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MRL Elevators

Equipment · Machine-room-less

MRL Elevators

Name: MRL Elevators
Brand: MB Elevator

The machine moves off the roof and into the shaft head. You keep the traction ride and the energy efficiency, and the building keeps its roof slab.

Configurations

Four MRL configurations, and where each one fits.

Headroom, whether it is new-build or retrofit, and travel height decide the configuration.

Standard

Shaft-head mounted MRL

The default MRL arrangement. The gearless machine bolts to the guide rail at the top of the shaft, and the controller sits in the top landing door frame.

Machine position: Shaft head
Headroom needed: 3600 – 4200 mm
Travel: up to 75 m
Best for: New-build mid-rise

Strength: The straightforward, most commonly specified MRL layout.
Trade-off: Still needs the full standard headroom allowance at the top landing.

Retrofit

Low-headroom retrofit MRL

Sized specifically to fit inside an existing shaft when an old geared lift is modernised and its machine room is freed up for other use.

Machine position: Shaft head
Headroom needed: Reduced
Travel: Matches existing shaft
Best for: Modernization projects

Strength: Frees the old machine room for plant, storage or amenity space.
Trade-off: Rail fixing and headroom both need verifying against the existing shaft before ordering.

High-speed High-speed machine-room-less elevator serving a tall mid-rise commercial tower

High-speed MRL

The same shaft-head arrangement, specified with a higher-output gearless machine for taller mid-rise towers running close to MRL’s practical travel limit.

Speed: up to 1.75 m/s
Travel: up to 75 m
Stops: up to 24
Best for: Tall mid-rise towers

Strength: Keeps ride quality and energy saving as travel height pushes toward the MRL ceiling.
Trade-off: Power supply quality needs checking — permanent-magnet drives are less tolerant of a poor feed.

Pitless

Machine-room-less elevator with a shallow pit for a building with limited excavation

Shallow-pit MRL

Combines the MRL drive with a reduced pit depth, for buildings that can give up the headroom above but not the excavation below.

Pit depth: Reduced
Headroom needed: 3600 – 4200 mm
Travel: up to 40 m
Best for: Limited excavation sites

Strength: Solves both machine room and deep pit constraints on the same building.
Trade-off: Speed and travel are capped lower than a full-pit MRL installation.

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MRL specialists

We specify machine-room-less as the default, not the upsell.

Removing a machine room changes a building’s structural drawing, not just its lift order, which is why we get involved at design stage wherever we can. The team has fitted MRL drives across new-build residential towers and modernisation projects that freed up an old machine room for other use, always with rail and headroom checked against the real shaft rather than a standard table. For architects and developers across Delhi NCR working machine-room-less into the drawings, that is the level of detail we bring to the conversation.

Before you commit

What MRL asks in return for the machine room.

MRL is the right default for most new mid-rise buildings. These are the conditions that have to be met for it to stay the right answer.

Confirm the headroom is genuinely available

MRL needs less headroom than geared, but it still needs a defined clear height above the top landing. A sloping roof over the shaft is the usual surprise.

Specify the guide rails properly

The rails carry the machine. Section, bracket spacing and fixing to the structure all get checked, because the drive load now runs through them.

Plan rescue access from the landing

Manual brake release and emergency operation happen from the top landing panel. That panel must stay reachable, not blocked by later fit-out.

Agree shaft access for servicing

Machine work happens inside the shaft from the car top. Building management needs to understand that servicing takes the lift out of use.

Provide ventilation at the shaft head

The drive and controller generate heat with nowhere obvious to lose it. Shaft head ventilation is specified, not assumed.

Check the power supply quality

Permanent-magnet drives are less tolerant of poor supply than an old geared machine. Where supply is unstable, that gets addressed before commissioning.

Machine-room-less elevator installed in a modern residential building

The saving is structural, not just spatial Removing the machine room removes a loaded slab, a staircase to it and a roof penetration. That is usually worth more than the floor area itself.

Where they go

Where MRL is the sensible default.

New residential towers. Mid-rise housing where the roof is wanted for services, amenity or plant.
Office buildings and IT parks. Grouped cars where the energy saving compounds across the group.
Buildings with height restrictions. Where a machine room would push the building past a permitted height.
Hotels and serviced apartments. Quiet gearless operation with no machine room noise transmitted through the roof slab.
Retrofits with adequate headroom. Replacing an old geared lift where the machine room can be freed up — see modernization.

Get a specification for your building

Alongside

Services and parts this product depends on.

Equipment is half the decision. These are the parts of the lifecycle we cover for it.

Passenger elevators

The full comparison of every passenger drive type.

Open

Hydraulic elevators

The alternative where headroom is genuinely unavailable.

Open

Installation

Rail alignment, machine mounting and commissioning.

Open

AMC contracts

Shaft-access maintenance scheduled around building use.

Open

Traction machine

Gearless permanent-magnet machines and brakes.

Open

Guide rails

Rail sections rated to carry the drive as well as the car.

Open

Common questions

Before you ask for a quotation

What is the machine-room-less elevator price compared to a geared lift?

MRL elevator price usually sits a little above an equivalent geared traction lift, because the gearless machine costs more than a geared one. That premium is normally offset by the machine room you no longer have to build, and by roughly 30 per cent lower running cost over the life of the lift. We compare both options against your actual shaft before recommending one.

Does MRL really save space?

It saves the machine room: a slab, a roof penetration and the access stair to it. Shaft plan area is roughly the same as a geared lift, so the saving is vertical and structural rather than in floor plate.

Is servicing harder without a machine room?

It is different. Work happens from the car top inside the shaft, so the lift is out of service during maintenance and rescue is done from the top landing panel. Both are planned at design stage.

How much energy does MRL actually save?

Typically around 30 per cent against a comparable geared traction lift, from removing gearbox losses and using a permanent-magnet motor. On a group of lifts running all day, that compounds.

Can MRL replace an existing geared lift?

Often yes, if headroom and rail fixing allow. It frees the old machine room for other use, which is sometimes the main reason the client wants it.

What is the travel limit?

Around 75 m in practice. Above that, a conventional gearless traction lift with a machine room remains the stronger answer.

Deciding between MRL and a machine room?

Send the building height, the floors served and what the roof is needed for. We will tell you which drive actually serves the building better.

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