Device for driving a handrail

Abstract

A device for driving a handrail of a passenger conveyor includes an endless drive element that is driven by a motor. Support rolls are disposed on the side of the drive element which lies opposite to the handrail, and the drive element is supported on the support rolls by a belt.

Claims

1. A device for driving a handrail of a passenger conveyor, the device comprising: an endless drive element having a side lying opposite the handrail; a motor driving said endless drive element; support rolls disposed on said side of said drive element lying opposite the handrail; and a belt supporting said drive element on said support rolls.

2. The device according to claim 1, which further comprises a frame and rollers mounting the handrail on said frame.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein said drive element includes entrainment elements acting on the handrail.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein said drive element includes a chain.

5. The device according to claim 4, wherein said chain is a roller chain.

6. The device according to claim 3, wherein said drive element includes a chain having chain links, and said entrainment elements are disposed on said chain links.

7. The device according to claim 3, which further comprises a projection disposed on the handrail, said entrainment elements having a recess for receiving said projection.

8. The device according to claim 7, wherein said recess widens in a substantially V-shaped manner, said projection has a substantially V-shaped cross section, and said projection engages in said recess.

9. The device according to claim 1, which further comprises two deflection rollers and a clamping roller about which said belt is guided.

10. The device according to claim 1, which further comprises a frame, and a holder adjustably mounted on said frame, said support rolls being disposed on said holder.

11. The device according to claim 2, wherein the handrail has a substantially C-shaped cross section with free edges, and the free edges engage behind said rollers and bear against said rollers.

12. The device according to claim 2, wherein said rollers have a smaller spacing from one another in a region of said support rolls than in regions adjacent said region of said support rolls.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

(1) Further features and advantages of the invention are disclosed from the following description of a preferred exemplary embodiment of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a schematic side view of a device according to the invention,

(3) FIG. 2 shows a detail of the device of FIG. 1 in enlarged scale and

(4) FIG. 3 shows a section through the device along the line III-III in FIG. 2 in the region of the drive element of the device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(5) The device according to the invention is a drive unit which may be arranged at any point of a passenger conveyor, for example a horizontal and/or linear moving walkway or an escalator. It may be seen that by means of the device according to the invention a handrail 1 may also be driven in the upper region of a balustrade 2, so that no additional space is required below the return run of the handrail in the lower region of the balustrade. It goes without saying, however, that the device according to the invention could also be used rotated by 180 for driving the return run.

(6) In the embodiment shown, the handrail 1 has a substantially C-shaped cross section, wherein a projection 3 is arranged in the internal central region of the handrail 1. In theory, this projection 3 could comprise teeth for a positive engagement of a drive element 4 but in the present invention said projection is preferably continuously driven and, therefore, is driven by the drive element 4 only by a force-locking and/or frictional connection.

(7) In the preferred embodiment shown, the drive element 4 comprises a roller chain 5, entrainment elements 6 being fastened to the chain links thereof, said entrainment elements having a recess which widens outwardly in a substantially V-shaped manner and which as a whole form a channel, the projection 3 being received therein.

(8) Since the force transmission in the embodiment shown is implemented by a force-locking and/or frictional connection, it is important that the drive element 4 is pressed with sufficiently high force against the projection 3 on the handrail 1. According to the invention, support rolls 7 which are rotatably mounted on a holder 8 are provided to this end. The support rolls 7 are arranged on the side of the drive element 4 opposing the handrail 1, wherein according to the invention an endless belt 9 runs between the drive element 4 and the support rolls 7, said endless belt not being driven itself but being entrained by the drive element 4 which is driven by a motor 11, since the endless belt is clamped between the drive element 4 and the support rolls 7.

(9) The belt 9 runs around two deflection rollers 12, 13 upstream and downstream of the holder 8 and/or the support rolls 7 and around a clamping roller 14 which is arranged below the holder 8.

(10) In order to be able to adjust the contact pressing force of the support rolls 7 via the belt 9 onto the drive element 4, adjusting screws 15, 16 act on the holder 8, said adjusting screws being screwed to a frame 19 by clamping blocks 17, 18.

(11) The drive element 4 is driven about a first gearwheel 20 and about a second gearwheel 21 and a drive pinion, not visible in detail, which is driven by the motor 11 via a gear mechanism 22.

(12) The belt 9 preferably consists of a material which contains a polymer, preferably rubber or polyurethane, and has good damping properties in order to prevent noise development which could arise when rolling on the support rolls 7 and upon contact with the roller chain 5.

(13) As already mentioned in the introduction, the handrail 1 has a substantially C-shaped cross-sectional shape, wherein the free edges 23, 24 which correspond to the lips of a C-shaped profile are supported by the inner face of the handrail 1 by rollers 25, 26. In FIGS. 1 and 2, the rollers 26 illustrated to the right in FIG. 3 are visible for illustrative reasons, although the right-hand part of the frame 19 with the rollers 26 is not actually shown in these figures in order to open up the view of the interior of the device according to the invention.

(14) It may be seen that in this embodiment (but not necessarily) the rollers 25, 26 are arranged in the region of the deflection rollers 12, 13 and therebetween in the region of the support rolls 7 at a narrower spacing than in the adjacent regions upstream and downstream thereof, in order to support the handrail 1 effectively against the force acting on the handrail 1 by the drive element 4 and to ensure a sufficiently fixed connection between the entrainment elements 6 and the projection 3 on the handrail 1.