CONTROL SYSTEM ASSEMBLY FOR MRL-ELEVATOR

Abstract

A control system for an elevator is separated into a first assembly allocated outside and a second assembly allocated inside an elevator shaft. The first assembly includes a power switch for turning on/off the control system, a light switch for switching a light inside the shaft, a safety unit for protecting electrical safety of the control system, a communication unit for data communication with the elevator and/or an external communication device, and a bypass device for bypassing a safety chain of the elevator. The second assembly includes a power supply system for driving the elevator and/or for the safety chain, a monitoring system for monitoring the safety chain, a drive control unit for a drive motor, and a processor for data processing of the control system. The first assembly and the second assembly can communicate with each other and be connected respectively as segments into the safety chain.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A control system for an elevator, the control system comprising: a first assembly allocated outside a shaft of the elevator and a second assembly allocated inside the shaft; wherein the first assembly includes a power switch for turning on or off the control system, a light switch for switching a light located in the shaft, a safety unit for protecting an electrical safety of the control system, a communication unit for communicating data with at least one of the elevator and an external communication means, and a bypass device for bypassing a safety chain of the elevator; wherein the second assembly includes a power supply system for providing power to at least one of the elevator and the safety chain, a monitoring system for monitoring the safety chain, a drive control unit for controlling a drive motor of the elevator, and a processor for processing data of the control system; and wherein the first assembly and the second assembly are adapted to communicate with each other and to connect as segments into the safety chain.

17. The control system according to claim 16 wherein the first assembly is integrated into a case that is adapted to be mounted on a floor wall, adjacent to a shaft door of the elevator or in a frame of the shaft door.

18. The control system according to claim 16 wherein the second assembly is adapted to be positioned beside or adjacent to the drive motor.

19. The control system according to claim 16 wherein the communication unit at least one of includes a fixed user interface and is adapted to communicate with a mobile user interface.

20. The control system according to claim 19 wherein the fixed user interface is a landing operation panel of the elevator.

21. The control system according to claim 16 wherein the power supply system includes an electric energy storage unit.

22. The control system according to claim 16 wherein the first assembly includes an emergency evacuation equipment adapted for at least one of emergency, test and inspection operations with the elevator.

23. The control system according to claim 16 wherein the bypass device is adapted to bypass a door contact of a shaft door or a car door of the elevator.

24. The control system according to claim 16 wherein the drive control unit is a variable-frequency drive unit.

25. The control system according to claim 16 wherein the safety unit protects against an electrical injury or an electrical shock occurring in the control system.

26. The control system according to claim 16 wherein the communication unit is adapted for wired or wireless communication with a communication interface that does not belong to the control system.

27. The control system according to claim 16 wherein the first assembly communicates with an inspection control device in a shaft pit of the elevator.

28. The control system according to claim 16 wherein the second assembly communicates with an inspection control device at a car of the elevator.

29. An elevator comprising: the control system according to claim 16; and an elevator shaft, the first assembly being positioned in the shaft and the second assembly being positioned outside the shaft;

30. An elevator group including at least two of the elevator according to claim 29 and a communication device wherein: the communication device at least one of combines the at least two elevators and gains an access to a network outside of the elevator group; the first assembly and the second assembly in each of the at least two elevators are connected as segments of the safety chain in the elevator; and at least one of the at least two elevators includes a switch arrangement adapted to switch the control system of the at least one elevator to be available for controlling another of the at least two elevators.

31. An elevator group including at least two of the elevator according to claim 29 and a communication device wherein: the communication device at least one of combines the control systems of the at least two elevators and gains an access to a network outside of the elevator group; the first assembly and the second assembly in each of the at least two elevators are connected as segments of the safety chain in the elevator; and at least one of the at least two elevators includes a switch arrangement adapted to switch the control system of the at least one elevator to be available for controlling another of the at least two elevators.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Below embodiments of the present invention are described in more detail with reference to the attached drawings. The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description help to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:

[0023] FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of one example of a control system according to aforementioned invention.

[0024] FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of two separate assemblies of one control system.

[0025] FIG. 3 shows a schematic illustration of one example of the functional arrangement of the control system for an elevator group.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of one example of a control system 1 disclosed herein for a MRL-elevator 2. This elevator 2 comprises a plurality of landing door/shaft door 19a and a car door 19b of an elevator car 20. In the upper right corner of FIG. 1 there is a front view of a closed landing door 19a. This control system 1 comprises a first assembly A1 and a second assembly A2. The first assembly A1 is integrated in a case or box 15 mounted outside of an elevator shaft 5 while the second assembly A2 is inside of the shaft 5 and adjacent to a drive motor 14. For this embodiment, the case 15 is integrated in a frame of the landing door 19a so that the outline of the case 15 is shown in dotted lines in the FIG. 1. The first assembly A1 and the second assembly can be communicated with each other wired or wirelessly. A safety chain 9 of this elevator 2 is expressed with a plurality of switches combined in series.

[0027] As shown in FIG. 2, within the first assembly A1 there are a power switch 3 for turning on or off the control system 1 and a light switch 4 for switching an electric light or lantern 4a in the shaft 5 (see FIG. 1). The electric light means a device that produces visible light from electric current. This light 4a can be an emergency light inside or outside of the elevator car 20. The first assembly A1 comprises further a safety unit 6 e.g. protecting against an electrical shock occurring in the control system 1, a communication unit 13 and a bypass device 7 for regulating the safety chain 9. The communication unit 13 may comprise a LOP as a fixed user interface 17a (see FIG. 1). As shown in FIG. 1, the LOP 17a is mounted outside on the case 15. The communication unit 13 is also able to communicate with a mobile user interface 17b (see FIG. 1), e.g. smart phone which is then used as a LOP or a COP (car operation panel).

[0028] An emergency evacuation equipment 18, e.g. chair, stretcher, ladder or other necessary rescue tools, is placed into the case 15 as a part of the first assembly A1. This equipment is for using in emergency cases or service procedures for the elevator 2.

[0029] The second assembly A2 comprises at least one power supply system 8, a monitoring system 10 for the safety chain 9, a drive control unit 11 with a variable-frequency drive (VFD) unit 11a, and a processor 12 being capable of data processing. The drive control unit 11 provides power to the motor 14 and controls this motor 14 to achieve a desired car movement. And the processor 12 can communicate with the communication unit 13 and process the data transferred to it. Furthermore, the power supply system 8 comprises a battery 8a to store electric energy. The power supply system 8 is able to supply energy to the motor 14, the safety chain 9 and also to other electric or electronic components of the elevator 2 at the same time.

[0030] FIG. 3 shows a schematic illustration of one example of the functional arrangement of the control system 1 for an elevator group 2a. Every elevator 2 of this elevator group 2a has an own control system 1, wherein the elevators 2 are combined by a gateway interface 24 to build a network (e.g. LAN: Local Area Network) and/or to gain an access to a public network 21 (e.g. internet or cloud). Communication paths between the elevators 2, and especially between the elevator car 20 and the gateway interface 24 are illustrated by double solid lines with arrows. Both the first assembly A1 and the second assembly A2 of one control system 1 can communicate with the gateway interface 24 and other control devices of the elevator 2 by connecting in a computer architecture, e.g. bus system 22, expressed in solid lines. The other control devices are e.g. inspection control devices 23a, 23b or user interfaces (COP or LOP) 17a and 17b.

[0031] With this gateway interface 24, relevant data of the elevators 2 like door movement or lifecycle utilization are collected, pre-analyzed, and transmitted to a Cloud-Platform. Moreover, this interface may work with Apps (Application software), streamed multimedia content, and even handles emergency voice calls. Such an interface supports as well mobile connectivity standards like 4G/LTE, 5G and VoIP functionality.

[0032] The first assembly A1 and the second assembly A2 build respective segments of the safety chain 9—expressed in stippled lines—within an elevator 2. For this embodiment, parallel to the electric connection with the safety chain 9, by using the bus system 22 the first assembly A1 is connected to one or more user interfaces 17a and an inspection control device 23a in a shaft pit 5a, while the second assembly A2 is connected to an inspection control device 23b at the car 20. The user interface, e.g. a fixed LOP 17a or a mobile device 17b, are suitable for wired or wireless communication. In the bus system 22 there is a switch arrangement 16 (e.g. one or more relays) to switch the first assembly A1 connecting in the bus system 22 within this elevator 2 or in another bus system 22 of another elevator. The special advantage of such a switching possibility is that a maintenance working for this elevator group 2a may be very convenient and practical, since during shutting-off of one control system 1 another one can be used temporally for more than one elevator 2 at the same time, including for the elevator 2 comprising this shut-off control system 1.

[0033] It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that with the advancement of technology, the basic idea of the invention may be implemented in various ways. The invention and its embodiments are thus not limited to the examples described above.

[0034] 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.