BRIDGE DEVICE AND METHOD FOR ELEVATOR

Abstract

A bridge device and a bridging method are used to monitor an elevator. The bridge device includes a jumper for bridging an electric element of the elevator when the elevator works in a first operating mode, a monitoring means monitoring the jumper, and an alarm unit that generates an alarm signal if the monitoring means determines that the element has been bridged by the jumper longer than a predefined time period when the elevator is operated in a second operating mode.

Claims

1-12. (canceled)

13. A bridge device for an elevator, the bridge device comprising: a jumper adapted to bridge an electric element of the elevator when the elevator is being operated in a first operating mode; a monitoring means monitoring the jumper; an alarm unit connected to the monitoring means; and wherein the alarm unit generates an alarm signal when the monitoring means determines that the element has been bridged by the jumper longer than a predefined time period when the elevator is being operated in a second operating mode.

14. The bridge device according to claim 13 wherein the first operating mode is an operation mode for maintaining or inspecting the elevator and the second operating mode is a normal operating mode of the elevator.

15. The bridge device according to claim 13 wherein the monitoring means includes an interface sending the generated alarm signal to at least one of a controller of the elevator, a remote center and a mobile device.

16. The bridge device according to claim 15 wherein the interface is a wireless interface.

17. The bridge device according to claim 13 wherein the monitoring means includes an electric current sensor measuring an electric current flowing through the jumper.

18. The bridge device according to claim 13 including a power supply unit supplying energy to the bridge device.

19. The bridge device according to claim 13 wherein the alarm unit generates the alarm signal as an electrical, optical, acoustic or vibrating signal.

20. An elevator comprising: an electric element of the elevator; and the bridge device according to claim 13 adapted to bridge the electric element.

21. A method for bridging and monitoring an electric element of an elevator, the method comprising the steps of: bridging the electric element by a jumper when the elevator is operated in a first operating mode; monitoring the jumper; and generating an alarm signal when the element has been bridged by the jumper longer than a predefined time period when the elevator is operated in a second operating mode as determined by the monitoring.

22. The method according to claim 21 wherein the first operating mode is an operation mode for maintaining or inspecting the elevator and the second operating mode is a normal operating mode of the elevator.

23. The method according to claim 21 including sending the generated alarm signal to at least one of a controller of the elevator, a remote center and a mobile device.

24. The method according to claim 21 including measuring an electrical current flowing through the jumper to monitor a bridging status of the jumper.

25. The method according to claim 21 wherein the alarm signal is generated as an electrical, optical, acoustic or vibrating signal.

26. An elevator comprising: an electric element; a jumper adapted to bridge the electric element when the elevator is being operated in a first operating mode; a monitoring means monitoring the jumper; an alarm unit connected to the monitoring means; and monitoring the electric element according to the method of claim 21 wherein the alarm unit generates an alarm signal when the monitoring means determines that the element has been bridged by the jumper longer than the predefined time period when the elevator is being operated in the second operating mode.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Below embodiments of the present invention are described in more detail regarding the attached drawings. The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description help to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:

[0017] FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of one embodiment of a method of bridging an electric element of an elevator;

[0018] FIG. 2 shows a schematic illustration of a bridge device according to the aforementioned invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0019] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates one example of a bridge device 1 disclosed herein for an elevator 2. This elevator 2 comprises an elevator car 13 being moveable up and down in a vertically extending shaft of a building (not indicated). A safety chain 14 of this elevator 2 consists of a plurality of safety-relevant devices or electric elements 4 like the shaft door contacts that are connected in an electrical series circuit. The safety chain 14 is shown by a simplified schematic illustration beside the illustrated elevator 2.

[0020] The elevator 2 has been maintained by a technician 15 so that the elevator 2 is switched in its maintenance operating mode. During this maintenance working, the technician 15 needs to bypass one of the elements 4 temporarily by the bridge device 1 for starting a test procedure. Then he bridges an element 4 by using the jumper 3 of the bridge device 1. When the test procedure and the maintenance working are finished, the technician 15 should switch the elevator 2 back into its normal operating mode. Then it has to be monitored whether this element 4 is still bridged by the bridge device 1. If the technician 15 left there for home but has forgotten to take the jumper 3 away so that the element 4 remains bridged, the bridge device 1 will generate an alarm signal 18 when a predefined time period has been extended. The predefined period can be set e.g. for 10 seconds since the elevator 2 has been switched back into its normal operating mode, the technician 15 may also set the period newly as long as he wishes.

[0021] The alarm signal 18 could be an optical and/or acoustic signal. When the technician 15 hears or sees this alarm signal 18, he will recognize this potential safety risk immediately before he leaves the place of the elevator 2. Even though when the technician 15 has already left there, the alarm signal 18 can be sent through a wireless communication network 16 to a remote center 9 of the elevator 2 or a mobile device 10, e.g. smartphone, laptop, tablet PC or PDA, of the technician 15. When he has received the alarm signal 18 or got an instruction from the remote center 9, he will return to the elevator 2 and remove the bridge device 1 from the element 4. Alternatively, the alarm signal 18 can be communicated to a main controller 8 of the elevator 2 so that the elevator 2 may shut itself down automatically after a certain time in case the technician 15 does not confirm the alarm signal 18 or is not back taking the bridge device 1 away. Hence a risky situation that an unintentional and unsafe bypass existing in the safety chain 14 of a normally operated elevator 2 can be avoided.

[0022] As shown in FIG. 2, a bridge device 1 according to the present invention comprises a jumper 3 for bridging an electric element 4 of an elevator 2 when the elevator 2 is operated in a maintenance operating mode. The bridge device 2 is provided further with a monitoring means 5 for monitoring the jumper 3 and an alarm unit 6 for generating an alarm signal 18.

[0023] The monitoring means 5 comprises an electrical current sensor 11 to measure an electrical current I through the jumper 3, as the electrical current I will flow through the bypass built by the jumper 3 in case the element 4 is bridged. At the output 17 of the sensor 11, a voltage U thus can be detected accordingly. Upon this detected voltage signal it can be monitored whether the element 4 is currently bridged or not. The monitoring means 5 determines that the element 4 has been bridged by the jumper 3 longer than a predefined time period when the elevator 2 is operated again in its normal operating mode.

[0024] The monitoring means 5 comprises a wireless interface 7, e.g. a transceiver that is able to send the generated alarm signal 18 in a suitable form of digital data, voice and/or text (e.g. SMS: Short Message Service) to an external controller of or for the elevator 2. This interface 7 may enable communications by wireless technology e.g. as Bluetooth or ZigBee. Such an interface supports as well as mobile connectivity standards like 4G/LTE, 5G and VoIP functionality. Moreover, this interface 7 may work with a wired network. Furthermore, the bridge device 1 comprises a power supply unit 12, e.g. an electric energy storage unit comprising one or more batteries. The power supply unit 12 can supply energy to this bridge device 1.

[0025] It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that with the advancement of technology, the basic idea of the invention may be implemented in various ways. The invention and its embodiments are thus not limited to the examples described above, instead, they may vary within the scope of the claims.

[0026] 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.