Randomiser wrote:Efficient in the ordinary sense of 'didn't cause holdups and kept people moving right along' or efficient in the engineering sense of 'low average power expended per person carried'? Just interested in how the power consumption would compare to 'normal' modern elevators.
The amount of energy you'd need would be enough to overcome the mechanical friction of the chains and cogs (thus stopping the paternoster from... well... stopping) with a bit more to lift a certain number of people, offset by the gravity-assist of people going down. In a highly-irregular-flow scenario, it would actually not be all that efficient on a per-hour basis but should the flow be regular, the paternoster would be more efficient as it's always on all the floors and thus doesn't need to keep backtracking while empty to collect those on different floors.
On the whole, I'd expect the Paternoster to be more efficient in steady-flow conditions while a standard lift would work better in "clumping" situations.