ELEVATOR CAR WITH MOVING ELECTRICAL BOX

Abstract

An elevator car includes one or more sidewalls defining an interior space for accommodating passengers; and an electrical box (25) mounted to a sidewall by a mount (30). The mount (30) is arranged to allow the electrical box (25) to vertically translate between a first position and a second position relative to the sidewall.

Claims

1. An elevator car comprising: one or more sidewalls defining an interior space for accommodating passengers; and an electrical box mounted to a sidewall (4a) of the one or more sidewalls by a mount, wherein the mount is arranged to allow the electrical box to vertically translate between a first position and a second position relative to the sidewall (4a); wherein the mount comprises a locking component arranged to secure the electrical box in the second position, wherein the locking component is arranged to be overcome when a downwards force greater than the weight of the electrical box is exerted thereon, such that the electrical box is moveable from the second position to the first position.

2. The elevator car of claim 1, further comprising a roof, and wherein the mount is arranged to allow the electrical box to vertically translate from the first position to a second position above the first position, wherein the electrical box at least partially extends above the roof at least in the second position.

3. The elevator car of claim 2, wherein the roof comprises a support frame and wherein a working platform is suspendably connected to the support frame and moveable between a stowed position, above the interior space, and an operational position, suspended within the interior space.

4. The elevator car of claim 2, wherein, when the electrical box is in the second position, 50% or more of the electrical box extends above the roof.

5. The elevator car of claim 2, wherein, in the second position, the electrical box extends above the roof to such an extent as to allow sideways access to one or more electrical components contained within the electrical box.

6. The elevator car of claim 2, wherein, when the electrical box is in the second position, a bottom-most surface of the electrical box is substantially parallel with the roof.

7. The elevator car of claim 2, wherein, when the electrical box is in the first position, the distance from a top-most point of the box to the roof is less than 135 mm above the roof.

8. (canceled)

9. The elevator car of claim 1, wherein the locking component is a resilient member arranged such that, when a downwards force greater than the weight of the electrical box is exerted thereon, the resilient bias of the resilient member is overcome and the electrical box is moveable from the second position to the first position.

10. The elevator car of claim 9, wherein the mount comprises at least one guide component arranged to guide the vertical translation, and optionally to set the distance over which the electrical box may be translated.

11. The elevator car of claim 10, wherein the guide component comprises a guide slot arranged to receive a first protrusion, wherein the first protrusion is located on a side of the electrical box.

12. The elevator car of claim 11, wherein the locking component is arranged to elastically deform in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the guide slot when a force greater than the weight of the electrical box is exerted thereon.

13. The elevator car of claim 10, wherein the guide component comprises the locking component arranged to secure the electrical box in the second position, optionally wherein the electrical box is secured by an interaction between the locking component and a/the first protrusion located on a side of the electrical box.

14. The elevator car of claim 1, wherein the mount further comprises at least one fastener arranged to secure the electrical box in the first position.

15. The elevator car of claim 14, wherein the at least one fastener comprises an elastic component arranged to apply a resilient bias to a/the first protrusion located on a side of the electrical box when the electrical box is in the first position.

16. (canceled)

Description

DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

[0056] Some examples of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims are illustrated further by way of the following non-limiting examples and the accompanying figures, in which:

[0057] FIGS. 1a, 1b and 1c are cutaway schematic views of an elevator car including a working platform, moveable between a stowed position (as shown in FIGS. 1a and 1b) and an operational position (as shown in FIG. 1c);

[0058] FIGS. 2a and 2b are cutaway schematic views of an elevator car including a working platform and an electrical box mounted on a sidewall of the elevator car, the electrical box moveable between a first position (as shown in FIG. 2a) and a second position (as shown in FIG. 2b);

[0059] FIG. 3 shows a side view of an electrical box;

[0060] FIGS. 4a and 4b show views of an electrical box mounted on an elevator car sidewall by a mount, wherein the electrical box is secured in the second position;

[0061] FIGS. 5a and 5b show schematics of the mount as the electrical box moves from the second position (shown in FIG. 5a) towards the first position (shown in FIG. 5b); and

[0062] FIGS. 6a and 6b show views of an electrical box mounted on an elevator car sidewall by a mount, wherein the electrical box is secured in the first position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0063] FIG. 1a shows a view of an elevator car 1, comprising a roof 3 and side walls 4a, 4b which define an interior space 2. The elevator car 1 has two opposed side walls 4a to which handrails 6 are attached. The elevator car 1 additionally has two opposed side walls 4b (only one of which is visible in this figure), on which there are no handrails. Above the interior space 2 there is positioned a support frame 8 comprised in the roof 3, beneath which there is pivotably attached a decorative ceiling cover panel 10. In this arrangement, as shown in FIG. 1a, a passenger located within the interior space 2 of the elevator car 1, sees the decorative ceiling cover panel 10 as covering the vast majority, or even the entirety of the elevator car ceiling, such that the support frame 8 is not normally visible.

[0064] FIG. 1b shows the elevator car 1 of FIG. 1a, in which the decorative ceiling cover panel 10 has been pivoted down to an open position. The elements of FIG. 1b, which are already labelled in FIG. 1a, and could easily be identified as like elements by the skilled person, have not been labelled again in FIGS. 1b and 1c so as to improve the clarity of the drawings. FIG. 1b shows the decorative ceiling cover panel 10 as having been hinged open, from a pivot point in the elevator car ceiling, although it is equally possible that the decorative ceiling cover panel 10 could be fixed in place by any other suitable mechanism, such as for example screws or clips, and could then be removed entirely from the ceiling of the elevator car 1 in order to expose the support frame 8.

[0065] Once the cover panel 10 has been pivoted down or removed, the working platform 12 is then visible, located within the support frame 8 above the interior space 2 of the elevator car 1. In the elevator car 1 as shown in FIG. 1b, the working platform 12 is still in the stowed positon, but is now accessible such that a maintenance person can move the working platform 12 from the stowed position shown in FIG. 1b, to the operational position, as shown in FIG. 1c. As is most clearly seen in FIG. 1c, an extendable suspension mechanism 11 is arranged to suspendably connect the working platform 12 to the support frame 8. In this example, the extendable suspension mechanism 11 is a scissor mechanism. The scissor mechanism 11 opens out to allow the working platform 12 to drop down to a predetermined height in the elevator car 1 which is at substantially the same height as the handrails 6. The extendable suspension mechanism 11 can be any suitable mechanism which allows the working platform 12 to be moved between the stowed position and the operational position, and adequately supports the working platform 12 (together with any load carried in use) in its operational position.

[0066] As shown in FIG. 1c, the working platform 12 can be lowered from the stowed position into the interior space 2 of the elevator car 1. This lowered position of the working platform 12 is referred to herein as the operational position. It is in this operational position that a maintenance person can use the working platform 12 to stand on, and thereby access parts of the elevator system through the open ceiling for maintenance purposes. In particular, the height of the working platform 12 in the operational position is ideally at least 1.1 m below the support frame 8, such that a maintenance person standing fully upright on the working platform 12 will protrude out of an opening in the ceiling of the elevator car 1 as provided by the support frame 8. Furthermore, this means that the maintenance person has enough room below the support frame 8 to erect a safety balustrade on the working platform 12, the height of the safety balustrade being at least 1.1 m according to the European Standard EN81-1.

[0067] As best seen in FIG. 1c, the working platform 12 includes at least one stabilizing member 14, and in this example there are four stabilizing members 14, a first stabilizing member 14a and a second stabilizing member 14b positioned at opposed sides of the working platform 12 on the left hand side of the elevator car 1, and a first stabilizing member 14a and a second stabilizing member 14b positioned at opposed sides of the working platform 12 on the right hand side of the elevator car 1. Each of the stabilizing members 14a, 14b can be engaged with the handrails 6 on the side wall 4a of the elevator car 1 in order to provide lateral stability to the working platform 12.

[0068] FIGS. 2a and 2b show a view of an elevator car 1 comprising an electrical box 25 mounted to a sidewall 4a of the one or more sidewalls 4a, 4b by a mount (not shown), wherein the mount is arranged to allow the electrical box to vertically translate between a first position (as shown in FIG. 2a) and a second position (as shown in FIG. 2b) relative to the sidewall 4a. The elevator car 1 further comprises a blocking component 20 configured to prevent the working platform 12 from being moved into the stowed position unless it has been released.

[0069] FIG. 3 shows a side view of a cuboid shaped electrical box 25 comprising an upper-most surface 26a and a bottom-most surface 26b which correspond to the top and bottom sides of a cuboid. The height of the electrical box may therefore be defined as the distance D.sub.1 from the upper-most surface of the electrical box, to the bottom-most surface of the electrical box.

[0070] In some examples of the disclosure, the electrical box 25 may be a cuboid in shape (thus comprising an upper-most 26a and bottom-most surface 26b) with some components such as electrical wires 27 protruding therefrom. As such the top-most point 28 of the electrical box 25 may be above the upper-most surface 26a of the electrical box 25. The top-most point 28 may therefore be considered to be the part of the electrical box 25 which, if it was theoretically moved vertically upwards infinitely, would engage the ceiling of the hoistway of the elevator system first. Similarly, the bottom-most point 29 may be below the bottom-most surface 26b of the electrical box wherein the bottom-most point 29 may be considered to be the part of the electrical box 25 which would, if it was theoretically moved vertically downwards infinitely, would engage the floor of the hoistway of the elevator system first. The distance D.sub.2 from the top-most point 28 of the electrical box to the bottom-most point 29 of the electrical box defines the total height of the electrical box (i.e. the largest dimension of the electrical box).

[0071] In some examples, the top-most point 28 of the electrical box may correspond to the upper-most surface 26a and the bottom-most point 29 of the electrical box may correspond to be the bottom-most surface 26b.

[0072] FIGS. 4a and 4b show two different views of an electrical box 25 mounted on an elevator car sidewall 4a, 4b by a mount 30, wherein the electrical box is secured in the second position. The mount 30 shown comprises two guide components 35a, 35b positioned either side of the electrical box 25 and arranged to mount the electrical box 25 to the sidewall 4a of the elevator car. The guide components 35b each comprise a guide slot 40 and the electrical box 25 comprises two protrusions 55 (in the form of nuts or screws) on either side of the electrical box 25 such that each guide slot 40 receives one of the protrusions 55. The length of the guide slot 40 thus defines the distance over which the electrical box 25 may be vertically translated, as the guide slot 40 only allows the protrusions 55 to move between a first point 42a, at the top of the guide slot 40, and a second point 42b at the bottom of the guide slot 40.

[0073] When the protrusion 55 is at the first point 42a in the guide slot 40 (i.e. at the top of the guide slot 40) as shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b, the electrical box 25 is arranged to be in the second position. To hold the electrical box 25 in the second position, the guide slot 40 comprises a locking component 45. The locking component shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b is a substantially linear protrusion extending from an edge of the guide slot 40 in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis 41 (see FIG. 4b) of the guide slot 40. The first locking component 45 comprises a bulbous end 47 which is arranged to engage with the protrusion 55.

[0074] For example, when the electrical box 25 is moved into the second position (e.g. by a maintenance person) the protrusion 55 moves upwardly along the guide slot 40 until it engages the underside of the bulbous end 47 of the first locking component 45. At this point, further upward movement of the protrusion 55 results in deformation of the locking component 45 as the curved shape of the bulbous end 47 allows the protrusion 55 to exert a force on the locking component 45 in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 41 which in turn causes the locking component to deform or bend in that perpendicular direction. As a result, the protrusion 55 is able to move past the locking component 45 to the second point 42a at the top of the guide slot 40.

[0075] As shown in FIG. 5a, when the protrusion 55 is at the first point 42a, part of the underside of the protrusion 55 engages with the bulbous end 47 of the locking component 45 which results in holding the electrical box 25 in the second position under gravity. Once the protrusion 55 is at the first point 42a, the locking component prevents the protrusion 55 from moving downwards within the guide slot 40 without the application of an additional force. This allows the maintenance person to access components within the electrical box 25 without having to hold the electrical box 25 in the second position. The locking component 45 thus secures the electrical box 25 in the second position with a resilient bias.

[0076] Once the maintenance person has finished accessing the components contained within the electrical box 25, the maintenance person may return the electrical box 25 to the first position by exerting a force on the top of the electrical box 25. Alternatively, if the maintenance person forgets to return the electrical box 25 to the first position and the elevator car moves upwards, the electrical box 25 in the second position may engage with the ceiling of the hoistway. In such instances, the hoistway ceiling will exert a downward force on the electrical box 25 at the point of contact.

[0077] When the downwards force exerted on the electrical box 25 (i.e. by the maintenance person or as a result of impact with the hoistway ceiling) is significantly greater than the weight of the electrical box 25, the force overcomes the resilient bias of the locking component 45, and (due to the bulbous end 47) the protrusion 55 is able to exert a force perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 41 of the guide slot 40 such that the locking component 45 is deformed in that direction and the protrusion 55 is able to move downwardly past the locking component 45 (as shown in FIG. 5b). As such, the electrical box 25 is moveable from the second position to the first position wherein the locking component 45 can recover to its neutral position.

[0078] FIGS. 6a and 6b show the same two views of the electrical box 25 shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b but with the electrical box 25 secured in the first position. When the electrical box 25 is in the first position, the protrusion 55 is at the second point 42b in the guide slot 40 (i.e. at the bottom of the guide slot) as shown in FIGS. 6a and 6b.

[0079] To hold the electrical box 25 in the first position, the guide components 35b each further comprise a first fastener 50 (which can be seen more clearly in FIGS. 4a, 4b, 5a and 5b). As shown in FIGS. 4a, 4b, 5a and 5b, the first fastener component 50 is a U-shaped indentation which is shaped to receive a second protrusion located on each side of the electrical box 25 proximate to the top of the electrical box 25. When the electrical box 25 is in the first position, the second protrusion 60 engages with the u-shaped fastener 50 to secure the electrical box 25 in the first positon under gravity. In the example shown, the second protrusion 60 is a butterfly nut and may be tightened against the u-shaped fastener 50.

[0080] Each guiding component 35a, 35b of the mount 30 further comprises a second fastener in the form of an elastic component 52 arranged to apply a resilient bias to the protrusion 55 when the electrical box is in the first position. When the protrusion 55 is at the second point 42b at the bottom of the guide slot 40, the force exerted by the elastic component 52 acts to secure the electrical box 25 in the first position and the effect of the vibration of the elevator car 1 on the electrical box 25 is minimised.

[0081] In the description above, it is understood that a maintenance person can conveniently stand on the working platform 12 to gain access to the electrical box 25 at least when it is raised to the second position. However, vertical translation of an electrical box 25 between two positions, as described herein, may be useful during maintenance procedures that do not involve use of such a working platform 12. For example, the elevator car 1 may alternatively have a static roof and a maintenance person standing on the roof may use the mount to vertically translate the electrical box from a first position (e.g. that is less convenient to reach) to a second position (e.g. that is more convenient to reach), or vice versa.