Method and device for assessing exploitation intensity of steel-polyurethane hoist ropes of passenger lifts

Abstract

According to the invention, a device and method are provided for assessing exploitation intensity of steel-polyurethane hoist ropes of a passenger lift that use measuring modules (6, 7, 8, 9) located around components (1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 12) of the passenger lift for registering characteristic exploitation parameters of the passenger lift, and a coincidence module (5) for simultaneously collecting and analyzing the exploitation parameters of the passenger lift received from the measuring modules (6, 7, 8, 9) to assess the exploitation intensity of the hoist rope (3).

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a method and a device for assessing the exploitation intensity of steel-polyurethane hoist ropes, which are applicable in particular in passenger lifts.

[0002] Passenger lifts are commonly used to transport people in residential buildings, public buildings, workplaces and other places. Regular use of passenger lifts causes wear of the mechanism and components, including steel-polyurethane hoist ropes, and therefore, to ensure safety and possibly uninterrupted operation, it is necessary to check their technical condition by qualified personnel regularly. However, frequent inspections are associated with increased operating costs and temporary exclusion of the lift from operation, even if the technical condition of the lift's hoist ropes is good. On the other hand, possible technical problems between inspection intervals may threaten lift users or at least cause inconvenience resulting from the lift being taken out of service until it is repaired. Also, the cost of possible replacement of hoist ropes together with rope pulleys is a significant problem for the operator (owner of the lift).Prior art

[0003] WO 2013 / 187783 A1 a device for assessing the power consumption efficiency of lifts, which is characterized in that it contains a microcomputer-based portable programmable data acquisition system with registration of the measured parameters in non-volatile memory that has measurement sensors coupled with processing blocks of the intelligent transducer connected with the data acquisition system and with the supervising program on a personal computer. The application also relates to a method for examining the power consumption efficiency of lifts, and it contains no information about hoist ropes wear assessment.

[0004] US 2012 / 138388 A1 describes an elevator system operated while recording the energy consumption of at least one energy consumer of the elevator system and at least one traffic situation of the elevator system. At least one energy consumption value is determined for the recorded energy consumption and the recorded traffic situation, and the calculated energy consumption value is output to at least one output means. The determination of energy consumption contains no information about steel-polyurethane hoist ropes.

[0005] CN102030233A describes an elevator energy efficiency measuring method.

[0006] CN102633173A describes a system and method for monitoring the operation state of an elevator car using an acceleration sensor and a distance-measuring sensor. In the solution, there is no mention of assessing the technical condition of hoist ropes supporting a lift cabin based on the work performed by these hoist ropes, i.e. the number of cycles performed simultaneously with the loading of the mass of passengers.

[0007] CN112249830A describes an elevator safety evaluating system based on data fusion. The system comprises, among others: a speed monitoring unit, a tension monitoring unit, a vibration monitoring unit, a pressure monitoring unit, a voltage monitoring unit and units for fusing data from sensors and judging units. The solution does not consider the condition of hoist ropes.

[0008] CN112478971A discloses a solution concerning an integrated management cloud platform for elevator operation fault analysis and diagnosis. The solution uses, among others, a tension sensor installed on an elevator wire rope. Data collected from sensors can be sent to a cloud for analysis and diagnosis. In this solution, information concerning the tension of wire ropes is collected without their fatigue assessment due to bendings (numbers of cycles).

[0009] US2015360912A1 discloses a solution concerning, among others, a light curtain used in passenger elevators, using which the number of passengers in the elevator car is determined.

[0010] Even though the solutions mentioned above are known in the state of the art to monitor and assess various aspects of the lift's condition, there is still a need for a comprehensive technical solution that would allow for a trustworthy and reliable exploitation intensity assessment of steel-polyurethane hoist ropes of passenger lifts, in particular service life assessment, taking into account the actual work performed by the hoist ropes.

[0011] In connection with the above, there is a technical problem of providing a solution that would enable the current assessment of the exploitation intensity of steel-polyurethane hoist ropes of passenger lifts and early detection of their increased wear.

[0012] The aim is to provide a measuring device and an appropriate method to assess the technical condition of a steel-polyurethane hoist rope of a passenger lift in terms of its exploitation intensity.

[0013] The problem mentioned above is solved according to the invention by a device and a method defined in independent claims.

[0014] A device for assessing exploitation intensity of steel-polyurethane hoist ropes of a passenger lift comprising a lift cabin equipped with cabin doors with a drive, moving in a shaft and suspended on the steel-polyurethane hoist ropes mounted on a traction sheave and having attached a counterweight, wherein the traction sheave is driven using a drive unit controlled using a control system, is characterized in that it comprises measuring modules located around components of the passenger lift for registering characteristic exploitation parameters of the passenger lift and comprises a coincidence module, connected to said measuring modules, for simultaneously collecting and analyzing the exploitation parameters of the passenger lift received from the measuring modules to assess the exploitation intensity of the hoist rope.

[0015] In one preferred embodiment of the device, the measuring modules are selected from a group comprising a laser displacement module of the lift cabin in the shaft, a voltage generator module coupled to a drive wheel of the drive unit, a deflection measuring module of the hoist ropes attached to the hoist rope and a light curtain module mounted in the cabin doors.

[0016] In another preferred embodiment of the device, the light curtain module has a segmented structure that enables unambiguous identification of disturbances in the lift cabin entry space regardless of where a passenger or other traffic source generates traffic.

[0017] In a further preferred embodiment of the device, the coincidence module is communicatively connected to an external memory to transmit the measured exploitation parameters and / or analysis results.

[0018] A method for assessing the exploitation intensity of steel-polyurethane hoist ropes of a passenger lift is characterized in that characteristic exploitation parameters of the passenger lift are registered using one or more measuring modules located around components of the passenger lift. Using a coincidence module, the exploitation parameters of the passenger lift received from the measuring modules are collected and analyzed, and the exploitation intensity of the steel-polyurethane hoist rope of the passenger lift is assessed based thereon.

[0019] In one preferred embodiment of the method, the registered exploitation parameters of the passenger lift influencing the determination of the exploitation intensity of the hoist rope are selected from a group comprising: a lift load, a velocity of the lift cabin, a number of signal disturbances of a light curtain, a distance travelled by the lift cabin and an operating time of the lift.

[0020] In another preferred embodiment of the method, the exploitation parameters of the passenger lift are registered using of the measuring modules selected from a group comprising a laser displacement module of a lift cabin in a shaft, a voltage generator module coupled to a drive wheel of a drive unit, a hoist rope deflection measuring module attached to the hoist rope and a light curtain module mounted in cabin doors.

[0021] In a further preferred embodiment of the method, the exploitation parameters are collected within a predetermined period, working cycles, the total distance travelled by the lift cabin, the total mass of the passengers and the operating time of the lift are calculated based thereon, and the calculated parameters are compared with the values specified by a producer of the lift.

[0022] In a further preferred embodiment of the method, the registered exploitation parameters and / or analysis results of the exploitation assessment of the passenger lift are transmitted to an external memory.

[0023] In a further preferred embodiment of the method, fuzzy logic is used to assess the exploitation intensity of the steel-polyurethane hoist rope of the passenger lift.

[0024] The invention also encompasses a computer-readable storage medium comprising program instructions, which, when executed by a microcomputer of the coincidence module, cause it to perform the above-described method steps.

[0025] Knowledge about the registered operating parameters guarantees a reliable assessment of the load transferred by the lift, its operating time, the distance travelled (displacements) by the cabin, its speed and the number of passengers. This allows for the assessment of the hoist rope exploitation intensity, including, among others, the assessment of its service life as the most crucial element of the safety of the lift device. The term service life in the context of the present invention is to be understood as the boundary parameters used for assessing and identifying the technical condition, determined based on the number of work cycles and load status of handling equipment during the assumed period of operation, taking into account actual conditions of use - in accordance with the Regulation of the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Technology of October 2008. A steel-polyurethane hoist rope in the context of this invention is to be understood as a hoist rope made of steel ropes embedded in a polyurethane matrix.

[0026] The invention enables online observation of exploitation parameters and their simultaneous registration. The method, according to the invention, implemented e.g. by a dedicated software, analyzes the exploitation status of a steel-polyurethane hoist rope of a lift, and the recorded parameters in a given period, e.g. over a week, allow for the assessment of the service life of the elements of the lift device, including also the hoist rope. The advantage is the mobility of the measuring device (the possibility of installing it on any existing and operated lift to perform measurements necessary to calculate the service life of its selected elements). Another advantage is the ability to remotely transmit information about individual parameters to an external memory, e.g. to the "cloud", and to remotely access them.

[0027] An important feature that distinguishes the present invention and ensures an inventive contribution is the collection of essential, specially selected parameters affecting the exploitation intensity of hoist ropes of the lift using dedicated measuring modules and their joint, comprehensive assessment, taking into account the mutual dependencies and correlations of the measured parameters, which allows to reliably and firmly assess wear and determine the so-called service life.

[0028] The subject of the invention, in embodiments, is shown in the drawing, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the components of a passenger lift; Fig. 2 shows the passenger lift equipped with a device according to the invention;

[0029] Fig. shows a simplified block diagram of the device according to the invention with connected measuring modules and a coincidence module;

[0030] According to the schematic diagram of a passenger lift presented in fig. 1, a lift cabin 11 equipped with cabin doors 4 with a drive is situated in a shaft 12 of the lift, in which it is moved along guides (not shown) in the vertical direction up and down between the individual floors P1 - P4 by means of a mechanism located in an engine room at the top of the shaft 12. The lift cabin 11 and a counterweight 13 balancing the weight of the cabin are suspended on hoist ropes 3 hanging from a traction sheave 15. The rotational movement of the traction sheave 15 caused by an attached drive unit 1 causes the unwinding or winding of the hoist ropes 3 on the traction sheave 15, and, as a result, the cabin 11 and the counterweight 13 move vertically in opposite directions.

[0031] A control system 2 of the lift receives on an ongoing basis signals about the position of the lift cabin 11 in the shaft 12 by means of, e.g., a laser sensor and transmits appropriate control signals to a converter 14, which, taking into account the load measurement and rotational speed measurement of the traction sheave 15, appropriately adjusts the power supply to a motor of the drive unit 1.

[0032] Fig. 2 shows an installation of the passenger lift from fig. 1, which has been equipped with a device according to the invention comprising a coincidence module 5 located in the engine room, to which individual measuring modules 6-9 are connected, described in more detail below.

[0033] Fig. 3 shows the drive unit 1, the control system 2, the hoist ropes 3, and the cabin doors 4 with the drive, described previously with reference to fig. 1, in the form of particular diagram blocks. According to the invention, the indicated elements 1 - 4 of the lift are equipped with the measuring modules presented in fig. 2, in the form of a laser displacement module 6, a voltage generator module 7 coupled to a drive wheel of the drive unit 1, a hoist rope deflection measuring module 8 and a light curtain module 9, which are connected to the coincidence module 5, which receives signals transmitted by the mentioned measuring modules 6 - 9. In the coincidence module 5, simultaneous acquisition of measurement data from individual modules 6-9 and their comprehensive analysis takes place, as a result of which, after carrying out the analysis, for example using specialized dedicated software, the exploitation intensity of the hoist ropes and the entire lift can be assessed. This facilitates assessing the so-called service life of the lift, including the hoist ropes. In the presented example, the coincidence module 5 allows sending information about individual measured parameters to an external memory 10, e.g. to the "cloud" and remotely accessing them.

[0034] Below, with reference to figs. 2 and 3, a more detailed description of the coincidence module 5 and the individual measuring modules 6 - 9 used in the described embodiment is provided.

[0035] The coincidence module 5 is a microcomputer with a data acquisition system comprising an analogue-to-digital converter. The condition parameters of the lift device affecting the exploitation intensity of the hoist ropes 3 are provided by the measuring modules 6, 7, 8, 9, providing the respective signals: the distance travelled by the passenger lift cabin 11 in the shaft 12 of the lift (the laser displacement module 6), the speed of lowering or raising the cabin 11 (the voltage generator module 7), the weight of the passenger lift cabin 11 (the hoist rope deflection measuring module 8), the number of entries and exits of people to and from the passenger lift cabin 11 (the light curtain module 9).

[0036] The laser displacement module 6 is a laser rangefinder with a voltage output connected to the AC converter of the microcomputer of the coincidence module 5. The module mounted on the top of the shaft 12 of the passenger lift, for example near the top wall of the shaft 12 directly under the engine room, measures in a known way the distance from a fixed reference point, i.e. its installation point, to an installed reflector located on the passenger lift cabin 11, for example on the upper wall (roof) of the cabin 11. Both elements, i.e. the module and the reflector, must have a direct line of sight for the entire range of movement of the cabin 11, so that the distance is measured for every possible position of the cabin 11 in the shaft 12 of the lift. The output voltage signal of the laser displacement module 6 is directly proportional to the distance of the cabin 11 (i.e. the reflector) from the reference point and is a measure of the distance travelled by the cabin 11. Alternatively, the module and reflector may be swapped or placed such that the module is located at the bottom of the cabin and measures the distance from the reflector located below the cabin 11, for example at the bottom of the shaft 12, or both elements are swapped.

[0037] The voltage generator module 7 is a DC generator connected to the drive wheel of the drive unit 1, the output signal of which is connected to the AC converter of the microcomputer of the coincidence module 5. The generated voltage signal is directly proportional to the speed of movement of the passenger lift cabin 11, and the sign of the generated voltage informs about the movement direction of the cabin 11 (up, down).

[0038] The hoist rope deflection measuring module 8 is a strain gauge transducer for measuring the tension force of the hoist rope 3 of the passenger lift. The hoist rope deflection measuring module 8 is mounted by attaching it to the hoist rope 3 in such a way that the deformed hoist rope 3 presses the strain gauge transducer element, generating a voltage signal directly proportional to the tension force of the hoist rope 3.

[0039] The light curtain module 9 is an optical sensor consisting of a transmitter and a receiver placed respectively in the doors 4 of the passenger lift cabin 11 so that each person entering or leaving the cabin 11 intersects a light beam between the transmitter and the receiver of the light curtain module 9. Each beam intersection is counted and is a measure of the number of people entering and exiting. This information is related to the measurement made by the hoist rope deflection measuring module 8, specifying the number of inputs (mass gain of the cabin 11) or the number of outputs (mass loss of the cabin 11).

[0040] The coincidence module 5 comprises a microcomputer cooperating with input circuits in which data acquisition is carried out by an analogue-to-digital converter module providing information from the measuring modules 6, 7, 8, and 9. The microcomputer software performs ongoing analysis of the collected input data and assesses the degree of wear of the hoist ropes 3 of the passenger lift. The resulting assessment is stored in a non-volatile memory of the coincidence module 5 and can be read continuously via an Internet connection (i.e. sent to an external memory 10 in a remote location) by the company supervising the operation of the passenger lift.

[0041] Connections between the coincidence module 5 and individual measuring modules 6 - 9 and the external memory 10 can be made in any convenient way that enables the transfer of measurement data, e.g. by wire, i.e. via an electric cable or optical fibre, however, another form of connection is also possible, e.g. a wireless connection using appropriate transmitters and receivers, which has an identical function, i.e. it allows for easy signal communication between the coincidence module 5 and the modules 6 - 9 and / or the external memory 10. The coincidence module 5 is located, for example, in the engine room of the lift to ensure reliable and uninterrupted reading of the described parameters, and its connection with the external memory (e.g. server) guarantees its independent operation. It is also possible to place the coincidence module in another convenient place within the lift installation, or even outside it, as long as continuous reading of parameters from the individual measuring modules 6 - 9 is ensured.

[0042] The analysis of the measurement data carried out in the microcomputer of the coincidence module (or alternatively in a remote device reading parameters from the external memory 10) consists in developing, based on expert knowledge (e.g. fuzzy logic algorithms), a unified assessment of the degree of wear of the hoist ropes 3 of the passenger lift. The degree of wear of the hoist ropes 3 of the passenger lift depends on the exploitation intensity, which is determined based on data obtained directly or indirectly from the readings of exploitation parameters provided by the measuring modules 6-9. Directly obtained exploitation parameters are values provided by the individual measuring modules 6-9, such as a lift load, a velocity of the lift cabin 11, a number of signal disturbances of the light curtain 9, a distance travelled by the lift cabin 11. Indirectly derived parameters are parameters obtained e.g. in connection with a specific period or derived based on of said directly obtained parameters and include, for example: number and length of work cycles, load value of the passenger lift in correlation with the cycles, service life, number of people transported.

[0043] The analysis of the collected measurement data, including the directly and indirectly obtained parameters, is the basis for determining the period of safe exploitation of the steel-polyurethane hoist rope of the passenger lift (its service life) based on its actual wear. The adopted procedure for assessing the service life of the hoist rope 3 takes into account working cycles correlated with the hoist rope load. The registered signals concerning the current load on the hoist rope 3, the distance travelled by the cabin 11 and its direction of travel are analyzed in dedicated software. After a set period of measurement registration, e.g. a week, a month or other convenient period, a schedule of actual travels is presented, indicating the spots on the hoist rope with the highest number of work cycles performed. These are the spots with the highest probability of fatigue changes, often manifested by changes in these places of the metallic cross-section (cracks in the wires of the steel-polyurethane hoist rope). Performing non-destructive testing (NDT) on this basis allows to verify the true need for a possible replacement of the hoist rope and extends the service life of the lift components.

[0044] Based on the analysis performed, the coincidence module 5 may, for example, signal the need to carry out maintenance and additional non-destructive testing of the hoist rope using the magnetic method, e.g. if the tested structure reaches the number of cycles recommended by the manufacturer or a specific number of years of operation. Currently, despite the possibilities offered to lift owners by the minister's regulation on the assessment of service life, there is often an increase in the operating costs of the lift caused by the unnecessary and expensive replacement of hoist ropes. Hence, online knowledge about reliable exploitation intensity, which includes the number of cycles and the transferred load, becomes essential. A positive effect of the invention is the possibility of the practical importance of assessing the exploitation intensity of hoist ropes, which may result in additional NDT testing.

[0045] In an exemplary implementation of the method according to the invention, the coincidence module 5, over a period of one week, continuously registers exploitation parameters read from the measuring modules 6-9, such as the movement velocity of the cabin 11, the number of people getting in / out of the cabin 11, a distance travelled by the cabin 11 as the sum of the distances, load of the hoist rope 3. Based on the data collected in the indicated period, the module 5 performs a reliable analysis consisting, e.g., in calculating indirect parameters, i.e.: duty cycles (their distribution along the length), total distance travelled, total passenger mass, lift operating time and compares them with the values specified by the manufacturer and, as a result, it assesses the degree of exploitation of the hoist ropes 3.

[0046] In case of significant operational changes, the coincidence module 5 signals the need to perform ongoing maintenance or special tests (e.g. by using magnetic tests), which allow for identifying the most worn places in the hoist rope. The mentioned signalling may take place by sending an appropriate notification or warning, e.g. to the external memory 10 or an external device from which it is read by the system operator, who can take appropriate actions on this basis.

[0047] The above-described invention is not limited to the presented embodiment and covers all solution variants falling within the scope of protection specified by the attached claims.

Claims

1. A device for assessing exploitation intensity of steel-polyurethane hoist ropes of a passenger lift comprising a lift cabin (11) equipped with cabin doors (4) with a drive, moving in a shaft (12) and suspended on the steel-polyurethane hoist ropes (3) mounted on a traction sheave (15) and having attached a counterweight (13), wherein the traction sheave (15) is driven using a drive unit (1) controlled using a control system (2), characterized in that it comprises measuring modules (6, 7, 8, 9) located around components (1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 12) of the passenger lift for registering characteristic exploitation parameters of the passenger lift and comprises a coincidence module (5), connected to said measuring modules (6, 7, 8, 9), for simultaneously collecting and analyzing the exploitation parameters of the passenger lift received from the measuring modules (6, 7, 8, 9) to assess the exploitation intensity of the hoist rope (3).

2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the measuring modules (6, 7, 8, 9) are selected from a group comprising a laser displacement module (6) of the lift cabin (11) in the shaft (12), a voltage generator module (7) coupled to a drive wheel of the drive unit (1), a hoist rope deflection measuring module (8) attached to the hoist rope (3) and a light curtain module (9) mounted in the cabin doors (4).

3. The device according to claim 2, characterized in that the light curtain module (9) has a segmented structure enabling unambiguous identification of disturbances of the lift cabin (11) entry space regardless of the location where a passenger or other traffic source generates traffic.

4. The device according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that the coincidence module (5) is communicatively connected to an external memory (10) in order to transmit the measured exploitation parameters and / or analysis results.

5. A method for assessing exploitation intensity of steel-polyurethane hoist ropes of a passenger lift, characterized in that characteristic exploitation parameters of the passenger lift are registered using one or more measuring modules (6, 7, 8, 9) located around components (1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 12) of the passenger lift, and the exploitation parameters of the passenger lift received from the measuring modules (6, 7, 8, 9) are collected and analyzed using a coincidence module (5) and the exploitation intensity of the steel-polyurethane hoist rope (3) of the passenger lift is assessed based thereon.

6. The method according to claim 5 characterized in that the registered exploitation parameters of the passenger lift influencing the determination of the exploitation intensity of the hoist rope are selected from a group comprising: a lift load, a velocity of the lift cabin (11), a number of signal disturbances of a light curtain (9), a distance travelled by the lift cabin (11) and an operating time of the lift.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that the exploitation parameters of the passenger lift are registered by means of the measuring modules selected from a group comprising a laser displacement module (6) of the lift cabin (11) in a shaft (12), a voltage generator module (7) coupled to a drive wheel of a drive unit (1), a hoist rope deflection measuring module (8) attached to the hoist rope (3) and a light curtain module (9) mounted in cabin doors (4).

8. The method according to claim 5 or 6 or 7, characterized in that the exploitation parameters are collected within a predetermined period, working cycles, the total distance travelled by the lift cabin (11), the total mass of the passengers and the operating time of the lift are calculated based thereon, and the calculated parameters are compared with the values specified by a producer of the lift.

9. The method according to claim 5 or 6 or 7 or 8, characterized in that the registered exploitation parameters and / or analysis results of the exploitation assessment of the passenger lift are transmitted to an external memory (10).

10. The method according to claim 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 or 9, characterized in that fuzzy logic is used to assess the exploitation intensity of the steel-polyurethane hoist rope of the passenger lift.

11. A computer-readable storage medium comprising program instructions, which, when executed by a microcomputer of the coincidence module (5), cause it to perform the method steps according to any one of claims 5 - 10.

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