ROLLER GUIDE SHOE FOR GUIDING AN ELEVATOR CAR OF AN ELEVATOR

Abstract

An elevator has an elevator car that is guided on two mutually opposite guide rails in an elevator shaft. The guide rails each contain a U-shaped guide channel with a frontal guide surface and two lateral guide surfaces. Roller guide shoes are provided for guiding the elevator car. Each of the roller guide shoes has two rollers mounted on a common axle so as to rotate freely about an axis of rotation for guiding along the frontal guide surface of the U-shaped guide channel and a guide roller received between the two lateral guide surfaces of the U-shaped guide channel for lateral guidance. Covers are arranged upstream of the two rollers for covering the respective rollers, wherein the covers form an emergency guide.

Claims

1-10. (canceled)

11. A roller guide shoe for guiding an elevator car of an elevator along a guide rail extending in a longitudinal direction, the guide rail having a U-shaped guide channel, the roller guide shoe comprising: two rollers mounted on a common axle and rotating freely about an axis of rotation, the two rollers being adapted to engage and guide along a frontal guide surface of the U-shaped guide channel; a guide body adapted to be received between opposed lateral guide surfaces of the U-shaped guide channel thereby providing lateral guidance of the roller guide shoe along the guide rail; and a guide shoe housing to which the two rollers and the guide body are attached.

12. The roller guide shoe according to claim 11 wherein the guide body is a guide roller rotatable about a roller axis that extends at a right angle to the axis of rotation of the two rollers.

13. The roller guide shoe according to claim 12 wherein the guide roller has an outer diameter that is at least 50% larger than outer diameters of the two rollers.

14. The roller guide shoe according to claim 12 wherein the guide roller has an outer diameter that is at least twice as large as outer diameters of the two rollers.

15. The roller guide shoe according to claim 11 including a cover covering the two rollers upstream of the two rollers in the longitudinal direction.

16. The roller guide shoe according to claim 15 wherein the cover is adapted to function as an emergency guide for the elevator car.

17. The roller guide shoe according to claim 15 wherein the cover is formed as two covers, each of the covers covering an associated one of the two rollers.

18. The roller guide shoe according to claim 11 wherein the guide shoe housing has a support section, the support section supporting at least one of the two rollers and the guide body, and a fastening section adapted to fasten the roller guide shoe to the elevator car, wherein the support section and the fastening section extend at right angles to one another.

19. The roller guide shoe according to claim 18 wherein the guide shoe housing having the support section and the fastening section is formed from a single sheet metal blank.

20. The roller guide shoe according to claim 19 including two covers, each of the covers covering an associated one of the two rollers, and wherein the covers are sheet metal segments of the guide shoe housing formed from the sheet metal blank.

21. The roller guide shoe according to claim 18 including an extension piece having a hook-like engagement member adapted to interact with a projection on the guide rail to form a spring and function as a derailment protection device, the extension piece being integrally formed with or fastened to the fastening section.

22. An elevator comprising: an elevator car; two guide rails guiding the elevator car and extending in a longitudinal direction, each of the guide rails having a U-shaped guide channel; and wherein the elevator car is equipped with at least two of the roller guide shoe according to claim 11 to guide the elevator car on the guide rails.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Further individual features and advantages of the invention can be derived from the following description of exemplary embodiments and from the drawings. In the drawings:

[0023] FIG. 1 shows a highly simplified view of a plan view of an elevator according to the invention with an elevator car equipped with roller guide shoes for guiding the elevator car along guide rails extending in the longitudinal direction,

[0024] FIG. 2 shows a perspective partial view of an elevator car with a roller guide shoe and an associated guide rail,

[0025] FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the roller guide shoe for the elevator from FIG. 2,

[0026] FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of the roller guide shoe for an elevator in a view from behind, and

[0027] FIG. 5 shows a variant of the roller guide shoe from FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] FIG. 1 shows an elevator, denoted by 10, for a multi-story building. The building has an elevator shaft 22 in which an elevator car 2 can be moved vertically up and down to individual floors for transporting people or goods.

[0029] The elevator of FIG. 1 is designed as a traction elevator system with at least one counterweight 23 movable in the opposite direction to the elevator car 2. The elevator 10 shown here has two counterweights 23 as well as (not shown) support means and drives. The two drives (e.g., Koepe sheave drives) drive the respective support means (e.g., belts, steel ropes) and thus move the car 2 and the two counterweights 23 in opposite directions. Each drive is associated with one of the counterweights 23. Two mutually opposite guide rails 3 are provided on both sides of the elevator car 2 to guide the elevator car 2 and the counterweights 23. The elevator system 10 shown in the present exemplary embodiment is characterized by special guide rails 3 which serve as linear guides for both the elevator car 2 and the respective counterweights 23. The guide rails 3 are manufactured as one-piece rolled profiles.

[0030] The elevator car 2 has a front side 24 with a car door 27, a rear side 26 opposite the front side and two side walls 25, which connect the front side and rear side to one another. The elevator car 2 is supported on the front side. The guide rails 3 are located on mutually opposite sides of the elevator shaft 22, which sides are adjacent to the side walls 25. The guide rails 3 are fixed via horizontal supporting structures 29 which are fixed to the elevator shaft 22 in the region of the front side of thereof. The elevator system 10 is designed as a so-called front bag elevator. Further details on the front bag elevator and the guidance of the car and the counterweights with common guide rails can be found in WO 2020/127303 A1 and WO 2020/127787 A1.

[0031] Each of the guide rails 3 comprises a U-shaped guide channel 11 in which a roller guide shoe 1 for guiding the elevator car 2 is accommodated. The roller guide shoe 1 has two rollers 4, 5 for end-face guidance and one guide roller 6 for lateral guidance. The respective axes of rotation of the rollers 4, 5 and the guide roller 6 are denoted by R1 and R2. Details on the structure and the operating principle of the roller guide shoe 1 can be gathered from the FIGS. 2 to 5 below.

[0032] It can further be seen in FIG. 1 that the respective counterweight 23 is guided along the guide rail 3 by means of guide arrangements which are only shown as an outline. Rectangle 20 denotes a safety device. The safety device 20 can also be a safety brake for catching the car. The safety brake is a device with which an overspeed of the elevator car in the downward direction is prevented. For example, solutions with catching wedges which can be actuated by force springs are known. The force springs are pretensioned by an electromagnet and the pretensioned force springs are released when required. However, the safety device 20 could be a car brake. With the car brake, the elevator car can be secured during a stop of the car. For catching or braking the elevator car 2, the safety device 20 interacts with a web-like projection 21 of the guide rail 3.

[0033] FIG. 2 shows a roller guide shoe 1 which is arranged on the elevator car 2 in the region of the car floor 28. The direction of travel of the elevator car 2 is indicated by an arrow Z. As can be seen, the guide rail 3 shown in dashed lines is designed as a hollow profile, wherein in the present exemplary embodiment the guide rail 3 is manufactured as a one-piece rolled profile. The guide channel 11 has two mutually opposite lateral guide surfaces 13 and a frontal guide surface 12 connecting them to one another. The frontal guide surface 12 and the lateral guide surfaces 13 adjoining at right angles thereto define a U in cross section. The rollers 4, 5 run on the frontal guide surface 12. The guide roller 6 is guided oscillatory between the lateral guide surfaces 13. The roller axis R2 extends at a right angle to the axis of rotation R1 of the two rollers 4, 5.

[0034] The two rollers 4, 5 are mounted on a common axle 19 so as to be freely rotatable. The rollers 4, 5, which are spaced apart from one another via the axle 19, enable a front-end guidance, which is distinguished, inter alia, by a high reliability and enables improved riding comfort.

[0035] As can be seen from FIG. 3, for example, the guide roller 6 has a significantly larger outer diameter than the rollers 4, 5. In the present case, the outer diameter of the guide roller 6 relative to the rollers 4, 5 is approximately twice as large. The rollers 4, 5 are spaced apart to such an extent that they extend close to the outer diameter of the guide roller 6.

[0036] The roller guide shoe 1 has a guide shoe housing 7 with a support section 8 and a fastening section 9 projecting at an angle from the support section. The support section 8 serves to support the rollers 4, 5 and the guide roller 6. The fastening section 9 serves to fasten the roller guide shoe 1 to the elevator car 2. The guide shoe housing 7 with support section 8 and fastening section 9 is an L-shaped. Thanks to the L-shape, the roller guide shoe 1 can be attached to the edge between the horizontal underside of the car floor 28 and the vertical outer side of the car wall 25 and fastened to the elevator car 2 by means of screws 30.

[0037] Further details of this roller guide shoe 1 can be taken from FIGS. 3 and 4. The guide shoe housing 7 with the support section 8 and the fastening section 9 is produced from a single sheet metal blank, which is erected from a two-dimensional position into the end position shown here by means of bending processes. The two-dimensional support section 8 defines a support surface. The axis of rotation R1 of the rollers 4, 5 extends parallel to this support surface; the roller axis R2 of the guide roller 6 extends at a right angle to the support surface support section 8. The roller guide shoe 1 further comprises an emergency guide 14 which is part of the guide shoe housing 7 produced from a sheet metal blank. The emergency guide 14 can simply be formed after corresponding cutting operations during the bending of the sheet metal blank. To partially cover the rollers 4, 5, the emergency guide 14 has two covers 15, each of the covers 15 being arranged upstream of a respective roller 4, 5. An extension piece 31 is fastened to the fastening section 9. This extension piece 31 has a hook-like engagement member 18 which interacts with the web-like projection 21 of the guide rail 3 forming a spring for forming a derailment protection device. The hook-like engagement member 18 surrounds the guide rail 3 in the region of the projection 21 and thus ensures that, for example, in the case of an earthquake, derailment can be prevented.

[0038] FIG. 5 shows a variant of a roller guide shoe 1 in which the guide shoe housing 7 is designed in two parts. The two-part guide shoe housing 7 has a base part 16 formed from sheet metal with a fastening section 9 and a sheet metal section formed at a right angle thereon, on which a second part is arranged. The second part forms a support part 17 with support section 8, which is associated with the support section 8 for supporting the rollers 4, 5 and the guide roller 6. The support part 17 has a bend which forms the emergency guide 14. Another difference in roller guide shoe 1 of the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 5 to the preceding embodiment consists in a different arrangement of the guide roller 6 and the rollers 4, 5. In FIG. 5, the rollers 4, 5 are arranged on the lower end or the end of the support section 8 that faces away from the fastening section 9.

[0039] The roller guide shoes 1 shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 do not necessarily have to be used only in front bag elevators, but can also be used in other elevators in which the elevator cars are guided on guide rails with U-shaped guide channels.

[0040] 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.