Not All Screw Lifts Are the Same! Explaining Screw Drive Generations
While there are many screw-driven lift companies out there, it is important to note that they do not all sell the same type of lift.
In fact, most screw-driven companies are still selling Generation 1 screw-driven lifts, while companies like Cibes and Kalea have already launched their Generation 4. This is as if Volkswagen was still making the same cars they made in the 1990s, while other cars sold self-driving fully electric cars. Sure, they’re both cars… but they are in no way the same product!
1. Generation 1: The Mechanical Lift
The first real generation of screw-driven lifts appeared in the 1990s, often dubbed the A-Lift series in Sweden.
These lifts were the equivalent of 1990s cars: no electronics, all functions were mechanical (like having to lower the window on your car manually!). While these lifts were extremely robust, they lacked a lot of the smart capabilities that translated to higher safety levels and more customization.
Generation 1 Equivalent – Mechanical Mercedes
In 2017, when Cibes introduced the CiCon Control System (CiCon = Cibes Control System), came the death of the Generation 1.
While many companies still produce only Generation 1 Lifts, Cibes has not produced a Generation 1 lift since 2017.
2. Generation 2: The Smart Lift
As just mentioned, Cibes’ OS, CiCon, was the innovation that brought screw-driven lifts into the new digital age.
What was the advantage of smart lifts for screw-drive? A whole host of functions such as:
– Safer Lift: thanks to our software, we were able to reduce the number of faults and increase safety, resulting in an SIL-3 Certification!
– Reset RFID Tag: in order to improve our user experience, we gave customers the ability to reset the lift themselves in case of trouble, using our specialized RFID reset tag!
– Warning Systems: thanks to the software, our lifts can provide warnings to customers regarding battery levels or other faults. This allows us to proactively fix problems before they even interfere with the operations of the lift!
– Fault and Breakage Record: this one is crucial for us, even though customers might not realize it. With Generation 1 lifts, when a difficult problem occurs, technicians often need to guess at the root cause. This can create situations where the lift needs multiple repairs over the space of a week as engineer after engineer try to “guess” what is wrong with the lift.
With the fault and Breakage Record, engineers can go through the entire history of the lift and pinpoint the problem through its operation, not just now but in the past!
– Higher Travel Height: Notice how most screw-driven lifts are capped at 13 or 15 meters of travel? Thanks to CiCon, we can reach 20 meters in all safety.
– Access Control: We wrote a whole email about Access Control, but essentially it is the ability to lock only specific floors for specific people. Impossible to do with Generation 1, easy peasy with Generation 2!
3. Generation 3: EcoSilent Lift
Launched in 2019, what is the Cibes EcoSilent Generation 3?
EcoSilent is basically a CiCon lift improved. Our engineers took a long hard look at it, and added or swapped out parts to improve performance. Specifically:
– Silent Box: we wrapped our motor in a silent box to reduce noise, shaving off 10-15 decibels!
– Rollers on the Guiderails: instead of having the connection between platform and guiderails be metal shoes greased with oil, we removed the need for oil completely with high-pressure rubber rollers.
This was a welcome addition for our travelling clients: with older generations, after a long trip, the oil would dry up on the guiderails requiring a maintenance. With our EcoSilent, no maintenance is needed, even after months out of the country!
– Energy Efficient Motor: our EcoSilent reduced energy consumption by 32% by switching our 2.2 kW motor with a 1.5 kW motor. To achieve this, we even had to adjust the pitch of our screw!
4. Generation 4: Connected Lift
The Generation 4 takes our EcoSilent, improves it, and connects it.
What are the improvements? Simply put, we upgraded our rollers to XXL rollers instead of the smaller ones, to improve the ride experience. What difference does bigger rollers make? Well, which one will give you a smoother ride in the below two?
Bigger wheels lead to a smoother ride!
But the true innovation was in the Connected Segment.
Indeed, our Generation 4 lifts are now all connected to our Cibes Control System. This is a one-way communication from the lift to our Control Center (we would never allow controlling the lift remotely for safety reasons).
What does it mean though?
The lift constantly communicates its status to us, allowing us to reach the holy grail of preventative maintenance. Should we detect anything unusual, like lower battery levels than usual, we can now proactively reach out to our clients, rather than wait until something goes wrong and they call us.
Our goal with Generation 4: get ahead of any problems that might occur so when the client learns about them, they are already fixed!
Generation 4 Equivalent: Mercedes Connected Car
Which Generation is your favorite?
Furthermore, the reduction in the quality of life can lead to a sense of disconnection from the world. When one is unable to actively participate in social or community events, there’s a risk of feeling left out and isolated, which can further contribute to emotional distress.
It’s crucial to address the emotional aspects of a reduced quality of life, not just the physical limitations. Empowering individuals with limited mobility to find new ways to enjoy life, providing opportunities for adaptive hobbies and activities, and fostering a supportive community can go a long way in mitigating the emotional impact and helping individuals maintain a fulfilling and enriching life, despite their physical challenges.
Contact us today for further advice on home lifts and after-sales service. You can contact us for more information or get a free catalog.