An elevator brake, having a rotatable component mounted to a shaft, is monitored for contamination by projecting electromagnetic radiation onto the rotatable component or onto the shaft, and receiving reflected electromagnetic radiation. If the monitored zone on the rotatable component or the shaft becomes contaminated, for example with oil or grease, the nature of the electromagnetic radiation reflected from the zone will change noticeably.

A method for determining a state of a system for transportation of passengers includes the steps of: receiving condition data of the system, the condition data being generated by a condition sensor adapted for sensing physical conditions of an equipment of the system; receiving environmental data of the system, the environmental data containing information on an influence of an environment of the system on the equipment and/or the condition sensor; weighting the condition data with the environmental data; and determining a state of the equipment based on the weighted condition data.

Methods and systems for reporting issues in an elevator system are provided. The reporting system includes a display located within an elevator car, an input device configured to receive input from a passenger within the elevator car, and a computing system having a processor and a memory, the computing system configured to generate a user interface on the display and configured to receive input from the input device, wherein the memory includes a list of possible issues related to the elevator car. The computing system is configured to generate a user report based on the received input, and transmit the user report to a remote location.

A method for multiple 3D sensor calibration for a passenger conveyance system, the process including a computing a centroid location from spatial measurements for each of a pair of 3D sensors that form a common field of view via a moving object mathematical model; computing translation parameters from the locations of each centroid location; and correcting one of the pair of 3D sensors to a common world coordinate system from the translation parameters.

A method and a device for outputting an audible voice message in an elevator system includes at least the following steps: transmitting the content of the voice message as a text file to be output via the Internet to a web-based text-to-speech service provider; receiving an audio file from the service provider via the Internet, the audio file having been created based upon the transmitted text file to be output; and outputting the audio file in the elevator system as the audible voice message. If necessary, the text file to be output can be obtained by translating a source language text file into a target language beforehand with the aid of a translation service provider. The targeted use of online service providers allows the outlay needed to realize voice announcements in an elevator system at different use locations with different languages to be greatly reduced.

A remote monitoring support apparatus is connected to a control board; performs communication between a management server computer and the control board that controls operation of an elevator; receives a fault detection instruction that instructs transmission of information related to a state of the elevator and that is transmitted from the management server computer; outputs to the control board, an execution instruction for a fault detection operation according to the received fault detection instruction; obtains at least one among a signal output from the control board to an external destination in response to the output execution instruction for the fault detection operation, and a signal that is for alarm activation and output from the control board to notify the external destination of an abnormality that occurred at the elevator; generates notification information that is based on the obtained signal; and transmits the generated notification information to the management server computer.

A method and a safety arrangement are provided for monitoring the movement of an elevator component, more particularly of an elevator car or of the automatic door of an elevator. In the method, a setup drive of an elevator component is run, and the speed and/or acceleration of the elevator component is measured during the setup drive, a threshold value for the speed and/or acceleration of the elevator component is formed on the basis of the measuring data obtained in the setup drive, the speed and/or acceleration of the elevator component is measured, and if the measured speed and/or acceleration exceeds the aforementioned threshold value, a monitoring signal for bringing the elevator to a safe state is formed.

A building security system includes an emergency communications system of an elevator installation, and a building alarm system. The emergency communications system has a communications interface to couple the emergency communications system to a remote elevator service central in an emergency situation, and an emergency call panel arranged in an elevator car to allow a passenger to communicate with the remote elevator service central via the communications interface while in the elevator car during the emergency situation. The building alarm system includes a plurality of sensor units arranged at predetermined locations of the building and selected to detect predetermined building events. The building alarm system is communicatively coupled to the emergency communications system of the elevator installation for communicating the building event to the elevator service central via the emergency communications system of the elevator installation, and/or for receiving an action request from the remote elevator service central via the communications interface of the emergency communications system.

An elevator includes first and second elevator units vertically movable in a hoistway and interconnected by at least one belt-shaped hoisting rope. Each of the belt-shaped hoisting ropes is moved and passes around a drive wheel and includes consecutively a first rope section extending between the drive wheel and the first elevator unit, and a second rope section extending between the drive wheel and the second elevator unit. The elevator further includes non-driven cambered diverting wheels, each said first and second rope section being arranged to pass around and rest against a cambered circumferential surface area thereof. A monitoring arrangement monitors displacement of the first and second rope sections of the wheels in the axial direction. When one or more of the first and second rope sections is displaced in the axial direction of the wheels away from a predefined zone, rotation of the drive wheel is stopped.

A method can be used to position a car door and a landing-stop door in a synchronized manner at a landing stop in an elevator shaft of an elevator system. The car door may be configured as a guide door, and the landing-stop door may be configured as a follower door. The method may involve bringing an elevator car close to the landing stop, upon entry of the car door into an unlock zone sensing a presence signal of the follower door by way of a presence sensor of the guide door, actuating the guide-door drive by way of the guide controller and executing an opening movement of the guide door, providing movement information of the guide door, and actuating the follower-door drive of the follower door.