft. Equipment is assembled directly on top of the stairwell and doesn't need to be retrofitted;
  • ease of use. It is achieved by the presence of push-button consoles on the stopping points, as well as on the platform itself. This allows people with low mobility to control their mobility on their own
  • an emergency system that prevents injury to passengers in the event of a sudden loss of power. It's easy to remove the wheelchair from the platform in this situation and the process itself does not require the use of any specialized tool.
  • Universal - the elevators are robust and can be installed indoors as well as outdoors (for example, to overcome the entryway). In addition, they are equally suitable for wheelchair users and citizens who do not use a wheelchair but have mobility problems.

Because of all this, such wheelchair elevators are most widely used and installed in entrances to residential buildings, businesses, offices, shopping and entertainment centers, as well as other places where it is supposed to create accessible infrastructure for people with limited mobility.

Types of incline-type wheelchair lifts

There are two main types of inclined elevators: for straight and complex travel paths. The first only requires a straight movement of the platform, e.g. from one landing to the next. Elevators of the second type have the ability to turn, so that the movement between all floors of the building. They are also well suited for buildings that have stairs of non-standard type: spiral, with curves, etc.