POSITION-DETERMINING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ASCERTAINING A CAR POSITION OF AN ELEVATOR CAR

Abstract

A position-determining system and a method for ascertaining a car position of an elevator car use a code tape mounted next to the elevator car in parallel with a movement direction and that includes a code-mark pattern of individual code marks, a detection apparatus mounted on the elevator car that detects the code marks, and an evaluation unit that determines the car position on the basis of the detected code marks. Here, n successive code marks of the code-mark pattern form a position mark, the position marks are unambiguously arranged in an n-digit pseudorandom sequence of various position marks, the position marks form a single-track code-mark pattern, and a discrete car position is assigned to each position mark. A detection region of the detection apparatus has a detection length in the movement direction that is shorter than a position-mark length of a position mark in the movement direction.

Claims

1-12. (canceled)

13. A position-determining system for ascertaining a car position of an elevator car movable in an elevator shaft, the system comprising: a code tape mounted next to the elevator car in parallel with a movement direction of the elevator car, the code tape including a code-mark pattern formed of a plurality of individual code marks each being a predetermined code-mark length in the movement direction; a detection apparatus mounted on the elevator car for detecting the code marks of the code-mark pattern on the code tape; an evaluation unit determining the car position of the elevator car in the elevator shaft based on the code marks detected by the detection apparatus; wherein n successive ones of the code marks of the code-mark pattern form a position mark being a predetermined position-mark length in the movement direction, the code-mark pattern including a plurality of the position marks being unambiguously arranged in an n-digit pseudorandom sequence of various ones of the position marks, the position marks forming the code-mark pattern as a single-track code-mark pattern, and a discrete car position being assigned to each of the position marks; and wherein the detection apparatus has a detection region with a predetermined detection length in the movement direction that is shorter than the position-mark length of the position marks.

14. The position-determining system according to claim 13 wherein the evaluation unit assembles a detected position mark from successively detected ones of the code marks of the code-mark pattern when the detection apparatus is shifted with respect to the code tape in the movement direction.

15. The position-determining system according to claim 13 wherein the detection length of the detection region of the detection apparatus in the movement direction is longer than the code-mark length.

16. The position-determining system according to claim 13 wherein the detection length of the detection region of the detection apparatus in the movement direction is longer than two of the code-mark length.

17. The position-determining system according to claims 13 wherein the detection apparatus has at least four sensors arranged one behind the other in the movement direction for detecting the code marks.

18. The position-determining system according to claims 13 wherein the detection apparatus has six sensors arranged one behind the other in the movement direction for detecting the code marks.

19. The position-determining system according to claim 13 wherein the code marks form magnetic poles and the detection apparatus includes a plurality of Hall sensors for detecting the code marks.

20. The position-determining system according to claim 13 wherein the code-mark pattern is encoded in Manchester encoding.

21. The position-determining system according to claim 20 wherein the detection apparatus has six sensors, the sensors being positioned at a distance from one another that is smaller than the code-mark length.

22. The position-determining system according to claim 21 wherein the distance between adjacent ones of the sensors one half of the code-mark length.

23. An elevator installation comprising: an elevator car movable in an elevator shaft; and the position-determining system according to claim 13 adapted to ascertain the car position of the elevator car in the elevator shaft.

24. The elevator installation according to claim 23 wherein the position-determining system is a first position-determining system and including a second position-determining system supplying an elevator controller of the elevator installation with information about a position of the elevator car in the elevator shaft, the second position-determining system being independent of the first position-determining system.

25. A method for ascertaining a car position of an elevator car movable in an elevator shaft, the method comprising the steps of: detecting code marks using a detection apparatus mounted on the elevator car, the code marks being on a code tape that is mounted in the elevator shaft next to the elevator car in parallel with a movement direction of the elevator car, the code tape having a code-mark pattern made up of a plurality of individual ones of the code marks; determining a position of the elevator car in the elevator shaft based on the code marks detected by the detection apparatus using an evaluation unit; wherein n successive ones of the code marks of the code-mark pattern form a position mark being a predetermined position-mark length in the movement direction, the code-mark pattern including a plurality of the position marks being unambiguously arranged in an n-digit pseudorandom sequence of various ones of the position marks, the position marks forming the code-mark pattern as a single-track code-mark pattern, and a discrete car position being assigned to each of the position marks; and wherein the detection apparatus has a predetermined detection region in the movement direction that is shorter than the position-mark length of the position marks.

26. The method according to claim 25 wherein the evaluation unit assembles a detected position mark from successively detected ones of the code marks of the code-mark pattern when the detection apparatus is shifted with respect to the code tape in the movement direction.

27. The method according to claim 25 wherein the detection apparatus detects code mark transitions using at least six sensors and the evaluation unit additionally determines the car position based on the detected code mark transitions.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] In the drawings:

[0037] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an elevator installation having a position-determining system according to the invention for ascertaining a car position of an elevator car that can be moved in an elevator shaft;

[0038] FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the position-determining system of FIG. 1; and

[0039] FIG. 3 shows sensor signals from sensors of a detection apparatus of the position-determining system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0040] According to FIG. 1, an elevator installation 10 has an elevator shaft 12 oriented in the vertical direction. An elevator car 14 is arranged inside the elevator shaft 12 and is connected to a counterweight 18 in a known manner by means of a suspension means 16 in the form of a flexible belt or a cable. The suspension element 16 extends from the elevator car 14 over a drive pulley 20, which can be driven by a drive machine (not shown). The elevator car 14 can be moved up and down in the elevator shaft 12 by means of the drive machine and the suspension means 16. The elevator car 14 can thus be moved in the elevator shaft 12 in or against a movement direction 22, which extends upward in the vertical direction.

[0041] A guide rail 26, which extends in the movement direction 22, is secured to a shaft wall 24 of the elevator shaft 12. When the elevator car 14 is moved, it is guided along the guide rail 26 via guide shoes (not shown).

[0042] A code tape 27 in the form of a magnetic tape is arranged on the guide rail 26, which tape is shown in more detail in FIG. 2 and is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 2. The code tape 27 is used as a carrier for a single-track combined code-mark pattern, which represents the numerical code of absolute positions of the elevator car 14 in the shaft 12 in relation to a zero point. The code tape could also be arranged in the elevator shaft independently of a guide rail.

[0043] Parts of a position-determining system 28 for ascertaining a car position of the elevator car 14 are arranged on the elevator car 14. The position-determining system 28 has an evaluation unit 30 and a detection apparatus 32, which are arranged on the elevator car 14. The position-determining system 28 also comprises the code tape 27, is shown in more detail in FIG. 2 and is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 2.

[0044] The detection apparatus 32 is arranged on the elevator car in such a way that it can detect position marks formed by the code tape 27. As a result, the evaluation unit 30 and thus the position-determining system 28 can determine the car position of the elevator car 14.

[0045] In a configuration phase, the elevator car 14 is shifted in such a way that all floors 7, 8, 9 of the elevator installation 10 are approached. At each stop on one of the floors 7, 8, 9, the evaluation unit 30 stores the car position detected at that point in time together with a floor number of the floor 7, 8, 9. In a subsequent monitoring phase, the evaluation unit 30 compares, for each stop, the current car position with the car position stored for the corresponding floor 7, 8, 9. The evaluation device 30 sends the result of the mentioned comparison to a remote monitoring center 33 via a cloud 31. The monitoring center 33 monitors the transmitted results and triggers, for example, a corresponding message in the event of excessive deviations between car positions when stopping at a floor 7, 8, 9 and the associated stored car position. A service technician can, for example, check the elevator installation 10 on the basis of this message. In addition to the described procedure for monitoring the car position, there are many other monitoring options known to a person skilled in the art that can be used for monitoring the car position.

[0046] The described monitoring of the car position is independent of an elevator controller 35 which is arranged in the elevator shaft 12 and controls the entire elevator installation 10. For this purpose, the elevator controller 35 receives information about the position of the elevator car 14 from a second, additional position-determining system 36. The additional position-determining system 36 determines the position of the elevator car on the basis of detection of the speed of the drive pulley 20 and is therefore independent of the first position-determining system 28. The two position-determining systems 28 and 36 thus determine the position of the elevator car 14 independently of one another, and are not linked to one another or connected for signaling. The mentioned additional position-determining system 36, which supplies the elevator controller 35 with information about the position of the elevator car 14, can also be designed in another way which is considered useful to a person skilled in the art.

[0047] FIG. 2 schematically shows the position-determining system 28 together with part of the code tape 27. The code tape 27 has a single-track combined code-mark pattern. The individual code marks 50 are symbolized by rectangular portions of equal length arranged in one track in the longitudinal direction of the code tape 27, each portion having a length of =4 mm, and magnetized either as a magnetic north pole (white rectangle) or as a magnetic south pole (black rectangle). The individual north poles and south poles form correspondingly oriented magnetic fields. A code mark is also referred to here as a bit. The encoding of the code tape 27 is made up of a pseudorandom binary sequence. A pseudorandom sequence consists of bit sequences having b binary digits arranged one behind the other without gaps. Each time an advance is made by one bit in the pseudorandom binary sequence, it is known that a new b-digit binary bit sequence appears. Such a sequence b of successive bits is referred to in the following as a code word.

[0048] The example of the code tape 27 shown in FIG. 2 is based on a pseudorandom sequence of code words having b=4 digits. The number of digits can also be significantly higher, for example b=14 or 16. In the movement direction 22 of the described pseudorandom sequence, a bit having a value of 1 is inserted after every bit having a value of 0 and a 0 bit is inserted after every 1 bit. A bit change therefore takes place after at most two bits in the single-track combined code-mark pattern. This type of encoding is known as Manchester encoding. This is shown on the code tape 27 in accordance with FIG. 2 in that only magnetic poles having a length of =4 mm and a double length of 2=8 mm are present and in that there is a transition from a north pole to a south pole or vice versa at most after 2=8 mm. Due to the described doubling of the bits, an unambiguous 5-digit reading pattern is read out without repetition of code words while simultaneously sampling in each case b+1=5 successive bits of the respective second bits of the combined code-mark pattern. Such a 5-digit reading pattern thus represents a position mark 51 arranged in the elevator shaft 12. The position mark 51 is thus assembled from a total of ten, i.e. n=10 successive code marks 50 and has a position-mark length L.sub.P of 10*=40 mm.

[0049] The detection apparatus 32 for detecting the code marks 50 has a total of six Hall sensors A0.0, A0.1; A1.0, A1.1; A2.0; A2.1, which are arranged in the movement direction 22 on a line so as to have a distance from one another of half a code-mark length /2=2 mm. The distance relates in each case to the distance from sensor center to sensor center in the movement direction 22. The six sensors A0.0, A0.1; A1.0, A1.1; A2.0; A2.1 thus extend in the movement direction 22 over more than two and less than three code marks 50, as a result of which a total of three code marks 50 and thus less than ten code marks 50 of a complete position mark 51 can be detected by the detection apparatus 32. The outermost Hall sensors A0.0 and A2.1 in each case in the movement direction 22 thus delimit a detection region 52 of the detection apparatus 32 in the movement direction 22. The detection region 52 has a detection length L.sub.E in the movement direction. The detection length L.sub.E is a little longer than five times the distance of the Hall sensors A0.0, A0.1; A1.0, A1.1; A2.0; A2.1 from one another, i.e. slightly longer than 2.5*=10 mm and thus significantly shorter than the position-mark length L.sub.P=40 mm.

[0050] The six Hall sensors A0.0, A0.1; A1.0, A1.1; A2.0; A2.1 of the detection apparatus 32 form three sensor pairs (Ax.0, Ax.1). If one of the two sensors Ax.0, Ax.1 is in the vicinity of a magnetic pole change and supplies a sensor voltage of approximately the value of zero, then the other sensor Ax.0 or Ax.1 certainly covers one of the magnetic poles and supplies reliable information. All three first sensors Ax.0 are combined to form a first group and all three second sensors Ax.1 are combined to form a second sensor group. Of the sensors Ax.0 of the first sensor group and the sensors Ax.1 of the second sensor group, the sensors of the second sensor group being offset by half the code-mark length /2=2 mm in the movement direction 22, only the output signals from the sensors of one of the two sensor groups alternately are selected and evaluated for detecting the code marks 50 of the code tape 27.

[0051] In order to detect a complete position mark 51, the detection apparatus 32 and thus the elevator car 14 has to be shifted with respect to the code tape 27 in or against the movement direction 22. During the shift, the evaluation device 30 assembles the detected position mark 51 from the successively detected code marks 50. As soon as the evaluation device 30 has assembled a complete position mark 51, said device can determine the car position via a stored assignment table. In the example shown in FIG. 2, a shift of the elevator car 14 of approximately 40 mm is necessary for this purpose.

[0052] In order to determine a more precise car position, the evaluation device 30 additionally detects the quasi-equidistant pole transitions or zero crossings of the magnetic field between two successive north poles or south poles of the code-mark pattern on the code tape 27.

[0053] FIG. 3 shows an example of the output voltages of the six sensors A0.0, A0.1; A1.0, A1.1; A2.0; A2.1 of the detection apparatus 32 along the path in the movement direction 22 in millimeter intervals. The voltages of the individual sensors A0.0, A0.1; A1.0, A1.1; A2.0; A2.1 are evaluated as follows, with the number representing the result of the mentioned query in each case (0=>false, 1=>true):

U (A0.0)>0=>0

U (A0.0)+1/3 U(A0.1)>0=>0

U (A0.0)+U(A0.1)>0=>1

1/3 U (A0.0)+U(A0.1)>0=>1

U(A0.1)>0=>1

etc.

U (A2.1)+1/3 U(A2.1)>0=>1

[0054] For the example shown in FIG. 3, this results in the sequence of digits: 001111111111111111. This means that a south pole extends to 0.5 mm behind the first Hall sensor A0.0. There is a north pole from 1.0 mm to 9 mm behind the first Hall sensor A0.0.

[0055] The sequence of digits generated is decoded into a three-digit binary sequence of numbers via a table stored in the evaluation unit 30, which sequence represents what is referred to as an interpolated car position of 3 mm in the example shown. This is periodic with the code-mark length and indicates the polarity of the tape from the position of the first Hall sensor A0.0, calculated step by step in, for example, 0.5-mm steps. The most significant bit of this interpolated car position is inverted at a distance of 2 mm and is used for the described switch between the sensor groups of the detection apparatus 32. The interpolated car position ascertained in this way is added to the car position described above which was read out from the assignment table on the basis of the detected position mark 51. The result of this addition is the car position determined by the evaluation device 30, which position is used for the above-described monitoring of the stopping accuracy of the elevator car 14 on the floors 7, 8, 9.

[0056] Finally, it should be noted that terms such as having, comprising, etc. do not exclude any other elements or steps, and terms such as an or a do not exclude a plurality. 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.

[0057] 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.