A troubleshooting method for an elevator system and an elevator control system for troubleshooting of an elevator system
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- AU · AU
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- KONE OYJ
- Filing Date
- 2024-03-19
- Publication Date
- 2026-07-30
AI Technical Summary
Elevator systems require continuous connection of maintenance tools during fault-finding operations, leading to potential loss, theft, or damage, and prolonged downtime due to the need for on-site presence.
An elevator control system that maintains connection to a cloud computing system during fault-finding operations, allowing disconnection of user devices while keeping the FFO mode active, enabling remote monitoring and management.
Enables remote troubleshooting without the need for continuous on-site presence, reducing device loss and theft, and allowing simultaneous maintenance at multiple sites, thus enhancing efficiency and reducing downtime.
Smart Images
Figure 00000000_0000_ABST
Abstract
Description
[0001] A troubleshooting method for an elevator system and an elevator control system for troubleshooting of an elevator system
[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD
[0003] The invention concerns in general the technical field of elevator systems. Especially the invention concerns troubleshooting of elevator systems.
[0004] BACKGROUND
[0005] Typically, if a malfunction of an elevator system is detected, a fault-finding operation (FFO) may be performed for troubleshooting the elevator system. The detected malfunction may concern the whole elevator system or one or more entities of the elevator system. Typically, the elevator system is taken out of operation at least partly, when the malfunction is detected. Hence, passengers are not allowed to use the elevator system while an FFO mode is active. However, the FFO mode enables that maintenance personnel are capable inspect the at least partly malfunctioning elevator system for example by running one or more inspection operations via a maintenance tool connected to the elevator system. For example, the maintenance personnel may temporarily replace one or more elevator components and run one or more inspection operations of the elevator system via the maintenance tool to see whether the cause of the malfunction has been resolved. If the maintenance personnel do not have the required one or more spare components available, they can temporarily borrow respective working elevator components from another elevator system. If the cause of the malfunction is solved, the maintenance personnel may order required one or more spare components, which may take long time, for example days or even weeks. If the cause of the malfunction is not solved, the maintenance personnel repeat the inspection process with one or more other replaced elevator components.
[0006] The FFO mode is activated by the maintenance personnel via the maintenance tool connected to the elevator system. The maintenance tool that is used to activate the FFO mode is required to be connected to the elevator system the whole time during the FFO mode. Disconnecting the maintenance tool from the elevator system, deactivates the FFO mode. In other words, the FFO mode requires continuous connection of the maintenance tool to the elevator system. As the investigation of the elevator system, while the FFO mode is active, may last long time, for example hours, days or even several days, the maintenance tool needs to be left at the elevator system site for the entire duration of the FFO mode. Typically, the maintenance tools are left unattended on-site. Thus, the maintenance tools may get lost, stolen or damaged.
[0007] SUMMARY
[0008] The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide basic understanding of some aspects of various invention embodiments. The summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is neither intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention nor to delineate the scope of the invention. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of exemplifying embodiments of the invention.
[0009] An objective of the invention is to present a troubleshooting method, an elevator control system, an elevator system, a computer program, and a computer- readable medium for troubleshooting of an elevator system. Another objective of the invention is that the method, the elevator control system, the elevator system, the computer program, and the computer-readable medium for troubleshooting of an elevator system enables a disconnection of a user device from an elevator control system while maintaining an FFO mode active.
[0010] The objectives of the invention are reached by a troubleshooting method, an elevator control system, an elevator system, a computer program, and computer-readable medium as defined by the respective independent claims.
[0011] According to a first aspect, a troubleshooting method for an elevator system is provided, wherein the method comprises: receiving a fault-finding operation (FFO) activation command from a user device connected an elevator control system of the elevator system; and activating an FFO mode of the elevator system for troubleshooting the elevator system in response to receiving the FFO activation command provided that the elevator control system is connected to a cloud computing system, wherein during the FFO mode is active the connection of the elevator control system to the cloud computing system is continuously maintained to allow a disconnection of the user device from the elevator control system while still maintaining the FFO mode active, and wherein during the FFO mode is active the elevator control system runs one or more inspection operations of the elevator system to inspect one or more operations of the elevator system. The troubleshooting method may further comprise: detecting at least one device connection event, wherein the at least one device connection event is at least one of the following: a disconnection of the user device, a reconnection of the user device to the elevator control system, a connection of at least one other user device to the elevator control system, a disconnection of the at least one other user device from the elevator control system, a reconnection of the at least one other user device to the elevator control system; and maintaining the FFO mode active in response to the detecting the at least one device connection event.
[0012] Alternatively or in addition, the troubleshooting method may further comprise: monitoring operation of the elevator system during the FFO mode is active; detecting a predefined operation event of the elevator system; and aborting the FFO mode in response to the detecting of the predefined operation event of the elevator system.
[0013] The predefined operation event of the elevator system may comprise at least one of the following: a change in a load of an elevator car of the elevator system, a generation of an elevator call, a detection of a passenger entering an elevator car of the elevator system.
[0014] The monitoring of the operation of the elevator system may comprise obtaining monitoring data based on which the operation of the elevator system is monitored.
[0015] The monitoring data may be obtained from at least one of the following: at least one light curtain sensor device, at least one load weighing device, at least one elevator user interface device configured to generate elevator calls.
[0016] Alternatively or in addition, the trouble shooting method may further comprise: deactivating the FFO mode of the elevator system in response to receiving an FFO deactivation command from the user device connected to the elevator control system, or deactivating the FFO mode of the elevator system when a maximum FFO duration has expired.
[0017] Alternatively or in addition, the troubleshooting method may further comprise counting the number of activations of the FFO mode of the elevator system. The troubleshooting method may further comprise: detecting that the counted number of the activations of the FFO mode of the elevator system meets a predefined FFO activation count limit, and preventing further activations of the FFO mode of the elevator system in response to the detecting that the counted number of the activations of the FFO mode of the elevator system (100) meets the predefined activation count limit.
[0018] According to a second aspect, an elevator control system for troubleshooting of an elevator system is provided, wherein the elevator control system comprises: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured with the at least one processor, cause the elevator control system to perform the method as described above.
[0019] According to a third aspect, an elevator system is provided, wherein the elevator system comprises: an elevator car configured to travel along an elevator shaft, a user device, a cloud computing system, and an elevator control system as described above.
[0020] According to a fourth aspect, a computer program is provided, wherein the computer program comprises instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of the method as described above.
[0021] According to a fifth aspect a computer-readable medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable medium comprises instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of the method as described above.
[0022] Various exemplifying and non-limiting embodiments of the invention both as to constructions and to methods of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific exemplifying and non-limiting embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
[0023] The verbs “to comprise” and “to include” are used in this document as open limitations that neither exclude nor require the existence of unrecited features. The features recited in dependent claims are mutually freely combinable unless otherwise explicitly stated. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the use of “a” or “an”, i.e. a singular form, throughout this document does not exclude a plurality.
[0024] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
[0025] The embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings.
[0026] Figure 1 illustrates schematically an example of an elevator system.
[0027] Figure 2 illustrates schematically an example of a troubleshooting method for the elevator system.
[0028] Figure 3 illustrates schematically another example of the method.
[0029] Figure 4 illustrates schematically an example of components of an elevator control system.
[0030] DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLIFYING EMBODIMENTS
[0031] Figure 1 illustrates schematically an example of an elevator system 100. The elevator system 100 comprises an elevator car 102 configured to travel along an elevator shaft 104 between a plurality of floors (i.e. landings) 106a-106n, an elevator control system 108, and a cloud computing system 110. The elevator system 100 may also form an elevator group, i.e. group of two or more elevator cars 102 each travelling along a separate elevator shaft 104, configured to operate as a unit serving the same floors 106a-106n. The elevator control system 108 is configured to at least control the operations of the elevator system 100. The elevator control system 108 may for example locate inside a machine room 112 (as illustrated in the example of Figure 1 ) or at one of the floors 106a-106n, e.g. in a machine roomless elevator system. The cloud computing system 110 and the elevator system 100 may preferably have the same provider. For example, the cloud computing system 110 may be maintained by the elevator system provider. The elevator control system 108 is communicatively coupled to the cloud computing system 110. The communication between the elevator control system 108 and the cloud computing system 110 may be based on one or more known wireless communication technologies. The elevator control system 108 is also communicatively coupled to the other entities of the elevator system 100. The communication between the elevator control system 108 and the other entities of the elevator system 100 may be based on one or more known communication technologies, either wired or wireless. The implementation of the elevator control system 108 may be done as a standalone control entity or as a distributed control environment between a plurality of stand-alone control entities, such as a plurality of servers, providing distributed control resource. The elevator system 100 may further comprise one or more known elevator related entities, e.g. a counterweight, an elevator hoisting machinery, user interface devices, elevator doors, and / or safety circuit and devices, etc., which are not shown in Figure 1 for sake of clarity.
[0032] The elevator system 100 further comprises a user device 120 for maintenance of the elevator system 100.The user device 120 may for example be an elevator maintenance device, e.g. a maintenance tool, or an elevator inspection device, e.g. an inspection tool. The user device 120 is capable of generating one or more maintenance related commands to the elevator control system 108 for the maintenance of the elevator system 100 as will be described later in this application more in detail. The user device 120 comprises a user interface unit for interacting with a user, i.e. a maintenance person, e.g. a maintenance technician. The user interface unit of the user device 120 comprises one or more input / output (I / O) devices, such as buttons, keyboard, touch screen, microphone, loudspeaker, display and so on, for receiving user input and outputting information. The user device 120 further comprises a controlling entity that comprises at least the following entities: processing unit comprising one or more processors, memory unit comprising one or more memories, and communication unit comprising one or more communication devices. In addition to the mentioned entities the controller entity of the user device 120 may comprise further devices and entities, such as batteries for storing energy to be used by the other entities. The processing unit of the user device 120 may be configured to control the operation of the user device 120 by executing portions of computer program code stored e.g. in the memory unit of the user device 120. The communication unit of the user device 120 further comprises a communication interface though which the user device 120 may be connected to the elevator control system 108.
[0033] Next an example of a troubleshooting method for the elevator system 100 is described by referring to Figure 2. Figure 2 schematically illustrates the method as a flow chart. At a step 210, the elevator control system 108 receives a fault-finding operation (FFO) activation command from the user device 120 connected to the elevator control system 108. The connection (e.g. a communicative connection) of the user device 120 to the elevator control system 108 may be either wired or wireless. The communication between the user device 120 and the elevator control system 108 may be based on one or more known communication technologies, either wired or wireless. The FFO activation command may comprise one or more instructions to activate an FFO mode of the elevator system 100. The user device 120 may be connected to the elevator control system 108 by a maintenance person, e.g. a maintenance technician. For example, the maintenance technician may arrive to the elevator system 100 in response to receiving a maintenance request, e.g. a maintenance need or a service need, comprising an indication of a detected malfunction situation of the elevator system 100. The maintenance request may be generated to the maintenance technician in response to a detection of the malfunction situation of the elevator system 100. The malfunction situation may concern the whole elevator system 100 or one or more entities of the elevator system 100. The maintenance request may be generated to maintenance technician to inform the maintenance technician about the malfunction situation. When the maintenance technician arrives at the elevator system 100, the maintenance technician connects the user device 120 to the elevator control system 108. Thus, the FFO activation command is generated locally, i.e. on-site, which means that the FFO mode of the elevator system 100 that will be activated in response to receiving the FFO activation command is a local elevator maintenance operation. The activation of the FFO mode of the elevator system 100 will be described later more in detail. The FFO activation command may be generated by the user device 120 in response to a user interaction, e.g. receiving a user input via the user interface unit.
[0034] At a step 220, the elevator control system 108 activates, i.e. turns on, the FFO mode of the elevator system 100 for troubleshooting the elevator system 100 in response to receiving the FFO activation command provided that the elevator system 108 has a continuous connection to the cloud computing system 110. In other words, to be able to activate the FFO mode, the elevator system 108 is required to have a continuous connection to the cloud computing system 110. With the expression “a continuous connection (between two parties)” is meant throughout this application that during the continuous connection both parties are able to discuss real time with each other, e.g. sharing live elevator status information. The elevator control system 108 may for example perform one or more connection verification operations to verify the continuous connection of the elevator control system 108 to the cloud computing system 110 before activating the FFO mode.
[0035] During the FFO mode is active, the elevator control system 108 continuously maintains the connection to the cloud computing system 110. The connection to the cloud computing system is maintained during the FFO mode to allow a disconnection of the user device 120 from the elevator control system 108 while still maintaining the FFO mode active. This enables that the disconnection of the user device 120 from the elevator control system 108 does not deactivate, i.e. turn off, the FFO mode of the elevator system 100. In other words, due to the continuous connection of the elevator control system 108 to the cloud computing system 110, the disconnection of the user device 120 from the elevator control system 108 does not turn off the FFO mode of the elevator system 100, as happens in the traditional FFO discussed in the background section above. Thus, the FFO mode can still be continued although the user device 120 is disconnected from the elevator control system 108, which in turn enables that neither the user device 120 nor the maintenance technician are required to be present on the site while the FFO mode is active. The FFO described throughout this application may be distinguished from the traditional FFO by calling it intelligent fault-finding operation (IFFO). As discussed in the background section above, the FFO mode may last even for several days. Thus, the possibility to disconnect the user device 120 from the elevator control system 108, while the FFO mode is maintained active, enables that the same user device 120 may be used for maintenance purposes at one or more other sites, e.g. other elevator systems, while the FFO mode of the elevator system 100 is active. This also improves the site coverage of the maintenance technician as they may visit one or more other sites, e.g. other elevator systems, while the FFO mode of the elevator system 100 is active. The possibility to disconnect the user device 120 from the elevator control system 108, while the FFO mode is maintained active, prevents that the user device 120 is not stolen, lost, or damaged, as it does not need to be left unattended on-site, which in turn mitigates the cost increase coming from replacing the stolen, lost, or damaged user devices. The elevator control system 108 may for example perform one or more connection verification operations during the FFO mode to verify that the connection of the elevator control system 108 to the cloud computing system 110 is maintained continuously during the FFO mode. The continuous connection of the elevator control system 108 to the cloud computing system 110 during the activation of the FFO mode and also during the FFO mode is active may further enable a verification of a valid maintenance contract, preventing moonlighting activities, maintaining an audit log for possible misuse or accidents, and / or providing information of maintenance activities, e.g. for helping to understand front-line work patterns.
[0036] Furthermore, during the FFO is active, one or more inspection operations of the elevator system 100 are run to inspect one or more operations of the elevator system 100 to find out the cause of the malfunction situation of the elevator system 100. In other words, when the FFO mode is active at the step 220, the elevator system 100 may be set into an inspection mode for running the one or more inspection operation of the elevator system 100. For example, the elevator control system 108 may run the one or more inspection operations of the elevator system 100 in response to receiving one or more inspection operation commands from the user device 120. The one or more inspection operation commands may be generated by the user device 120 in response to a user interaction, e.g. receiving a user input via the user interface unit of the user device 120. For example, the maintenance technician may temporarily replace one or more elevator components and run the one or more inspection operations of the elevator system 100 via the user device 120 to test whether the cause of the malfunction will be resolved. If the maintenance personnel do not have the required one or more spare components available, they can temporarily borrow respective working elevator components from another elevator system. If the cause of the malfunction situation is resolved, the maintenance technician may replace the malfunctioning one or more elevator components with a respective spare component, if such a spare component is available. If the spare component is not available, the maintenance technician may order the required one or more spare components. If the cause of the malfunction situation is not solved, the inspection process described above will be repeated with one or more other replaced elevator components to find out the cause of the malfunction situation.
[0037] When the elevator system 100 is in the FFO mode, a passenger use of the elevator system 100 (i.e. a passenger use operation of the elevator system 100) is prevented for safety reasons. With the term “passenger use operation of the elevator system” is meant throughout this application an operation of the elevator system 100 in which the elevator system 100 is serving users according to elevator calls in a typical way. For example, in the passenger use operation of the elevator system 100 one or more elevator cars 102 of the elevator system 100 may be serving users (e.g. passengers) of the elevator system 100, by transporting the users and / or loads between the floors 106a- 106n of the elevator system 100. In the passenger use operation of the elevator system 100 the critical safety related operations of the elevator system 100 are in use, but secondary operations that do not relate to safety operations do not necessarily need to be in use in the passenger user operation of the elevator system 100. The normal operation of the elevator system does not include e.g. inspection, maintenance, and rescue modes / operations of the elevator system 100.
[0038] The elevator system 100 may further comprise at least one other user device 130a-130n, i.e. at least one other user device 130a-130n than the user device 120 from which the FFO activation command is received at the step 210. The at least one other user device 130a-130n may be connected to the elevator control system 108 during the FFO mode is active. The at least one other user device 130a-130n may also be used to generate the one or more inspection operation commands to run the one or more inspections operations of the elevator system 100 during the FFO mode similarly as defined for the user device 120 above. In other words, the one or more inspection operations of the elevator system 100 may be run in response to receiving one or more inspection operation commands from the at least one other user device 130a-130n. The one or more inspection operation commands may be generated by the at least one user device 130a-130n in response to a user interaction, e.g. receiving a user input via a user interface unit of respective at least one user device 130a- 130n. The at least one other user device 130a-130n may also be disconnected from the elevator control system 108 during the FFO mode is active. After the disconnection, the at least one other user device 130a-130n may also be reconnected to the elevator control system 108 during the FFO mode is active. Alternatively or in addition, after the disconnection, the user device 120 may be reconnected to the elevator control system 108 during the FFO mode is active. Due to the continuous connection of the elevator control system 108 to the cloud computing system 110, the connection, disconnection, and reconnection of the at least one other user device 130a-130n do not deactivate the FFO mode of the elevator system 100 as discussed above with regards to the disconnection of the user device 120 from the elevator control system 108. Similarly, the reconnection of the user device 120 does not deactivate the FFO mode of the elevator system 100. The elevator control system 108 may detect at least one device connection event. The at least one device connection event may be at least one of the following: a disconnection of the user device 120 to the elevator control system 108, a reconnection of the user device 120 to the elevator control system 108, a connection of the at least one other user device 130a-130n to the elevator control system 108, a disconnection of the at least one other user device 130a-130n from the elevator control system 108, a reconnection the at least one other user device 130a-130n to the elevator control system 108. The elevator control system 108 further maintains the FFO mode active in response to the detecting the at least one device connection event.
[0039] At a step 230, the elevator control system 108 may deactivate the FFO mode of the elevator system 100. When the FFO mode of the elevator system 100 is deactivated, the elevator system 100 is not in the FFO mode anymore. The FFO mode of the elevator system 100 may for example be deactivated in response to receiving an FFO deactivation command from the user device 120 or from the at least one other user device 130a-130n connected to the elevator control system 108. The user device 120 or the at least one other user device 130a-130n may already be connected to the elevator control system 108 or the user device 120 or the at least one other user device 130a-130n may be reconnected to the elevator control system 108 for the generation of the FFO deactivation command. For example, the maintenance technician may reconnect the user device 120 to the elevator control system 108 for the generation of the FFO deactivation command. Thus, the FFO deactivation command is generated locally, i.e. on-site, which means that the FFO mode of the elevator system 100 will be deactivated locally. The FFO deactivation command may be generated by the user device 120 or the at least one other user device 130a-130n in response to a user interaction, e.g. receiving a user input via the user interface unit of the respective user device 120, 130a-130n. Alternatively, the deactivation of the FFO mode of the elevator system 100 may be timed. For example, the elevator control system 108 may deactivate the FFO mode of the elevator system 100 when a maximum FFO duration has expired. The elevator control system 108 may for example receive FFO duration data representing the maximum FFO duration from the user device 120 or from the at least one other user device 130a-130n. The FFO duration data may for example be generated by the user device 120 in pursuance of the generation of the FFO activation command at the step 210. The FFO activation command may for example comprise the FFO duration data. Alternatively, the FFO duration data may be provided separately. According to an example, the elevator control system 108 may activate a timer, when the FFO mode is activated, and deactivate the FFO mode, when the timer indicates that the maximum FFO duration has expired.
[0040] According to an example, the operation of the elevator system 100 may be monitored during the FFO mode of the elevator system 100. The monitoring of the elevator system 100 during the FFO mode is described next by referring to Figure 3 that schematically illustrates an example of the method as a flow chart.
[0041] At a step 310, the elevator control system 108 monitors the operation of the elevator system 100 continuously during the FFO mode. If the elevator control system 108 detects at a step 320 a predefined operation event of the elevator system 100, the elevator control system 108 may abort at a step 330 the FFO mode of the elevator system 100. This enables an automatic abort of the FFO mode, if unwanted, e.g. unsafe, condition of the elevator system 108 is detected. The predefined operation event of the elevator system 100 may comprise at least one of the following: a change in a load of the elevator car 102, a generation of an elevator call, a detection of a passenger entering the elevator car 102. The elevator system 100 may comprise one or more monitoring devices configured to provide monitoring data to be used in the monitoring of the operation of the elevator system 100. The monitoring of the operation of the elevator system 100 at the step 310 may comprise obtaining the monitoring data based on which the operation of the elevator system 100 is monitored. The elevator control system 108 obtains the monitoring data from the one or more monitoring devices. For example, the elevator system 100 comprises at least one light curtain sensor device configured to provide monitoring data representing light curtain sensor data for detecting a passenger entering the elevator car 102. Alternatively or in addition, the elevator system 100 comprises at least one load weighing device configured to provide monitoring data representing the load of the elevator car 102 for detecting a change in the load of the elevator car 102. Alternatively or in addition, the elevator system 100 comprises at least one elevator user interface device configured to generate eleva- tor calls and to provide monitoring data representing generated elevator calls for detecting a generation of an elevator call. The at least one elevator user interface may comprise at least one of the following: at least one car call panel (e.g. a car operation panel (COP)), at least one landing call panel, at least one destination call panel (e.g. a destination operation panel DOP)). The generated elevator call may be at least one the following: car call, landing call, destination call, respectively.
[0042] According to an example, the number of activations of the FFO mode of the elevator system 100 may be counted by the elevator control system 108. For example, each time the elevator control system 108 activates the FFO mode at the step 220, the elevator control system may increase the counted number of the activation of the FFO mode of the elevator system 100 by one. If the elevator control system 108 detects that the counted number of the activations of the FFO mode of the elevator system meets (e.g. reaches or exceeds) a predefined FFO activation count limit, the elevator control system 108 prevents further activations of the FFO mode of the elevator system 100. This enables avoiding a misuse of the FFO mode. For example, the number of activations of the FFO mode may be limited to a predetermined times per a week, per a month, or per a year.
[0043] Figure 4 illustrates schematically an example of components of the elevator control system 108. The elevator control system 108 may comprise a processing unit 410 comprising one or more processors, a memory unit 420 comprising one or more memories, a communication unit 430 comprising one or more communication devices, and possibly a user interface (III) unit 440. The mentioned elements may be communicatively coupled to each other with e.g. a communication bus. The memory unit 420 may store and maintain portions of a computer program (code) 425, and any data, e.g. the FFO duration data, the monitoring data and / or any other data. The computer program 425 may comprise instructions which, when the computer program 425 is executed by the processing unit 410 of the elevator control system 108 may cause the processing unit 410, and thus the elevator control system 108 to carry out desired tasks, e.g. one or more of the method steps described above. The processing unit 410 may thus be arranged to access the memory unit 420 and retrieve and store any information therefrom and thereto. For sake of clarity, the processor herein refers to any unit suitable for processing information and control the operation of the elevator control system 108, among other tasks. The op- erations may also be implemented with a microcontroller solution with embedded software. Similarly, the memory unit 420 is not limited to a certain type of memory only, but any memory type suitable for storing the described pieces of information may be applied in the context of the present invention. The communication unit 430 provides one or more communication interfaces for communication with any other unit, e.g. the user device 120, the cloud computing system 110, the at least one other user device 130a-130n, the one or more monitoring devices, and / or with any other unit. The user interface unit 440 may comprise one or more input / output (I / O) devices, such as buttons, keyboard, touch screen, microphone, loudspeaker, display and so on, for receiving user input and outputting information. The computer program 425 may be a computer program product that may be comprised in a tangible nonvolatile (non- transitory) computer-readable medium bearing the computer program code 425 embodied therein for use with a computer, i.e. the elevator control system 108.
[0044] The specific examples provided in the description given above should not be construed as limiting the applicability and / or the interpretation of the appended claims. Lists and groups of examples provided in the description given above are not exhaustive unless otherwise explicitly stated.
Claims
CLAIMS1 . A troubleshooting method for an elevator system (100), the method comprises: receiving (210) a fault-finding operation (FFO) activation command from a user device (120) connected an elevator control system (108) of the elevator system (100); and activating (220) an FFO mode of the elevator system (100) for troubleshooting the elevator system (100) in response to receiving the FFO activation command provided that the elevator control system (108) is connected to a cloud computing system (110), wherein during the FFO mode is active the connection of the elevator control system (108) to the cloud computing system (110) is continuously maintained to allow a disconnection of the user device (120) from the elevator control system (108) while still maintaining the FFO mode active, and wherein during the FFO mode is active the elevator control system (108) runs one or more inspection operations of the elevator system (100) to inspect one or more operations of the elevator system (100).
2. The troubleshooting method according to claim 1 , further comprising: detecting at least one device connection event, wherein the at least one device connection event is at least one of the following: a disconnection of the user device (120), a reconnection of the user device (120) to the elevator control system (108), a connection of at least one other user device (130a-130n) to the elevator control system (108), a disconnection of the at least one other user device (130a-130n) from the elevator control system (108), a reconnection of the at least one other user device (130a-130n) to the elevator control system (108); and maintaining the FFO mode active in response to the detecting the at least one device connection event.
3. The troubleshooting method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising:monitoring (310) operation of the elevator system (100) during the FFO mode is active; detecting (320) a predefined operation event of the elevator system (100); and aborting (330) the FFO mode in response to the detecting of the predefined operation event of the elevator system (100).
4. The troubleshooting method according to claim 3, wherein the predefined operation event of the elevator system (100) comprises at least one of the following: a change in a load of an elevator car (102) of the elevator system (100), a generation of an elevator call, a detection of a passenger entering an elevator car (102) of the elevator system (100).
5. The troubleshooting method according to any of claims 3 or 4, wherein the monitoring of the operation of the elevator system (100) comprises obtaining monitoring data based on which the operation of the elevator system (100) is monitored.
6. The troubleshooting method according to claim 5, wherein the monitoring data is obtained from at least one of the following: at least one light curtain sensor device, at least one load weighing device, at least one elevator user interface device configured to generate elevator calls.
7. The trouble shooting method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising: deactivating (230) the FFO mode of the elevator system (100) in response to receiving an FFO deactivation command from the user device (120) connected to the elevator control system (108), or deactivating (230) the FFO mode of the elevator system (100) when a maximum FFO duration has expired.
8. The troubleshooting method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising counting the number of activations of the FFO mode of the elevator system (100).
9. The troubleshooting method according to claim 8, further comprising:detecting that the counted number of the activations of the FFO mode of the elevator system (100) meets a predefined FFO activation count limit, and preventing further activations of the FFO mode of the elevator system (100) in response to the detecting that the counted number of the activations of the FFO mode of the elevator system (100) meets the predefined activation count limit.
10. An elevator control system (108) for troubleshooting of an elevator system (100), the elevator control system (108) comprises: at least one processor (410); and at least one memory (420) including computer program code (425); wherein the at least one memory (420) and the computer program code (425) are configured with the at least one processor (410), cause the elevator control system (108) to perform the steps of the method according to any of the preceding claims.
11. An elevator system (100) comprising: an elevator car (102) configured to travel along an elevator shaft (104), a user device (120), a cloud computing system (110), and an elevator control system (108) according to claim 10.
12. A computer program comprising instructions which, when the program is executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of the method according to any of claims 1 to 9.
13. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the steps of the method according to any of claims 1 to 9.