Elevator apparatus and identification method

Abstract

The invention relates to an elevator installation (1) having a data network and a method for identifying components of an elevator installation (1). The data network (2) has at least one network node (3), wherein the network node (3) comprises components (7, 9) of the elevator installation (1). The components (7, 9) of the network node (3) can be identified in such a way that a control unit (11) of the elevator installation (1) controls a light source (4) to generate a light signal (10) for indicating the network node (3). When a light sensor (5) detects the light signal (10), the component (7, 9) can be corresponded to the light sensor (5) and the correspondence of the component (9) is communicated to the control unit (11).

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The invention relates to an elevator installation with a data network and a method for identifying components of an elevator installation. BACKGROUND

[0002] For an elevator installation with an elevator car in an elevator shaft, the elevator car moves between different floors (landings) of a building to transport passengers. In order to be able to ensure the safety of passengers or maintenance personnel, a number of components, parts and sensors must be continuously monitored within the elevator installation or must be ensured to be able to communicate with each other. Safety-critical components are, for example, shaft doors or car doors, which are only opened on a floor when the elevator car is parked on this floor. The elevator car is only allowed or can be driven when the shaft door and the car door are closed.

[0003] Nowadays, elevator installations often communicate with the outside via a public network, also called the Internet, while inside the elevator installation a local network, for example a LAN (Local Area Network), is created to network these safety-critical components, parts and sensors and to enable data exchange between the individual network participants. Wireless networks such as WLAN are still a small proportion of the elevator industry compared to cable-based fieldbus networks and LAN networks, but the demand is constantly increasing. In addition, modern network technology enables a variety of new services in building management for elevator installations and offers flexibility for a large number of different types of use scenarios, for example IoT (Internet of Things) means that an increasing number of devices, sensors, etc. are networked via IP networks using the TCP / IP protocol. Here, any device, including one or more elevator installations, can be connected to the Internet and other connected devices.

[0004] In a network, a network node (also called node or networked network node) is a connection point which can be a redistribution point or an end point in data transmission. A network node is able to identify, process and forward data transmission for other network nodes in the network. In an IP network, each network node needs a separate IP address (Internet Protocol address) which is usually assigned by a gateway or router in order to make the network node addressable for data communication. If data communication takes place via WLAN (also called WiFi), the IP address is always assigned dynamically, i.e. the network node does not always get the same IP address. It is therefore usually not possible to determine the location of a network node only by the IP address corresponding to the network node. In particular, it is difficult to identify components or members of an elevator installation using a variable IP address. This can be even more complicated when there are several identical or equivalent components on the same site, for example several shaft doors on one floor or several car doors on one car. The identically designed door arrangements are on the same application level, but exchange data with network nodes which are on a communication level, for example an elevator car. It is cumbersome for a control system of an elevator installation to individually recognize or identify such doors. Furthermore, wireless signals have difficulties to propagate through the inner walls of a building between network nodes or in areas with metal, for example an elevator shaft, or other radio attenuating materials, for example reinforced concrete. Although each hardware has its own MAC address (Media Access Control address) which remains fixed and serves as a unique identifier for the respective hardware, the MAC address cannot be used instead of the IP address and applied at the current state of the art for data security reasons.

[0005] When networking members of an elevator installation as network nodes of a network, it can then be necessary to identify one or more components of one of the members in a simple manner, in particular during installation and maintenance work of the elevator installation. SUMMARY

[0006] This requirement can be met by the technical solution of one of the independent claims. Advantageous embodiments are defined in the dependent claims and the following description.

[0007] According to the application, an elevator installation is provided with a data network, wherein the data network comprises at least one network node, which network node comprises components of the elevator installation. The data network can be a local data network configured within the elevator installation, but also a regional data network (e.g. MAN: Metropolitan Area Network) or a public network (e.g. WAN: Wide Area Network) or the Internet to which the elevator installation is connected. In the data network, data communication takes place using various protocols, such as TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol). The data network can communicate with other data networks and can itself comprise subnetworks. The network nodes can be assigned network addresses. In the case of an IP network, the IP addresses are usually assigned by a gateway or router. The components of the network nodes can be identified in such a way that the control unit of the elevator installation can control a light source in order to generate a light signal for indicating the network node. The light source can be located at the network node or correspond to the network node, for example. The control unit is the main controller or a sub-controller of the elevator installation or a separate controller outside the elevator installation, for example. If a light sensor detects the light signal, the component can be assigned to the light sensor. This assignment can be a direct assignment between the component and the light sensor or an indirect association, i.e. the component can be assigned to the light sensor by means of an intermediate stage / interface of further components of the elevator installation or of further network nodes, for example. In the manner according to the application, this assignment does not mean that the component must have a fixed subordination or association to the light sensor. The control unit can then be informed about the assignment of the component to the light sensor, i.e. the assignment can be determined for the control unit. Such an informing or determination can be achieved in the same way by the network node or by further network nodes. Since the light sensor has its own specificity, e.g. a position, the component can be distinguished from other components of the network node. That is to say, if the light sensor is in a known position, the position of the component can thus also be determined directly or indirectly.

[0008] According to an advantageous design according to the application, the network node can inform the control unit about the network address of the network node and / or about the network addresses of further network nodes. This can be achieved, for example, by connecting the control unit to the data network as well. The control unit then considers the network node or the other network nodes as available network nodes and controls the light source so that the light source emits light accordingly, thus showing the available network nodes. For such a control scheme, the control unit can send a digital signal to the light source, for example a digital signal "1" for an available network node and a digital signal "0" otherwise, for example. The light source can thus indicate the network nodes by emitting light. The availability of the network node can be verified, for example, when the network node occupies a network address.

[0009] According to an advantageous design of the application, the network node can be formed or formed by the landing of the elevator car of the elevator installation. Elevator installations are usually installed in buildings having a plurality of floors, each of which is provided with a landing of the elevator car. There is not always only one shaft door in a floor, there can be more than one shaft door or no shaft door.

[0010] The light source is, for example, in the vicinity of the shaft door of the network node. The light sensor can detect the light signal emitted by the light-emitting light source. The position of the shaft door can be learned by the light sensor, since the shaft door is also approximately at the position of the light sensor or in its vicinity. This can be particularly useful in elevator control, since one component does not have to be precisely positioned, but only distinguished from other components. For example, there are two shaft doors on one floor. Also, the car (also as a further network node) must therefore also have two car doors. Since the network node comprises two identical doors, but only occupies one network address, the different doors cannot be identified separately. Here, for example, a left shaft door and a right shaft door can be provided in one landing, the two car doors being arranged separately, for example, on the left and right side of the elevator car.

[0011] According to a further advantageous design of the application, the car of the elevator installation can constitute a network node of the data network, and components of the network node are then provided as car doors of the car. In this case, the car can have at least two car doors. At least two light sensors can therefore be provided, one of which can be identified differently from the other light sensor in terms of its position relative to the other light sensor, for example one light sensor on the left and one light sensor on the right, etc. Here, the light sensors can be arranged on the car, for example on the ceiling of the car. The light sensors can then reach or approach all floors by movement of the car. In this way, it is easy to determine the number of shaft doors and the position in which the shaft doors are located. If the car comprises more than one car door, for example a left car door and a right car door, it is also easy to identify which door is the left door by means of the car informing the control unit of the elevator installation which light sensor detected the light signal and which car door corresponds to this light sensor. Thus, by means of the correspondence to the different light sensors, both car doors can be unambiguously or uniquely identified for the control unit. The installation work for the elevator installation can be significantly simplified or made easier, for example if the elevator car has a plurality of identical shaft doors or car doors, it is easy to identify the shaft doors or car doors and they are no longer erroneously identified by the control system and confusion in controlling the elevator installation occurs.

[0012] According to a further advantageous design of the application, the landing of the car can be determined by the network address of the network node, if the network node corresponds to a landing. This is performed, for example, by the control unit, since the network node can communicate its network address to the control unit. That is, the control unit can determine the floor on which the network node is located on the basis of the network address of the network node.

[0013] According to a further advantageous design of the application, a light source is provided for illuminating a landing or a hall of the elevator shaft or of the elevator installation. Here, the light source can comprise one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs), or be designed as a strip of a plurality of light emitting diodes, wherein the LEDs can emit different colors. For example, the strip can extend along the elevator shaft in one continuous piece or be divided into a plurality of pieces. The light sensor is an optical sensor, which is arranged, for example, on the top of the elevator car or in the vicinity of the light source on the shaft wall.

[0014] Furthermore, a method for identifying a component of an elevator installation having a data network is given, wherein the data network has at least one network node, and the network node comprises a component of the elevator installation. In the method, the component of the second network node is identified in such a way that a light source is controlled by a control unit of the elevator installation to generate a light signal for indicating the network node. When the light sensor detects the light signal, the component is corresponded to the light sensor, and the correspondence of the component to the light sensor is communicated to the control unit.

[0015] It is noted that some feasible features and advantages of the application are described herein on the one hand in connection with different embodiments of the lighting device and on the other hand in connection with a method for illuminating an elevator shaft of an elevator installation. The person skilled in the art realizes that these features can be combined, modified or exchanged in a suitable manner in order to realize other embodiments of the application. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0016] Embodiments of the application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are not intended to be limiting of the application.

[0017] wherein:

[0018] Figure 1 a schematic diagram of an elevator installation according to the application is shown;

[0019] Figure 2 a schematic diagram of an identification method according to the application is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] In Figure 1An elevator installation 1 is shown in Fig. 1. In the elevator shaft 13 of the elevator installation 1 having a plurality of floors or landings 14, an elevator car 8 is carried by a hoist 15, in each landing 14 a shaft door 7a or 7b is provided. The elevator car 8 is moved vertically in the elevator shaft 13 under the control of a control unit 11 of the elevator installation 1 in order to transport passengers between the different floors 14. The elevator car 8 has a left car door 9a and a right car door 9b, which are opposite to each other but identical in structure and function. When the car 8 is parked in a landing 14, the car door 9 is associated with the shaft door 7 located at the landing, so that the car door 9a or 9b and the shaft door 7a, 7b are always together and opened and closed simultaneously in the landing.

[0021] Within the elevator installation 1 there is a local data network or network 2, which is connected by a router or gateway 12 with other networks, for example the Internet. If the data network 2 is a wireless network, the gateway or router is also a wireless device. Through the data network 2 all network nodes 3 are made accessible to the Internet for communication. In this embodiment, each landing 14 constitutes a first network node 3a, while the elevator car 8 forms a second network node 3b of the data network 2. The network nodes 3a, 3b are each assigned a different network address, for example an IP address, by the router / gateway 12. Between the first network node 3a and the second network node 3b information about their own network address can be exchanged. Here, the shaft door 7a or 7b belongs to the first network node 3a, while the car 8 belongs to the second network node 3b. Since the network node 3b has two identical car doors 9a and 9b but only occupies one IP address, it is initially not known to the control unit 11 during the installation work of the elevator installation 1 which of the two doors is the left car door 9a and which is the right car door 9b.

[0022] In order to illuminate the elevator shaft 13, light sources 4, for example LED lamps, are arranged in the shaft 13 at arbitrary positions provided for the entrance / exit of the shaft door 7 or the car 8. Since the control unit 11 knows, for example from the first network node 3a, about the assignment of one or more IP addresses, the control unit 11 recognizes that this network node 3a is available or activated. In addition, the control unit 11 also knows at which floor the network node 3a is located. The control unit 11 then controls the light sources 4 in such a way that only the light sources 4 at the available network nodes 3a or at the available shaft doors 7 emit the light signal 10. The light sources 4 are controlled, for example, by a digital signal generated by the control unit, wherein a digital signal "1" corresponds to an available network node and a digital signal "0" to an unavailable network node. An example is given in the following table. Available shaft doors are indicated by a digital "1" signal and unavailable shaft doors by a digital "0" signal. The door numbers represent the individual shaft doors. Instead of the door numbers, the individual product identification numbers of the doors can also be used. The control unit 11 knows the door numbers.

[0023] Floor Door number Left shaft door Right shaft door 0 #1 1 0 1 #2，#3 1 1 2 #4 0 1 3 - 0 0

[0024] As can be seen from the table, the elevator installation 1 has a total of four floors. The third floor is not shown in Figure 1 , since this floor has no entrance / exit of a shaft door or the car 8. Therefore, the control unit 11 sends two "0" signals, so that the two light sources 4 on this floor remain switched off.

[0025] The two light sensors 5 are arranged on the top of the elevator car 8 on the left and on the right. If the car 8 travels along the shaft 13, the light sensors 5 can detect all light-emitting light sources 4. For example, if the left light sensor 5a detects a light signal 10 on the ground floor, the car 8 will assign this shaft door #1 to the light sensor 5a. Thereafter, the car 8 informs the control unit 11 about the assignment of the shaft door #1 (left) and the IP address of the first network node 3a. The control unit 11 can then identify the shaft door #1 as the left shaft door on the first floor. In the same way, the shaft doors #2, #3 on the first floor can also be identified, wherein the shaft door #2 is marked as left and the shaft door #3 is marked as right. Here, the car doors 9a, 9b can also be identified: the car door 9a is the left car door and the car door 9b is the right car door, since they are associated with the left shaft door 7a and the right shaft door 7b. For this purpose, the car 8 only has to inform the control unit 11 about the door number of the car door 9a or 9b.

[0026] The identification method according to the application is shown schematically in Figure 2 . If the car 8 travels along the shaft 13, the light sensors 5 detect the light signals 10 of the light sources 4. The car 8 then identifies the shaft doors 7 and the car doors 9a, 9b and informs the control unit 11 about the assignment of the shaft doors 7 and the car doors 9a, 9b to the network nodes 3a, 3b. Figure 1During the installation of the elevator installation 1 shown, two shaft doors 7a, 7b in the landing 14 or two car doors 9a, 9b in the car 8 are to be distinguished from one another, the following method steps can be carried out, wherein the method steps are designated with "S".

[0027] S1 : The router 13 assigns an IP address, for example, to the network node 3a, which comprises the two shaft doors 7a, 7b;

[0028] S2: The network node 3a informs the control unit 11 about its IP address;

[0029] S3: The control unit 11 activates the light source 4 in accordance with the information described above, thereby generating a light signal.

[0030] S4: The light sensor 5a, which is set, for example, as a left sensor, detects the light signal;

[0031] S5: The car 8, which is suitable as a further network node 3b, also obtains the IP address of the network node 3a. The car 8 assigns the shaft door 7a to the left sensor 5a. Here, the car 8 can also assign its car door 9a to the left sensor 5a, since this car door 9a is associated with the shaft door 7a;

[0032] S6: The car 8 informs the control unit 11 that the shaft door 7a and the car door 9a correspond to the left sensor 5a. The notification also includes the door numbers of the shaft door 7a and the car door 9a as well as the IP addresses of the network nodes 3a and 3b.

[0033] In view of the data transmitted, the control unit 11 can clearly identify the two shaft doors 7a, 7b or the two car doors 9a, 9b as left or right shaft doors or left or right car doors here.

[0034] Finally, it should be noted that the terms "having", "including", etc. do not exclude other elements or steps, and the terms "one" or "said" do not exclude pluralities. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that features or steps already introduced with reference to one of the above embodiments can also be used in combination with other features or steps of other above embodiments. Reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. Elevator installation (1) with a data network (2), which has at least one network node (3), wherein The network node (3) comprises a component of the elevator installation (1), characterized in that the component of the network node (3) is identified in such a way that the control unit (11) of the elevator installation (1) controls the light source (4) to generate a light signal (10) for indicating the network node (3), the component is corresponded to the light sensor (5) when the light sensor (5) detects the light signal (10), the control unit (11) is able to determine the correspondence of the component, and the network node (3) is able to inform the control unit (11) about the network address of the network node and / or the network address of a further network node.

2. The elevator installation (1) according to claim 1, wherein the network node (3) corresponds to a landing (14) of a car (8) of the elevator installation (1), wherein the component is a shaft door (7), and / or the network node (3) corresponds to the car (8) of the elevator installation (1), wherein the component is a car door (9) of the car (8).

3. The elevator installation (1) according to claim 2, wherein the landing (14) is determinable by the network address of the network node (3).

4. The elevator installation (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the network node (3) has at least two components.

5. The elevator installation (1) according to claim 4, wherein at least two light sensors (5a, 5b) are provided, one of the light sensors (5a, 5b) being able to be identified differently depending on its position relative to one or more further light sensors (5a, 5b).

6. The elevator installation (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the light source (4) is able to illuminate an elevator shaft (13) and / or a landing (14) of the elevator installation (1).

7. A method for identifying an elevator installation (1) having a data network (2) with at least one network node (3), wherein The network node (3) comprises at least one component of the elevator installation (1), wherein the component of the network node (3) is identified in such a way that the light source (4) is controlled by a control unit (11) of the elevator installation (1) to generate a light signal (10) for indicating the network node (3), the component is corresponded to the light sensor (5) when the light sensor (5) detects the light signal (10), the correspondence of the component is communicated to the control unit (11), and the network address of the network node (3) and / or the network address of a further network node is informed to the control unit (11) by the network node (3).

8. The identification method according to claim 7, wherein the network node (3) is constituted by a landing (14) of a car (8) of the elevator installation (1), wherein the component is a shaft door (7), and / or the network node (3) is constituted by the car (8) of the elevator installation (1), wherein the component is a car door (9) of the car (8).

9. The identification method according to claim 8, wherein the landing (14) is determined by the network address of the network node (3).

10. The identification method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein at least two components of the network node (3) are provided.

11. The identification method according to claim 10, wherein, At least two light sensors (5a, 5b) are provided, wherein one of the light sensors (5a, 5b) is identified differently based on its position relative to one or more other light sensors (5a, 5b).

12. The identification method according to any one of claims 7-9, wherein, The elevator shaft (13) and / or the stop (14) of the elevator equipment (1) are illuminated by a light source (4).

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