CAR AND ENTITY SAFETY SUPERVISING UNIT FOR AN ELEVATOR

Abstract

A car safety supervising unit (SSU) for an elevator having an elevator car displaceable within an elevator shaft includes at least one sensor for sensing car-related parameters and outputting corresponding car-related signals, an I/O interface for inputting input signals into the car SSU and for outputting output signals to external devices and a signal processing unit for processing at least one of the car-related signals and the input signals and for generating the output signals. In an installation operation mode, the signal processing unit processes exclusively the car-related signals and generates the output signals based exclusively on the car-related signals whereby the car SSU accomplishes basic safety functions for safely operating the elevator with a limited number of available sensors. In a normal operation mode, the signal processing unit processes both the car-related signals and the input signals and generates the output signals based on both.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A car safety supervising unit for an elevator, the elevator including an elevator car displaceable within an elevator shaft, the car safety supervising unit comprising: at least one sensor sensing car-related parameters and outputting corresponding car-related signals; an I/O interface inputting input signals into the car safety supervising unit and outputting output signals to external devices; a signal processing unit processing at least one of the car-related signals and the input signals and generating the output signals; wherein the car safety supervising unit is adapted to operate in each one of an installation operation mode and a normal operation mode; wherein, in the installation operation mode, the signal processing unit processes exclusively the car-related signals and generates the output signals based exclusively on the car-related signals; and wherein, in the normal operation mode, the signal processing unit processes both the car-related signals and the input signals and generates the output signals based on both the car-related signals and the input signals.

17. The car safety supervising unit according to claim 16 wherein the car safety supervising unit is adapted to accomplish safety functions for safely operating the elevator during an installation phase in an autonomous manner.

18. The car safety supervising unit according to claim 16 wherein the output signals activate a safety gear of the elevator car.

19. The car safety supervising unit according to claim 16 wherein the at least one sensor is an acceleration sensor sensing accelerations acting onto the car safety supervising unit SSU and outputting acceleration signals as part of the car-related signals.

20. The car safety supervising unit according to claim 16 including a position sensor sensing a position of the car and outputting position signals as part of the car-related signals.

21. The car safety supervising unit according to claim 16 including a safety gear sensor sensing a current status of a safety gear of the car and outputting safety gear signals as part of the car-related signals.

22. the car safety supervising unit according to claim 16 including a hardware switch for switching the car safety supervising unit between the installation operation mode and the normal operation mode.

23. the car safety supervising unit according to claim 16 wherein the car safety supervising unit is adapted for switching between the installation operation mode and the normal operation mode based on the input signals inputted via the I/O interface.

24. the car safety supervising unit according to claim 16 including a proprietary energy source supplying electrical energy to the car safety supervising unit.

25. An elevator comprising: an elevator car displaceable within an elevator shaft; and a car safety supervising unit according to claim 16 attached to the elevator car.

26. An entity safety supervising unit for an elevator, the elevator including an elevator car displaceable within an elevator shaft, the entity safety supervising unit comprising: the car safety supervising unit according to claim 16; a head safety supervising unit; wherein the head safety supervising unit includes different sensors than the at least one sensor and any other sensor of the car safety supervising unit; wherein the car safety supervising unit and the head safety supervising unit exchange the input signals and the output signals; and wherein the car safety supervising unit and the head safety supervising unit cooperate to accomplish safety functions of the elevator in a cooperating manner when the car safety supervising unit is operating in the normal operation mode.

27. The entity safety supervising unit according to claim 26 wherein the car safety supervising unit and the head safety supervising unit SSU are adapted to, upon transition from the installation operation mode to the normal operation mode, pairing the car safety supervising unit SSU to the head safety supervising unit.

28. The entity safety supervising unit according to claim 26 wherein the car safety supervising unit and the head safety supervising unit SSU are adapted to, upon transition from the installation operation mode to the normal operation mode, hand over functionalities from the car safety supervising unit to the head safety supervising unit.

29. The entity safety supervising unit according to claim 26 wherein the car safety supervising unit and the head safety supervising unit are adapted to, upon replacing one of the car safety supervising unit and the head safety supervising unit, store settings of both the car safety supervising unit and the head safety supervising in a remaining one of the car safety supervising unit and the head safety supervising unit.

30. An elevator comprising: an elevator car displaceable within an elevator shaft; and the entity safety supervising unit according to claim 26 wherein the car safety supervising unit is attached at the elevator car and the head safety supervising unit is stationary relative to and external to the elevator car.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0056] FIG. 1 shows an elevator comprising an entity SSU including a car SSU according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0057] The FIGURE is only schematic and not to scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0058] FIG. 1 shows an elevator 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The elevator 1 comprises an elevator car 3 and a counterweight 5 arranged in an elevator shaft 7. The elevator car 3 and the counterweight 5 are suspended by a suspension traction means 9 comprising several ropes or belts. The suspension traction means 9 is driven by a traction sheave 13 of a drive engine 11. An operation of the drive engine 11 is controlled by an elevator control 15.

[0059] In order to be able to control functions of the elevator 1 and/or to guarantee its safety, the elevator 1 comprises a multiplicity of sensors 17, 19, 21, 23, 25.

[0060] For example, an acceleration sensor 17, a position sensor 19 and a safety gear sensor 21 are provided at the car 3 such that they are moved together with the car 3. The acceleration sensor 17 may determine the current acceleration of the car 3. For example, the acceleration sensor may be a microelectronics device which may output an acceleration signal being proportional to the current acceleration acting thereon. The position sensor 19 may determine a current position of the car 3 within the elevator shaft 7. For example, position marks 20 may be provided at predetermined positions within the elevator shaft 7 and by identifying these position marks, the position sensor 19 may determine its present position. The safety gear sensor 21 may determine a current status of a safety gear 31 of the elevator car 3, i.e. may determine for example whether the safety gear 31 is currently released or actuated. In FIG. 1 the safety gear 31 is positioned at the top of the car 3. It's also possible that one or two safety gears are positioned at the bottom of the car.

[0061] The elevator 1 may further comprise detectors which are positioned stationary within the elevator shaft 7. For example, door contacts 23 may be provided at each of a multiplicity of shaft doors 27 arranged at each of floors 29 of a building. These door contacts may determine whether or not an associated shaft door 27 is correctly closed. Furthermore, door zone contacts 25 may be provided. These door zone contacts 25 may determine whether or not the elevator car 3 is currently in close neighborhood to one of the shaft doors 27. Such door zone contacts 25 may either be arranged stationary within the elevator shaft 7 such as to sense a presence neighboring elevator car 3 or may be arranged at the elevator car 3 such as to sense for example markers provided stationary adjacent to each door zone.

[0062] Signals of the multiplicity of sensors 17 to 25 may be processed within an entity safety supervising unit (SSU) 33. In order to suitably process these signals and to suitably control elevator components, the entity SSU 33 is composed of two separate SSUs, namely a car SSU 35 and a head SSU 37. During normal operation of the elevator 1, both the car SSU 35 and the head SSU 37 may cooperate and may communicate with the elevator control 15 and other components of the elevator 1 such as the safety gear 31 in order to control various functionalities and safety functions of the elevator 1.

[0063] The car SSU 35 is attached to the elevator car 3 such as to be moved together with the elevator car 3. The car SSU 35 may receive car-related signals from the acceleration sensor 17, the position sensor 19 and the safety gear sensor 21, all the sensors preferably being associated to the car SSU 35. Furthermore, the car SSU 35 comprises an I/O interface 41 via which it may receive input signals for example provided by the head SSU 37 and via which it may emit output signals for controlling other devices such as the car safety gear 31. The input signals and the output signals may be processed by a signal processing unit 39.

[0064] Based for example on signals of the acceleration sensor 17 indicating a current acceleration of the elevator car 3, the car SSU 35 may then detect for example an occurrence of a freefall of the elevator car 3. Thereupon, the car SSU 35 may rapidly activate the car's safety gear 31.

[0065] The car SSU 35 furthermore comprises a proprietary energy source 43 such as a buffer battery or a capacitor of sufficiently large capacitance for supplying electrical energy. Thus, the car SSU 35 may at least temporarily operate independent of any electricity supply from e.g. a building's grid.

[0066] The head SSU 37 may be connected to the plurality of shaft door sensors 23 and door zone sensors 25. Therein, each of the shaft door sensors 23 and the door zone sensors 25 may be connected to a bus 45 such as to enable signal transmittance to the head SSU 37 with a minimum of wiring efforts.

[0067] Using the car SSU 35 and the head SSU 37 in corporation, the entity SSU 33 may monitor for a multiplicity of conditions in the elevator 1 using the variety of different sensors 17 to 25 and may control functions of the elevator 1 based on signals provided by these sensors, possibly after suitable processing thereof. Particularly, during normal operation of the elevator 1, the entity SSU 33 may supervise all safety critical conditions such as an occurrence of a freefall of the elevator car 3, the elevator car 3 reaching an end zone of the elevator shaft 7, at least one of the shaft doors 27 being open without the car 3 being stopped adjacent to this shaft door 27 and/or other safety-related conditions. During such normal operation, each of the car SSU 35 and the head SSU 37 may receive signals from its associated sensors 17 to 25 and may process these signals and/or may transmit signals to the other one of the head SSU 37 and the car SSU 35. In other words, the entire safety supervising efforts may be shared between the car SSU 35 and the head SSU 37 during normal operation.

[0068] However, additional to such normal operation mode, the car SSU 35 as proposed herein shall be specifically adapted to provide for at least some basic safety supervising functionalities in an autonomous manner, i.e. without necessarily cooperating with the head SSU 37. Accordingly, the car SSU 35 may provide these basic safety supervising functionalities also in conditions, in which an installation of elevator components in a building is not yet fully completed.

[0069] For example, as part of an elevator installation procedure, a provisional installation platform and a hoist may be set-up in the elevator shaft 7. During such installation phase, at least freefall conditions and preferably also overspeed conditions shall be supervised. While this object is conventionally fulfilled using an overspeed governor/safety year, future safety supervising approaches shall preferably use the car SSU 35 for such purposes, this car SSU 35 being later part of the entity SSU 33 upon completion of all installation works, i.e. for subsequent normal operation.

[0070] Accordingly, the car SSU 35 should be adapted for, additionally to a normal operation mode, being operated in an installation operation mode. In such installation operation mode, the car SSU 35 should perform all safety supervising operations based on information signals of a limited number of sensors 17, 19, 21. For enabling such basic safety supervising operations, the car SSU 35 may at least comprise the acceleration sensor 17 for detecting freefall conditions. Possibly, further sensors such as the position sensor 19 and/or the safety gear sensor 21 may be provided. The car SSU 35 may process the car-related parameters provided by these sensors 17, 19, 21 using its signal processing unit 39 and may then transmit suitable output signals via its I/O interface 41 in order to control devices such as for example the safety gear 31.

[0071] During such installation operation mode, no cooperation with other devices such as additional sensors and/or additional SSUs such as the head SSU 37 is required.

[0072] Furthermore, during such installation mode, the proprietary energy source 43 may supply electricity to energy consuming components of the car SSU 35 such that the car SSU 35 may be used during installing the elevator in a construction area where for example no reliable power network is available.

[0073] After completion of all elevator installation works, i.e. once the electrical system of the elevator is installed and the head SSU 37 and its associated sensors 23, 25 are installed in the elevator shaft 7, the car SSU 35 may be switched to its normal operation mode.

[0074] For such switching, the car SSU 35 may comprise a specific hardware switch 40 which may be actuated for example by authorized technical staff. Alternatively, the car SSU 35 may be adapted to automatically realize upon receiving input signals via its I/O interface 41 that for example a communication with a connected head SSU 37 is possible after completion of installation works and to then automatically switch to the normal operation mode.

[0075] Upon switching from the installation operation mode to the normal operation mode, the following steps may be performed.

[0076] First, the car SSU 35 and the head SSU 37 may be paired. This may ensure that only SSUs may be connected to each other and may cooperate with each other which SSUs are compatible with each other. Thereby, safety and security aspects may be satisfied.

[0077] Then, certain functionalities may be handed over from the car SSU 35 to the head SSU 37. During such hand-over process, configurations may be compared and/or replicated. Furthermore, actors and/or sensors may be specifically allocated to either the car SSU 35 or the head SSU 37. Due to such handing over, available resources may be used in a beneficial manner and/or time restrictions for example in processing signals and initiating actions thereupon such as actuating a safety gear 31 may be taken into account in a more efficient manner than for example during the installation operation mode.

[0078] The transfer of certain functionalities could comprise for example the following steps: a configuration with a necessary functionality may be read-out or a necessary functionality may be specifically learned for example through a presence of sensors and actuators. Alternatively or additionally, such configuration may be performed using a mobile device or may be submitted via a centralized server. Optionally, configurations may be replicated. Supervising functionalities may be physically allocated to the car SSU 35 or the head SSU 37 depending e.g. on available actors, measured signal propagation times and/or country specific conditions. The functionality may then be handed over. A self test and/or timing measurement may be performed as they might be necessary due to different possible configurations. The configuration may be frozen. Finally, pair locking may be performed.

[0079] Finally, an acceptance tests of the safety system may be done.

[0080] After having finalized the pairing of the car SSU 35 and the head SSU 37, the hand-over of functionalities between the car SSU 35 and the head SSU 37 and finally the acceptance tests, the entity SSU 33 may be fully operated with the car SSU 35 being switched to its normal operation mode.

[0081] If, during the normal operation mode, any replacement of the car SSU 35 or the head SSU 37 is required, settings such as current configurations of the car SSU 35 and the head SSU 37 may be temporarily stored in the remaining one of both SSUs 35, 37 such that, after the replacement device has been installed, these settings may be transferred to the replacement device for simplifying a configuration thereof.

[0082] Finally, it should be noted that the term “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps and the “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. Also elements described in association with different embodiments may be combined.

[0083] 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.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0084] 1 elevator [0085] 3 elevator car [0086] 5 counterweight [0087] 7 elevator shaft [0088] 9 suspension traction means [0089] 11 drive engine [0090] 13 traction sheave [0091] 15 elevator control [0092] 17 acceleration sensor [0093] 19 position sensor [0094] 20 position marks [0095] 21 safety gear sensor [0096] 23 door sensor/contact [0097] 25 door zone sensor/contact [0098] 27 shaft door [0099] 29 floor [0100] 31 safety gear [0101] 33 entity SSU [0102] 35 car SSU [0103] 37 head SSU [0104] 39 signal processing unit [0105] 40 hardware switch [0106] 41 I/O interface [0107] 43 proprietary energy source [0108] 45 bus