Method and device for handling faults of elevator system

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to elevator technology, in particular to a method, an apparatus, an elevator system comprising such an apparatus, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for implementing such a method for handling faults of an elevator system. According to one aspect of the present disclosure, in a method provided for handling a failure of an elevator system, the status of a plurality of landing door safety links is monitored. Subsequently, in response to an anomalous event associated with the landing door safety link, a safety landing at which the car is to park is determined based on a state of motion of the car. In the method, landing door state detection devices are divided into a plurality of landing door state detection device groups, and each landing door safety link comprises one of the plurality of landing door state detection device groups. In addition, the motion state of the car includes the motion speed and position of the car.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to elevator technology, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for handling a fault in an elevator system, an elevator system including the apparatus, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for implementing the method. Background Art

[0002] Elevator systems typically include multiple door interlocks, each installed on a corresponding landing door. They also include landing door switches for detecting the locked and unlocked states of the door interlocks. These landing door switches are connected in series to form a landing door safety link. During elevator operation, an operating signal indicating the on / off status of the landing door safety link is sent to the elevator control system, enabling the latter to properly operate the elevator car.

[0003] In current elevator systems, when the door interlock is unlocked accidentally or without active control, the landing door safety link is disconnected. In response to this event, the elevator control system stops the movement of the elevator car to reduce safety risks. However, elevator system maintenance is often time-consuming, which can leave passengers trapped in the car for extended periods of time. Summary of the Invention

[0004] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method, an apparatus, and an elevator system for handling a fault of an elevator system are provided.

[0005] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for handling elevator system faults is provided in which the status of multiple landing door safety links is monitored. Subsequently, in response to an abnormal event associated with a landing door safety link, a safe landing for the car to stop is determined based on the car's motion state. In this method, the landing door status detection devices are divided into multiple landing door status detection device groups, with each landing door safety link including one of the multiple landing door status detection device groups. Furthermore, the car's motion state includes the car's speed and position.

[0006] Optionally, in the above method, the floor door status detection device includes a floor door switch or a floor door detection sensor.

[0007] Optionally, in the above method, one or more landing door status detection devices in each landing door status detection device group are configured to detect the status of one of the plurality of landing doors.

[0008] Optionally, the above method further includes the steps of causing the car to travel to a safety floor station and the steps of causing the corresponding floor doors and the car door to be in an open state after the car stops at the safety floor station.

[0009] Optionally, the above method may further include causing the elevator system to enter a stopped state and sending a report of the abnormal event to a remote server or the cloud.

[0010] Regarding the division of landing door switch groups, in the above method, the landing door status detection devices corresponding to multiple spatially consecutive landing stations are distributed as dispersedly as possible among the multiple landing door status detection device groups. Furthermore, the landing door status detection devices corresponding to multiple spatially consecutive landing stations can be assigned to different landing door status detection device groups.

[0011] In addition to including one or more of the above features, abnormal events in the above method may include: i) the floor door safety link entering a disconnected state due to the unlocking of the door interlocking device of the floor door under non-active control; and ii) the inability to obtain the status of the floor door safety link.

[0012] As for determining the safe landing, in the above method, the method is to shorten the distance between the car and the safe landing from the position where the abnormal event occurred. Alternatively, if the car happens to be parked at a certain landing when the abnormal event occurs, then the landing is determined as the safe landing.

[0013] Optionally, in the above method, when the car is in motion, an emergency braking operation or a deceleration operation is performed on the car so that the car moves to the safety landing station.

[0014] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for handling elevator system faults is provided, comprising at least one processor, at least one memory, and a computer program stored in the memory. When executed on the processor, the computer program causes the following operations to occur: monitoring the status of multiple landing door safety links, and, in response to abnormal events associated with the landing door safety links, determining a safe landing for the car to stop at based on the car's motion status, such as its speed and position. The landing door safety link includes one of a plurality of landing door status detection device groups, each of which is divided into a plurality of landing door status detection device groups.

[0015] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an elevator system is provided that includes a car arranged in an elevator shaft and capable of moving between a plurality of landings during operation, a control unit, a drive device coupled to the control unit, and a plurality of landing door safety links. The drive device is configured to move or stop the car in response to a command from the control unit. Each landing door safety link includes one of a plurality of landing door status detection device groups divided by the landing door status detection device. The control unit is configured to monitor the status of the plurality of landing door safety links and, in response to an abnormal event associated with the landing door safety link, determine a safe landing for the car to stop based on the movement status, such as the movement speed and position of the car.

[0016] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program suitable for being executed on a processor of a terminal device is stored, wherein the execution of the computer program causes the steps of the method described above to be performed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] The above and / or other aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will become clearer and easier to understand through the following description of various aspects in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which the same or similar elements are represented by the same reference numerals. The drawings include:

[0018] Figure 1 is a diagram of an exemplary elevator system.

[0019] Figure 2 FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an elevator system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 3 The present invention is a flowchart of a method for handling a fault of an elevator system according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 4 The present invention is a flowchart of a method for handling a fault of an elevator system according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 5 The figure is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for handling a fault of an elevator system according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The present disclosure is described more fully below with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. However, the present disclosure may be implemented in various forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments described herein. The foregoing embodiments are provided to make this disclosure comprehensive and complete, and to more fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art.

[0024] In this specification, terms such as "comprise" and "include" indicate that in addition to the units and steps directly and clearly stated in the specification and claims, the technical solution of the present disclosure does not exclude the situation where it has other units and steps that are not directly or clearly stated.

[0025] In this specification, a landing generally refers to a location on each floor for objects (such as passengers and machinery and equipment) to enter and exit the elevator car.

[0026] In this specification, expressions such as "the car stops at a landing" generally refer to a situation where the elevator car reaches a designated position at a specific floor or landing and remains stationary there.

[0027] In this specification, a "landing door status detection device" refers to a device, apparatus, or component configured to detect the status of a landing door (including its open and closed states, etc.). Examples of landing door status detection devices include, but are not limited to, landing door switches and landing door detection sensors. In some embodiments, the status of each landing door can be detected using a single landing door status detection device; in other embodiments, multiple landing door status detection devices (e.g., connected in series) can be used for detection.

[0028] Figure 1 is a diagram of an exemplary elevator system. Figure 1 Elevator system 101 is shown to include an elevator car 103, a counterweight 105, a tensioning member 107, guide rails (or track system) 109, a crew (or crew system) 111, a position reference system 113, and an electronic elevator controller (controller) 115. Elevator car 103 and counterweight 105 are connected to each other via tensioning member 107. Tensioning member 107 may include or be configured as, for example, ropes, steel cables, and / or coated steel belts. Counterweight 105 is configured to balance the load of elevator car 103 and to facilitate simultaneous movement of elevator car 103 in opposite directions relative to counterweight 105 within an elevator shaft (or hoistway) 117 and along guide rails 109.

[0029] Tensioning member 107 may engage machine group 111, which may be part of an overhead structure of elevator system 101. Machine group 111 is configured to control movement between elevator car 103 and counterweight 105. Position reference system 113 may be mounted on a fixed portion at the top of elevator shaft 117, such as on supports or guide rails, and may be configured to provide a position signal related to the position of elevator car 103 within elevator shaft 117. In other embodiments, position reference system 113 may be mounted directly to a moving component of machine group 111, or may be located in other locations and / or configurations as known in the art. Position reference system 113 may be any device or mechanism known in the art for monitoring the position of an elevator car and / or counterweight. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, position reference system 113 may include, for example, but is not limited to, encoders, sensors, or other systems, and may implement various sensing methods, such as velocity sensing and absolute position sensing.

[0030] As shown, controller 115 is located in controller room 121 of elevator shaft 117 and is configured to control the operation of elevator system 101 (and, in particular, elevator car 103). For example, controller 115 can provide drive signals to assembly 111 to control acceleration, deceleration, leveling, stopping, etc. of elevator car 103. Controller 115 can also be configured to receive position signals from position reference system 113 or any other desired position reference device. While moving upward or downward along guide rails 109 within elevator shaft 117, elevator car 103 can stop at one or more landings 125 as controlled by controller 115. Although shown in controller room 121, those skilled in the art will appreciate that controller 115 can be located and / or configured elsewhere or at other locations within elevator system 101. In one embodiment, the controller can be remotely located or hosted in the cloud.

[0031] The assembly 111 may include a motor or similar drive mechanism. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the assembly 111 is configured to include an electric drive motor. The motor may be powered by any power source, including the electrical grid, which is combined with other components to supply power to the motor. The assembly 111 may include a traction sheave that transmits force to the tensioning member 107 to move the elevator car 103 within the elevator shaft 117.

[0032] Figure 2 FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an elevator system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The elevator system has a fault handling function that will be described in detail below.

[0033] like Figure 2 As shown, the elevator system 20 includes a car 210, a control unit 220 (which may be Figure 1 Controller 115 in), drive device 230 (which includes, for example Figure 1 Unit 111) and multiple floor door safety links 2401~240 n Optionally, the car motion detection device 250 (e.g. Figure 1 The position reference system 113 in FIG can also be regarded as a component unit of the elevator system.

[0034] For example, assume that there are m floors (each floor can be Figure 1 The landing station 125 shown in the figure can be used for the car 210 to stop, and accordingly, each landing station has its own landing door switch (hereinafter these landing door switches are marked as K1~K m In some specific implementations, the landing door switches K1 to K m Divided into n floor door switch groups GK1~GK n , and each floor door switch group is used to build multiple floor door safety links 2401~240 n Specifically, for the i-th floor door switch group GK i , the floor door switches contained therein are connected in series to form the i-th floor door safety link 240 i See also Figure 2 , each landing door safety link is connected to the control unit 220 to provide the latter with a working signal regarding the state (closed state and open state) of the landing door safety link.

[0035] Continue to see Figure 2 , control unit 220 and floor door safety link 2401~240 n The coupling is configured to monitor the status of the landing door safety link. Under normal elevator system operation, after the car stops at the destination floor or landing, the door interlock device of the landing door will change from the locked state to the unlocked state. At this time, the landing door will be opened, the corresponding landing door switch will enter the open state, and the corresponding landing door safety link will be disconnected. On the other hand, an elevator system failure may also cause the door interlock device to enter the unlocked state (at this time, the landing door is open), and accordingly, the landing door safety link will be disconnected. This non-active unlocking can put passengers at great risk, especially when the car is in motion or in a non-parked position.

[0036] In some embodiments, the event that the door interlock device enters the unlocked state without active control is listed as an abnormal event associated with the landing door safety link. Accordingly, the control unit 220 will execute the fault handling operation described below in response to the occurrence of this abnormal event.

[0037] In some other specific implementations, the event of being unable to obtain the status of the floor door safety link (for example, due to damage to the line connecting the controller and the floor door safety link, etc.) is also included in the abnormal events associated with the floor door safety link.

[0038] It should be noted that the above examples of abnormal events are merely exemplary. In practical applications, other types of events may be included in the abnormal events according to the special needs of the scene.

[0039] exist Figure 2 In the elevator system shown in FIG, the control unit 220 is further configured to determine a safe landing or floor for the car to stop at based on the movement state of the car 210 (e.g., the movement speed and position of the car) when an abnormal event associated with the landing door safety link occurs. In other words, unlike the processing method of immediately stopping the car movement when an abnormal event occurs, Figure 2 In the elevator system shown, a landing with high landing safety is selected for the car, and then the control unit 220, by means of the drive device 230, prompts the car 210 to travel to the safe landing and opens the landing door after the car stops at the safe landing.

[0040] In some embodiments, the control unit 220 may be connected to the car motion detection device 250 (e.g. Figure 1 The elevator car communicates with the position reference system 113 in the elevator shaft to obtain the position and velocity of the elevator car. For example, the absolute position of the elevator car within the elevator shaft can be measured by the position reference system 113 and output to the control unit 220, while the velocity of the elevator car can be calculated based on the absolute position and the time associated with the absolute position. Such calculations can be performed by the position reference system 113 and provided to the control unit 220, or can also be performed by the control unit 220.

[0041] Further, in Figure 2 In the illustrated elevator system, the control unit 220 is further configured to shut down the elevator system after the car stops at a safety landing and the landing door opens. Optionally, the control unit 220 is further configured to send a report of an abnormal event to a remote server or cloud after or simultaneously with shutting down the elevator system. Furthermore, the control unit 220 may also be configured to send a report of an abnormal event to a remote server or cloud upon detecting an abnormal event associated with a landing door safety link.

[0042] exist Figure 2In the illustrated embodiment, the functions of abnormal event monitoring, safe landing determination, elevator system control (e.g., control of elevator car position and speed), and abnormal event reporting are implemented by a single control unit, but this implementation is not required or exclusive. In other embodiments, the functions of abnormal event monitoring and safe landing determination may be separated and implemented using a dedicated safety controller or safety control unit (e.g., a programmable electronic safety-related (PESSRAL) system).

[0043] As described above, the landing door switches are grouped and each landing door switch group corresponds to one of the multiple landing door safety links, so the landing door safety link 240 i An abnormal event occurs in the corresponding floor door switch group GK i Any door switch in the floor may be in the disconnected state (or any corresponding door interlock device may be unlocked by mistake). i All corresponding layer stations are considered to be involved in or related to abnormal events. On the other hand, in the current example, the layer door safety links (such as layer door safety links 2401-240 i-1 and 240 i+1 ~240 n ) can be included in the set of floor stations with high docking safety (hereinafter referred to as the safe floor station candidate set).

[0044] It should be noted that including floors that are not involved in abnormal events in the safe floor station candidate set is only an exemplary way. Optionally, the safe floor station candidate set can be narrowed to a smaller range by adding one or more filtering conditions. Exemplary filtering conditions can be, for example: among the floors that are not involved in the current abnormal event, only the floors along the current movement direction of the car are included in the safe floor station candidate set (for example, assuming that the current movement direction of the car is upward, only the floors above it that are not involved in abnormal events belong to the safe floor station candidate set); it can also be: among the floors that are not involved in the current abnormal event, the floors that have been involved in abnormal events many times in the past or the floor doors whose door interlocking devices have not been replaced for a long time are excluded from the safe floor station candidate set.

[0045] The safe floor station to be stopped at can be selected from the safe floor station candidate set based on various strategies. In some specific embodiments, the so-called "short-stroke strategy" can be adopted to determine the safe floor station, that is, the selected safe floor station should shorten the distance the car travels from the position where the abnormal event occurred to the selected safe floor station as much as possible. It should be noted that "shortening as much as possible" is a practical approach. Specifically, due to the limitation of braking capacity, it cannot be ensured that the car can always stop at the floor station closest to the position where the abnormal event occurred. Therefore, when selecting a safe floor station, in addition to considering the position of the car when the abnormality occurred, it is also necessary to consider the movement speed of the car (which together with factors such as braking capacity determines the shortest braking distance of the car).

[0046] In some other specific implementations, for a car in a stationary state, if it happens to stop at a certain landing when an abnormal event occurs, the landing will be determined as a safe landing regardless of whether the landing is involved in the abnormal event.

[0047] In some other specific embodiments, for a car in a stationary state, if it happens to stop at a certain floor station when an abnormal event occurs, the floor station will be determined as a safe floor station only if the floor station is not involved in the abnormal event. Otherwise, the above-mentioned short-trip strategy can be used to select a safe floor station, for example.

[0048] The following is a further description of the grouping method of floor door switches.

[0049] For example, m (m>1) floor door switches are grouped into n (m>n>1) floor door switch groups. Here, the floor door switches and floor door switch groups are denoted as K1~K m With GK1~GK n For the purpose of convenience of description, it is assumed that the serial numbers 1 to m of the floor door switches correspond one to one with the floors 1 to m, or equivalently, the serial numbers 1 to m of the floor door switches correspond one to one with the landing stations LS1 to LS2 on the floors 1 to m. m One to one correspondence.

[0050] In some specific implementations, the so-called "decentralized grouping" strategy or method is adopted to group the floor door switches. Specifically, the floor door switches K1, K2, K3, K4, K5, K6, K7, K8, K9, K10, K11, K12, K13, K14, K15, K16, K17, K18, K19, K20, K21, K22, K23, K24, K25, K 1+n , K 1+2n ...belong to the floor door switch group GK1, and the floor door switches K2 and K 2+n , K 2+2n ...belongs to the floor door switch group GK2, and so on for other floor door switches.

[0051] If m is divisible by n, the m landing door switches are evenly divided into n landing door switch groups, and the number of landing door switches in each landing door switch group is m / n. Therefore, the landing door switches corresponding to n consecutively distributed landing stations (for example, the landing door switches (K1, K2...K n ), (K n+1 , K n+2 ...K 2n ),……,(K m-n+1 , K m-n+2 ...K m )) In the floor door switch group GK1 ~ GK n are dispersed to the greatest extent possible.

[0052] For the case where m cannot be divided by n, assuming that the remainder of m divided by n is p, there are (mp) landing door switches that are evenly divided into n landing door switch groups. For the remaining p landing door switches K m-p+1 ~K m , the division method similar to the above can still be used. For example, the floor door switch K m-p+1 ~K m Classified into floor door switch group GK1~GK n Among them, p landing door switch groups and ensure that the landing door switch K m-p+1 ~K m No two floor door switches are classified into the same floor door switch group. Thus, the floor door switches corresponding to multiple landing stations distributed continuously in space can also be classified into the same floor door switch group GK1~GK n Distribute them as widely as possible.

[0053] Compared to connecting landing door switches in series to form a single landing door safety link, grouping landing door switches and thereby forming multiple landing door safety links can provide richer fault location information. Specifically, in the former method, the disconnection of a landing door safety link means that any door interlock device has the possibility of being mislocked; in contrast, in the latter method, the disconnection of one or more landing door safety links (not all safety links) means that only some door interlock devices have the possibility of being mislocked, thus providing additional information about landing door switches or door interlock devices that are not involved in the abnormal event. This additional information can be used to obtain a set of landing stations with high landing safety, thereby determining the safe landing station for the car to stop.

[0054] Furthermore, the decentralized grouping method described above will bring more benefits, such as generally shortening the travel time from the location where the car is located when the abnormal event occurs to the safe landing station.

[0055] For example, assuming that 18 landing door switches are grouped into 3 landing door switch groups in the manner described above, the landing door switches K1, K4, K7, K 10 , K 13 and K 16 Into the floor door switch group GK1, the floor door switches K2, K5, K8, K 11 , K 14 and K 17 Into the floor door switch group GK2, the floor door switches K3, K6, K9, K 12 , K 15 and K 18 For example, if an abnormal event occurs in the floor door safety link corresponding to the floor door switch group Gk2, the floor door switches K2, K5, K8, K 11 , K 14 and K 17 The corresponding floors are LS2, LS5, LS8, LS 11 LS 14 and LS 17 The landing station that is considered to be involved in the abnormal incident. Since the landing stations that are not involved in the abnormal incident are scattered throughout the floor range, no matter where the car is at this time, there is a high probability that a nearby landing station that is not involved in the abnormal incident can be selected as a safe landing station.

[0056] In contrast, if the floor door switches corresponding to multiple continuously distributed landings are assigned to the same floor door switch group (hereinafter referred to as "centralized grouping strategy"), it is possible to significantly increase the travel time from the position where the car is located when an abnormal event occurs to the safe floor station. Still taking the example of 18 floor door switch groups being divided into 3 floor door switch groups as an example, under the centralized grouping strategy, floor door switches K1, K2, K3, K4, K5 and K6 are assigned to floor door switch group GK1, and floor door switches K7, K8, K9, K10, K11 and K12 are assigned to floor door switch group GK1. 10 , K 11 and K 12 Classified into floor door switch group GK2, floor door switch K 13 , K 14 , K 15 , K 16 , K 17 and K 18 It is classified into the floor door switch group GK3. At this time, if an abnormal event occurs in the floor door safety link corresponding to the floor door switch group Gk2 and the car moves upward to the position between the floor stations LS6 and LS7, only the floor station LS 13 LS 14 LS 15 LS 16 LS 17 and LS 18It can be included in the safe landing candidate set, which means that the car needs to go through at least 6 landings before reaching the safe landing. Since the door interlock device mislocking may not be an isolated component failure event, the increase in travel will put passengers in a more dangerous situation.

[0057] Figure 3 FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method for handling a fault in an elevator system according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. The method described below can be implemented by various devices, such as but not limited to a controller in an elevator system (e.g., Figure 1 The controller 115) and the safety controller, etc., are collectively referred to as devices or control devices for handling elevator system failures.

[0058] Figure 3 The method shown starts at step 301. In this step, the control device monitors multiple door safety links (e.g. Figure 2 Floor door safety links 2401 to 240 n ) to determine whether an abnormal event associated with the floor door safety link occurs. If so, go to step 302. Otherwise, continue to execute step 301 (for example, in a periodic execution manner) to determine the status of the floor door safety link at a subsequent moment.

[0059] In this embodiment, similar to the previous embodiment, the landing door switches are also divided into multiple landing door switch groups, and the landing door switches within each landing door switch group are connected in series to form a corresponding landing door safety chain. The specific division method of the landing door switches has been described in detail above and will not be repeated here.

[0060] For example, the two ends of each floor door safety link are connected to the power supply and the control device respectively. In the closed state, the working signal input to the control device is a high-level signal, while in the open state, the working signal is a low-level signal. That is to say, the closed state and the open state of the floor door safety link can be determined according to the level of the working signal.

[0061] In some specific implementations, in addition to listing the disconnection of the landing door safety link due to the door interlock device being mislocked in the non-active control situation as an abnormal event, the inability to obtain the landing door safety link status is also listed as an abnormal event.

[0062] After step 301, Figure 3 The process shown enters step 302. In this step, the control device determines the safe floor station or floor where the car is to stop based on the movement state of the car (such as the movement speed and position of the car). The specific method for determining the safe floor station has been referred to above. Figure 2 A detailed description has been given and will not be repeated here.

[0063] Then enter step 303, the control device will execute Figure 4 The operations shown (for example, including car motion control, floor door control, elevator system shutdown and abnormal event reporting, etc.) should be noted that when the functions of abnormal event monitoring and safe floor station determination are implemented by an independent safety controller (such as a programmable electronic safety-related (PESSRAL) system), steps 301 and 302 and step 303 have different execution entities, that is, steps 301 and 302 can be executed by the safety controller, while step 303 can be executed by a controller that controls the elevator system (such as Figure 1 On the contrary, when the functions of abnormal event monitoring, safe floor station determination, elevator system control and abnormal event reporting are integrated into a single control unit, steps 301 to 303 may have the same execution entity (for example Figure 2 Controller 230 in).

[0064] Figure 4 The present invention is a flowchart of a method for handling a fault of an elevator system according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0065] Figure 4 The process shown starts at step 401, which may be followed by, for example, Figure 3 In step 302. In step 401, the control device determines whether the car has stopped at the safety floor station at the current moment. If it has stopped, it goes to step 402, otherwise, it goes to step 403.

[0066] In step 402, the control device will keep the floor door and the car door open for a set period of time (for example, 5 minutes), or keep the floor door and the car door open until it is determined that there are no passengers in the car (for example, determined based on the image inside the car captured by the image acquisition device).

[0067] After step 402, Figure 4 The process shown proceeds to step 404. In this step, the control device stops the elevator system and sends a report of the abnormal event to a remote server or cloud. In some embodiments, the report of the abnormal event may include information such as the door safety link involved in the abnormal event and the time when the abnormal event occurred.

[0068] On the other hand, in another branch step 403 of step 401, the control device generates a control command according to the movement speed and position of the car and sends the control command to the driving mechanism (for example, Figure 1111 in the elevator car) to drive the car to a safe landing. In some specific embodiments, the control device may perform an emergency braking operation or a deceleration operation on the car via the drive mechanism. For example, when the car moves at a relatively fast speed and the current position is relatively close to the landing involved in the abnormal event, the control device may send an emergency braking command to the drive mechanism to make the car pass the landing involved in the abnormal event at a low speed. For another example, if the distance between the current position and the landing involved in the abnormal event is greater than the braking distance, the control device may send a deceleration command to the drive mechanism to enable the car to stop at a safe landing located before the landing involved in the abnormal event.

[0069] After executing step 403, Figure 4 The process shown goes to step 401 to determine whether the car has stopped at a safe floor station. Steps 401 and 403 constitute a car motion control process, the control target of which is to make the car stop at the determined safe floor station.

[0070] Figure 5 The figure is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for handling a fault of an elevator system according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 5 The device shown can be used, for example, to implement a controller in an elevator system (e.g. Figure 1 Controller 115) or safety controller, etc.

[0071] like Figure 5 As shown, the apparatus 50 comprises a communication unit 510 , one or more memories 520 (eg non-volatile memory such as flash memory, ROM, hard drive, magnetic disk, optical disk), one or more processors 530 and a computer program 540 .

[0072] The communication unit 510 is configured as a communication interface to receive data from external devices (such as other units of the elevator system (such as Figure 1 Unit 111, position reference system 113 and Figure 2 Floor door safety links 2401 to 240 n ) or a network (such as the Internet and a wireless local area network, etc.) to receive control commands and data and to send control commands and data generated at the device 50 to an external device or network.

[0073] The memory 520 stores a computer program 540 that can be executed by the processor 530. In addition, the memory 520 can also store data generated by the processor 530 when executing the computer program 540 and data received from external devices via the communication unit 510 (such as the movement speed and position of the elevator car, the landing door safety link involved in the abnormal event, and the time when the abnormal event occurred, etc.).

[0074] The processor 530 is configured to execute a computer program 540 stored on the memory 520 and perform access operations on the memory 520 .

[0075] The computer program 540 may include a program for implementing Figures 2-4 The computer instructions for the various functions and operations described above enable these functions and operations to be implemented by running the computer program 540 on the processor 530 .

[0076] It should be noted that in the various embodiments described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, a landing door switch is used as an example of a landing door status detection device. However, this is merely exemplary. After reading the contents of this disclosure, those skilled in the art will recognize that, in the embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is also feasible to replace the landing door switch with other devices such as a landing door detection sensor.

[0077] It should also be noted that, with the help of Figure 2-5 In the above embodiments, the status of each landing door is detected by a single landing door status detection device (e.g., a landing door switch). However, this is merely exemplary. After reading this disclosure, those skilled in the art will recognize that the various embodiments described above with reference to the accompanying drawings are also applicable to situations where the status of each landing door is detected by multiple landing door status detection devices.

[0078] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both.

[0079] To illustrate the interchangeability between hardware and software, various schematic components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been generally described above in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in varying ways for specific specific applications, but such implementation decisions should not be construed as causing a departure from the scope of this disclosure.

[0080] Although only some specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been described, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the present disclosure may be implemented in many other forms without departing from its spirit and scope. Therefore, the examples and embodiments shown are to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive, and the present disclosure may encompass various modifications and substitutions without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined in the appended claims.

[0081] The embodiments and examples set forth herein are provided to best illustrate embodiments according to the present technology and its specific applications, and thereby enable those skilled in the art to make and use the present disclosure. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above description and examples are provided for ease of illustration and example only. The descriptions set forth are not intended to encompass all aspects of the present disclosure or to limit the present disclosure to the precise forms disclosed.

Claims

1. A method for handling a fault in an elevator system, comprising: A. monitoring the status of multiple landing door safety links, wherein the landing door status detection devices are divided into multiple landing door status detection device groups, and each landing door safety link includes one of the multiple landing door status detection device groups; and B. In response to an abnormal event associated with the landing door safety link, a safe landing station to be stopped for the car is determined based on the movement state of the car, wherein the movement state includes the movement speed and position of the car.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The landing door state detection device includes a landing door switch or a landing door detection sensor.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein One or more landing door status detection devices in each landing door status detection device group are configured to detect the status of one of the plurality of landing doors.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: C. moving the car to the safety landing; D. After the car stops at the safety floor station, the corresponding floor doors and the car door are opened.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: E. Stop the elevator system and send a report of the abnormal event to a remote server or cloud.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein: The floor door status detection device groups are divided in such a manner that the floor door status detection devices corresponding to a plurality of landings continuously distributed in space are distributed as dispersedly as possible among the plurality of floor door status detection device groups.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein: The floor door status detection device groups are divided in such a manner that the floor door status detection devices corresponding to a plurality of landings continuously distributed in space belong to different floor door status detection device groups.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein The abnormal events include: i) the door interlocking device of the landing door is unlocked without active control, causing the landing door safety link to enter a disconnected state; and ii) the state of the landing door safety link cannot be obtained.

9. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 7, wherein The safe landing is determined in such a way that the travel distance of the car from the position where the abnormal event occurs to the safe landing is shortened as much as possible.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1, 5 to 7, wherein The safe landing is determined in such a manner that if the car happens to stop at a certain landing when the abnormal event occurs, the landing is determined as the safe landing.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein: In step C, when the car is in motion, an emergency braking operation or a deceleration operation is performed on the car so that the car moves to the safety landing.

12. A device for handling a fault in an elevator system, comprising: at least one processor; at least one memory; as well as A computer program stored on the memory, when executed on the processor, causes the following operations: A. monitoring the status of multiple landing door safety links, wherein the landing door status detection devices are divided into multiple landing door status detection device groups, and each landing door safety link includes one of the multiple landing door status detection device groups; and B. In response to an abnormal event associated with the landing door safety link, a safe landing station to be stopped for the car is determined based on the movement state of the car, wherein the movement state includes the movement speed and position of the car.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein: The landing door state detection device includes a landing door switch or a landing door detection sensor.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein: One or more landing door status detection devices in each landing door status detection device group are configured to detect the status of one of the plurality of landing doors.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein: The execution of the computer program on the processor further results in the following operations: C. moving the car to the safety landing; D. After the car stops at the safety floor station, the corresponding floor doors and the car door are opened.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein: The execution of the computer program on the processor further results in the following operations: E. Stop the elevator system and send a report of the abnormal event to a remote server or cloud.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein: The floor door status detection device groups are divided in such a manner that the floor door status detection devices corresponding to a plurality of landings continuously distributed in space are distributed as dispersedly as possible among the plurality of floor door status detection device groups.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein: The floor door status detection device groups are divided in such a manner that the floor door status detection devices corresponding to a plurality of landings continuously distributed in space belong to different floor door status detection device groups.

19. The device according to any one of claims 12 to 18, wherein: The abnormal events include: i) the door interlocking device of the landing door is unlocked without active control, causing the landing door safety link to enter a disconnected state; and ii) the state of the landing door safety link cannot be obtained.

20. The device according to any one of claims 15 to 18, wherein The execution of the computer program on the processor results in determining the safe landing in such a manner that the travel distance of the car from the position at which the abnormal event occurs to the safe landing is shortened as much as possible.

21. The device according to any one of claims 12, 16-18, wherein The execution of the computer program on the processor results in determining the safe landing in the following manner: if the car happens to be parked at a certain landing when the abnormal event occurs, the landing is determined as the safe landing.

22. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein: The device is an elevator controller of the elevator system or a safety controller independent of the elevator controller.

23. The method of claim 15, wherein: The device is an elevator controller of the elevator system, and the execution of the computer program on the processor results in that in operation C, when the car is in a moving state, the car is moved to the safe landing station by performing an emergency braking operation or a deceleration operation on the car.

24. An elevator system comprising: A car, which is arranged in the elevator shaft and can move between multiple landings during operation; control unit; a drive device coupled to the control unit and configured to move or stop the car in response to a command from the control unit; and Multiple landing door safety links, wherein the landing door status detection devices are divided into multiple landing door status detection device groups, and each landing door safety link includes one of the multiple landing door status detection device groups, Wherein, the control unit is configured as follows: A. monitoring the status of the door safety link; and B. In response to an abnormal event associated with the landing door safety link, a safe landing station to be stopped for the car is determined based on the movement state of the car, wherein the movement state includes the movement speed and position of the car.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein, characterized in that: The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 is implemented by executing the instructions by a processor.

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