Elevator power supply control device and elevator power supply control method

Abstract

To enable appropriate automatic landing operation when a power abnormality occurs in a main power circuit connected to a circuit breaker.SOLUTION: An elevator power supply control device has a first circuit breaker 111 arranged on a control panel 110 and connected to a power supply circuit to which main power is supplied, and a second circuit breaker 101 connected to the power supply circuit at a location separate from the control panel 110. The second circuit breaker 101 has an auxiliary contact 101a that turns off in conjunction with the interruption of the main contact, and an alarm contact 101b that turns on when the circuit breaker detects an abnormality in the main power supply. When an interruption in the supply of main power is detected with the alarm contact 101b turned on, power is supplied from a power failure battery 116 to an elevator main circuit 115, and the elevator performs automatic landing operation.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an elevator power supply control device and an elevator power supply control method. [Background technology]

[0002] In elevators with a machine room, the main power operating device is generally installed in the control panel in the machine room. The main power supply to the hoist can be shut off by manually operating this main power operating device. However, shutting off the main power with the main power operating device is basically limited to elevator inspections, and it is prohibited to suddenly shut off the main power during normal operation. For example, it may be necessary to temporarily shut off the main power with the main power operating device during inspection work to check whether the brakes are working properly.

[0003] In addition to the main power operation device, a main power circuit breaker (second main power operation device) may be installed near the entrance to the machine room. If the main power circuit breaker is installed near the entrance to the machine room, maintenance personnel can enter the machine room and immediately operate the main power cutoff, enabling a rapid response in an emergency.

[0004] Incidentally, the main power supply of an elevator can also be cut off in the event of a power outage or a power supply abnormality such as a ground fault, short circuit, or electric leakage. When a power outage or power supply abnormality occurs while the elevator is operating, the car in operation can automatically land at the nearest floor. In other words, the elevator is equipped with an emergency battery, and when a power supply abnormality occurs due to a power outage or the like, the elevator is configured to automatically land at the nearest floor using the power supplied from the battery. Power supply abnormalities such as ground faults, short circuits, and electric leakage are detected by the overcurrent protection function and the electric leakage protection function.

[0005] On the other hand, there are cases in which the main power supply is cut off manually using the above-mentioned main power supply operating device, for example when an operator needs to urgently stop operation due to some factor while performing inspection work. In such a case, it is prohibited to immediately stop the elevator car and perform automatic landing. Patent Document 1 describes an example of an elevator that performs automatic floor landing operation during a power outage. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] JP 2018-167920 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] Power supply abnormalities such as power outages, ground faults, short circuits, and leakage current can occur during normal elevator operation, and in such cases, the elevator must perform automatic floor landing operation to prevent passengers from becoming trapped inside. Here, power supply abnormalities such as ground faults, short circuits, and leakage current can also occur due to an abnormality in the circuit breaker (second main power operating device) outside the control panel. In particular, power supply abnormalities can occur even in circuit breakers installed near the entrance and exit of the machine room. However, as explained in the Background Art section, automatic landing is prohibited when the main power control device (circuit breaker) is manually operated, so there may be cases where automatic landing operation is not possible if an abnormality occurs in the main power circuit connected to the main power control device, such as a ground fault, short circuit, or leakage current.

[0008] In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide an elevator power supply control device and an elevator power supply control method that are capable of performing appropriate automatic floor-landing operation when a power abnormality occurs in the main power supply circuit connected to a circuit breaker. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] In order to solve the above problems, for example, the configurations described in the claims are adopted. The present application includes a number of means for solving the above-mentioned problems. One example is an elevator power supply control device comprising: a first circuit breaker that is arranged on a control panel and connected to a power supply circuit to which a main power source is supplied, and that has a main contact for cutting off the main power source and an auxiliary contact that is turned off in conjunction with the cutting off of the main contact; a second circuit breaker that is connected to the power supply circuit at a location separate from the control panel, and that has a main contact for cutting off the main power source and an auxiliary contact that is turned off in conjunction with the cutting off of the main contact; an elevator main circuit to which the main power source is supplied via a power supply circuit to which the first and second circuit breakers are connected, and that obtains power for driving the elevator; a detection circuit to which the respective auxiliary contacts are connected in series; and a control circuit that stops the elevator main circuit when the detection circuit detects that any of the auxiliary contacts is off, and that supplies power from a power failure battery to the elevator main circuit when the detection circuit detects that the auxiliary contact is on and detects that the supply of the main power source to the elevator main circuit has stopped, thereby performing automatic floor-landing operation of the elevator. Here, an alarm contact which turns on when the second circuit breaker detects an abnormality in the main power supply is connected in parallel to the auxiliary contact of the second circuit breaker, and when the detection circuit detects that the alarm contact is on and detects an interruption in the supply of main power, the control circuit supplies power from the power outage battery to the elevator main circuit, causing the elevator to perform automatic floor landing operation. Effect of the Invention

[0010] According to the present invention, when the main power supply is cut off by operating the second circuit breaker, the main power supply is immediately cut off and the automatic landing operation is not performed. On the other hand, when a power supply abnormality occurs at the second circuit breaker, the automatic landing operation is performed by turning on the alarm contact, and the passengers can be appropriately rescued by the automatic landing operation. Problems, configurations and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1]1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of arrangement of circuit breakers in a machine room according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2] 1 is a circuit diagram showing an example of a power supply device for an elevator according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Diagram 3] 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a control process performed by a control circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] Hereinafter, an elevator power supply control device and an elevator power supply control method according to one embodiment of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as "this embodiment") will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0013] [Elevator and machine room configuration] FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of an elevator to which the elevator power supply control device of this embodiment is applied. In this example, the elevator has a car 11 arranged in a hoistway 10. The car 11 and a counterweight 12 are connected via a main rope 13, and the car 11 ascends and descends when driven by a hoist 14 around which the main rope 13 is wound. The car 11 stops at a landing 21 on each floor.

[0014] A machine room 30 is installed at the top of the hoistway 10, and the hoisting machine 14 and an elevator control panel 110 are installed in the machine room 30. The elevator control panel 110 controls the power supply to the hoisting machine 14, and is equipped with a circuit breaker 111 that allows an operator to manually cut off the power supply.

[0015] Further, the machine room 30 is provided with a first entrance 31 and a second entrance 32, and entrance-installed circuit breakers 101, 102 are provided inside the machine room 30 (on the wall, etc.) near the entrances 31, 32. Each of the entrance-installed circuit breakers 101, 102 is manually shut off by an operator who enters the machine room 30. Each of these circuit breakers 111, 101, 102 has an overcurrent protection function or a ground fault protection function, and when a power supply abnormality is detected by the overcurrent protection function or the ground fault protection function, each of the circuit breakers 111, 101, 102 performs a shutoff operation.

[0016] In the following explanation, the barrier 111 on the elevator control panel 110 will be referred to as the first barrier, the barrier 101 installed at the entrance near the first entrance 31 will be referred to as the second barrier, and the barrier 102 installed at the entrance near the second entrance 32 will be referred to as the third barrier. As shown in FIG. 1, a barrier 105 may be installed in the hoistway, such as in a pit at the bottom of the hoistway 10.

[0017] [Power supply circuit configuration] FIG. 2 shows the circuit configuration of an elevator power supply device that supplies elevator driving power to the hoisting machine 14. As shown in Fig. 2, the main power supply (building power supply of 200V three-phase AC power supply) supplied via power supply lead-in line 104 is supplied to elevator control panel 110 via second circuit breaker 101 and third circuit breaker 102. Second circuit breaker 101 and third circuit breaker 102 are entrance-installed circuit breakers installed near first entrance 31 and second entrance 32, as shown in Fig. 1.

[0018] The main power supply supplied to the elevator control panel 110 is connected to a first circuit breaker 111. The first circuit breaker 111 has a shutoff operation unit 112 and is equipped with an auxiliary contact 111a that is turned on and off in conjunction with shutoff of the main power supply by the shutoff operation unit 112. In other words, the auxiliary contact 111a is turned on when the shutoff operation of the main power supply is not being performed by the shutoff operation unit 112, and is turned off when the shutoff operation of the main power supply is performed by the shutoff operation unit 112. This auxiliary contact 111a is connected in series with other auxiliary contacts 101a and 102a, which will be described later.

[0019] The main power that passes through the first circuit breaker 111 is supplied to an elevator main circuit 115 via a noise filter 113 and a building power supply contactor 114. The elevator main circuit 115 is equipped with an inverter and a converter, and converts the frequency and voltage to be supplied to the hoisting machine 14 (Figure 1) under the control of the control circuit 121, and supplies the converted power to the hoisting machine 14 as a power source for driving the elevator.

[0020] Furthermore, power from a power failure battery 116 is supplied to the elevator main circuit 115 via a battery power supply contactor 117. This power supply from the power failure battery 116 is executed by a control circuit 121. Then, the elevator main circuit 115 converts the frequency and voltage for supply to the hoisting machine 14, and the converted power is supplied to the hoisting machine 14 as a power source for driving the elevator. The power supply for driving the elevator, which is supplied from the power failure battery 116 via the elevator main circuit 115 to the hoist 14, is a power supply for automatic landing operation, and is supplied only for a few seconds to stop the elevator at the landing 21 of the nearest floor.

[0021] The power supply path between noise filter 113 and building power supply contactor 114 is monitored by control circuit 121, which detects whether or not the main power is being supplied as the building power supply. When it is detected by processing described below that the main power is not being supplied in a situation where the circuit breakers 111, 101, 102 have not been shut off, control circuit 121 supplies power for driving the elevator to hoisting machine 14 from power failure battery 116 via elevator main circuit 115, and performs automatic floor arrival operation. The details of the determination processing for performing this automatic floor arrival operation will be described later.

[0022] The control circuit 121 is configured, for example, by a computer having a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that instructs the execution of arithmetic processing based on a program, and a memory that performs arithmetic processing under the control of the CPU. Note that the control circuit 121 is designed to operate using power from an auxiliary battery 122 when an external power source is not available.

[0023] Next, the configurations of the second and third crossing gates 101 and 102, which are crossing gates installed at the entrances and exits, will be described. The second circuit breaker 101 and the third circuit breaker 102 are circuit breakers that perform an operation to cut off the main power supply, and are provided with auxiliary contacts 101a, 102a and alarm contacts 101b, 102b, respectively.

[0024] That is, the second circuit breaker 101 has an auxiliary contact 101a that is turned off in conjunction with the interruption of the main power supply, and an alarm contact 101b connected in parallel to the auxiliary contact 101a. The auxiliary contact 101a is a contact that is turned off in conjunction with the interruption of the main power supply in the second circuit breaker 101, and is always on when the main power supply in the second circuit breaker 101 is not interrupted. The alarm contact 101b is a contact that is turned on when an abnormality in the main power supply (ground fault, short circuit, leakage current, etc.) is detected in the second circuit breaker 101, and is turned off when no abnormality in the main power supply is detected.

[0025] The auxiliary contact 102a and alarm contact 102b installed in the third circuit breaker 102, like the auxiliary contact 101a and alarm contact 101b of the second circuit breaker 101, are also controlled to be turned on and off based on the cut-off operation of the main power supply and the detection of an abnormality in the main power supply.

[0026] The two auxiliary contacts 101a, 102a and the alarm contacts 101b, 102b connected in parallel to the auxiliary contacts 101a, 102a are connected in series with the auxiliary contact 111a of the first circuit breaker 111, as shown in Fig. 2. A predetermined DC voltage (such as 48 V) is supplied to one end of the series circuit of the auxiliary contacts 101a, 102a, 111a and the alarm contacts 101b, 102b, and a detection circuit 103 for detecting the DC voltage is connected to the other end. The detection circuit 103 includes a timer that counts the time (about several seconds) required for the automatic floor landing operation.

[0027] The detection status of the DC voltage in the detection circuit 103 is determined by the control circuit 121. For example, when the main power supply is not interrupted in any of the circuit breakers 101, 102, 111, the auxiliary contacts 101a, 102a, 111a are turned on, and a predetermined voltage is detected in the detection circuit 103. At this time, the control circuit 121 determines that the main power supply is not interrupted in any of the circuit breakers 101, 102, 111. When the control circuit 121 determines that each of the auxiliary contacts 101a, 102a, 111a is on and no interruption operation has been performed while main power is being supplied to the elevator main circuit 115, it determines that there is no power outage and allows the operation of the elevator main circuit 115 to continue as is.

[0028] If the main power supply is cut off at any one of the circuit breakers (circuit breakers 101, 102, 111), one of the auxiliary contacts 101a, 102a, 111a will be turned off, and the detection circuit 103 will not detect the predetermined voltage. Here, when the main power supply is not supplied to the elevator main circuit 115 and the detection circuit 103 does not detect the predetermined voltage, the control circuit 121 performs processing to stop the main power supply by cutting off the main power supply at any one of the circuit breakers (circuit breakers 101, 102, 111). In other words, the control circuit 121 determines that the main power supply has stopped due to reasons other than a power outage, and stops the elevator main circuit 115 without performing automatic floor arrival operation.

[0029] However, for the second circuit breaker 101 and the third circuit breaker 102, the alarm contacts 101b and 102b are connected in parallel to the auxiliary contacts 101a and 102a, so when either of these two circuit breakers 101 and 102 performs an interruption due to a protective function caused by an overcurrent or a ground fault, the corresponding alarm contact 101b or 102b turns on. Therefore, the detection circuit 103 detects a predetermined voltage. When a predetermined voltage is detected by the detection circuit 103 in a situation where the main power supply is not supplied to the elevator main circuit 115, the control circuit 121 activates a timer built into the detection circuit 103 and executes automatic floor landing operation while the timer is operating.

[0030] In other words, if a fault such as a ground fault, short circuit, or leakage current occurs in the main power circuit from the two entrances 31, 32 to the main power circuit breaker 111 of the elevator control panel 110, the overcurrent protection function or leakage current protection function will be activated in the second circuit breaker 101 or the third circuit breaker 102 near the entrances 31, 32. Then, due to this overcurrent protection function or leakage current protection function, the second circuit breaker 101 or the third circuit breaker 102 will perform a circuit breaker operation. At this time, the auxiliary contacts 101a, 102a linked to the second circuit breaker 101 or the third circuit breaker 102 will be linked and cut off to the OFF state, so that if this state continues, automatic floor arrival operation cannot be performed.

[0031] In this example, the second circuit breaker 101 and the third circuit breaker 102 are connected to alarm contacts 101b, 102b in parallel with the auxiliary contacts 101a, 102a, and the alarm contacts 101b, 102b are configured to issue an alarm when the second circuit breaker 101 or the third circuit breaker 102 performs a cut-off operation as a protective function against overcurrent or leakage current. For example, if a fault such as a ground fault, short circuit, or leakage current occurs in the main power circuit breaker 111 of the elevator control panel 110 from the two entrances 31, 32 to the main power circuit breaker 111 of the elevator control panel 110, at least one of the second circuit breaker 101 and the third circuit breaker 102 near the two entrances 31, 32 will perform a circuit breaker operation using the overcurrent protection function or the leakage current protection function.

[0032] At this time, auxiliary contacts 101a, 102a linked to the activated circuit breakers 101, 102 are shut off and turned off, but alarm contacts 101b, 102b remain on because the shutoff is a protective function. That is, the on state of alarm contacts 101b, 102b is detected by detection circuit 103 for performing automatic floor arrival operation, and a timer in detection circuit 103 is activated. Then, while this timer is operating, control circuit 121 supplies power from power failure battery 116 to elevator main circuit 115, causing automatic floor arrival operation to be performed.

[0033] Incidentally, the circuit breaker 111 in the elevator control panel 110 is provided with only an auxiliary contact 111a, and is not configured to connect an alarm contact in parallel with the auxiliary contact 111a. This is to prevent the automatic rescue operation function from operating normally in the event of a power outage if the breaker (main contact operating device) is tripped due to an overcurrent or leakage current within the elevator control function, thereby reducing the possibility of secondary failures.

[0034] [Control operation from the perspective of the control circuit] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a control operation when detection circuit 103 detects a break due to an overcurrent or a ground fault. The control circuit 121 monitors the power supply path between the noise filter 113 and the building power supply contactor 114, and determines whether or not the supply of main power to the elevator main circuit 115 has stopped (step S11). If the supply of main power is not stopped (NO in step S11), the control circuit 121 repeats the determination in step S11.

[0035] Then, when it is determined in step S11 that the supply of main power has stopped (YES in step S11), the control circuit 121 determines whether or not the timer of the detection circuit 103 is operating (step S12). When it is determined in step S12 that the timer of the detection circuit 103 is operating, that is, when it is detected that the alarm contacts 101b and 102b are on (YES in step S12), the control circuit 121 supplies power from the power failure battery 116 to the elevator main circuit 115, and executes the automatic floor-landing operation (step S13).

[0036] That is, after the automatic floor arrival operation is started in step S13, the process returns to the judgment in step S12, and the automatic floor arrival operation is executed while the timer is running. The automatic floor arrival operation is an operation for stopping the elevator car at the nearest floor, for example, for about a few seconds. Then, if the timer of the detection circuit 103 is not operating in step S12 (NO in step S12), the control circuit 121 stops the power supply to the elevator main circuit 115 (step S14), and ends the processing when the supply of main power to the elevator main circuit 115 is stopped.

[0037] As described above, according to the elevator power supply control device of this example, when a shutoff operation is performed at the second circuit breaker 101 or the third circuit breaker 102 installed near the entrances / exits 31, 32 of the machine room 30, automatic floor-landing operation is not performed, and the elevator operation is immediately stopped by the shutoff operation. On the other hand, when the second circuit breaker 101 or the third circuit breaker 102 performs a cut-off operation due to the overcurrent protection function or the earth leakage protection function, an automatic floor landing operation is performed upon detection that the alarm contact 101b or 102b has been turned on, making it possible to properly rescue passengers.

[0038] In addition, the first circuit breaker 111 installed on the elevator control panel 110 is designed not to perform automatic floor arrival operation even if a circuit breaker operation is performed by the overcurrent protection function or the earth leakage protection function. This makes it possible to prevent the automatic floor arrival operation from being performed in a situation where the automatic floor arrival operation function during a power outage may not function normally.

[0039] [Variations] It should be noted that the embodiment examples described so far have been described in detail in order to explain the present invention in an easily understandable manner, and are not necessarily limited to those having all of the configurations described. 1, for example, the machine room 30 is provided with two entrances 31, 32, and the barriers 101, 102 are installed at the entrances 31, 32, respectively. In contrast, when the machine room 30 is configured with one entrance, the third barrier 102 may be omitted.

[0040] Also, the barrier may be installed in a location other than near the entrance of the machine room 30. For example, as shown in Fig. 1, a circuit breaker 105 may be installed in a pit at the bottom of the elevator shaft 10. In this case, the circuit breaker 105 is connected to the main power supply circuit in the same manner as the circuit breakers 101 and 102 shown in Fig. 2, and the auxiliary contact and the alarm contact are connected in parallel, and then connected in series with another auxiliary contact. As a result, when a worker in the pit operates the circuit breaker 105 to shut off the car, the car immediately stops, and if the circuit breaker 105 shuts off due to its overcurrent protection function or leakage current protection function, automatic floor landing operation is performed in the event of a power outage. [Explanation of symbols]

[0041] 10...hoistway, 11...car, 12...counterweight, 13...main rope, 14...hoisting machine, 21...landing, 30...machine room, 31...first entrance / exit, 32...second entrance / exit, 101...second circuit breaker (circuit breaker installed at entrance / exit), 101a...auxiliary contact, 101b...alarm contact, 102...third circuit breaker (circuit breaker installed at entrance / exit), 102a...auxiliary contact, 102b...alarm contact, 103...detection circuit, 104...power supply lead-in line, 105...circuit breaker, 110...elevator control panel, 111...first circuit breaker, 111a...auxiliary contact, 112...circuit breaker operation unit, 113...noise filter, 114...building power supply contactor, 115...elevator main circuit, 116...power outage battery, 117...battery power supply contactor, 121...control circuit, 122...auxiliary battery

Claims

1. a first circuit breaker that is disposed in a control panel, that is connected to a power supply circuit to which a main power source is supplied, and that has a main contact that cuts off the main power source and an auxiliary contact that is turned off in conjunction with the cutting off of the main contact; a second circuit breaker connected to the power supply circuit at a location separate from the control panel, the second circuit breaker having a main contact for cutting off the main power supply and an auxiliary contact that is turned off in conjunction with the cutting off of the main contact; an elevator main circuit that is supplied with main power via the power supply circuit to which the first circuit breaker and the second circuit breaker are connected, and obtains power for driving the elevator; a detection circuit to which each of the auxiliary contacts is connected in series; a control circuit which stops the elevator main circuit when the detection circuit detects that any of the auxiliary contacts are off, and which supplies power from a power outage battery to the elevator main circuit when the detection circuit detects that the auxiliary contacts are on and detects that the supply of the main power source to the elevator main circuit has stopped, thereby performing automatic floor-landing operation of the elevator, an alarm contact that is turned on when the second circuit breaker detects an abnormality in the main power supply is connected in parallel to the auxiliary contact of the second circuit breaker; When the detection circuit detects that the alarm contact is on and detects a stop in the supply of the main power supply, the control circuit supplies power from a power failure battery to the elevator main circuit and performs automatic floor landing operation of the elevator. Elevator power control device.

2. The second barrier is disposed near the entrance of the elevator machine room. The elevator power supply control device according to claim 1.

3. The detection circuit has a timer that counts a fixed period of time, The control circuit, upon detecting the interruption of the main power supply, performs an automatic floor-landing operation of the elevator while the timer counts the certain period of time due to the alarm contact being turned on, and stops the power supply from the power failure battery after the certain period of time has elapsed. The elevator power supply control device according to claim 1.

4. The power supply circuit further includes a third circuit breaker having a main contact that is connected to the power supply circuit and cuts off the main power supply, an auxiliary contact that is turned off in conjunction with the cutoff of the main contact, and an alarm contact that is connected in parallel with the auxiliary contact, The detection circuit is configured to connect the auxiliary contacts in series, The control circuit supplies power from the power failure battery to the elevator main circuit even when the alarm contact of the third circuit breaker is turned on, and performs automatic floor landing operation of the elevator. The elevator power supply control device according to claim 1.

5. a first circuit breaker that is disposed in a control panel, that is connected to a power supply circuit to which a main power source is supplied, and that has a main contact that cuts off the main power source and an auxiliary contact that is turned off in conjunction with the cutting off of the main contact; a second circuit breaker connected to the power supply circuit at a location separate from the control panel and having a main contact for cutting off the main power supply, an auxiliary contact that is turned off in conjunction with the cutting off of the main contact, and an alarm contact that is connected in parallel with the auxiliary contact and turned on in the event of a power supply abnormality; an elevator main circuit that is supplied with main power through the power circuit to which the first circuit breaker and the second circuit breaker are connected, and obtains power for driving the elevator, and when it is detected that the main power supply to the elevator main circuit has been stopped while the alarm contact is turned on, an automatic floor arrival operation process is executed to supply power from a power failure backup battery to the elevator main circuit and perform an automatic floor arrival operation of the elevator. Elevator power control method.

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