Disclosed is an elevator system including a system controller, wherein the system controller is configured to: render a plurality of determinations for effecting elevator service during a lockdown condition, including a first determination that an elevator car is transporting a first passenger to a first floor, a second determination that a lockdown event is occurring at a second floor, a third determination for the elevator car to transport the first passenger to a third floor to avoid travel proximate the second floor, and execute one or more communications including: a first communication to an elevator car controller for the elevator car to effect the third determination.

An illustrative example elevator control system includes a plurality of sway sensors situated within a hoistway of the building. The sway sensors respectively include a contact surface situated to be contacted by a vertically extending elongated member of an elevator when the elongated member moves laterally in the hoistway. The sway sensors respectively provide an indication of contact between the contact surface and the elongated member. A controller receives an indication of building movement and the indications from the sway sensors. The controller determines whether at least one condition exists in the hoistway based on the indications and implements an adjustment to elevator movement control when the at least one condition exists.

An elevator system is capable of detecting that a car has overshot a position where a limit switch operates. The elevator system includes: a limit switch; a conductive wire provided along a guide rail guiding movement of a counterweight; a contact being attached to the counterweight and moreover configured to come into contact with the conductive wire in a case where the counterweight is disconnected from the guide rail; an overshoot detection contact being attached to the conductive wire and disposed at a position that allows the overshoot detection contact to come into contact with the contact in the case where the car moves past a position where the limit switch operates; and an overshoot detection unit configured to detect that the contact is in contact with the overshoot detection contact.

A tension member for an elevator system includes one or more tension elements extending along a length of the tension member, and one or more a wave guide regions secured to at least one surface of the tension member or integral to the tension member and extending along the length of the tension member. The one or more wave guide regions are configured for transmission of a radio frequency (RF) data signal along the one or more wave guide regions.

An illustrative example method of controlling an elevator situated in a hoistway of a building includes detecting sway of the building, determining characteristics of the detected sway including a plurality of frequencies and associated periods of the sway, determining an expected sway of an elongated member of the elevator system based on the determined characteristics, and controlling at least one of position and movement of an elevator car in the hoistway based on the expected sway.

Provided is an elevator device including a main rope configured to support a car and a counterweight, a hoisting machine configured to be driven with the main rope wound therearound, a hoisting-machine controller configured to control the hoisting machine, a car brake controller configured to control a car brake device configured to apply a load to car rails to control raising and lowering of the car, and a vibration detection device configured to detect vibration of the car. When the vibration of the car is detected based on an output signal from the vibration detection device under a running state in which the hoisting-machine controller controls drive of the hoisting machine, the car brake controller controls the car brake device to generate a braking force until the vibration becomes smaller than a set value.

A vibration damping device for reducing vibration of an elevator rope includes a displacement amplifier arranged around a region from a first portion of the elevator rope drawn and a second portion of the elevator rope drawn from an opposite side of one or more sheaves in parallel with the first portion. The displacement amplifier is configured to amplify a displacement of each of the first portion and the second portion of the elevator rope. The device also includes a limiting member that controls displacement amplification performed by the displacement amplifier such that the displacement of the first portion or the second portion amplified by the displacement amplifier does not become greater than a first displacement, which is a displacement of the elevator rope by which the elevator rope is not allowed to return to an equilibrium position of the vibration.

An object of the invention is to provide a vibration damping system that can avoid the occurrence of resonance of an elevator rope regardless of the vibration frequency of a vibration source. A vibration damping system (200) includes a displacement amplifier (7), a calculation unit (66), and a displacement amplification control unit (67). The displacement amplifier (7) is arranged along a given position in the longitudinal direction of the elevator rope. The displacement amplifier (7) amplifies a displacement due to vibration of the elevator rope based on a variable amplification factor. The calculation unit (66) calculates the natural frequency of the elevator rope. The displacement amplification control unit (67) controls the displacement amplification of the displacement amplifier (7) based on the natural frequency calculated by the calculation unit (66) and a preset vibration frequency.

An object of the present invention is to provide a vibration damping device including an instability preventing means, for efficiently suppressing amplification of vibration of a long structure, which is mechanically flexible, due to a resonance phenomenon. A vibration damping device (100) for reducing vibration of a long structure (1) includes a displacement amplifier (7) and limiting members (8). The displacement amplifier (7) is arranged along a given position in the longitudinal direction of the structure (1). The displacement amplifier (7) amplifies a displacement of the structure (1). The limiting members (8) control displacement amplification performed by the displacement amplifier (7) such that the displacement of the structure (1) amplified by the displacement amplifier (7) does not become greater than a first displacement, the first displacement being a displacement of the structure (1) by which the structure (1) is not allowed to return to the equilibrium position of the vibration.

An object of the present invention is to provide a sway amount estimation system that can suppress a reduction in user convenience that would occur if the operation method is switched more than necessary. A sway amount estimation system (300) includes a sensing unit (78), a judgment unit (80), and an estimation unit (79). The estimation unit (79) calculates an estimated value of the amount of sway of an elevator rope due to vibration caused by building sway based on the sway sensed by the sensing unit (78) and an estimation model incorporating the effect of the displacement amplification of the displacement amplifier (7). The judgment unit (80) judges if the estimated value calculated by the estimation unit (79) is greater than a threshold for switching the operation method for the elevator apparatus (11).