Elevator electronic safety system and elevator movement detection method

Abstract

Disclosed is an elevator electronic safety system that makes it possible to suppress power consumption. This electronic safety system comprises: a movement detector (9a) that includes a data detection unit (901a) provided with a sensor which outputs an electric signal in accordance with the movement of an elevator car; a position calculation unit (902a) that calculates the position of the elevator car on the basis of the electric signal; a speed calculation unit (903a) that calculates the speed of the elevator car on the basis of the electric signal; and a safety control device (8) that detects an abnormality in the operation of the elevator car on the basis of the position of the elevator car calculated by the position calculation unit (902a) or the speed of the elevator car calculated by the speed calculation unit. On the basis of the speed of the elevator car, the movement detector (9a) performs an operation for suppressing power consumption.

Description

Electronic safety system for elevators and method for detecting elevator movement

[0001] The present invention relates to an elevator electronic safety system that detects an abnormality in the operation of a car and brings the car to an emergency stop, and to an elevator movement detection method used in an elevator electronic safety system.

[0002] When an elevator safety system detects an abnormality in the operation of the elevator car using a mechanical switch or governor, it activates safety devices such as brakes and emergency stop devices to bring the elevator car to an emergency stop.

[0003] Electronic safety systems that use speed detectors and position detectors instead of mechanical switches and governors are becoming more common. In these systems, when a safety control device detects an abnormality in the operation of the elevator car based on electrical signals from the speed detector and position detector, it issues a command to the safety device to bring the elevator car to an emergency stop.

[0004] As prior art related to speed detectors and position detectors used in electronic safety systems, for example, the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are known.

[0005] In the technology described in Patent Document 1, the position and speed of the elevator car are detected and measured based on a surface image of the guide rail acquired by an image sensor installed in the elevator car.

[0006] In the technology described in Patent Document 2, the position and movement amount of the elevator car are detected based on a pulse signal from an encoder that generates pulses proportional to the rotation amount of the governor.

[0007] International Publication No. 2023 / 175859 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2018-165194

[0008] As in the above-mentioned prior art, the electronic safety system uses electronic devices as speed detectors and position detectors, and therefore consumes power all the time while the elevator is in operation.

[0009] Therefore, the present invention provides an elevator electronic safety system and an elevator movement detection method used in the elevator electronic safety system, which can reduce power consumption.

[0010] In order to solve the above problems, the electronic safety system of the present invention comprises a movement detector including a data detection unit equipped with a sensor that outputs an electric signal in response to movement of the car, a position calculation unit that calculates the position of the car based on the electric signal, a speed calculation unit that calculates the speed of the car based on the electric signal, and a safety control device that detects abnormalities in the operation of the car based on the position of the car calculated by the position calculation unit or the speed of the car calculated by the speed calculation unit. The movement detector operates to reduce power consumption based on the speed of the car.

[0011] In order to solve the above problems, the elevator movement detection method of the present invention is a movement detection method used in an elevator electronic safety system, which uses a movement detector equipped with a sensor that outputs an electrical signal in response to the movement of the elevator car, detects the position and speed of the elevator car based on the electrical signal, and causes the movement detector to perform an operation to reduce power consumption based on the detected speed.

[0012] According to the present invention, the power consumption of the elevator safety system is reduced.

[0013] Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments.

[0014] It is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an elevator apparatus according to an embodiment. It is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic safety system according to an embodiment. It is a flowchart showing the operation of a safety control device according to an embodiment. It is a flowchart showing the operation of a movement detector according to an embodiment.

[0015] An elevator system according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same components or components having similar functions.

[0016] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an elevator system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0017] As shown in Figure 1, in this embodiment, a car 1 and a counterweight 2 are mechanically connected to one end and the other end of a main rope 3, respectively. The main rope 3 is wound around a sheave of a hoisting machine 4. This allows the car 1 and the counterweight 2 to be suspended in a hoistway provided in a building. In other words, this embodiment is a so-called bucket-type elevator. In this embodiment, the hoisting machine 4 is installed in a machine room provided above the hoistway.

[0018] When the motor of the hoisting machine 4 rotates and the sheave is driven to rotate, the main rope 3 is driven linearly by the frictional force between the sheave and the main rope 3. As a result, the car 1 and the counterweight 2 move up and down in opposite directions to each other within the hoistway.

[0019] The elevator control device 6 controls the operation of the hoisting machine 4 to thereby control the operation of the car 1 .

[0020] The car 1 is movably engaged with the guide rails 5a and 5b via a guide device 20 (e.g., a guide shoe). Therefore, the car 1 moves between any floors while being guided by the guide rails 5a and 5b. In the embodiment, general T-shaped guide rails are used as the guide rails 5a and 5b. The counterweight 2 moves while being guided by a counterweight guide rail (not shown).

[0021] The electronic safety system in this embodiment is composed of movement detectors 9a and 9b that detect the position and speed of the car 1, a car door switch 10, a landing door switch 11, and a safety control device 8. In this embodiment, the movement detectors 9a and 9b have an image sensor as a data detection unit ("901a" in FIG. 2) that acquires data from a detection target. A CCD, CMOS sensor, or the like is used as the image sensor.

[0022] It should be noted that the landing doors are not shown in Fig. 1. The landing door switch 11 is provided on the landing door of each floor.

[0023] The movement detectors 9a and 9b are installed on top of the car 1. The movement detectors 9a and 9b use image sensors to acquire surface images of the guide rails 5a and 5b, which are stationary objects in the elevator shaft. In this embodiment, surface images of the tips of the T-shaped legs are acquired as the surface images of the guide rails 5a and 5b. The movement detectors 9a and 9b calculate the position and speed of the car 1 based on the surface images of the guide rails 5a and 5b acquired by the image sensors, and output position detection signals and speed detection signals.

[0024] For example, the movement detectors 9a and 9b calculate the amount of displacement of the image feature amount of the surface image of the guide rails 5a and 5b, and calculate the position of the car 1 from the calculated amount of displacement. In addition, the movement detectors 9a and 9b calculate the speed of the car 1 from the change over time of the calculated amount of displacement.

[0025] The safety control device 8 is installed on the top of the car 1. The safety control device 8 is electrically connected to movement detectors 9a and 9b, a car door switch 10, and a landing door switch 11.

[0026] The safety control device 8 is provided with position detection means, i.e., movement detectors 9a and 9b, independent of the position detection means (e.g., a rotary encoder provided on the hoist, a photoelectric sensor provided on the car, and a shielding plate fixed in the hoistway) provided in the elevator control device 6 that executes operation control.

[0027] The safety control device 8 detects the position and speed of the car 1 in the elevator shaft based on the position detection signal and speed detection signal from the movement detector 9a. The safety control device 8 also measures the position and speed of the car 1 in the elevator shaft based on the position detection signal and speed detection signal from the movement detector 9b. That is, the safety control device 8 has two measurement systems.

[0028] The safety control device 8 detects an abnormality in the operating state of the car 1 based on the position and speed of the car 1 detected from the position detection signals and speed detection signals output by the movement detectors 9 a and 9 b. When the safety control device 8 detects an abnormality, it outputs a command signal to operate the brake device and the emergency stop device, and a command signal to the elevator control device to execute operation control in an emergency or abnormal situation (operation to the nearest floor, immediate stop, deceleration stop, door open running protection, etc.).

[0029] The command signal output by the safety control device 8 is transmitted via the tail cord 7 .

[0030] While the elevator system is in operation, the motion detectors 9a and 9b periodically and repeatedly calculate the position and speed of the car 1 and output a position detection signal and a speed detection signal. Therefore, the electronic safety system equipped with the motion detectors 9a and 9b constantly consumes power while the elevator system is in operation. Therefore, in this embodiment, while the car 1 is traveling at a low speed, the period during which the motion detectors 9a and 9b calculate the position and speed of the car 1 and output a position detection signal and a speed detection signal, i.e., the position and speed detection period, is lengthened. This reduces the average power consumption by the motion detectors 9a and 9b while the elevator system is in operation. Therefore, power consumption by the electronic safety system is suppressed.

[0031] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the electronic safety system according to the embodiment.

[0032] In this embodiment, the electronic safety system comprises movement detectors 9 a and 9 b, a car door switch 10 , a landing door switch 11 and a safety control device 8 .

[0033] Since the movement detectors 9a and 9b have the same configuration, only the configuration of the movement detector 9a is shown in Fig. 2. Also, of the safety functions provided in the safety control device 8, the door open running protection function and the overspeed emergency stop function are shown in Fig. 2.

[0034] In the embodiment, each of the movement detectors 9 a, 9 b and the safety control device 8 is equipped with a computer system such as a microcomputer, and the computer system executes a predetermined program to operate as each part. Note that the safety control device 8 and the elevator control device 6 are each equipped with a computer system.

[0035] The movement detector 9a includes a position / speed detection unit 90a and a detection cycle setting unit 91a that sets the detection cycle of the position / speed detection unit 90a. The position / speed detection unit 90a includes a data detection unit 901a, a position calculation unit 902a, and a speed calculation unit 903a.

[0036] The data detection unit 901a acquires a surface image of the guide rail 5a using an image sensor, and therefore outputs an electrical signal indicative of surface image data of the guide rail 5a in accordance with the movement of the car 1 in the elevator shaft.

[0037] The position calculation unit 902a calculates the position of the car 1 based on the surface image of the guide rail 5a acquired by the data detection unit 901a. The position calculation unit 902a outputs the calculated position of the car 1 as a position detection signal.

[0038] The speed calculation unit 903a calculates the speed of the car 1 based on the surface image of the guide rail 5a acquired by the data detection unit 901a. The speed calculation unit 903a outputs the calculated speed of the car 1 as a speed detection signal.

[0039] The detection cycle setting unit 91a is configured to set the energy saving mode command signal S output by the safety control device 8. ＊ (to be described later) is used to set a period T for detecting the position and speed of the movement detector 9a.

[0040] Energy saving mode command signal S ＊ When the detection period T is OFF, that is, during the normal operation of the movement detector 9a, the detection period setting unit 91a sets the detection period T to the standard value T ０ The energy saving mode command signal S ＊When the detection cycle T is ON, that is, when a power consumption suppression operation is instructed to the movement detector 9a, the detection cycle setting unit 91a sets the detection cycle T to the standard value T ０ a predetermined value T １ (>T ０ )

[0041] In this way, the energy saving mode command signal S ＊ When the switch 9a is on, the detection period T becomes longer, so that the power consumption of the movement detector 9a is reduced.

[0042] The predetermined value T １ is set appropriately in consideration of ensuring the reliability of the electronic safety system when the elevator car 1 is traveling at low speed. For example, the standard value T ０ When the predetermined value T １ is about 10 msec.

[0043] The safety control device 8 includes a car position detection unit 81 , a car speed detection unit 82 , a door open detection unit 83 , a running with door open detection unit 84 , an overspeed detection unit 85 , and a power cutoff unit 86 .

[0044] The car position detection unit 81 detects the position of the car 1 in the elevator shaft based on the position detection signals from the movement detectors 9a and 9b.

[0045] The car speed detection unit 82 detects the traveling speed of the car 1 based on the speed detection signals from the movement detectors 9a and 9b.

[0046] The door-open detection unit 83 determines whether the door is in the open state based on the open / closed state of the car door detected by the car door switch 10 and the open / closed state of the landing door detected by the landing door switch 11. In the embodiment, when either the car door switch 10 or the landing door switch 11 is off and the door is detected to be in the open state, the door-open detection unit 83 determines that the door is in the open state.

[0047] The door-open running detection unit 84 determines whether the car 1 is running outside the door zone with the door open, i.e., whether the car 1 is in a door-open running state, based on the position of the car 1 detected by the car position detection unit 81 and the judgment result of the door-open detection unit 83.

[0048] The overspeed detection unit 85 determines whether the ascent / descent speed of the elevator car 1 is greater than or equal to a predetermined overspeed (for example, a speed not exceeding 1.3 times the rated speed) based on the running speed of the elevator car 1 detected by the elevator speed detection unit 82.

[0049] When the door-open running detection unit 84 determines that the car 1 is in a door-open running state, or when the overspeed detection unit 85 determines that the lifting speed of the car 1 is equal to or greater than a predetermined overspeed, the power supply cutoff unit 86 outputs a power supply cutoff command S Ｃ ＊ is sent.

[0050] The electromagnetic switching device 100 receives a power cutoff command S Ｃ ＊ When the signal is received, the normally open contacts in the closed state are opened, cutting off the power supply from the power source 400 to the hoisting machine 4 and the elevator control device 6. Furthermore, with the power supply being cut off, a braking device (not shown) enters a braking state, thereby bringing the car 1 to an emergency stop.

[0051] The safety control device 8 in this embodiment further includes an energy saving mode command unit 87 .

[0052] The energy-saving mode command unit 87 generates the above-mentioned energy-saving mode command signal S based on the speed v of the car 1 detected by the car speed detection unit 82 and the determination result of the door opening detection unit 83. ＊ are generated and sent to the motion detectors 9a and 9b.

[0053] When the energy-saving mode command unit 87 determines that the speed v of the car 1 is a low speed less than a predetermined threshold value (for example, 5 m / min), that is, when it determines that the speed v of the car 1 is significantly lower than the rated speed, it outputs the energy-saving mode command signal S ＊ Furthermore, the energy saving mode command signal S ＊ When is on, the power consumption in the motion detectors 9a and 9b is reduced as described above.

[0054] In addition, when the energy saving mode command unit 87 determines that the speed v of the car 1 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value (for example, 5 m / min), it outputs an energy saving mode command signal S ＊ Set to off.

[0055] Furthermore, when the energy-saving mode command unit 87 determines that the door is in the open state based on the determination result of the door-open detection unit 83, it outputs the energy-saving mode command signal S even if the speed v of the car 1 is a low speed less than a predetermined threshold value (for example, 5 m / min). ＊ Set to OFF. This improves the reliability of the electronic safety system.

[0056] 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the safety control device 8 in this embodiment. The safety control device 8 periodically executes the series of processes shown in FIG.

[0057] The following description will be made with reference to FIG. 2 as needed.

[0058] When the safety control device 8 starts the process, first, in step S301, it determines whether the speed v of the car 1 (hereinafter referred to as "car speed") is less than a predetermined threshold value using the energy saving mode command unit 87. That is, the safety control device 8 determines whether the car speed v is a low speed.

[0059] If the safety control device 8 determines that the car speed v is less than the threshold value (YES in step S301), it then executes step S302. If the safety control device 8 determines that the car speed v is not less than the threshold value (NO in step S301), that is, if it determines that the car speed v is equal to or greater than the threshold value, it then executes step S304.

[0060] In step S302, the safety control device 8 uses the energy saving mode command unit 87 to determine whether the car door and the landing door are both closed, based on the open / closed states of the car door and the landing door detected by the door open detection unit 83.

[0061] If the safety control device 8 determines that the door is closed (YES in step S302), it then executes step S303. If the safety control device 8 determines that the door is not closed (NO in step S302), that is, if it determines that the door is open, it then executes step S304.

[0062] In step S303, the safety control device 8 uses the energy saving mode command unit 87 to generate an energy saving mode command signal S ＊ is set to ON and output to the movement detectors 9a and 9b. After executing step S303, the safety control device 8 ends a series of processes for one cycle.

[0063] In step S304, the safety control device 8 uses the energy saving mode command unit 87 to generate the energy saving mode command signal S ＊ is set to OFF and output to the movement detectors 9a and 9b. After executing step S304, the safety control device 8 ends a series of processes for one cycle.

[0064] 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the movement detectors 9a and 9b in this embodiment. The movement detectors 9a and 9b periodically execute the series of processes shown in FIG.

[0065] The following description will be made with reference to Fig. 2. Since the movement detectors 9a and 9b operate in the same manner, the operation of the movement detector 9a will be described below.

[0066] When the process starts, the movement detector 9a first uses the detection cycle setting unit 91a to set the energy saving mode command signal S received from the safety control device 8 in step S401. ＊ Determine whether is on.

[0067] The movement detector 9a detects the energy saving mode command signal S ＊ If it is determined that the energy saving mode command signal S is ON (YES in step S401), the movement detector 9a executes step S402. ＊ is not ON (NO in step S401), that is, the energy saving mode command signal S ＊ If it is determined that the switch is off, step S403 is executed next.

[0068] In step S402, the movement detector 9a uses the detection cycle setting unit 91a to set the detection cycle T in the position / speed detection unit 90a to a predetermined value T which is longer than the standard value T0. １After executing step S402, the movement detector 9a ends a series of processes for one cycle.

[0069] In step S403, the movement detector 9a uses the detection cycle setting unit 91a to set the detection cycle T in the position / speed detection unit 90a to the standard value T ０ After executing step S403, the movement detector 9a ends a series of processes for one cycle.

[0070] According to the above embodiment, the safety control device 8 generates an energy saving mode command signal S for commanding the movement detectors 9a and 9b to perform a power consumption suppression operation based on the speed of the elevator car 1. ＊ This reduces the power consumption of the movement detectors 9a and 9b, thereby reducing the power consumption of the electronic safety system. ＊ The detection cycles of the movement detectors 9a and 9b are set in accordance with the above, thereby making it possible to reduce the power consumption of the movement detectors 9a and 9b while ensuring the reliability of the electronic safety system.

[0071] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to those including all of the described configurations. Furthermore, it is possible to add, delete, or replace part of the configuration of the embodiments with other configurations.

[0072] For example, the data detection unit 901a (FIG. 2) may include a rotation detector (such as a governor encoder) that rotates in response to the movement of the car, instead of the image sensor.

[0073] Furthermore, the position calculation unit 902 a and the velocity calculation unit 903 a shown in FIG. 2 may be included in the safety control device 8 .

[0074] The safety control device 8 may also have a function of activating an emergency stop device, a terminal floor deceleration function, and the like.

[0075] The elevator system may also be a so-called machine room-less elevator in which the hoisting machine and elevator control device are installed inside the elevator shaft.

[0076] DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...car, 2...counterweight, 3...main rope, 4...hoisting machine, 5a, 5b...guide rail, 6...elevator control device, 7...tail cord, 8...safety control device, 9a, 9b...movement detector, 10...car door switch, 11...landing door switch, 20...guiding device, 81...car position detection unit, 82...car speed detection unit, 83...door open detection unit, 84...door open running detection unit, 85...overspeed detection unit, 86...power supply cut-off unit, 87...energy saving mode command unit, 90a...position / speed detection unit, 91a...detection period setting unit, 100...electromagnetic opening / closing device, 400...power supply, 901a...data detection unit, 902a...position calculation unit, 903a...speed calculation unit

Claims

1. An electronic safety system for an elevator comprising: a movement detector including a data detection unit equipped with a sensor that outputs an electrical signal in response to movement of the car; a position calculation unit that calculates the position of the car based on the electrical signal; a speed calculation unit that calculates the speed of the car based on the electrical signal; and a safety control device that detects abnormalities in the operation of the car based on the position of the car calculated by the position calculation unit or the speed of the car calculated by the speed calculation unit, wherein the movement detector performs an operation to reduce power consumption based on the speed of the car.

2. An electronic safety system for an elevator according to claim 1, further comprising a detection cycle setting unit that sets the detection cycle of the movement detector based on the speed of the elevator car.

3. An electronic safety system for an elevator as described in claim 2, wherein the detection period setting unit sets the detection period to a first detection period when the speed of the car is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, and the detection period setting unit sets the detection period to a second detection period longer than the first detection period when the speed of the car is less than the threshold.

4. An electronic safety system for an elevator as described in claim 3, characterized in that the detection period setting unit sets the detection period to the first detection period when the door is closed, even if the speed of the elevator car is less than the threshold value.

5. An electronic safety system for an elevator as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that the safety control device detects the door closed state based on the open / closed state of the landing door detected by a landing door switch and the open / closed state of the car door detected by a car landing door switch.

6. An elevator electronic safety system according to claim 1, characterized in that the movement detector includes the position calculation unit and the speed calculation unit.

7. An electronic safety system for an elevator according to claim 1, characterized in that the sensor is an image sensor for acquiring a surface image of the guide rail.

8. An elevator movement detection method used in an elevator electronic safety system, comprising: using a movement detector equipped with a sensor that outputs an electrical signal in response to the movement of the elevator car; detecting the position and speed of the elevator car based on the electrical signal; and causing the movement detector to perform an operation to reduce power consumption based on the detected speed.

9. The elevator movement detection method according to claim 8, characterized in that the detection period of the movement detector is set based on the speed, thereby causing the movement detector to perform an operation to reduce power consumption.

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