Elevator monitoring device and monitoring method

Abstract

To reduce the elevator maintenance workload of maintenance personnel.SOLUTION: An elevator monitoring device comprises: an abnormality diagnosis unit that diagnoses the elevator while it is in operation, and registers the abnormality in an abnormality content table if the range of an abnormality determination threshold is exceeded; a diagnostic operation unit that, when an abnormality exceeding the abnormality determination threshold is registered in the abnormality content table, refers to a diagnostic operation time table, and performs diagnostic operation if it is within the diagnostic operation time and determines whether the range of the abnormality determination threshold is exceeded; and an output unit that outputs the location of the abnormality when the diagnostic operation unit determines that the range of the abnormality determination threshold is exceeded.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an elevator monitoring device and a monitoring method.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses an elevator abnormal sound diagnosis system in which a control circuit provided in a monitoring device diagnoses an abnormal sound based on a result of detecting an operation sound during an opening / closing operation of a car door from voice data acquired by an in-car interphone and an upper-car interphone provided in a car.

[0003] Here, a command signal for stopping the car at a position away from the landing is sent to the control panel, the car is stopped at a position away from the landing by the control panel, and in this state, an elevator abnormal sound diagnosis system that diagnoses an abnormal sound using, as voice data, door operation sound data collected by each interphone when the car door is opened and closed is disclosed.

[0004] It is disclosed that the collection of voice data by each interphone is performed when the landing door provided at the landing is in a closed state.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0005]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] Elevators such as elevators, escalators, and autolines need to be monitored by a monitoring device even during normal operation when users are boarding in order to safely transport users.

[0007] However, in the case of an elevator, when trying to detect an abnormality during normal operation where the user can call the car, vibrations due to the user's actions, ambient noise, dust clogging in the door sill, etc., which are not abnormalities of the elevator itself that require immediate response but appear to be temporary abnormalities, may be regarded as abnormalities, and there may also be cases where the abnormality signal is buried due to external influences and the abnormality cannot be detected.

[0008] Patent Document 1 discloses that when diagnosing abnormal sounds in the operating sound during the opening and closing operation of the door, the car is stopped at a position away from the landing, and the door operating sound generated when the door is opened and closed is diagnosed.

[0009] However, abnormal diagnosis is not necessarily based only on sound, and there are cases where it is diagnosed using an acceleration sensor, a strain sensor, etc. Even if the car is stopped at a position away from the landing, high diagnostic accuracy is not always obtained.

[0010] Also, in the diagnosis of sound, since the abnormality occurring at a specific landing only generates sound at that landing, it cannot be diagnosed at a position away from the landing.

[0011] Furthermore, such diagnosis is often difficult to perform during normal operation, and it is necessary to interrupt normal operation for diagnosis. Therefore, if normal operation is interrupted during congestion, it is conceivable that the convenience of the user will be significantly impaired.

[0012] On the other hand, if the diagnosis is not performed, the diagnosis regarding all abnormalities will be carried out by the maintenance staff during the regular maintenance inspection. This not only increases the burden on the maintenance staff, but also the maintenance staff may not be able to bring the parts and tools for solving the problem to the inspection, so it may take a long time to solve the problem.

Means for Solving the Problem

[0013] The above problem is solved by an elevator monitoring device including an abnormality diagnosis unit that performs an abnormality diagnosis on the elevator during elevator operation and registers an abnormality in an abnormality content table if it exceeds the range of an abnormality determination threshold value, and a diagnosis operation unit that refers to a diagnosis operation time table and performs a diagnosis operation within the diagnosis operation time when an abnormality exceeding the abnormality determination threshold value is registered in the abnormality content table, and determines whether it exceeds the range of the abnormality determination threshold value, and an output unit that outputs an abnormal location when the diagnosis operation unit determines that it exceeds the range of the abnormality determination threshold value.

Advantages of the Invention

[0014] The present invention may reduce the workload of elevator maintenance work by maintenance personnel.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0015]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0016] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In each drawing for explaining the embodiments, the same components are given the same names and reference numerals as much as possible, and the repeated explanations thereof are omitted.

[0017] The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below, and includes various modifications and equivalent configurations within the scope of the appended claims. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail for easy understanding of the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations described.

[0018] In addition, the processing units and processing modules described in the embodiments may be realized in hardware by designing part or all of them, for example, by means of an integrated circuit, or may be realized in software by a processor interpreting and executing a program for realizing each function.

[0019] The information described in the embodiments may be a table, a database (DB), or data stored in the main memory.

Embodiment

[0020] The present invention is applicable not only to elevators but also to monitoring devices for elevators such as escalators and escalators including autolines. In this embodiment, the case of applying to an elevator monitoring device for monitoring an elevator will be described.

[0021] FIG. 1 is an example of a block diagram of an elevator monitoring device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0022] The elevator 3 is controlled by the elevator control device 2, and the elevator monitoring device 1 monitors the elevator 3 using the information received from the elevator control device 2.

[0023] When an abnormality is detected by the elevator monitoring device 1, the details of the abnormality are transmitted to the control server of the control center 4 via the network to notify the abnormality.

[0024] When the operator of the control center 4 receives a notification of an abnormality from the elevator monitoring device 1, the operator determines whether it is necessary to dispatch a maintenance staff based on the details of the abnormality, and if it is determined that it is necessary to dispatch a maintenance staff, the operator instructs the nearest business office to dispatch a maintenance staff.

[0025] The elevator monitoring device 1 is realized by a computer including hardware such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 5, a main memory device 6, an external memory device 7 such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and an SSD (Solid State Drive), and an input / output unit 8. In this embodiment, an example of realization by a computer will be described. However, if it is connected to the elevator control device 2 via a high-speed network, it can also be realized using a server on the cloud.

[0026] The main memory device 6 realized by hardware such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) includes an abnormality diagnosis unit 10 that diagnoses during normal operation of the elevator, a diagnosis operation unit 11 that performs a diagnosis operation to confirm the abnormality detected by the abnormality diagnosis unit 10, a communication unit 12 for the elevator control device that communicates with the elevator control device 2, and a communication unit 13 for the control center that communicates with the control center 4.

[0027] Further, it stores an abnormality determination threshold table 14 that stores thresholds used by the abnormality diagnosis unit 10 and the diagnosis operation unit 11 to determine abnormalities, and a diagnosis operation time table 15 that stores information for determining whether the diagnosis operation unit 11 can perform a diagnosis operation.

[0028] Furthermore, it includes a control unit 16 that is realized as a software module and controls the abnormality diagnosis unit 10, the diagnosis operation unit, etc. executed by the CPU 5.

[0029] The external memory device 7 stores an operation count record table 18 that stores the operation count of the elevator received from the elevator control device 2, and an abnormality content table 17 that stores the abnormality content that is the result of diagnosis by the abnormality diagnosis unit.

[0030] The input / output unit 8 is an input module from a keyboard or a touch panel, and an output module to a display or a liquid crystal panel. Data input from a maintenance staff and provision of abnormality information to the maintenance staff are performed via the input / output unit.

[0031] When the control unit 16 registers the time for performing the diagnostic operation in the diagnostic operation time table 15, it receives the time information from the maintenance staff. Also, by referring to the operation count recording table, it registers as the diagnostic operation time a time period during which the operation count of the elevator is less than a predetermined number of times.

[0032] Figure 2 is an example of the abnormality determination threshold table in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0033] The lower limit value 22 and upper limit value 23 of the threshold for the abnormality diagnosis unit 10 to perform an abnormality diagnosis during normal operation, and the lower limit value 24 and upper limit value 25 of the threshold for the diagnostic operation unit 11 to perform an abnormality diagnosis during the diagnostic operation are stored.

[0034] Depending on the type of threshold, there are thresholds that only require either the upper limit or the lower limit, and there are also thresholds that can be diagnosed using the same value during normal operation and during the diagnostic operation. Generally, however, the range of thresholds during the diagnostic operation is a stricter numerical range that is narrower than the range of thresholds during normal operation.

[0035] This is because the diagnostic operation is often carried out during quiet time periods such as late at night when no users are on board, so it is less affected by disturbances such as the vibration of passengers and external noise.

[0036] Figure 3 is an example of the operation count recording table in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0037] It is a table that records the operation count, which is the number of movements of the car received from the elevator control device every hour. In this example, the operation counts for one month are recorded and the data older than one month is overwritten. However, if the capacity of the storage area permits, the operation counts for an even longer period can be recorded to determine the date and time suitable for the diagnostic operation.

[0038] In this example, since the operation count at 2:00 am on the 31st indicated by the diagonal lines is 0, it can be seen that performing the diagnostic operation without accepting calls from users during this time period will not affect the service to users.

[0039] The time period for performing the diagnostic operation does not necessarily have to be a time when the number of operations is 0, but it can be the most recent time period that avoids the days and time periods when the elevator is frequently used.

[0040] Also, if regular maintenance inspections by maintenance personnel are scheduled, schedule the diagnostic operation to be completed by the day before the inspection date. By clarifying the problem, the maintenance personnel can bring the necessary parts and tools to address the problem and come to the site for regular inspections.

[0041] Figure 4 is an example of a diagnostic operation time table in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0042] This table obtains time periods with few operations from the operation count record table 18 and stores the start time 30 and end time 31 that enable the diagnostic operation.

[0043] In this example, only one time period is set, but multiple time periods can be set, and the diagnostic operation can be performed in the closest time period.

[0044] Also, since the usage method of the elevator varies greatly depending on the building in which the elevator is installed, it is also possible to specify not only the time but also the date. For example, in an office building that is not used on Saturdays and Sundays, the 48 hours on Saturdays and Sundays can be made available for diagnostic operations.

[0045] Furthermore, the diagnostic operation time table 15 may automatically obtain and set time periods with few operations from the operation count record table 18, or the control unit 16 may set the time periods set by the maintenance personnel received from the input / output unit 8.

[0046] By doing so, it becomes possible to perform the diagnostic operation on the maintenance day specified by the building manager.

[0047] Figure 5 is an example of an abnormal content table in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0048] The abnormal diagnosis unit 10 stores, in an associated manner, the date and time 40 of the occurrence of the abnormality determined, the site name 41 where the elevator in which the abnormality occurred is installed, the unit number 42 of the elevator in which the abnormality occurred, the occurrence location 43 indicating the part where the abnormality occurred, the diagnostic operation request flag 44 indicating the necessity of a diagnostic operation, the item 45 of the abnormality, the measured value 46 which is the value determined to be abnormal, and the threshold value 47 for determining the item to be abnormal.

[0049] The diagnostic operation unit 11 refers to the diagnostic operation request flag 44 to determine the necessity of a diagnostic operation, and identifies the elevator for which a diagnostic operation is necessary by looking at the site name and unit number.

[0050] The diagnostic operation request flag 44 can identify the problems for which a diagnostic operation is necessary. If the problem is clearly identified even before performing the diagnostic operation, or for a failure such as detecting that a user is trapped inside the car where an emergency maintenance worker must respond on-site immediately, not only is it registered in the abnormality content table 17 at the time of the failure, but the abnormality is also notified to the control center.

[0051] When the abnormality registered in the abnormality content table is a door abnormality, the diagnostic operation unit moves the elevator to the abnormality detection floor, performs door opening and closing, and when it is determined that the threshold value for abnormality determination such as the door opening and closing time exceeds the range, the output unit outputs to the monitoring center the threshold value exceeding the range of the abnormality determination threshold value and the abnormality detection floor.

[0052] For an elevator monitoring device that does not monitor multiple elevators simultaneously, the information of the site name and unit number may not be necessary.

[0053] Also, based on the item and the occurrence location, the diagnostic operation unit 11 selects the type of diagnostic operation to be performed. When it is determined to be abnormal by the diagnostic operation, the abnormality flag 48 is set to ON.

[0054] FIG. 6 is an example of a flowchart showing the processing content of the elevator monitoring device in an embodiment of the present invention. example.

[0055] First, it is determined whether the elevator is running (S1). If it is running, the abnormality flag is set to OFF (S2). The abnormality diagnosis unit 10 performs normal operation abnormality diagnosis (S3) and determines whether an abnormality has been detected (S4).

[0056] If an abnormality is detected, it is determined whether it is a severe abnormality detection (S5). Severe abnormality detection is an abnormality such as entrapment of a person in the car, stoppage of elevator operation, power loss, etc., for which it is obvious that it is necessary to dispatch a maintenance staff to the site. In this case, it is notified to the monitoring center that it is a severe abnormality (S9).

[0057] If it is determined that it is not a severe abnormality, it is registered in the abnormality content table (S6). At this time, for an abnormality that is considered to require re - determination by diagnostic operation, the diagnostic operation request flag 44 is set to ON (S7). For abnormalities that can be collectively confirmed during regular inspection or for which the cause has already been clarified and the repair schedule has been determined, by setting it to OFF, the time for diagnostic operation can be shortened.

[0058] When it is determined in S1 that the elevator is stopped, it is determined whether diagnostic operation is required (S10). If an abnormality with the diagnostic operation request flag 44 set to ON is registered in the abnormality content table 17 and it is within the time zone of the diagnostic operation time table 15, it is determined that diagnostic operation is required.

[0059] When it is determined that diagnostic operation is required, the input / output unit 8 instructs the elevator control device 2 to execute diagnostic operation via the elevator control device communication unit 12 for the target elevator (S11), and sets the diagnostic operation request flag to OFF (S12). Abnormality diagnosis is performed by diagnostic operation (S13). If an abnormality is detected, the abnormality flag 48 is set to ON (S15).

[0060] The diagnostic operation is executed based on item 45 and occurrence location 43 in the abnormality content table. For example, if item 45 is abnormal noise, the diagnostic operation unit 11 instructs the elevator control device 2 to perform an elevator diagnostic operation in which car ascending and car descending are carried out at both high speed and low speed near the floor indicated by the occurrence location 43.

[0061] It is determined whether the abnormal flag is ON in S8, and if it is ON, the output unit 8 notifies the monitoring center via the counter control center communication unit 13 (S9).

[0062] At this time, if the abnormal content is a door abnormality, the measured value and the floor where the abnormality was detected are output as shown in the example of the screen in FIG. 7. If the abnormal content is an abnormal sound, the running direction of the car and the floor where the abnormal sound occurred when the abnormal sound occurred are output. If the abnormal flag is OFF, the process returns to S1.

[0063] FIG. 7 is an example of a screen output by the output unit in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0064] This screen is a screen displayed on the control server of the control center 4. It can also be referred to on the terminal held by the maintenance staff. What problems are detected by the elevator monitoring device and what operations the maintenance staff should perform are displayed.

[0065] On the screen 50, the customer number 54, customer name 55, unit number 56, and model 57 are displayed as customer information 51.

[0066] In the monitoring system detection content 52, the date when the problem occurred, the occurrence location, the occurrence content, information indicating whether it has been confirmed by the diagnostic operation, the reference value and the detected value, etc. are displayed.

[0067] In the inspection instruction items 53, the inspections and work contents and locations that the maintenance staff should perform are displayed. In this example, an example of a PC (Personal Computer) screen has been described, but in the case of a terminal such as a smartphone held by the maintenance staff, the operability can be increased by dividing the screen to provide the necessary information.

Explanation of Signs

[0068] 1 Elevator monitoring device, 2 Elevator control device, 3 Elevator, 4 Control center, 5 CPU, 6 Main memory device, 7 External memory device, 8 Input / output section, 10 Abnormality diagnosis section, 11 Diagnostic operation section, 12 Communication section for elevator control device, 13 Communication section for control center, 14 Abnormality determination threshold table, 15 Diagnostic operation time table, 16 Control section, 17 Abnormality content table, 18 Operation count record table

Claims

1. In an elevator monitoring device an abnormality diagnosis unit that performs an abnormality diagnosis of the elevator during elevator operation and registers an abnormality in an abnormality content table if it exceeds the range of an abnormality determination threshold value; a diagnostic operation unit that refers to a diagnostic operation time table when an abnormality exceeding the abnormality determination threshold value is registered in the abnormality content table, performs a diagnostic operation if it is within the diagnostic operation time, and determines whether it exceeds the range of the abnormality determination threshold value; An elevator monitoring device comprising an output unit that outputs an abnormal location when the diagnostic operation unit determines that it exceeds the range of the abnormality determination threshold value.

2. In the elevator monitoring device according to claim 1, an input unit that receives an input of a diagnostic operation time; An elevator monitoring device comprising a control unit that registers the diagnostic operation time received by the input unit in a diagnostic operation time table.

3. In the elevator monitoring device according to claim 1, comprising an operation count recording table that stores the number of elevator operations received from an elevator control device, The control unit refers to the operation count recording table and registers a time period in which the number of elevator operations is less than a predetermined number as the diagnostic operation time. An elevator monitoring device.

4. In the elevator monitoring device according to claim 1, The diagnostic operation unit performs a diagnostic operation using an abnormality determination threshold value in a range narrower than the abnormality determination threshold value used by the abnormality diagnosis unit for abnormality diagnosis during elevator operation. An elevator monitoring device.

5. In the elevator monitoring device according to claim 1, The output unit is an elevator monitoring device that notifies the monitoring center of an abnormal location when the diagnostic operation unit determines that it exceeds the range of the abnormality determination threshold value.

6. In the elevator monitoring device according to claim 1, The diagnostic operation unit is an elevator monitoring device that executes a diagnostic operation for an abnormality in which the diagnostic operation request flag in the abnormality content table is ON.

7. In the elevator monitoring device according to claim 5, When the abnormality registered in the abnormality content table is an abnormal sound, the diagnostic operation unit moves the elevator up and down, and when it determines that it exceeds the range of the abnormality determination threshold value, the output unit outputs information regarding the traveling direction of the elevator and the generation position of the abnormal sound to the monitoring center. An elevator monitoring device.

8. In the elevator monitoring device of claim 5, When the abnormality registered in the abnormality content table is a door abnormality, the diagnostic operation unit moves the elevator to the abnormality detection floor and opens and closes the door. When it determines that it exceeds the range of the abnormality determination threshold value, The output unit is an elevator monitoring device that outputs a threshold value exceeding the range of the abnormal determination threshold value and an abnormal detection floor to the monitoring center. **Claim 9** In an elevator monitoring method An abnormality diagnosis unit diagnoses an abnormality in the elevator during elevator operation. If it exceeds the range of the abnormality determination threshold value, the abnormality is registered in the abnormality content table. When an abnormality exceeding the abnormality determination threshold value is registered in the abnormality content table, the diagnosis operation unit refers to the diagnosis operation time table. If it is within the diagnosis operation time, the diagnosis operation is performed, and it is determined whether it exceeds the range of the abnormality determination threshold value. An elevator monitoring method in which an output unit outputs an abnormal location when the diagnosis operation unit determines that it exceeds the range of the abnormality determination threshold value.

Images