What are guide rails used for?

     Elevator guide rails are components of elevator systems that define the path along which the elevators ride. An elevator should not be expected to operate regularly and safely on guide rails that do not possess the  quality standards and that are not installed properly. Data receivers which transmit to the control system the information about the position of elevators, doors, door locks and safety brakes are designed on the assumption that guide rails will follow certain paths. Guide rails are manufactured in fully equipped factories possessing high-quality measurement systems. However, guide rails manufactured in these factories may be installed into poorly built elevator wells at construction sites. The quality level expected of elevators can be achieved only if the manufacturing and installing processes are coordinated successfully. Consequently, we have allocated more room for practical information herein which might be handy for a field technician rather than information on manufacturing processes and calculation methods and techniques.
      Here are the conventional expectations of guide rails according to EN 81-1 Standards: “Guide rails. Their joints and attachments will be sufficient to withstand the loads and forces imposed on them in order to ensure a safe operation of elevators. “The aspects of safe operation of lift concerning guide rails are:
      a) Car, counterweight or balancing weight guidance shall be assured. b) Deflections will be limited to such an extent to ensure the following:
      ◆ unintended unlocking of the doors will not occur
      ◆ operation of the safety devices will not be affected
      ◆ collision of moving parts with other parts will not be possible. “Cabin, counterweight and balancing weight will be guided by at least two rigid guide rails made of steel.” Under normal circumstances, guide rails simply define the elevator paths that elevators ride along and are assumed to be spared from the loads and forces imposed on the elevator cars.
       However, guide rails are subject to forces imposed on them and withstand these forces under the following circumstances:
      1. Running conditions with the load unevenly distributed on the car floor 2. During loading and unloading 3. When safety gear is activated 
       Manufacturing and installing guide rails are two inseparable processes that secure the safe and smooth riding of elevators. Let’s look into guide-rail manufacturing and installing processes designed to achieve the best results.
       Guide rails are made of steel. The tensile strength of steel raw material used should be at least 370N/mm2 and no more than 520N/mm2 according to ISO 7465:2001 standard. For this purpose, it is recommended to use steel grade St 360-2 according to DIN 17100 standard and steel grade E-235B according to ISO 630:1995 standard (Photo 1).
        Raw steel (Photo 1) goes through a hot rolling process (Photos 2 and 3) and is formed into a T profile. Thereafter, T profiles can be formed into high-quality guide rails using two different manufacturing methods.
        The reason why hot rolled T profiles are treated in those processes is those processes improve the quality of measurement and the smoothness of the surface. Surfaces of guide rails should be smooth and homogenous.
         According to ISO standards 7465, “A” indicates cold drawn, “B” indicates machined guide rails and “BE” indicates highquality guide rails.
         Guide rails should be shipped in packages as much as possible. The use of crane trucks and forklifts when loading and unloading will minimize the risk of damaging key and keyways and the straightness of the guide rails. To ensure damage, it is necessary to use crane trucks and forklifts
         Guide rails have to be kept in their packages at construction sites until they are installed in order to prevent them from being hit or smashed by heavy objects or consequential damages. Guide rails should be moved into elevator wells with maximum care and should be lifted with cranes or similar equipment as much as possible. The most common incident that happens while moving guide rails is the plunging of guiderail ends into the ground, crushing their joints. We cannot completely avoid plunging and crushing guide rails, but we can guard them to a certain extent by fixing a piece of metal sheet that looks like a fishplate onto ends of guide rails