COUNTERWEIGHT FOR AN ELEVATOR SYSTEM AND ELEVATOR SYSTEM EQUIPPED WITH THE COUNTERWEIGHT

Abstract

A counterweight for an elevator system has an asymmetrical cross section in a horizontal sectional plane. The asymmetrical cross section results in an improved connection of the counterweight to a guide rail, a reduction in a number of components, in particular guide rails, for the elevator system, and a reduction in an installation space for the elevator system thereby simplifying installation of the elevator system.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A counterweight for an elevator system comprising a counterweight having an asymmetrical cross section in a horizontal sectional plane.

17. The counterweight according to claim 16 wherein the counterweight has a greater first width on a first end face than a second width on an opposite second end face.

18. The counterweight according to claim 16 wherein the counterweight has a first longitudinal flank and a second longitudinal flank, each of the longitudinal flanks extending between a first end face and a second end face, and wherein the first longitudinal flank runs as a plane from the first end face to the second end face, the first longitudinal flank being perpendicular to the first end face and to the second end face.

19. The counterweight according to claim 17 including an intermediate region formed between the first end face and the second end face, the intermediate region having a smaller width than the first width, and a holding device arranged on the counterweight in the intermediate region, the holding device adapted to attach the counterweight to a guide rail for guided movement of the counterweight along the guide rail.

20. The counterweight according to claim 19 including an oblique surface formed in the intermediate region, the oblique surface being oriented obliquely with respect to a shortest connecting line between the first end face and the second end face.

21. The counterweight according to claim 20 wherein the holding device is arranged at the oblique surface.

22. The counterweight according to claim 19 wherein the holding device is adapted to hold the counterweight in at least two spatially separated positions on the guide rail and to guide it along at least two spatially separated guide tracks on the guide rail.

23. The counterweight according to claim 16 wherein the counterweight is formed with a first material in a first region and formed with a second material in a second region, wherein the first region has a greater width than the second region, and wherein the second material has a greater density than a density of the first material.

24. The counterweight according to claim 23 wherein the first material is concrete and the second material is a metal.

25. An elevator system comprising: an elevator car; a guide rail, the elevator car being movable along the guide rail; and the counterweight according to claim 16 being movable along the guide rail.

26. The elevator system according to claim 25 including a strut anchoring the guide rail on an elevator shaft wall, wherein the counterweight and the strut each have an outer contour in a cross section along the horizontal sectional plane such that a minimally large first virtual rectangle surrounding the outer contour of the counterweight and a minimally large second virtual rectangle surrounding the outer contour of the strut overlap one another.

27. The elevator system according to claim 25 wherein the elevator car and the counterweight are held on the guide rail and are guided in a displacement movement along the guide rail.

28. The elevator system according to claim 25 including at least two of the guide rail and at least two of the counterweight, wherein a number of the guide rails is equal to a number of the counterweights.

29. The elevator system according to claim 25 wherein the guide rail has two guide tracks spatially separated from one another and facing in different directions, and including a holding device with two guide shoes on the counterweight, wherein each of the guide shoes supports the counterweight on the guide rail and interacts with the guide rail to guide the counterweight on one of the guide tracks.

30. The elevator system according to claim 25 wherein the counterweight has a height in a direction parallel to a longitudinal direction of the guide rail that is less than or equal to 130% of a height of the elevator car.

31. An elevator system comprising: a pair of guide rails extending along a path of travel in an elevator shaft; an elevator car positioned between the guide rails and guided by the guide rails during movement of the elevator car along the travel path; a pair of counterweights each being movable along an associated one of the guide rails; and wherein each of the counterweights has an asymmetrical cross section in a horizontal sectional plane, a first longitudinal flank and a second longitudinal flank each extending between a first end face and an opposite second end face, wherein the first longitudinal flank runs as a plane from the first end face to the second end face and is perpendicular to the first end face and to the second end face, an intermediate region formed between the first end face and the second end face and having a smaller width than a first width of the first end face, and a holding device arranged in the intermediate region and adapted to attach the counterweight to the associated guide rail to enable movement of the counterweight along the associated guide rail in a guided manner.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0069] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an elevator system according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0070] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view in a horizontal sectional plane of an elevator system according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0071] FIG. 3 is a perspective partial view of an elevator system according to an alternative embodiment of the invention.

[0072] FIG. 4 is a plan view from above of a partial region of the elevator system from FIG. 3.

[0073] The drawings are merely schematic and not true to scale. The same reference signs refer to the same or similarly functioning features in the various figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0074] FIG. 1 shows an elevator system 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The elevator system 1 comprises as essential components two counterweights 3 and an elevator car 5 (for reasons of clarity, only the frame 7 holding the elevator car 5 is shown) as well as two guide rails 9. The guide rails 9 extend vertically along essentially an entire elevator shaft 11 and are anchored to an elevator shaft wall 15 of the elevator shaft 11 with horizontally running struts 13. Each of the two counterweights 3 is held on only one of the guide rails 9 and is guided by said guide rail vertically through the elevator shaft 11 during a displacement movement. In the depicted elevator system 1, a number of counterweights 3 and a number of guide rails 9 are thus the same. The elevator car 5 is accommodated in a region between the two guide rails 9 and is held and guided by both guide rails 9.

[0075] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view in a horizontal sectional plane of the elevator system 1. Alternatively, FIG. 2 can also be viewed as a projection of the essential components of the elevator system 1 accommodated in the elevator shaft 11 onto a horizontally running plane.

[0076] The elevator car 5 is essentially cuboid and thus has a rectangular base surface. In the depicted example, the elevator car 5 is arranged centrally in the elevator shaft 11. One of each of the guide rails 9 is arranged on the two opposite sides of the elevator car 5. In the example shown in FIG. 2, each guide rail 9 has a rectangular cross-sectional shape. Each of the guide rails 9 is anchored horizontally on the elevator shaft wall 15 via a straight strut 13. One counterweight 3 each is also arranged on both opposite sides of the elevator car 5.

[0077] In this case, each of the counterweights 3 has a non-cuboid geometry and thus has a non-rectangular base surface. The counterweights 3 are thus asymmetrical in cross section with respect to the depicted horizontal sectional plane. In this case, the cross section of the counterweights 3 in the depicted example is approximately “L”-shaped. Alternatively, the cross section of the counterweights 3 can also be viewed as approximately “C”-shaped, wherein the upper limb of the “C” in FIG. 2 is significantly shorter than the lower limb of the “C” parallel to it. In both cases, the length of a horizontal limb of the “L” or “C” corresponds to the respective width of the counterweight.

[0078] On a first end face 17, the counterweight 3 has a significantly larger first width B1 than on an opposite second end face 19, on which a second width B2 is, for example, at least 20% smaller than the first width B1.

[0079] Each of the counterweights 3 has an outer longitudinal flank 21 and an inner longitudinal flank 23 which extend between the two opposite end faces 17, 19. In the depicted example, the outer longitudinal flank 21 is planar. However, the inner longitudinal flank 23 is in each case designed to be concave.

[0080] Due to the proposed asymmetrical design of the counterweights 3, the counterweights 3 can advantageously be accommodated in a partial volume of the elevator shaft 11, which is neither occupied by the elevator car 5 nor, for example, by the struts 13 or the guide rails 9 anchored with said struts.

[0081] In other words, a minimally large first virtual rectangle 25 (indicated by dashed lines in the figure) can be assumed enveloping the outer contour of one of the counterweights 3, and a minimally large second virtual rectangle 27 can be assumed enveloping the outer contour of the adjacent strut. In contrast to conventional elevator systems, in which counterweights have a rectangular outer contour and corresponding enveloping virtual rectangles and thus require corresponding space separate from other elevator components within the elevator shaft, the first and the second of said virtual rectangles 25, 27 can overlap one another in the elevator system 1 proposed herein. In particular, the strut 13 can be arranged in a tapered partial region of the counterweight 3, i.e., where the counterweight 3 has the smaller second width B2 due to the concave design of its inner longitudinal flank 23. However, where space is no longer required for the strut 13 within the elevator shaft 11 because it only extends approximately into the center of the elevator shaft 11, the counterweight 3 can be designed with the larger first width B1, thus making more volume and ultimately more mass possible for the counterweight 3.

[0082] A recess 29 is formed on the inner longitudinal flank 23 of the counterweight 3 approximately in the region of the geometric center of the longitudinal flank 23. This recess 29 can also be viewed as an intermediate region 31 in which the counterweight 3 has a smaller width than the first width B1. A holding device 33 is arranged on the counterweight 3 in this intermediate region 31. The counterweight 3 is attached to the respectively adjacent guide rail 9 via the holding device 33 and can be moved in a guided manner along the guide rail 9.

[0083] As can be clearly seen in the enlarged section from FIG. 2, the guide rail 9 has two guide tracks 35 that are spatially separated from one another and face in different directions. In the depicted example, the two guide tracks 35 are aligned at a 90° angle to one another, i.e., they are arranged on flanks of the guide rail 9, which are square in profile and run perpendicular to one another.

[0084] For this purpose, the holding device 33 has two guide shoes 34 which can be designed, for example, as sliding shoes 37. Each of the sliding shoes 37 is designed to interact with one of the guide tracks 35 and in this way support the counterweight 3 via the sliding shoe 37 and the guide track 35 on the guide rail 9 and to interact with the guide rail 9 such that the counterweight 3 is guided along the respective guide track 35 during a vertical movement. In the depicted example, the two sliding shoes 37, similar to the guide tracks 35, are aligned at a 90° angle to one another.

[0085] The holding device 33 is thus designed to hold the counterweight 3 in at least two spatially separated positions on the guide rail 9 and to guide it along the at least two spatially separated guide tracks 35.

[0086] In a similar manner, the elevator car 5 is also held on the same guide rails 9 via a sliding shoe 41 which interacts with a guide track 39 on the guide rail 9 and is moveable along said guide rails in a guided manner.

[0087] The asymmetrical counterweight 3 can be viewed as being composed of at least two regions 43, 45. In a first region 43, the counterweight 3 has a greater width, for example, the first width B1 as on the first end face 17. In a second region 45, the counterweight 3 has, by comparison, a smaller width. The first region 43 is at least predominantly formed with a first material 47 of relatively low density, such as concrete, whereas the second region 45 is at least predominantly formed with a second material 49 of higher density, such as metal, in particular steel.

[0088] In this way, despite the asymmetrical geometric configuration of the counterweight 3, weight ratios or a weight distribution within the counterweight 3 can be designed such that, for example, it can be avoided that excessive tilting moments or torques are exerted on the holding device 33 and, by extension, on the guide rail 9.

[0089] FIGS. 3 and 4 show an elevator system 1 with counterweights 3 in an alternative embodiment.

[0090] In this case, the counterweight 3 also has an asymmetrical cross section. However, in an intermediate region 31 between a first region 43 with the larger first width B1 adjoining the first end face 17 and a second region 45 with the smaller second width B2 adjoining the second end face 19, no steep step effecting a recess 29 is provided as in the embodiment described above. Instead, an oblique surface 51 is formed in the intermediate region 31, which runs obliquely with respect to a shortest connecting line between the first and second end faces 17, 19. Accordingly, the guide rail 9 is also not designed as a rectangular profile as in the previously described embodiment but has an equally oblique surface 53 parallel to the oblique surface 51.

[0091] In this alternative embodiment, the counterweight 3 is also held on a single guide rail 9 and is guided along these guide rails 9 during its vertical displacement. For this purpose, a holding device 55 is again provided on the counterweight 3 in the intermediate region 31. Two guide tracks 57, 59 spatially separated from one another and facing in different directions are provided on the guide rail 9. In the present case, the two guide tracks 57, 59 are aligned approximately diametrically opposed, i.e., oriented approximately at a 180° angle to one another. The counterweight 3 is held on and guided along these guide tracks 57, 59 by means of two sliding shoes 61, 63. Due to the triangular shape of the profile of the guide rails 9, the counterweight 3 can be guided in a more rigid and efficient manner.

[0092] With embodiments of the elevator system 1 proposed herein, it can be achieved that the counterweight 3 can be held and guided on a single guide rail 9, in particular due to the asymmetrical configuration of the counterweight 3 used therein. In order to increase the stability of the counterweight 3 and to take into account regulations, such as, for example, European standard EN 81-20 (5.7.1.1) with regard to the guidance of a counterweight 3 regulated therein, the counterweight 3 was designed to be concave on at least one longitudinal flank 23, so that the entire counterweight 3 is given an approximate “L” shape in the horizontal cross section. Due to said concave configuration, the counterweight 3 can interact via a holding device 33 on two surfaces with surfaces of the guide rail 9 or guide tracks 35, 39, 57, 59 provided on said guide rail. This design allows for a significantly more rigid connection between the counterweight 3 and the guide rail 9. Even though the counterweight 3 is only held and guided on a single guide rail 9, the provision of two differently aligned guide tracks 35, 39, 57, 59 allows for a more secure hold and better guidance of the counterweight 3 on the guide rail 9. Since only a single guide rail 9 for a counterweight 3 must therefore be provided and installed, costs and installation effort for the elevator system 1 can be reduced. In addition, the presented design with the asymmetrical counterweight 3 makes it possible to better use the available space within an elevator shaft 11 and, in particular, to reduce unused free spaces between the counterweight and the elevator car and possibly any other elevator components.

[0093] Finally, it should be noted that terms such as “have,” “comprising,” etc. do not exclude any other elements or steps, and terms such as “an” or “a” do not exclude a multiplicity. Furthermore, it should be noted that features or steps that have been described with reference to one of the above embodiments can also be used in combination with other features or steps of other embodiments described above.

[0094] In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, the present invention has been described in what is considered to represent its preferred embodiment. However, it should be noted that the invention can be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described without departing from its spirit or scope.