The elevator of the future may be just over the horizon thanks to German company ThyssenKrupp. The firm has invented a cable-free elevator (called MULTI) that can go up and down like traditional lifts, but the magnetic motors allow it to go side-to-side, too. The designers speculate that buildings implementing this technology could increase the carrying capacity of existing architecture by as much as 50%. Plus, it looks really neat.

多虧有了德國蒂森克虜伯公司（ThyssenKrupp），未來的電梯已指日可待。目前，這家公司已研發出一款名為MULTI的無纜線式電梯。這種帶磁力馬達的電梯不僅可以像傳統升降電梯那樣上下移動，還可以在水平方向上運作。設計者預計，安裝這種技術大樓的運載能力將提升50%之多。此外，電梯看上去也讓人賞心悅目。

ThyssenKrupp plans to use light-weight materials to build its elevator cars of the future, and the lack of a cable winch will reduce weight as well. The cars wouldn’t just move up and down the elevator shaft like they do now, but would instead go in a loop that allows more cars to sneak in right behind the next. The result is that you might only have to wait 10 seconds for the next one to arrive, rather than wait for the one you just missed to come back down.

蒂森克虜伯公司計劃用輕質材料制造這種未來的電梯梯箱。由于沒有鋼纜絞車，電梯的重量也會減輕。這種電梯梯箱不再拘泥于像現在的電梯那樣上下移動，還能夠環線運行，于是更多梯箱能緊跟上一班電梯循環移動。這樣一來，你或許只需等待十秒鐘就能夠坐上下一趟，而不必再苦等剛剛錯過的電梯回來載你。

The technology backing ThyssenKrupp’s MULTI elevator is very similar to magnetic levitation systems used in high-speed trains. Each car has two magnetic linear motors–one for vertical movement and another for horizontal. This system can also deliver power to the car’s internal lighting and electronics through wireless induction, so no physical tether is needed.

蒂森克虜伯的MULTI電梯采用的技術，與高速列車運用的磁懸浮系統原理非常相似。每一臺電梯都配有兩個磁力線馬達，分別用于垂直和水平運動。通過無線感應，該系統還為電梯內部的照明以及電子產品提供電力，無需再使用物理牽引纜線。

A traditional cable driven elevator has mechanical components that can hold the car in place in the event of a power outage. ThyssenKrupp didn’t go into detail about safety measures in its announcement, but it’s safe to say the magnetic levitation elevator will have some sort of system to hold it in place if the lights go out.

傳統纜繩牽引的電梯帶有一些機械零件，在斷電時可使電梯停在原地。雖然蒂森克虜伯公司在產品的發布聲明中并未就安全措施作出詳細介紹，不過可以肯定的是，一旦停電也會有某種系統保證磁懸浮電梯能原地不動。

ThyssenKrupp is working on a test tower that will be used to develop the MULTI into a real elevator technology. This should be up and running by 2016, but it will probably take at least a few more years before you get to climb inside a magnetic elevator car.

目前，蒂森克虜伯公司正在開發一座實驗塔，用于研發MULTI技術，使之成為現實，預計2016年將能夠得以實現。不過，可能至少還需要幾年時間，人們才能真正座上磁懸浮電梯。

（翻譯：orchismessi 編輯：丁一）