Elevator facility

Abstract

To prevent the spread of pathogens through elevator use and ensure safety and security.SOLUTION: An elevator facility includes a control panel 15 that performs control including movement and stopping of a car 12, and opening and closing of an inner door 14 and an outer door 16. The control panel 15 has a first door control that keeps the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 open when the elevator car 12 moves to and stops at any of landings 18-1 to 18-n of a building and is in a standby state, and a second door control that keeps the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 open until a predetermined volume of air in the car 12 is ventilated. The first door control and the second door control are performed according to a preset time schedule, and ventilation by a ventilation device 20 efficiently discharges droplet nuclei containing pathogens remaining in the air in the car 12, thereby suppressing and preventing infection for the next user.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an elevator installation in which measures are taken to suppress and prevent the infection of pathogens. [Background technology]

[0002] It is known that the primary cause of infection for various infectious diseases caused by pathogens such as viruses and bacteria is contact infection, and the secondary cause is droplet infection.

[0003] Contact infection means that, for example, after an infected person covers their mouth or cough with their hand, they touch an object around them with their hand, which then transfers the pathogen to their hand, and another person touches that object and transfers the pathogen to their hand, which then touches their mouth or nose and becomes infected through the mucous membranes. Common places of infection include train and bus straps, doorknobs, and switches.

[0004] Droplet infection refers to the process in which droplets containing pathogens are released when an infected person sneezes, coughs, or spits, and another person inhales them through their mouth or nose. Major places where infection can occur include places where many people gather, such as schools, theaters, and crowded trains.

[0005] In order to prevent infection with various infectious diseases caused by pathogens such as viruses and bacteria, it is recommended to, for example, wear a mask, maintain social distance between people, wash your hands, and disinfect or sterilize objects that you touch. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] JP 2019-151475 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2017-121984 A [Patent Document 3] JP 2020-092968 A [Patent Document 4] JP 2006-137537 A [Patent Document 5] International Publication No. 2020 / 188798 [Patent Document 6] JP 2010-163231 A [Patent Document 7] JP 2011-001181 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] Incidentally, infection inside elevator cars is a problem as a place where droplet infection can occur. Elevators have poor ventilation, and when an infected person gets in, in addition to droplet infection caused by the infected person's coughing or sneezing, droplet nuclei containing dried, lighter pathogens remain suspended in the air inside the elevator, posing a high risk of infection. Droplets are particles containing water with a diameter of 5 micrometers or more, and droplet nuclei are droplets that have dried and become smaller and are 5 micrometers or less in diameter.

[0008] The present invention aims to provide elevator equipment that suppresses and prevents infection caused by droplet nuclei containing airborne pathogens, thereby ensuring safety and security. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] (Elevator facilities) The present invention relates to an elevator installation, comprising: A car that moves and stops at any of the floor landings in a building to allow passengers to board and disembark, An inner door is provided at the entrance and exit of the car and is opened when the car moves to and stops at any of the floor landings; An outer door is provided at each landing and opens in conjunction with the inner door when the car stops moving. A ventilation device provided in the car; A processing means for performing control including movement and stopping of the car, and opening and closing of the inner door and the outer door; Equipped with The processing means includes: a first door control that keeps the inner door and the outer door open when the car moves to and stops at any of the floor landings and is in a standby state; a second door control that keeps the inner door and the outer door open until a predetermined volume of air in the car is ventilated; having A feature of this system is that the first door control and the second door control are performed according to a preset time schedule.

[0010] Here, the waiting state refers to the state after the car has stopped at a platform and before the platform button at the platform or the destination floor button inside the car is operated and the car starts moving, and is a concept that includes the state before the car starts moving in response to instructions from the control panel during automatic operation.

[0011] (Day and night time schedule) The time schedule is that the first door is controlled during the day and the second door is controlled at night.

[0012] (Weekday and holiday schedules) The time schedule is as follows: the first door is controlled on weekdays, and the second door is controlled on holidays. Effect of the Invention

[0013] (Effect of elevator facilities) According to the elevator equipment of the present invention, when the car moves to and stops at any of the floor landings, conventionally, the open inner and outer doors (hereinafter simply referred to as "the doors") are closed after a predetermined time and the car waits. However, in the present invention, the doors are kept open while the car waits, and the car becomes an open space open to the outside. Droplet nuclei containing pathogens expelled by infected people and floating in the air are efficiently and quickly removed from the car by ventilation using the ventilation device in the open space, making it possible to suppress and prevent infection for the next passenger who will board the car.

[0014] (Effect of keeping the door open in standby mode until the specified ventilation volume is reached) In addition, when the car has stopped moving and is in standby mode, the door is kept open until a specified volume of air inside the car, for example, an amount of air at least equivalent to the internal volume of the car, has been ventilated, thereby efficiently and thoroughly removing droplet nuclei containing pathogens floating inside the car while in standby mode, and when ventilation inside the car is completed, the door is closed and the car enters standby mode, ensuring security. Although it feels like the door remains open for a little longer than the conventional door which opens after a certain period of time, it can be used without feeling any discomfort.

[0015] (Effect of forced ventilation with the door open) In addition, by increasing the ventilation volume of the ventilation device to a predetermined volume while the door is kept open, it is possible to achieve a sufficient amount of ventilation in a short period of time with the door open.

[0016] (Effect of opening the door by periodically creating a standby state) In addition, even when the elevator is used frequently by people and thus standby states rarely occur, the processing means generates a standby state for a specified period of time each time a specified operating time elapses, and when the elevator is in the standby state, the doors are kept open, thereby reducing the elevator utilization efficiency but enabling operation that prioritizes prevention of pathogen infection.

[0017] (Inactivation of pathogens by light irradiation) In addition, the elevator systems of the first and second inventions further include a light irradiation source inside the car that irradiates light in a wavelength band that inactivates specified pathogens, thereby inactivating pathogens attached to the irradiation range (irradiation area) inside the car or pathogens floating in the space inside the car, thereby reducing and suppressing the possibility of infection with an infectious disease while ensuring the safety of people using the elevator, and making it possible to create a safe and comfortable elevator usage environment.

[0018] (Effect of exposure to 222 nm ultraviolet light) In addition, the light irradiated into the cage is ultraviolet light in a specified wavelength range that includes 222 nm and excludes 254 nm and 264 nm, making it safe for people to be exposed to and ensuring the inactivation of pathogens.

[0019] (Effect of forcibly closing doors in the event of a fire) In addition, when the processing means of the elevator equipment receives a fire signal from the fire alarm system while the doors are open, it closes the doors, thereby enabling the interior of the car to be sealed off from smoke associated with a fire, taking priority over ventilation that accompanies opening the doors. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0020] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of an elevator installation. [Diagram 2] 4 is a flowchart showing a control operation of a first embodiment of an elevator installation that keeps the doors open in a standby state. [Diagram 3] 6 is a flowchart showing a control operation of a second embodiment of an elevator installation in which the doors are kept open while ventilation is required in a standby state. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0021] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of an elevator system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiment.

[0022] [Basic Concept of the Embodiment] The embodiments generally relate to an elevator system. An elevator system is a system that moves a car that allows passengers to get on and off to each floor of a building, and the structure, configuration, and type of the elevator system are arbitrary. As an example, the elevator system includes a rope system and a hydraulic system as a driving system. The rope system includes a traction system that uses a counterweight and a drum (body wrap) in which a rope is wound around a drum, and the traction system is the mainstream.

[0023] The elevator system of this embodiment includes a car, an inner door, an outer door, a ventilation device, and a processing means, and the other components are similar to those of known elevator systems.

[0024] A "cage" is a vehicle that passengers board at each floor landing and travel to the landing at another floor of their choice. An "inner door" is a door that is installed at the entrance and exit of the cage and opens when the cage stops at any of the floor landings. An "outer door" is a door that is installed at each floor landing and opens in conjunction with the inner door when the cage stops moving. A "ventilation device" is a device that is installed in the cage and ventilates the inside of the cage.

[0025] The "processing means" refers to a means for keeping the inner and outer doors open when the car has moved to and stopped at any of the floor landings and is in a waiting state.

[0026] The processing means keeps the inner door and the outer door open when the car is in the standby state until at least a predetermined volume of air in the car has been ventilated, and increases the ventilation volume of the ventilation device to a predetermined volume while the inner door and the outer door are kept open.

[0027] The elevator facility of the embodiment includes a light irradiation source that irradiates the inside of the car with light in a wavelength band that inactivates a predetermined pathogen. Here, the "light irradiation source" refers to a source that irradiates the space inside the car or a place where the pathogen is likely to adhere with light in a wavelength band that inactivates a predetermined pathogen such as a virus or bacteria. In addition, "inactivation" includes killing, reducing, shortening the life span, suppressing growth, weakening, or reducing the infectiousness of the pathogen to the human body. In addition, the "light in a wavelength band that inactivates a predetermined pathogen" is a concept that includes ultraviolet light in a predetermined wavelength band including a wavelength of 222 nm, which is safe for humans and has a high inactivation effect on pathogens such as viruses and bacteria, among ultraviolet light in a predetermined wavelength band belonging to ultraviolet C waves (UV-C) in a wavelength band of 100 to 280 nm, for example, ultraviolet light in a wavelength band of 200 to 230 nm.

[0028] Any pathogen may be inactivated by irradiation with light from a light irradiation source, and examples of the pathogen include coronavirus, rotavirus, adenovirus, poliovirus, influenza virus, etc., as viruses, and Shigella, Vibrio cholerae, Legionella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Salmonella paratyphi, Salmonella typhimurium, etc. In addition to these, viruses and bacteria that can be inactivated by irradiation with light may be the target.

[0029] In addition, when the processing means receives a fire signal from the fire alarm system while the inner and outer doors are open in standby mode, it closes the inner and outer doors to seal off the interior of the car from smoke caused by a fire.

[0030] Specific embodiments will be described below. In the embodiments described below, the "elevator equipment" is a traction type, the "processing means" is a control panel for the elevator equipment, and the "light irradiation source" is an "ultraviolet irradiation source in a wavelength band including a wavelength of 222 nm (safe for the human body)".

[0031] [Specific details of the embodiment] (Elevator equipment configuration) FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an elevator system of this embodiment. The structure, configuration, and type of the elevator system are arbitrary, but as an example, a traction type elevator system is used.

[0032] As shown in FIG. 1, the elevator equipment of this embodiment includes a hoistway 10, a car 12, an inner door 14, an outer door 16, a ventilation device 20, and an ultraviolet irradiation source 25, and is shown as an example installed in an n-story building.

[0033] The car 12 is a container for carrying people, and although its structure and configuration are arbitrary, it is a box-shaped housing with an opening at the entrance, and an inner door 14 with a double-door structure is provided at the entrance, and the inner door 14 is opened and closed by a door drive unit 14a. The car 12 is moved by a hoist 22 installed in a machine room 11 at the top of a hoistway 10 installed in a building.

[0034] The hoist 22 is driven by a motor, and the car 12 is suspended from one end of a rope 24 lowered via a sheave 26 of the hoist 22, and the other end of the rope 24 is lowered via a deflector 28, to which a counterweight 30 is fixed. The inner door 14 opens when the car 12 moves and stops at any of the floor landings 18-1 to 18-n, allowing passengers to get on and off. The stopping position is detected by a limit switch, as is well known. In the following description, when it is not necessary to distinguish between the landings 18-1 to 18-n, it may be referred to as the landing 18 or each floor landing 18.

[0035] A pit 32 is provided at the bottom of the elevator shaft 10, and a shock absorber 34 is disposed therein. The shock absorber 34 absorbs the shock when the car 12 falls, thereby stopping it safely.

[0036] Each floor landing 18 of the building is provided with an outer door 16 having a double-door structure, which is opened and closed by a door drive unit 16a. When the car 12 moves to and stops at any of the floor landings 18, the outer door 16 is opened in conjunction with the opening of the inner door 14, allowing passengers to get on and off.

[0037] In addition, a ventilation device 20 and an ultraviolet irradiation source 25 are arranged on the ceiling side of the car 12. The structure, configuration and type of the ventilation device 20 are arbitrary, but for example, there are an inlet type in which a ventilation fan device is provided and outside air is blown into the car 12, an outlet type in which air inside the car 12 is exhausted to the outside, and a circulation type that combines both, but these are arbitrary, and for example, the inlet type is used.

[0038] The ultraviolet irradiation source 25 inactivates a specific pathogen and irradiates ultraviolet light in a wavelength band of, for example, 200 to 230 nm, including the wavelength of 222 nm that is safe for humans. The structure, configuration, and type of the irradiation source are arbitrary, but an excimer lamp is used as an example.

[0039] In addition, the car 12 is provided with a known in-car operation display unit equipped with a destination floor end button, door opening / closing buttons, an emergency call button, and floor displays, and each floor landing 18 is provided with a known landing operation display unit equipped with a landing button for selecting up or down and a floor display, but these are omitted from the illustration.

[0040] A control panel 15 is installed in the machine room 11. The control panel 15 performs the control necessary for operating the elevator facility, and while the configuration and function thereof are arbitrary, it is composed of, for example, a computer circuit equipped with a CPU, memory, various input / output ports, etc., and also has a function as a processing means of this embodiment that is realized by the execution of a program by the CPU.

[0041] At the start of operation, the control panel 15 stops the car 12 at a landing 18 on a predetermined floor, for example, the landing 18-1 on the first floor, as a waiting landing, and when a landing button for any of the landings 18-2 to 18-n is operated, the control panel 15 moves the car 12 to the operated destination floor and stops it, and opens the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 to allow passengers to get on and off. Also, when a destination floor button in the car 12 is operated by a passenger who has boarded from the waiting landing, the control panel 15 moves the car 12 to the landing 18 of the operated destination floor and stops it, and opens the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 to allow passengers to get on and off. In addition to these, the control panel 15 performs various functions, such as floor stop control, which moves the train to each floor landing 18 and stops there, direct operation control, which moves the train directly to a specific landing, for example, landing 18-n on the top floor, fire response control, which moves the train to a safe landing other than the floor where the fire has occurred and stops operation in the event of a fire, and earthquake response control, which moves the train to the nearest landing 18 and stops operation in the event of an earthquake exceeding a specified seismic intensity being detected.

[0042] The control panel 15, which functions as the processing means of this embodiment, controls the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 to be kept open when the car 12 moves to and stops at any of the floor landings 18 and is in a standby state. Here, the standby state means a state until the car 12 stops at a landing 18, a landing button for another landing 18 or a destination floor button in the car 12 is operated, and the control panel 15 drives the hoist 22 to start moving the car 12.

[0043] The door control by the control panel 15 in the standby state includes a first embodiment of door control in which the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 are kept open while they are in the open state, and a second embodiment of door control in which the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 are kept open while a specified volume of ventilation is being performed in the standby state.

[0044] (Door control in the first embodiment) The door control of the first embodiment by the control panel 15 is to control the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 to be kept open while the car 12 moves to any of the floor landings 18 and stops and is in a standby state. Here, the ventilation device 20 provided in the car 12 is always operating to ventilate during operation, and the amount of ventilation of the car 12 with the inner door 14 closed is restricted, but in the standby state, the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 are kept open, so that the car 12 becomes an open space open to the outside, and the air blown out by the ventilation device 20 flows from inside the car 12 with the door open to the outside, and a sufficient amount of ventilation is efficiently performed. Therefore, even if a person infected with a pathogen is on board the car 12 and droplet nuclei containing the pathogen are suspended in the air of the car 12 by the infected person, they are removed by being discharged to the outside by ventilation, making it possible to reduce the risk of infection.

[0045] (Control operation of the first embodiment) Next, the control operation of the elevator equipment including the door control of the first embodiment by the control panel 15 will be described with reference to the flowchart of Fig. 2. As shown in Fig. 2, the control panel 15 starts operation, stops the car 12 at a landing 18-1 on the first floor, for example, which is set as a waiting floor, and sets the car 12 in a waiting state in step S1, and in the waiting state, opens the outer door 16 of the landing 18-1 and the inner door 14 of the car 12 as in step S2. Next, when it is determined in step S3 that the landing button of another floor or the destination floor button is operated when a person gets on the waiting car 12, it proceeds to step S4, closes the outer door 16 and the inner door 14, moves the car 12 to the landing of the destination floor by driving the hoisting machine 22 in step S5, and when it is determined in step S6 that the car 12 has arrived at the landing of the destination floor, it proceeds to step S7, opens the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 to allow people to get on and off, and sets the car 12 back to the waiting state in step S1 at the landing where it has stopped moving.

[0046] In this manner, in the control operation of the first embodiment, when the car 12 stops moving to any of the floor landings 18 and enters a standby state, the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 are kept in an open state while the car 12 is in a standby state, and the ventilation device 20 efficiently ventilates the inside of the car 12, efficiently expelling droplet nuclei containing pathogens floating inside the car 12, thereby reducing the risk of infection.

[0047] (Control operation of the second embodiment) Next, the control operation of the elevator equipment including the door control of the second embodiment by the control panel 15 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the control panel 15 starts operation, stops the car 12 at a landing 18-1 on the first floor, for example, which is determined as a waiting floor, and sets the car 12 in a waiting state in step S11. In the waiting state, the outer door 16 of the landing and the inner door 14 of the car 12 are opened as in step S12. Next, in step S13, it monitors whether a predetermined ventilation time has elapsed since the start of the waiting state, which provides a predetermined ventilation volume, for example, a ventilation volume corresponding to the internal volume of the car 12. When it is determined that the predetermined ventilation time has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S14, where the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 are closed and the car 12 is placed in a waiting state. Here, the predetermined ventilation time is defined as a time obtained by dividing the internal volume of the car 12 by the ventilation volume (airflow volume) per unit time of the ventilation device 20, plus a predetermined margin time.

[0048] Next, in step S14, if it is determined that a platform button for another floor has been operated, or that a destination floor button has been operated when a person has boarded the waiting car 12, the process proceeds to step S15, where the outer door 16 and inner door 14 are closed, and in step S16, the car 12 is moved to the platform for the destination floor by driving the hoist 22, and when it is determined in step S17 that the car 12 has arrived at the platform for the destination floor, the process proceeds to step S18, where the inner door 14 and outer door 16 are opened to allow people to board and disembark, and the car returns to the waiting state of step S11 at the platform where it stopped moving.

[0049] In this way, in the control operation of the second embodiment, the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 are opened from the start of the standby state, and when a predetermined ventilation time has elapsed, the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 are closed as it is assumed that droplet nuclei containing pathogens floating inside the car 12 have been discharged. For this reason, leaving the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 open in the standby state poses security problems, so this is eliminated to ensure security at the standby floor. In other words, it is possible to achieve both a reduction in the risk of infection and ensuring security.

[0050] (Ventilation control) Here, in both of the control operations of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, when the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 are kept open in a standby state in which the car 12 has moved to any of the landings 18, the ventilation volume of the ventilation device 20 may be increased to a predetermined volume to perform forced ventilation. Forced ventilation control in the standby state is optional, but for example, control is performed to increase the rotation speed of the fan by the ventilation device 20. In this case, the inlet type ventilation device 20 increases the ventilation volume to a degree that the person in the car 12 does not feel uncomfortable even when blown out from the ventilation device 20. On the other hand, the outlet type ventilation device 20, since there is no blown out into the car 12, can perform strong ventilation by increasing the drive motor to a predetermined maximum rotation speed. As a result, the door control of the first embodiment of FIG. 2 can greatly increase the ventilation volume in the standby state, and the door control of the second embodiment of FIG. 3 can shorten the ventilation time until the predetermined ventilation volume is reached, thereby improving security.

[0051] (Smoke control during fires) In addition, in both the control operations of Figures 2 and 3, when the inner door 14 and the outer door 16 are kept open in the standby state, if a fire is detected by a fire alarm system installed in the building and the control panel 25 receives a fire signal, control is performed to close the inner door 14 and the outer door 16, which are in the open state, and control is performed to block the smoke from the fire from entering the car 12 or the elevator shaft 10 and spreading through the elevator shaft 10 into the building.

[0052] (Control of the first and second embodiments divided by time period) The door control in the first embodiment prioritizes the elimination of pathogens, while the door control in the second embodiment balances the elimination of pathogens with ensuring security. Therefore, the control panel 15 makes it possible to carry out the door controls in the first and second embodiments according to a pre-set time schedule divided into time periods over a 24-hour period of a day.

[0053] The time schedule for the door control in the first and second embodiments is arbitrary; for example, in a building such as an office building, the door control in the first embodiment is performed during daytime hours on weekdays, and the door control in the second embodiment is performed at night, on weekends, and on holidays. An appropriate time schedule can be set according to the usage pattern of the building.

[0054] [Modifications of the present invention] (Forced standby) In the above embodiment, the inner and outer doors are kept open during the standby state that occurs when the car stops moving to each landing in response to the operation of the landing button or the destination floor button inside the car by a person using the elevator system. However, when there are many people using the car, there are few standby states that are sufficient to ventilate the inside of the car, and there is a possibility that a state in which droplet nuclei containing pathogens floating inside the car cannot be sufficiently removed will continue.

[0055] To solve this problem, for example, at every predetermined operating time, for example, once every 30 minutes or once an hour, or when the car changes direction from up to down, even if the hall button or the destination floor button in the car is operated, the waiting state is ensured for a predetermined time, and the inner and outer doors are kept open during that time to ventilate the car. This reduces the operating efficiency of the elevator equipment, but prioritizes suppressing and preventing infection through the elevator and ensuring safety and security. Such door control can be performed, for example, as one of the measures when the infection rate of pathogens increases.

[0056] (others) Furthermore, the present invention includes appropriate modifications that do not impair its objects and advantages, and is not limited to the numerical values ​​shown in the above embodiment. [Explanation of symbols]

[0057] 10: Lift 12: Basket 14: Inner door 14a, 16a: Door drive unit 15: Control panel 16:Outer door 18, 18-1~18-n: Platforms (for each floor) 20: Ventilation system 22:Hoisting machine 24: Rope 26: Sheave 28: Deflector 30: Counterweight 32: Pit 34:Buffer

Claims

1. A car that moves and stops at any of the floor landings in a building to allow passengers to board and disembark, An inner door provided at an entrance / exit of the car and opened when the car moves and stops at any of the floor landings; An outer door is provided at each landing and opens in conjunction with the inner door when the car stops moving; A ventilation device provided in the car; A processing means for performing control including movement and stopping of the car, and opening and closing of the inner door and the outer door; Equipped with The processing means includes: a first door control that keeps the inner door and the outer door in an open state when the car moves to and stops at any of the floor landings and is in a standby state; a second door control for keeping the inner door and the outer door in an open state until a predetermined volume of air in the car is ventilated; having The elevator facility is characterized in that the first door control and the second door control are performed according to a preset time schedule.

2. 2. The elevator installation according to claim 1, The elevator installation is characterized in that the time schedule is a first door control during the day and a second door control during the night.

3. 2. The elevator installation according to claim 1, The elevator installation is characterized in that the time schedule is a first door control on weekdays and a second door control on holidays.

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