ROLLER GUIDE FOR A CAR OF AN ELEVATOR SYSTEM

Abstract

A roller guide for guiding a car of an elevator system along a guide rail may include a roller carrier that can be attached to the car and several rollers disposed on the roller carrier. The roller may be configured to roll by their respective running surface on a rolling surface of the guide rail. The rollers may each be mounted movably in the roller carrier with a direction component perpendicular to the rolling surface of the guide rail. The rollers may be mounted in operative connection with one another at least in part by way of hydraulic fluid such that a movement of one of the rollers perpendicular to the rolling surface of the guide rail causes a directionally-opposite movement of at least a second of the rollers. The present disclosure also concerns a car and an elevator system that employ such roller guides.

Claims

1.-11. (canceled)

12. A roller guide for guiding a car of an elevator system along a guide rail, the roller guide comprising: a roller carrier that is attachable to the car of the elevator system; rollers that are disposed on the roller carrier and that each have a running surface, wherein the running surfaces of the rollers are configured to roll along a rolling surface of the guide rail, wherein each of the rollers is mounted on the roller carrier so as to be movable perpendicular to the rolling surface of the guide rail; and hydraulic cylinders and corresponding pistons for movably mounting the rollers on the roller carrier, wherein the hydraulic cylinders are hydraulically interconnected, with the rollers being mounted in operative connection with one another at least in part by way of hydraulic fluid such that a movement of one of the rollers perpendicular to the rolling surface of the guide rail causes a directionally-opposite movement of at least a second of the rollers.

13. The roller guide of claim 12 wherein the rollers are disposed on the roller carrier spaced apart from one another with respect to axles of the rollers in a direction of movement of the car.

14. The roller guide of claim 12 wherein the rollers overlap one another on the roller carrier in a direction of movement of the car.

15. The roller guide of claim 12 wherein the hydraulic fluid is enclosed by an at least partly flexible container, wherein each of the rollers is coupled to an external surface of the at least partly flexible container so that movement of the rollers perpendicular to the rolling surface of the guide rail is transmitted across the external surface of the at least partly flexible container to the hydraulic fluid.

16. The roller guide of claim 15 wherein the at least partly flexible container is disposed on and/or in the roller carrier.

17. The roller guide of claim 12 wherein during movement of the rollers in a direction perpendicular to the rolling surface of the guide rail a ratio between a force on the rollers in their direction of movement and a pressure in the hydraulic fluid is substantially equal for all the rollers.

18. A car of an elevator system comprising at least one roller guide, wherein the at least one roller guide comprises: a roller carrier that is attachable to the car; rollers that are disposed on the roller carrier and that each have a running surface, wherein the running surfaces of the rollers are configured to roll along a rolling surface of the guide rail, wherein each roller is mounted on the roller carrier so as to be movable perpendicular to the rolling surface of the guide rail; and hydraulic cylinders and corresponding pistons for movably mounting the rollers on the roller carrier, wherein the hydraulic cylinders are hydraulically interconnected, with the rollers being mounted in operative connection with one another at least in part by way of hydraulic fluid such that movement of one of the rollers perpendicular to the rolling surface of the guide rail causes a directionally-opposite movement of at least a second of the rollers.

19. An elevator system with at least one car and at least one roller guide, wherein the at least one roller guide comprises: a roller carrier that is attachable to the at least one car; rollers that are disposed on the roller carrier and that each have a running surface, wherein the running surfaces of the rollers are configured to roll along a rolling surface of the guide rail, wherein each roller is mounted on the roller carrier so as to be movable perpendicular to the rolling surface of the guide rail; and hydraulic cylinders and corresponding pistons for movably mounting the rollers on the roller carrier, wherein the hydraulic cylinders are hydraulically interconnected, with the rollers being mounted in operative connection with one another at least in part by way of hydraulic fluid such that movement of one of the rollers perpendicular to the rolling surface of the guide rail causes a directionally-opposite movement of at least a second of the rollers.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

[0025] FIG. 1 shows schematically a roller guide according to the invention in a preferred embodiment.

[0026] FIG. 2 shows schematically a roller guide according to the invention in another preferred embodiment.

[0027] FIG. 3 shows schematically a roller guide according to the invention in another preferred embodiment.

[0028] FIG. 1 shows schematically a roller guide 100 according to the invention in a preferred embodiment. The roller guide 100 comprises a roller carrier 110 and for example four rollers 120. Furthermore, a guide rail 180 is shown, along which the roller carrier 100 can be moved. The roller guide 100 can be attached by the roller carrier 110 to a car of an elevator system, for example a simple screw fastener can be provided for this.

[0029] Such a car usually has several roller guides. Furthermore, it should be mentioned that the usual direction of movement of the car and thus also of the roller guide 100 is vertical in an elevator shaft along the corresponding guide rail 180, while in the figure the direction of movement is horizontal for the sake of clarity.

[0030] The guide rail 180 has a rolling surface 181, against which the rollers 120 lie by their respective running surface and roll along in normal operation. Furthermore, an unevenness 182 is shown in the rolling surface 181, which may involve for example a soiled area, a damaged site, or a welded seam.

[0031] The rollers 120 each have a piston 130, at which the rollers 120 are mounted at one end, able to rotate about their respective axles. The pistons 130 are arranged in corresponding hydraulic cylinders 125 and mounted movably in the direction perpendicular to the rolling surface 181. The corresponding mounting and any additionally required supporting devices to prevent the rollers from falling out are not shown, for the sake of clarity.

[0032] The hydraulic cylinders 125 are arranged in the roller carrier 110 or form part of the roller carrier 110. The four hydraulic cylinders 125 shown are joined together by a channel 135. In this channel 135, which may be for example a bore in the roller carrier 110, a hydraulic fluid 140 is present.

[0033] All the pistons 130 are subjected to the hydraulic fluid 140 at one end. The surfaces of the pistons 130 exposed to the hydraulic fluid 140 are all the same size in the present case, so that the force transmittal between a piston and the hydraulic fluid 140 during a movement of the corresponding roller perpendicular to the rolling surface 181 is the same for all rollers 120.

[0034] If, now, one of the rollers 120 passes over an unevenness 182 during its rolling along the guide rail 180, i.e., during a movement of the corresponding car, as is shown for example for the right roller in FIG. 1, this roller will be lifted or pressed into the roller carrier 110. Accordingly, the other three rollers will be lowered or pressed out from the roller carrier 110.

[0035] The height or stretch by which the right roller is pressed into the roller carrier 110 is uniformly distributed by the hydraulic fluid 140 over the other three rollers, i.e., each of these other three rollers is only pressed by a third of this height or stretch out from the roller carrier. This results in a lifting of the right roller with respect to the rolling surface by the height of its pressing into the roller carrier and in addition by a third of this height, i.e., the height by which each of the other three rollers is forced out from the roller carrier 110. Hence, the roller carrier 110 will be lifted only by a quarter of the height of the irregularity 182 with respect to the rolling surface 181.

[0036] For further illustration, this lifting of the roller carrier 110 shall be illustrated by a concrete example. For a height of the irregularity 182 of 4 mm with respect to the rolling surface 181, the right roller will be pressed by 3 mm into the roller carrier 110. This 3 mm will be uniformly distributed among the other three rollers, which therefore are each pressed by 1 mm out from the roller carrier. The height difference between the right roller and the other three rollers is thus 4 mm, while the roller carrier 110 as a whole is only lifted by 1 mm with respect to the rolling surface 181.

[0037] This shows that with a roller guide according to the invention the roller carrier is lifted much less when passing over an irregularity than would be the case for a single roller, which would be lifted by the full height of the irregularity.

[0038] FIG. 2 shows schematically a roller guide 100 according to the invention in another preferred embodiment. The roller guide 100 differs from the roller guide of FIG. 1 in that, on the one hand, only three rollers 120 are provided, and on the other hand the rollers 120 overlap in the direction of movement of the roller guide 100 or the car.

[0039] This overlapping makes possible a compact roller guide, at least in the direction of movement of the car, while in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing a broader extension may be achieved. The mode of functioning of the roller guide per FIG. 2, however, does not differ from that of FIG. 1, with the difference that a lifting of a roller is transmitted over only two and not three other rollers.

[0040] However, thanks to the shorter distance between two rollers, the irregularity is passed over by two consecutive rollers in a shorter distance. This means that, depending on the length of the irregularity in the direction of movement of the car, the second roller may already be lifted while the first roller is still being lowered. This results in a gentler movement sequence and thus also enhances the ride comfort.

[0041] FIG. 3 shows schematically a roller guide 100 according to the invention in another preferred embodiment. Contrary to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the rollers 120 are not mounted by interconnected hydraulic cylinders and corresponding pistons.

[0042] The rollers 120 each have a support 160, on which the rollers 120 are mounted at one end, able to rotate about their respective axles. The supports 160 are arranged in corresponding openings in the roller carrier 110 and mounted movably in a direction perpendicular to the rolling surface 181. The corresponding mounting and any additionally required holding devices which protect the rollers from dropping out are not further shown for purposes of clarity.

[0043] The roller carrier 110 in the present case has a cavity inside it, in which a container 150 is arranged. The container is made for example from a flexible plastic, rubber, or a similar material and it encloses the hydraulic fluid 140. The supports 160 of the rollers 120 are coupled to an external surface of the container 150 so that both a movement of a support into the roller carrier 110 is transmitted to the hydraulic fluid 140 and a pressure change in the hydraulic fluid 140 is transmitted to the supports.

[0044] A movement of a roller into the roller carrier 110, as is represented by way of example by the irregularity 182 at the right roller, therefore results in a movement of the other three rollers out from the roller carrier 110. Similar to the embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 2, the movement of the right roller is distributed at least approximately uniformly among the other rollers, so that these other three rollers are only pressed out by around a third of the height by which a roller is pressed into the roller carrier 110.

[0045] In order to achieve the most uniform possible force transmittals between the supports 160 and the hydraulic fluid 140, attention needs to be given to a suitable configuration of the container 150 and the sites of the coupling to the supports 160. It is advantageous also for the force transmittal to be nonlinear. This may occur at the cost of a uniform force transmittal, but to the benefit of other desirable properties of the roller guide, such as greater stiffness for larger deflections.

[0046] It should be mentioned in this place that, thanks to such a nonlinearity of the hydraulic cross section in dependence on the deflection, an exactly uniform distribution for any given deflections is difficult to realize. Although the fluid volume forced inward corresponds to the sum of the fluid volumes forced outward, how this is manifested in the deflections will depend on the local cross sectional area, i.e., the shape of the ram and the vessel. For example, progressive and likewise degressive curves are conceivable, wherein dynamic stability considerations may also play a role in addition to the sought comfort behavior.