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Design and Implementation of an Earthquake Recognizer Circuit for Elevators

Conference Paper · August 2013

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 Design and implementation of an earthquake
recognizer circuit for elevators
Ali Maleki
Faculty of Electrical Engineering Department
Semnan University
Semnan, Iran
ali_maleki@aut.ac.ir
Abstract— In all elevators, a circuit that can conduct the
elevator to the nearest floor at the earthquake occurrence in
order to survive passengers is necessary. In this paper, we have
designed and implemented such a circuit in two stages. One
recognizes the earthquake and the other guides the elevator to
the nearest floor. The degree of earthquake that can destroy
something is 7 in Mercally scale. Using Richter formula, it
equals to 0.11 g. Therefore we need an accelerometer for
acceleration measurment. In this study an accelerometer based
on MEMS technology has been used. We determined 0.11 g for
the acceleration threshold. The applied microcontroller in this
circuit receives the acceleration by its ADC channels in 3-axis.
It performs a pre-processing and then defines the earthquake
properties; if magnitude of this property is greater than the
defined threshold, occurrence of earthquake will be asserted
and an appropriate reaction order exports to the elevator
control circuit. In this study, we have attended to small size
and we have tried to increase battery life by using low power
elements. This circuit has been evaluated by Signal Analyzer
system and its accuracy has been assured. For more accuracy
we have to use several accelerometers in different places of
network. Also we can apply it in trains and other places that
need digital stopping at time of occurrence of earthquake.
Keywords- Earthquake recognizing circuit; Earthquake early
warning; Elevator; train
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, natural calamities have been reported
throughout the world. Florida storm and Earthquake of the
Indian Ocean killed 22000 men. 2011 Japan earthquake in
which 1400 people died is another example.
Each building in a city has a different natural period and
its own structural properties. The combination of the
predominant period of the induced ground motion with
building natural period can make damages in the city [1].
Design and implementation of a warner and operator
system at the time of the earthquake, for reducing the
earthquake damages has not been reported in Iran, but Japan,
USA and some other countries are creating a network for it
that is named Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) [2].
193
Farshid Tamjid
Electrical Engineering Department
Semnan University
Semnan, Iran
farshid_tamjid@elec.iust.ac.ir
At continuance of this paper, we have investigated the
earthquake waves properties. Then design and
implementation of the earthquake recognizing circuit has
been illustrated. Also the way of stopping the elevator has
been explained. After that we have evaluated this circuit and
at the end, there is a discussion and conclusion.
II. EARTHQUAKE WAVE PROPERTIES
Releasing of too much energy at the surface of the earth
in a short time causes the earthquake. Before occurrence of a
big earthquake, pre-earthquakes and aftershocks happen [3].
The earth motions are irregular in frequency, direction and
amplitude. Acceleration of these waves is measured by some
accelerometer sensors. Because of the earthquake properties,
the earthquake waves are divided into one of the four
following groups.
Earthquakes which have a fluctuation with 5 Hz
maximum frequency and an amplitude between 5.4 - 6.2
Richter.
Earthquakes which have too much irregular motions.
Earthquakes which have approximately long motions
which are created because of passing the earth waves
through the earth layer and their reflection.
Earthquakes which are very intensive with 90 Hz in
maximum frequency.
There are four kinds of waves with four different
properties. One of them is primary waves. They are faster
than other kinds of waves and surely in an earthquake they
receive to the earthquake recognizer and we attend to them.
In this wave, the direction of fragments motion conforms to
direction of the waves propagation. Propagation speed
obtains from (1).

√ 
Where E is the elasticity factor, is the Poisson factor
and is the soil special mass.
 Secondary waves are another type of the earthquake
waves. In this kind, direction of the fragments motion is
vertical to direction of the waves propagation. Propagation
speed obtains from (2).
√  
Rayleigh waves are the third kind of waves. The speed of
these waves is lower than those mentioned above. This kind
of wave makes an ellipse in its motions direction. Its speed
obtains through (3) and (4).

A in this relation is maximum amplitude of the
earthquake in an arbitrary station and is for a certain
earthquake that relates to distance of the station and the
earthquake center.
Earthquake waves are distributed in different directions
after releasing from earthquake focus. There are many rules
for attenuation. We use Richter’s attenuation rule [4].


 In this relation i is in Mercalli scale and a is acceleration

 in centimetre per square second.
 
Love waves are the forth kind of waves which are similar
to the secondary waves.
A. Earthquake comparison scales
The earthquakes are compared with two scales. One is
the intensity of the earthquake in Mercally scale that is a
theoretical scale. It is scaled to 12 degrees by observation of
the earthquake occurrence and the earthquake effect on
buildings. The second one is the amplitude of the earthquake
in Richter scale which is a quantity scale of earthquake
occurrence. For brevity we express three degrees of twelve
degrees properties in Mercally scale [4].
Earthquake intensity is very low and no one can feel it.
But it can cause fluctuation in trees and water level. It
may make birds to jump. Recognizing this kind of
earthquake is difficult.
VII- In this kind of earthquake, standing up is
B. Calculating the threshold
For calculating the earthquake acceleration, we use
equation (7). For doing this, we should determine a degree
from twelve degrees of Mercalli as a criterion. We didn’t
select a degree which is very low because it is sensitive to
any shock in low level. Likewise we didn’t select a degree
which is very high, because beginning of the earthquake will
be lost. So with attention to above problems, we select VII in
Mercally. After placing it in (7) we have the acceleration in
meter per square second, that we change it to acceleration in
gravity (g). As the result, we obtained the earthquake
occurrence acceleration equal to 0.11 g. This threshold is
theoretical and we should compare it with the earthquake
mapping of several earthquakes for practical confirmation.
The figures 1 to 5 are respectively Bam, Tabas, ChiChi
Taiwan, Cape Mendacino and Kobe earthquakes. In these
figures the acceleration in x, y and z directions have been
drawn in g scale and time. We took raw data on Internet and
plotted it by Matlab software.
1
A (g)

difficult. Drivers feel it. Chalk of walls falls. Furniture and 0

x

chairs are fractured. Weak buildings are damage. Levels of

-1
pools fluctuate. Water becomes muddy. Chimneys fall. 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Watering concrete canals are damage. Time(s)
1
XII- Loss is too much. Things shot. Nearly all
A (g)

of building will be loss. Big stones dislocate. Rout of rivers 0

y

change.
-1
The earthquake amplitude relates to the released energy. 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
On the other hand the earthquake amplitude is related to Time(s)

maximum of the earthquake wave acceleration. At first, 2

Richter presented this relation.

A (g)

0
z

  -2
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Time(s)

Where M is the earthquake amplitude (Richter degree)

and A is the amplitude of a seismograph obtains from a Figure 1. Earthquake mapping of Bam earthquake 2003.
Wood-Anderson seismograph at 100 Km distance from the
earthquake center. For other places with other distances we
use the following equation [5].

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 1 1
A (g)

A (g)
0 0
x

x
-1 -1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Time(s) Time(s)
1 1
A (g)

A (g)
0 0
y

y
-1 -1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Time(s) Time(s)
1 0.5
A (g)

A (g)
0 0
z

z
-1 -0.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Time(s) Time(s)

Figure 2. Earthquake mapping of Tabas earthquake 1999. Figure 5. Earthquake mapping of Kobe earthquake 1995.

1
With attention to figures 1 to 5, we understand that the
A (g)

0 acceleration become more than 0.11 g at primary moments

x

of the earthquake occurrence. Therefore we consider the

-1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 earthquake occurrence acceleration threshold equal to 0.11 g.
Time(s)
1 III. DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EARTHQUAKE
RECOGNIZER CIRCUIT
A (g)

0
y

First, acceleration data of the earth waves have to be

-1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 measured by an accelerometer and it transformed to voltage.
Time(s) Then a microcontroller is needed to convert the received
1
analog voltage to digital and process it. If the measured
A (g)

0 acceleration is more than the defined threshold, an LED that

z

is connected to circuit output will turn on.

-1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 We used a 5 V and 4 A switching voltage source in this
Time(s) circuit. The microcontroller and accelerometer are driven by
5 V and 3 V respectively. A LM117 voltage regulator has
Figure 3. Earthquake mapping of ChiChi Taiwan 1999. been used to obtain 3 V from 5 V.
We utilized from an ADXL330 accelerometer fabricated
by Analog Devices company. It can measure static and
2
dynamic the earth waves acceleration in three directions of x,
A (g)

0 y and z. This sensor can measure transition acceleration in

x

three directions at zone of + 3 g to - 3 g with g hundredth

-2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 accuracy.
Time(s) For creating required bandwidth, equations 4 and 5 are
2
brought from the datasheet of this sensor. For making 100
A (g)

0 Hz bandwidth we needed three capacitors with 47 nF value

y

for three input sensor channels. Likewise we used a

-2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 decoupling capacitor with value for detaching noise
Time(s) of voltage source from the circuit.
1
A (g)


0
z

-1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time(s)

Figure 4. Earthquake mapping of Cape Mendocino earthquake 1992.

195
 nearest floor and after stop, its door will be opened.(9We can
see layout of PCB of the earthquake recognizer ) circuit in
 figure 6 that designed by Altium Designer software, we used
this design for fabricating the circuit. Also board of the
earthquake recognizer circuit is shown that can implement
In (8), 32 kΩ is the internal resistance of the for elevators in figure 7, this circuit will activate the LED
accelerometer for adjusting required cut of frequency. when recognizes that an earthquake will happen.
This sensor has a polysilicon surface that is fabricated on
a polysilicon wafer. Polysilicon springs suspend the structure
over the surface of the wafer and provide a resistance against
acceleration forces. Deflection of the structure is measured
using a differential capacitor that consists of independent
fixed plates and plates attached to the moving mass. In the
end for determining amplitude and direction of acceleration,
fuzzy implementation techniques are applied.
Output voltage sensitivity of this accelerometer with
condition of connecting it to a 3.6 V power supply is equal
360 mV for one g acceleration and with condition connecting
to a 2 V voltage source is equal 195 mV for one g
acceleration. So we have a linear relation between the used
acceleration and the output voltage nearly.
We used an ATmega32 microcontroller. It has 8 Analog
to Digital Converter (ADC) channels and sufficient memory Figure 6. Layout of PCB of earthquake recognizer circuit in above
direction (length and width of board are 4.5 cm and 5 cm respectively).
for saving program code. A crystal with 12 MHz introduces
clock pulses. Programming of this microcontroller is being
done by ISP port.
After connecting voltage source, the microcontroller
takes 30 samples from each channels. So acceleration of the
circuit after connecting a power supply will be certain.
Likewise we know output of the accelerometer is analog
voltage that ADC converts it to digital by equation (6). Then
the microcontroller will calculate average of these three
groups and would save it to a memory. The microcontroller
begins sampling again and takes 3 groups which each group
have 30 members. Because of irregular motions of the earth,
surly these samples have a deviation of average from
primary samples. If this deviation of average is more than
threshold (that is 0.11 g and is equal 30 mV of accelerometer
output) earthquake will be cautioned. Figure 7. Earthquake recognizer circuit.
(1
 0)
IV. EVALUATION THE CIRCUIT OPERATION
All parts of this circuit designed SMD to reduce its
dimensions and weight. The earthquake recognizer circuit was tested by Signal
Output of the earthquake recognizer circuit is a signal Analyzer machine. It can be seen in figure 8, Signal
that will be activate after recognizing earthquake and will Analyzer has a source for generating acceleration waves and
give the appropriate operation order in this circumstance to an accelerometer for observation of generated acceleration
the elevator. waves on its screen. First stage, the generated wave was
These days elevators are equipped with Emergency selected random like as earthquake waves and in second
Response Unit (ERU) which conducts elevators to nearest stage a sinusoidal wave was selected. The wave frequency
floor using its emergency power after power outage. So they was selected at 40, 50 and 100 Hz. The amplitude of
have a circuit which recognizes power outage and acceleration was adjusted at 4 m (input acceleration
immediately gives a signal of power outage to ERU and amplitude is in a contractual unit named m) and the shaker of
conducts elevators to nearest floor. Therefore we need output the machine started to shaking. In this position the LED of
of the earthquake recognizer circuit with output of the power the earthquake recognizer circuit was completely on. When
outage recognizer circuit to be logical OR, so that in case of the acceleration maximum amplitude was read on the screen,
earthquake occurrence the elevator will be conducted to it was 0.16 g. We declined the amplitude 4 m to 2 m, the

196
 LED became on and off. In this position, the maximum
amplitude was read that was 0.11 g. When the amplitude was
adjusted to lower value the LED was not on. So by
experimentation, the acceleration threshold for activating the
LED obtained 0.11 g that was expected. Figure 9 shows a
photo of machine screen at the time of experiment test, the
sinusoidal wave was applied by Signal Analyzer and this
signal was observed on the screen. Maximum of amplitude
adjusted on 1.24 mV equal to 0.11 g. Results of this
experiment, confirmed expected results.
Figure 8. Signal Analyzer set was adjusted in sinusoidal wave.
people will prepare themselves to encounter earthquakes.
This circuit can be set in intersections for making red all of
traffic lights. Utilizing this circuit at trains for stopping it and
opening its doors in earthquake happening is a useful order.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Authors of this paper appreciate Mr. Sajad Sadati
responsible for vibrations laboratory of Amirkabir University
of Technology who gave us the opportunity to test this
circuit by Signal Analyzer machine.
The second author thanks to the gifted students office of
Semnan University for financial support.
REFERENCES
[1] I. Takewaki, Critical Excitation Methods in Earthquake Engineering,
Netherlands, Elsevier, 2007.
[2] S. Tsukada, “Disaster mitigation information system in japan-
earthquake early warning”, Earthquake Research Institute, The
University of Tokyo, pp.1-2, 2011.
[3] K. Bargi, Principles of Earthquake Engineering, Iran, University of
Tehran Publications, 2011.
[4] K. Kumar, Basic Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, New Delhi,
New Age International, 2008.
[5] W. Chen, C. Scawthorn, Earthquake Engineering Handbook,
Washington, D.C, CRC Press, 2003.

Figure 9. Given sinusoidal wave by Signal Analyzer and observing this

signal on the screen. Maximum of amplitude adjusted on 1.24 mV equal to
0.11 g.

5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

In this paper, the acceleration threshold of earthquake
occurrence was calculated 0.11 g. With this value in
acceleration, output of the circuit will be activated and by
using of ERU circuit, will direct elevator to the nearest floor.
For fabrication of this circuit we applied SMD elements and
for this, the circuit has small dimensions which it is one of
the best advantages of the circuit. We can put a
potentiometer in the circuit which can adjust sensitivity in
the circuit at specific zone. Best place for appointing of this
circuit is the top of buildings because it has maximum
acceleration amplitude. If we put several recognizer circuits
in networking structure and utilize intelligent approaches
such as fuzzy or neural-fuzzy for deduction, we can obtain
more accuracy and speed. A network that, several countries
such as Japan are exploring on it these days. When
earthquake will happen, immediately sensors will recognize
it and by SMS, radio, TV and ... will declare to anyone and

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