ELEVATOR SYSTEM WITH SIMPLIFIED POWER SUPPLY FOR SHAFT DOOR ASSEMBLIES

Abstract

An elevator system has a rail system and a shaft door assembly on each of a plurality of floors of a building. The rail system has an electrically conductive guide rail that extends along the plurality of floors and guides a vertically movable component of the elevator system, and an electrically conductive bracket on each of the floors anchoring the guide rail to a wall of the building. The guide rail is electrically conductively connected to each of the brackets. Each shaft door assembly has a movable shaft door for openable closing of a shaft opening of the floor and an associated control device and/or drive device for moving the shaft door; wherein the control device and/or drive device is supplied with electrical energy via two electrically conductive paths with a first of the electrically conductive paths being formed over at least parts of the rail system.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. An elevator system comprising: a shaft opening at each floor of a plurality of floors of a building having a shaft door assembly, each of the shaft door assemblies being operable to open and close the shaft opening; a rail system having a guide rail that extends along the plurality of floors and is adapted for guiding a vertically movable component of the elevator system, the guide rail being electrically conductive, and a bracket adjacent to each of the floors anchoring the guide rail to a wall of the building, the brackets being electrically conductive; wherein the guide rail is electrically conductively connected to each of the brackets; wherein each of shaft door assemblies has a shaft door device being a drive device and/or a control device for operating the shaft door assembly; wherein each of the shaft door devices is supplied with electrical energy via two electrically conductive paths; and wherein a first of the electrically conductive paths is formed over at least parts of the rail system.

17. The elevator system according to claim 16 wherein each of the shaft door devices is electrically connected to one of the brackets.

18. The elevator system according to claim 16 wherein each of the shaft door devices is electrically connected to a nearest one of the brackets.

19. The elevator system according to claim 16 wherein each of the shaft door assemblies has an electrically conductive frame with the shaft door device electrically conductively connected to the frame and the frame is electrically conductively connected to one of the brackets.

20. The elevator system according to claim 16 wherein a second of the electrically conductive paths is formed by a cable.

21. The elevator system according to claim 16 including an energy supply device supplying the electrical energy to the shaft door devices via the electrically conductive paths.

22. The elevator system according to claim 21 wherein the energy supply device provides the electrical energy having an electrical voltage not exceeding 60 V.

23. The elevator system according to claim 21 wherein the energy supply device provides the electrical energy having an electrical voltage of 48 V.

24. The elevator system according to claim 16 including a control unit connected to the shaft door assemblies via one of the electrically conductive paths.

25. The elevator system according to claim 24 wherein critical safety information of the elevator system is communicated between the control unit and the shaft door devices via the one of the electrically conductive paths.

26. The elevator system according to claim 25 wherein the control unit communicates the critical safety information by modulating an electrical signal encoding the information onto an electrical current used to supply the electrical energy to the shaft door devices.

27. The elevator system according to claim 16 including a control unit and wherein non-critical safety information of the elevator system is wirelessly communicated between the control unit and the shaft door devices.

28. The elevator system according to claim 16 wherein each of the shaft door assemblies has a modem that generates a wireless access point to a data network.

29. The elevator system according to claim 28 wherein electrical energy is supplied to the modems via the electrically conductive paths.

30. The elevator system according to claim 28 wherein data is transmitted between one of the modems and a central Internet access point via one of the electrically conductive paths.

31. The elevator system according to claim 28 including a control unit and wherein the modems associated with adjacent ones of the shaft door assemblies form a common data network between the control unit and the shaft door assemblies.

32. An elevator system comprising: a shaft door assembly arranged at a shaft opening at each floor of a plurality of floors of a building, each of the shaft door assemblies being operable to open and close the shaft opening; a rail system having a guide rail that extends along the plurality of floors and is adapted for guiding a vertically movable component of the elevator system, and a bracket adjacent to each of the floors anchoring the guide rail to a wall of the building, the guide rail and the brackets being electrically conductive and the guide rail being electrically conductively connected to each of the brackets; wherein each of shaft door assemblies has a drive device and/or a control device for operating the shaft door assembly; and wherein each of the drive devices and control devices is supplied with electrical energy via two electrically conductive paths with a first of the electrically conductive paths being formed by the guide rail and the brackets.

33. The elevator system according to claim 32 wherein each of the shaft door assemblies has an electrically conductive frame with the drive device and/or control device electrically conductively connected to the frame and the frame is electrically conductively connected to one of the brackets.

34. The elevator system according to claim 32 wherein a second of the electrically conductive paths is formed by a cable.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] FIG. 1 shows a view of an elevator system having a power supply according to an embodiment.

[0039] The FIGURE is merely schematic and not to scale. The same reference signs indicate the same or equivalent features.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0040] FIG. 1 shows a view of an elevator system 100 having a power supply according to an embodiment. The elevator system 100 has a rail system 102 made of two guide rails 104 and three brackets 106. The elevator system 100 here connects three floors 108 of a building to one another. The elevator system 100 has a shaft door assembly 110 in each of the three connected floors 108. In the approach presented here, the shaft door assemblies 110 are supplied with power via the rail system 102. The shaft door assemblies 110 are each arranged at a shaft opening of each of the floors 108.

[0041] The rail system 102 guides vertically movable components (not shown here) of the elevator system 100 on their travel paths. A car of the elevator system 100 is guided between the guide rails 104. A counterweight to the car is guided on at least one of the guide rails 104. A drive (not shown here for the sake of simplicity) of the elevator system 100 is arranged at an upper end of the guide rails 104. A drive roller (not shown) of the drive is used to drive suspension means (not shown) of the car and the counterweight, such as belts or cables, via which the car is moved up and down between the guide rails 104.

[0042] The guide rails 104 are substantially vertical in an elevator shaft of the building. The elevator shaft is a continuously free, vertical space in the building. The elevator shaft can also be arranged on an outside of the building. The brackets 106 are connected to the guide rails 104 and connect the guide rails 104 to a wall (not shown) of the elevator shaft. One of the brackets 106 is arranged under each of the shaft door assemblies 110. The brackets 106 are screwed to the guide rails 104, for example. Due to the screw connection, the brackets 106 and the guide rails 104 are electrically conductively connected to one another and are at a common electrical potential.

[0043] The shaft door assemblies 110 each have an electric drive device 112 for driving a shaft door (not shown here) of the shaft door assembly 110. In the approach presented here, power is supplied to drive devices 112, at least in portions, via the rail system 102. The drive device 112 is designed to open and close the shaft door independently of a car door of the cabin car.

[0044] In an embodiment, a first pole of a drive device 112 is connected to one of the brackets 106 via a first electrical conductor 114. A second pole of the drive device 112 is electrically isolated from the rail system 102 and is connected to its own electrical conductor 116. The electrical conductors 114, 116 can be cables or busbars, for example. The second electrical conductor 116 can, for example, extend substantially in parallel with the rail system 102 within the elevator shaft.

[0045] In an embodiment, the shaft door assemblies 110 each have an electrically conductive frame 118. The frame 118 of a shaft door assembly 110 is screwed to the bracket 106 underneath in each case. The frames 118 are thus electrically conductively connected to the rail system 102. The first pole of the drive device 112 is electrically conductively connected to the frame 118. The first pole can be connected directly to the frame 118. Likewise, the first electrical conductor 114 can be arranged between the first pole of the drive device 112 and the frame 118.

[0046] The first pole can also be connected to the nearest bracket 106. The nearest bracket 106 can be the bracket 106 located above the drive device 112 in each case. If the drive device 112 is arranged above the frame 118, a short first conductor 114 can be used.

[0047] In an embodiment, the elevator system 100 has its own energy supply device 120. The energy supply device 120 makes direct current or direct voltage available. For example, the energy supply device 120 supplies the shaft door assemblies 110 with 48 volts of DC voltage via the rail system 102. For this purpose, a negative pole of the energy supply device 120 is connected to the rail system 102 via a further electrical conductor (dashed line). A positive pole of the energy supply device 120 is connected to the separate second electrical conductor 116. The rail system 102 is therefore grounded, analogously to the body of a vehicle. By using the rail system as a ground, there is no need for continuous two-wire cabling. The rail system 102 is therefore a component of a first electrically conductive path 122 between the drive devices 112 and the energy supply device 120. A second electrically conductive path 124 which is electrically isolated from the first path 122 is formed by the second electrical conductor 116 or the separate cable which is electrically isolated from the rail system 102.

[0048] The energy supply device 120 can be dimensioned to be small or low-power since generally only one of the drive devices 112 is operated at a time, while the other drive devices 112 are inactive. A drive device 112 can, for example, require less than 500 watts, for example 100 watts, of electrical power.

[0049] The energy supply device 120 can have an energy store or energy buffer store. The energy store can be constantly kept at a predetermined state of charge. In the event of a power failure, the energy store continues to ensure the power supply to the shaft door assemblies 110.

[0050] In an embodiment, a control unit 126 of the elevator system 100 is connected to the shaft door assemblies 110 via one of the electrically conductive paths 122, 124. The control unit 126 can be connected to the shaft door assemblies 110 via a power line communication, for example. The control unit 126 is designed to synchronize the opening and closing of the shaft doors with the opening and closing of a car door of the car. To do this, the control unit 126 sends critical safety information 128 to the shaft door assemblies 110, for example via one of the electrical paths 122, 124 used for the power supply. The critical safety information 128 is modulated onto the DC voltage in the first path 122 or second path 124 and is received by control electronics of the shaft door assemblies 110. Here, the critical safety information 128 is modulated onto the second path 124 since the busbar or the cable of the second path 124 consists of a material with a higher electrical conductivity than the rail system 102.

[0051] Critical safety information 128 corresponding to a safety integrity level three is, for example, a state of each shaft door, a state of a lock of the shaft door and position information about a position of the car. Position information of a cabin car floor of the car can be sent as position information. The shaft door may only be opened when the car is in a safe position. In addition, position information of a car roof of the car can be provided as position information. Using the position information of the car roof, the car can be stopped for maintenance work in such a way that the car roof is arranged at the height of a shaft door. Then clearance to open the shaft door can be given so that service personnel can climb onto the car.

[0052] Non-critical safety information 130 can also be exchanged wirelessly between the control unit 126 and the shaft door assemblies 110. For this purpose, the shaft door assemblies 110 and the control unit 126 have modems 132 for wireless communication. In an embodiment, the modems 132 are integrated into the drive devices 112 and are supplied with energy via the first path 122 and the second path 124.

[0053] The modems 132 are networked to one another in an embodiment and provide a wireless data network 134. The modems 132 may be networked as a mesh. This data network 134 can be a WLAN, for example. The modems 132 can additionally be networked via the path or paths 122, 124 in order to compensate for transmission problems. The individual modems 132 can access an Internet access point 136 via the path or paths 122, 124 in order to provide the Internet access point 136 in the data network 134. The Internet access point 136 can be provided as a hotspot. Users of the elevator system 100 can thus access the Internet via the data network 134 while they are being transported by the elevator system 100 or are waiting for the car. The non-critical safety information 130 can also be transported via the data network 134.

[0054] In an embodiment (not shown), a control device 112 is present instead of the drive device 112. In this embodiment, the shaft doors are only passive, i.e., can be driven by the car doors. The control device 112 controls, inter alia, a door lock by means of which the shaft door can be blocked.

[0055] In an embodiment (not shown), instead of only the drive device 112, a drive device 112 and a control device 112 are present. Thus, the shaft door device 112 represents a drive device and/or a control device.

[0056] Finally, it should be noted that terms such as “comprising,” “having,” etc., do not preclude other elements or steps and terms such as “a” or “an” do not preclude a plurality. Furthermore, it should be noted that features or steps which have been described with reference to one of the above embodiments may 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.