Abstract
An elevator car including: a door; and an apron movable between a deployed position and a retracted position; wherein in the deployed position the apron hangs below the door; wherein in the retracted position the apron is vertically overlapped with the door; and wherein in the retracted position the apron is engaged with the door such that it is movable sideways together with the door. As the apron is displaced upwards relative to the elevator car it will block the doorway. However, as the apron is engaged with the door in the retracted position, opening the door also moves the apron out of the way of the doorway so that the apron does not hinder passengers from using the elevator car.
Claims
1. An elevator car comprising: a door; and an apron movable between a deployed position and a retracted position; wherein in the deployed position the apron hangs below the door; wherein in the retracted position the apron is vertically overlapped with the door; and wherein in the retracted position the apron is engaged with the door such that it is movable sideways together with the door; wherein the door comprises a first engagement part and wherein the apron comprises a second engagement part arranged to engage with the first engagement part when the apron is in the retracted position such that movement of the door in either direction causes corresponding movement of the apron.
2. An elevator car as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the deployed position the apron is disengaged from the door such that it will not move sideways together with the door.
3. An elevator car as claimed in claim 1, wherein the door comprises a first door panel and a second door panel and wherein the apron comprises a first apron panel and a second apron panel; and wherein in the retracted position the first apron panel is vertically overlapped with the first door panel and the second apron panel is vertically overlapped with the second door panel.
4. An elevator car as claimed in claim 3, wherein the first apron panel is arranged such that when it is in the retracted position it moves sideways together with the first door panel, and wherein the second apron panel is arranged such that when it is in the retracted position it moves sideways together with the second door panel.
5. An elevator car as claimed in claim 3, wherein the door is a centre-opening door in which the first door panel is movable to one side of the elevator car and the second door panel is movable to the other side of the elevator car during door opening.
6. An elevator car as claimed in claim 3, wherein the door is a telescoping door in which the first door panel and the second door panel are movable to the same side of the elevator car during door opening.
7. An elevator car as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the retracted position the apron is disposed at least partly inside the door.
8. An elevator car as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the deployed position the apron hooks onto a door sill underneath the door.
9. An elevator car as claimed in claim 1, wherein one of the first engagement part and the second engagement part comprises a pin and the other of the first engagement part and the second engagement part comprises a horizontal groove interconnected with a vertical groove; wherein the pin is slidably mounted in the grooves such that when the apron is in the deployed position the pin slides within the horizontal groove and such that when the apron moves between the deployed position and the retracted position the pin slides within the vertical groove.
10. An elevator car as claimed in claim 9, wherein the horizontal groove and the vertical groove are formed in a guiding plate attached to the elevator door.
11. An elevator car as claimed in claim 10, wherein the guiding plate is attached to the front of the door.
12. An elevator car as claimed in claim 1, wherein rollers are provided between the bottom of the apron and a pit floor.
13. An elevator car as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a rigid support structure extending downwardly from the bottom of the elevator car adjacent to the apron to provide support and rigidity to the apron in the deployed position, the rigid support structure extending downwardly from the elevator car by a distance less than 300 mm.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) Certain examples of the present disclosure will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
(2) FIGS. 1a, 1b and 1c show an elevator car with an apron in a deployed position;
(3) FIGS. 2a, 2b and 2c show an elevator car with an apron in a retracted position;
(4) FIG. 3a shows an apron in the retracted position with the elevator car doors open;
(5) FIG. 3b shows an apron mid-way between a retracted position and a deployed position;
(6) FIG. 3c shows an apron in the deployed position with the elevator car doors open;
(7) FIGS. 4a and 4b show an apron and door sill shaped for increased apron rigidity;
(8) FIGS. 5a, 5b and 5c illustrate a first example of the use of rollers to reduce friction between the apron and the pit floor; and
(9) FIGS. 6a, 6b and 6c illustrate a second example of the use of rollers to reduce friction between the apron and the pit floor.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
(10) FIG. 1a shows an elevator car 1 that includes car uprights 2, car door rails 3, a car door sill 4, car door 5 (which in this example is a centre-opening door comprising a left door panel 5a and a right door panel 5b), a guiding panel 6 (also comprising a left guiding panel 6a and a right guiding panel 6b) and an apron 7 (also comprising a left apron panel 7a and a right guiding panel 7b).
(11) The elevator car 1 is shown in FIG. 1a in a front view as if seen from an elevator landing, with the elevator door 5 closed. The bottom of the elevator car 1 is shown at 8. The apron 7 hangs down below the bottom 8 of the elevator car 1 by a distance of at least 750 mm as required by certain regulations. In the event of an emergency situation in which the elevator car 1 is stopped in the hoistway (not shown), but not level with the landing floor, passengers within the elevator car 1 may need to be rescued. In such a rescue, the elevator car door 5 can be opened so that the passengers can descend with a small drop to the landing floor below. During this procedure, the apron 7 is interposed between the landing and the hoistway so as to reduce the size of any gap underneath the elevator car 1 that would otherwise pose a risk to passengers or rescuers. The apron 7 reduces the possibility of someone falling into the hoistway. Additionally a chamfered part 9 is provided at the bottom of the apron 9 which will push any object (e.g. a foot) that is partially in the hoistway back to the landing if the elevator car 1 starts to descend.
(12) FIG. 1b shows an enlarged view of the guiding panel 6 and apron 7.
(13) FIG. 1c is a side view showing the vertical relationship between the door 5, the guiding panel 6 and the apron 7 when the apron 7 is in the deployed position. FIG. 1c also shows the door guide mechanism 10 by means of which the door 5 slides in the sill 4 and the rigid support structure 11 which hangs downwards from the sill 4 and adjacent to the apron 7 so as to provide a degree of support and rigidity to the apron 7 and hold it in a vertical position. The rigid support structure 11 is less than 300 mm long so that it can fit in even the shallowest of pits.
(14) The cross-section of FIG. 1c also shows how the apron 7 is hooked over a portion of the sill 4. A hook 15 is formed at the upper edge of the apron 7 and hooks over a portion of the sill 4 so as to define the deployed position of the apron 7. In this position the weight of the apron 7 is supported by the sill 4 and the weight of the apron 7 holds it in this position.
(15) FIGS. 1a and 1b also clearly show that the apron 7 in this example is divided into two separate apron parts: a left apron part 7a and a right apron part 7b. This is very different from a standard apron which is typically formed as a single piece, e.g. a single sheet of metal. In existing arrangements, even if the apron is split in some fashion, this is typically done to fold the apron underneath the car when not in use (e.g. to compress it in a shallow pit), but in such cases the apron's height is divided while each apron part retains its full width across the width of the doorway. In the example of FIGS. 1a-1c the apron is instead divided in width such that each apron part 7a, 7b has a width less than the full width of the doorway, each apron part 7a, 7b corresponding instead to a width of a respective door part 5a, 5b.
(16) The arrangement shown in FIGS. 1a-1c is the arrangement during normal use of the elevator car 1 at any floor other than the lowest floor. In this arrangement the apron 7 is disposed very similarly to a standard apron and performs the same safety function in the same way.
(17) The arrangement shown in FIGS. 2a-2c shows where this example differs significantly from standard apron arrangements. FIGS. 2a-2c show an arrangement in which the apron 7 is vertically overlapped to a significant extent with the door 5. This arrangement arises in the case of a shallow pit which has a pit depth less than the length of the apron 7. In such cases the apron cannot be accommodated fully in the pit and therefore as the elevator car 1 descends to the lowest floor (e.g. to take on or deliver passengers to that floor) the bottom of the apron 7 comes into contact with the pit floor before the elevator car 1 has reached a position level with the lowest landing floor. As shown in FIGS. 2a-2c, in this situation the apron 7 is displaced upwardly relative to the elevator car 1 (or as viewed from the frame of reference of the building, the apron 7 remains stationary while the elevator car 1 continues to descend past it towards the pit). A comparison between FIG. 2c and FIG. 1c shows how, in the retracted position, the chamfered lower edge 9 of the apron 7 is much closer to the bottom of the elevator car 1 and the hook 15 at the upper edge of the apron 7 has risen up inside the elevator car door 5.
(18) In this retracted position, the apron 7 overlaps vertically with the door 5 and therefore also overlaps the doorway that will be used by passengers to enter or exit the elevator car 1. However, in this retracted position, the apron panels 7a, 7b are each engaged with the respective guiding panels 6a, 6b which are in turn mounted on the respective door panels 5a, 5b. As shown in FIG. 2b, pins 12 attached to the apron panels 7a, 7b are engaged in vertical grooves (or slots) 13 of the guiding panels 6a, 6b. This engagement of the pins 12 in the grooves 13 ensures that any movement of the guiding panels 6a, 6b (which is caused by movement of the door panels 5a, 5b) will also cause movement of the apron panels 7a, 7b. Therefore as the door panels 5a, 5b open to allow passengers to enter and/or exit the elevator car 1, the apron panels 7a, 7b are moved out of the way so as to leave the doorway unobstructed. In this way the apron 7 of this disclosure can be of simple construction without requiring any complex folding mechanism, but is still compatible with a very low profile (i.e. shallow) hoistway pit.
(19) FIG. 3a shows the arrangement of the apron parts 7a, 7b when the elevator car 1 is at the lowest floor in the hoistway, i.e. adjacent to the pit, with the apron 7 in the retracted position and with the elevator door 5 open. The separation of the left and right apron panels 7a, 7b can clearly be seen here with the fully open and unobstructed doorway for access to the car 1.
(20) Another important aspect of this example is that the apron 7 should not be moved if the elevator car door 5 is opened at any floor other than the lowest floor. FIG. 3c shows such a situation. As can be seen here, the elevator car door 5 has been opened by separating the left door panel 5a and the right door panel 5b, but the left apron panel 7a and the right apron panel 7b have remained in place next to each other in the deployed position in which the apron panels 7a, 7b hang below the doorway. In normal operation (i.e. when the elevator car 1 is level with a landing) the apron 7 simply hangs out of sight and the elevator car door 5 operates as normal with the elevator car door 5 fully aligned with the landing door (not shown) and with no access to the hoistway possible. In a rescue situation, the elevator car door 5 can be opened even though the elevator car 1 is not level with a landing in order to allow passengers to leave the elevator car 1. In such a situation, where the elevator car 1 is above the landing to which passengers are exiting, the apron 7 in its deployed position as shown in FIG. 3c, obstructs access to the hoistway via the gap underneath the elevator car 1, thereby protecting the passengers and rescuers from falling into the hoistway.
(21) As can be seen in FIG. 3c, the pins 12 on the apron 7, when the apron 7 is in the deployed position, are aligned with horizontal grooves (or slots) 14 in the guiding panels 6a, 6b attached to the door panels 5a, 5b. Thus, as the door panels 5a, 5b move apart, the groove 14 slides past the pins 12 without inducing any movement in the apron panels 7a, 7b and thus ensuring that the apron 7 remains in its protective deployed position.
(22) FIG. 3b shows the apron 7 in an intermediate position between the fully deployed and fully retracted positions. The apron 7 is in the process of sliding into the elevator car door 5 and the pins 12 are in the process of sliding in the vertical grooves 13 of the guiding panel 6. The vertical grooves 13 are interconnected (optionally with rounded corners or chamfers as discussed above to accommodate a certain degree of misalignment) with the horizontal grooves 14 so that the pins 12 can transfer between the grooves 13, 14. In normal operation the pins 12 are mostly disposed in the horizontal grooves 14, but as the elevator car 1 approaches the lowest landing and the apron 7 rises into the door 5, the pins 12 transition from the horizontal grooves 14 into the vertical grooves 13 so as to engage the apron panels 7a, 7b with the guiding panels 6a, 6b and thereby the door panels 5a, 5b as described above.
(23) It will be appreciated that many variations of this example are possible within the scope of the claims. For example the pins 12 could be provided on the guiding panel 6 with the grooves 13, 14 formed in the apron 7. Such an arrangement is generally less preferred as the strength and rigidity of the apron 7 is important and so it is preferred not to form grooves in it. Alternatively the pins or the grooves could be formed directly on the door panels 5a, 5b without any intervening guiding panel 6. Further, while pins and grooves (or slots) are one way to achieve the engagement between the apron 7 and the door 5, other engagement mechanisms are also possible such as rollers engaging with flanges. In such examples, the vertical extent of the flanges can be chosen so that they engage with rollers on the other part when the parts overlap (in the retracted position when it is desired to move them together), but when the apron is in the deployed position the rollers lie above or below the flanges so as not to engage therewith. It will also be appreciated that a similar arrangement may be used on telescoping doors where two door panels 5a, 5b retract towards the same side of the doorway. In such examples both apron panels 7a, 7b would also be retracted to the same side of the doorway. There may be a small depth offset between the two apron panels 7a, 7b in such arrangements (i.e. one is located slightly further into the hoistway from the landing), but not enough to create a risk to passengers. The functionality described above would otherwise apply equally.
(24) FIG. 4a shows an example of an apron panel 7a that has been shaped for increased rigidity. In this example, the rigidity of the apron panel 7a has been increased by providing a right-angle bend 20 at the outer side thereof. This bend 20 provides rigidity against bending perpendicular to the door 5 and thus maintains the apron panel 7a in a vertical position both in the deployed position (for increased safety) and also during movement from the deployed position to the retracted position (i.e. while in contact with the pit floor). In order to ensure that the apron panel 7a projects beyond the sill 4 by the minimum amount, the bend 20 is accommodated within the sill 4 by providing a sill slit 21 in the sill 4. The sill slit 21 allows the bend 20 of the apron panel 7a to slide vertically within the sill slit 21 during movement between the deployed position and the retracted position. Additionally, an apron slit 22 is provided in the bend 20 of the apron panel 7a that aligns with and can accommodate the sill 4 so that the bend 20 can slide over the sill 4 during elevator car door opening when the apron panel 7a is in the retracted position and moves together with the door panel 5a. The vertical position of the apron slit 22 in the bend 20 of the apron panel 7a will be determined by the depth of the pit so that it aligns with the sill 4 when the apron panel 7a is in contact with the pit floor and the elevator car 1 is positioned at the lowest floor.
(25) FIGS. 5a, 5b and 5c illustrate one example of the use of rollers 31 on the bottom of the apron 7 to reduce friction between the apron 7 and the pit floor 30 as the apron 7 moves during door opening and closing when in the retracted position. FIG. 5a is a perspective view, FIG. 5b is a front view and FIG. 5c is a side view. In this example the rollers 31 are affixed to the bottom edge of the apron panels 7a and 7b so that they are carried on the apron panels 7a, 7b. Throughout most of the height of the hoistway, the rollers 31 will simply hang freely from the bottom of the apron 7 while it is in the deployed position. However, when the car 1 approaches the lowest floor, the rollers 31 will come into contact with the pit floor 30 causing the apron 7 to move relative to the car 1 to the retracted position. As the elevator car door 5 opens, the rollers 31 will roll along the pit floor 30 with low friction.
(26) FIGS. 6a, 6b and 6c show an alternative arrangement of rollers 32 which provide similar functionality to the rollers 31 of FIGS. 5a-c, but are instead provided on the pit floor 30 so that they stay in place when the elevator car leaves the lowest floor and the apron moves to its deployed position. In this example the rollers 32 are mounted on a bracket 33 which is in turn mounted to the pit floor 30. Several rollers 32 are provided so that the full width of movement can be accommodated, ideally with the apron panels 7a, 7b always being supported on at least two rollers 32 each. The rollers may be positioned directly under the lowest part of the apron panels 7a, 7b. However, as shown in FIG. 6c, the apron panels 7a, 7b may be provided with an additional lip 34 arranged at a higher position than the bottom edge 35 of the apron 7 and arranged to extend horizontally for engagement with the top of the rollers 32 while preventing the bottom edge 35 of the apron 7 from contacting the pit floor 30. This allows the maximum length of apron 7 to be accommodated in the pit.
