Elevator system comprising with a safety monitoring system with a master-slave hierarchy

Abstract

An elevator system has a drive, a car, a plurality of safety function components for providing safety functions at various positions, and a safety monitoring system with a plurality of safety monitoring units for monitoring all of the safety function components. The monitoring units have an input interface for reading in data or signals and an output interface for outputting control signals to an assigned member of the safety function components, at least some of the monitoring units being connected via data exchange channels. The monitoring units are organized in a master-slave hierarchy, with one unit designed as a master unit, and at least one other unit designed as a slave unit. The decentralized and distributed monitoring units, each having data processing capability, and the master-slave organization result in the elevator system exhibiting a high security level with low cabling complexity and cost expenditure, in particular for high rise elevators.

Claims

1. An elevator system including a drive, a car that is operatively connected with the drive and is driven along a path of travel by the drive, a plurality of safety function components for providing safety functions at various positions within the elevator system, and a safety monitoring system for monitoring all the safety function components, the safety monitoring system comprising: a plurality of safety monitoring units; wherein each of the safety monitoring units has an input interface for reading in data or signals from at least one of the safety function components, and the safety monitoring units are connected with one another via at least one data exchange channel; wherein the safety monitoring units are organized in a master-slave hierarchy, wherein one of the safety monitoring units is designed as a master unit, and each of the safety monitoring units other than the master unit is designed as a slave unit; and at least one of the designated slave units has a data processing unit for processing the data or the signals into control signals, and an output interface for outputting the control signals to at least one of the safety function components assigned to the at least one designated slave unit.

2. The elevator system according to claim 1 wherein all of the safety monitoring units designated as a slave unit have the data processing unit for processing the data or the signals into the control signals, together with the output interface for outputting the control signals to each of the safety function components assigned to a respective one of the designated slave units.

3. The elevator system according to claim 1 wherein the designated slave unit reads in, via the input interface, the data or the signals that indicate a safety condition within the elevator system, processes the data or the signals with the data processing unit, and independently controls the at least one assigned safety function component based on results of the processing.

4. The elevator system according to claim 3 wherein the designated slave unit controls each of the assigned safety function components independently, only if the designated slave unit was previously authorized to do so by the master unit.

5. The elevator system according to claim 1 wherein the designated slave unit reads in, via the input interface, the data or the signals that indicate a safety condition within the elevator system, monitors the safety condition independently and continuously with the data processing unit, and transmits the data or the signals exclusively to the master unit via the at least one data exchange channel, if a predetermined critical safety condition is recognized on a basis of the data or the signals.

6. The elevator system according to claim 1 wherein the designated slave unit reads in, via the input interface, the data or the signals that indicate a safety condition within the elevator system, and transmits the data or the signals via the at least one data exchange channel to the master unit, wherein the master unit processes the data or the signals with another data processing unit, and transmits processed results to the designated slave unit via the at least one data exchange channel, and wherein the designated slave unit controls the at least one assigned safety function component based on the transmitted processed results.

7. The elevator system according to claim 1 wherein each of the safety monitoring units designated as a slave unit exchanges the data or the signals with the master unit via an associated one of the at least one data exchange channel.

8. The elevator system according to claim 1 wherein the safety monitoring units provide secure data transmission via the at least one data exchange channel.

9. The elevator system according to claim 1 wherein the at least one data exchange channel transmits wirelessly the data or the signals.

10. The elevator system according to claim 1 wherein within the at least one data exchange channel has bus systems for specific allocation of the data or the signals to or from the designated slave unit.

11. The elevator system according to claim 1 wherein the master unit has a data processing unit with a faster data processing rate than a data processing rate of the data processing unit of the designated slave unit.

12. The elevator system according to claim 1 wherein the master unit is arranged on an elevator system component being one of the drive, a machine room of the elevator system, an elevator shaft of the elevator system, the car, a counterweight of the elevator system, and an elevator pit of the elevator shaft, and the designated slave unit is arranged on another of the elevator system components.

13. The elevator system according to claim 1 having at least two of the safety monitoring units being designed a slave unit.

14. An elevator system including a drive, a car that is operatively connected with the drive and is driven along a path of travel by the drive, a plurality of safety function components for providing safety functions at various positions within the elevator system, and a safety monitoring system for monitoring all the safety function components, the safety monitoring system comprising: a plurality of safety monitoring units; wherein each of the safety monitoring units has an input interface for reading in data or signals from at least one of the safety function components, and the safety monitoring units are connected with one another by data exchange channels; wherein the safety monitoring units are organized in a master-slave hierarchy, wherein one of the safety monitoring units is designed as a master unit, and each the safety monitoring units other than the master unit is designed as a slave unit; and each of the designated slave units has a data processing unit for processing the data or the signals into control signals, and an output interface for outputting the control signals to at least one of the safety function components assigned to the designated slave unit.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Forms of embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying FIGURES, wherein neither the FIGURES nor the description are to be construed as limiting the invention.

(2) FIG. 1 shows a functional schematic of an elevator system in accordance with a form of embodiment of the invention.

(3) This FIGURE is only schematic and is not drawn to scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(4) FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an elevator system 1 in accordance with an exemplary form of embodiment of the present invention. The elevator system 1 has a drive 3 and a car 5. The car 5 can be moved by the drive 3 along a path of travel within an elevator shaft 7. A cable 24, which is guided over pulleys 23, connects the car 5 with a counterweight 17.

(5) The elevator system 1 has a multiplicity of detecting and/or activatable safety monitoring components 9a-9p, which are distributed over the entire elevator system and are arranged at various positions, for example within the elevator shaft 7, on its drive 3, or on doors of the elevator shaft 7 or the car 5.

(6) A safety monitoring system 11 serves to monitor the elevator system in order, for example, to detect safety-critical conditions and, if required, to take suitable measures. Here the safety monitoring system 11 serves to monitor and coordinate the various safety function components 9a-9p.

(7) The safety monitoring system 11 features a multiplicity of safety monitoring units 13a to 13e. The safety monitoring units 13a to 13e are arranged at various positions within the elevator system 1.

(8) For example, a first safety monitoring unit 13a is arranged on the car 5 and is connected with a plurality of safety function components 9c, 9d, 9e, 9l, 9k, 9j that are also arranged there. The connection can be along cables, or can be wireless, and allows an exchange of data or signals. The safety function components can be detecting, and can, for example, be designed as sensors, detectors, contacts that can be actuated, or similar, so as to be able to determine operating conditions within the elevator system 1, that is to say, in this case on the car 5. The safety function components can also be activated and can, for example, be embodied as actuators, motors, or similar, in order to effect certain functions within the elevator system 1. For example, the safety function components 9c, 9d, 9e, 9l, 9k, 9j can be designed as a detecting component in the form of a capturing contact, an emergency end contact, an emergency brake switch, a car door contact, or similar, or as an activatable component, in the form of an actuator activating a braking device or a capturing device.

(9) A second safety monitoring unit 13b can, for example, be arranged on the counterweight 17. A third safety monitoring unit 13c can, for example, be arranged in an elevator shaft pit 19. A fourth safety monitoring unit 13d can serve, for example, to monitor the doors of the elevator shaft 7. Each of these safety monitoring units 13b, 13c, 13d can be connected to one or more safety function components 9f, 9g, 9h, 9i, 9m that are provided locally and are assigned to the safety monitoring units, for example in the form of a slack cable contact, an emergency brake switch of the shaft pit, a slack cable contact of a speed limiter, or similar.

(10) A fifth safety monitoring unit 13e is arranged on the drive 3, which is provided, for example, in a machine room. This safety monitoring unit 13e is connected to safety function components 9a, 9b, 9n, 9o, 9p located in the vicinity, for example in the form of a contact of a capturing device for the counterweight, a contact of a speed limiter, an emergency brake switch in the machine room, or similar.

(11) Each or at least some of the safety monitoring units 13a-13e has its own data processing unit 20 (shown only for safety monitoring unit 13e). The data processing unit can comprise, for example, a processor, a CPU, or similar, possibly together with a storage medium for data storage. The safety monitoring units 13a-13e can furthermore have an input interface 21 and an output interface 22 (only shown for safety monitoring unit 13e), via which data can, for example, be read in by one of the detecting safety function components 9a-9p, or can be outputted to one of the activatable safety function components 9a-9p.

(12) At least some of the safety monitoring units 13a-13e are thus able to carry out safety monitoring tasks at least locally independently, by reading in data or signals, for example, from sensors, processing them in the data processing unit, and then activating actuators appropriately.

(13) All or at least some of the safety monitoring units 13a-13e are connected with one another by data exchange channels 15. Here the data exchange channels 15 can be embodied along cables, or wirelessly. Distances over which the safety monitoring units 13a-13e are connected with one another via the data exchange channels are here typically significantly greater than distances between one of the safety monitoring units 13a-13e and the safety function components 9a-9p assigned to it. The data exchange channels 15 can feature bus systems, with the aid of which a data transmission or data flow can be controlled.

(14) In the example illustrated, the fifth safety monitoring unit 13e is embodied as a master unit, whereas the first to the fourth safety monitoring units 13a-13d are each embodied as slave units. Here the master unit is to be seen as superordinate to the slave units. All slave units are directly or indirectly connected with the master unit via data exchange channels 15. The master unit can thus receive data or signals from the slave units and can also transmit data or signals to the latter.

(15) Here the master unit can, inter alia, also specify whether or in what manner data or signals are to be transmitted from one of the slave units to the master unit, or whether the slave unit is to operate independently.

(16) For example, the master unit can specify to each of the slave units whether it is to transmit the data or signals that it receives from the detecting safety function components assigned to it only to the master unit, or whether it is to process these data or signals partially or completely independently. Mixed operating modes can also be used in which, for example, some data may be evaluated by the slave unit itself, but other data is to be forwarded unprocessed to the master unit. Partial preprocessing of the data received by the slave unit within the slave unit, and subsequent forwarding of the preprocessed data to the master unit, is also conceivable.

(17) The master unit can also be connected to bus systems provided in the data exchange channels 15 and can be authorized to control, inter alia, a data flow through the data exchange channels 15.

(18) The proposed elevator system 1, by virtue of its design, can be equipped with a decentralized design of safety monitoring system 11 with many safety monitoring units 13a-13e arranged in a distributed manner over the elevator system 1; these are organized in a master-slave hierarchy, enabling an extremely flexible mode of operation that can be adapted to various ambient conditions. In particular, monitoring tasks can be performed in a distributed manner over a plurality of safety monitoring units, wherein the master unit can, however, in principle, at all times retain control over the type and extent of the tasks performed by the slave units. This ensures a high level of security of the system. At the same time, however, the master unit does not necessarily have to have a very high data processing capacity, since it can leave a proportion of the safety monitoring tasks to the slave units. This can, inter alia, contribute to a cost reduction. Moreover, the monitoring tasks performed directly by the slave units can be carried out very rapidly, since data transmission distances can be kept short. This can, in turn, contribute to rapid reaction times and thus, for example, to an increased level of security of the elevator system, for example if a critical operating state is quickly recognized, and measures such as, for example, the activation of a braking device, or a catching device, are then to be initiated.

(19) Finally, it should be pointed out that terms such as having, comprising, etc., do not exclude other elements or steps, and terms such as one do not exclude a large number. It should also be pointed out that features or steps that have been described with reference to one of the above examples of embodiment can also be used in combination with other features or steps of other examples of embodiment described above.

(20) 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.