Group management control device of double deck elevator and group management control method of double deck elevator

Abstract

To provide a group management control device of a double deck elevator capable of accurately executing car allocation processing for a generated landing call in group management control of the double deck elevator.SOLUTION: A group management control device of a double deck elevator according to an embodiment comprises an incorrect boarding determination part and an allocation car determination part. When information on a landing call in which a destination floor is specified by an operation of a user is registered, and the destination floor of the landing call is the top floor or the bottom floor among service object floors of the multiple double deck elevators, the incorrect boarding determination part determines whether or not there is a possibility of the occurrence of the incorrect boarding that the user rides in another car of the same car number as the allocated car when allocating each car that can land at the destination floor to the landing call, The allocation car determination part allocates any car other than the car determined that there is the possibility of the occurrence of the incorrect boarding to the landing call.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present invention relate to a group management control device for double-deck elevators and a group management control method for double-deck elevators.

Background Art

[0002] A system that comprehensively controls a plurality of elevators is called an elevator group management control system. In particular, a group management control system in which each elevator is composed of a double-deck elevator connecting an upper car and a lower car is called a double-deck group management control system.

[0003] In an elevator group management control system, when a user performs a registration operation for a landing call, an allocation process is performed to determine a car (allocated car) that responds to the landing call so that the user can be transported most efficiently.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] When performing an allocation process for a landing call related to a double-deck elevator, the upper car and the lower car are distinguished and processed. On the other hand, when the landing call registration at the landing is performed by inputting the destination floor using the landing destination floor registration device, the landing destination floor registration device displays the allocated car number for the user who has input the destination floor, but does not notify whether it is the upper car or the lower car.

[0006] When a call registration is made using the landing destination floor registration device, if the assigned car responds at the departure floor, the call to the destination floor is automatically registered. Therefore, the user does not operate the destination floor call button inside the car. Alternatively, in such an elevator, there may be no destination floor call button installed inside the car.

[0007] If another car of the same elevator arrives at the landing where the user made a landing call operation first and its door opens, it is possible that the user may accidentally board the car with the opened door. If a user who has input the destination floor into the landing destination floor registration device accidentally boards the car with the opened door, in the accidentally boarded car, the call to the destination floor is not automatically registered, so the user cannot get off at the destination floor.

[0008] To avoid such a situation, when another car of the same elevator arrives first and its door opens in the same direction as the registered call, an allocation change may be made to change the assigned car to the car that arrived first.

[0009] On the other hand, in a double-deck elevator, there are floors where only the upper car can be serviced, such as the top floor, or floors where only the lower car can be serviced, such as the bottom floor. Therefore, for some users, they may only be able to reach the destination floor in either the upper car or the lower car. When another car of the same elevator as the assigned car arrives first and its door opens for such a user, in the car that arrived first, the call to the destination floor of this user cannot be automatically registered, so the allocation cannot be changed to the car that arrived first.

[0010] Therefore, users moving to a destination floor that can only be reached by the upper car or the lower car need to avoid the car that arrived first and wait for the response of the original assigned car before boarding. However, there is a problem that they may accidentally board the car that arrived first, making it inconvenient to use.

[0011] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a group management control device and a group management control method for double-deck elevators that can accurately execute car allocation processing for generated landing calls in the group management control of double-deck elevators.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0012] According to an embodiment for achieving the above object, a group management control device for double-deck elevators includes a misboarding determination unit and an allocation car determination unit. The misboarding determination unit registers information on a landing call in which a destination floor is specified by a user's operation, and when the destination floor of this landing call is the top floor or the bottom floor among the service floors of a plurality of double-deck elevators, for each car that can land on this destination floor, when this landing call is assigned, it determines whether there is a possibility that a misboarding will occur in which the user boards another car of the same machine as the assigned car. The allocation car determination unit assigns any car other than the car determined to have a possibility of misboarding to the landing call.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0013]

Figure 1

Figure 2A

Figure 2B

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0014] In explaining the embodiments of the present invention, the technical content of the elevator system that is a prerequisite for this embodiment will be described.

[0015] A system that collectively controls a plurality of elevators is called an elevator group management control system. An elevator group management system having a landing destination floor registration device (HDC; Hall Destination Controller) installed at the elevator landing is called a DCS (Destination Control System). The HDC is a device that displays the elevator number to be boarded to the user who has input the destination floor when the user inputs the destination floor. A DCS in which each elevator is a double-deck elevator with a two-story structure is called a double-deck DCS.

[0016] When the user inputs the destination floor on the HDC and performs the landing call operation, the car number to be boarded is displayed. The user waits in front of the door of the displayed car number at the landing. When the car lands and the door opens at the landing call generation floor where this landing call operation was performed, with the forward direction in which the car is heading towards the destination floor as the running direction, the user boards the car. For example, if the user going from the 2nd floor to the 8th floor is assigned to car A, when car A opens the door with the upward direction as the running direction, the user boards the car.

[0017] The double-deck elevator has an upper car and a lower car for each car number. However, since the user is not instructed which of the upper car and the lower car to board when performing the landing call operation, the user boards the car that first opens the door in the forward direction at the landing call generation floor in the assigned car number. Here, the user can determine in which direction the elevator is running based on the announcement when responding, the display of the lantern at the landing, etc.

[0018] In the double-deck DCS, for a newly generated landing call, the allocation process is performed so that not only the car number but also which of the upper car and the lower car will transport the user is included in the schedule to determine the allocated car. For example, for the landing call generated by the above landing call operation performed by the user, "upper car of car A" is allocated.

[0019] When the user boards the car, there is no need to press the button for the destination floor. Since the information of the destination floor input at the landing has been sent to the elevator control device, the car in which the user has boarded will open the door at the user's destination floor. Therefore, the user can get off at the destination floor without performing any operation inside the car. However, there is also a DCS configured with a car call button installed inside the car so that the user can get off at the floor operated by this button. In particular, in a DCS (hybrid DCS) equipped with a landing call registration device for registering calls in the up and down directions on some floors, it is necessary to install a car call button inside the car.

[0020] In the double-deck DCS, when another car of the same machine as the car assigned to the user's landing call lands and opens its doors on the landing call generation floor with the same traveling direction as the direction in which the user is going to the destination floor, there is a possibility that the user may mistakenly board the car with the opened doors instead of the assigned car. This is because the user is not instructed which car, the upper car or the lower car, to board, and since the upper car and the lower car open their doors at the same landing door, it is difficult for the user to distinguish between the upper car and the lower car and board accordingly.

[0021] When a car lands at a landing and its doors open, it is basically required to inform the user of the direction in which the car is going, either up or down, by means of a lantern or an announcement. Therefore, even if another car of the same machine as the car assigned to the landing call arrives first, if the car that opens its doors travels in the direction opposite to the direction in which the user is going to the destination floor, the possibility of the user boarding by mistake is low and it does not pose a major problem. On the other hand, when another car of the same machine as the car assigned to the landing call travels in the same direction as the direction in which the user is going to the destination floor and passes through the landing call generation floor earlier than the assigned car, the possibility of the user boarding by mistake increases and a problem occurs.

[0022] In principle, when such a situation occurs, the double-deck DCS changes the operation schedule so that the assignment to the landing call is switched from the upper car to the lower car and the service is provided by the lower car. Such a change in the schedule is called a change in the assignment to the first-arriving car. This concept also holds true even if the upper car and the lower car are swapped.

[0023] Such a change in the assignment is possible only for machines that can service both the departure floor and the destination floor of the user with both the lower car and the upper car. If the destination floor is the top floor, i.e., the 8th floor, and only the upper car can service the 8th floor, if the lower car responds to the departure floor first and the user boards by mistake, the user will not be able to reach the 8th floor. Therefore, when a call input for boarding at the 2nd floor and getting off at the 8th floor is made to the HDC, it is necessary not to select a machine that has a risk of the lower car passing through the 2nd floor earlier than the response of the upper car.

[0024] Generally, since the floors where only one of the upper car or the lower car can be serviced are the top floor and the bottom floor, the risk of passengers boarding the wrong car occurs only in the following cases where the same car type car as the car assigned to the landing call passes through the landing call generation floor in the same direction as the call first.

[0025] (1) When the direction indicated by the landing call is upward, the destination floor is the top floor, the first assigned car is the upper car of a predetermined car type, and the lower car of the same car type passes through the landing call generation floor with the upward direction as the traveling direction before the response of this upper car (2) When the direction indicated by the landing call is downward, the destination floor is the bottom floor, the first assigned car is the lower car of a predetermined car type, and the lower car of the same car type passes through the landing call generation floor with the downward direction as the traveling direction before the response of this lower car In the cases of (1) and (2) above, since it shows the same thing if the direction indicated by the landing call is reversed, hereinafter, the case where the direction indicated by the landing call is upward will be described.

[0026] Hereinafter, as an embodiment of the double-deck group management control system, when a landing call that may cause the above problems occurs, regarding the case of determining whether or not a problem occurs where the same car type car as the assigned car arrives first and the passenger cannot reach the original destination floor, it will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0027] <Configuration of a Double-Deck Group Management Control System Using a Group Management Control Device According to an Embodiment> The configuration of a double-deck group management control system using a group management control device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1. The double-deck group management control system 1 according to this embodiment includes a plurality of double-deck elevators (elevator 10A of machine A, elevator 10B of machine B, and elevator 10C of machine C) installed in a building with m floors, landing destination floor registration devices 20-1 to 20-m installed at the landings on each floor, and a group management control device 30. The double-deck group management control system 1 of this embodiment is configured using a destination floor control system (DCS) in which landing destination floor registration devices (HDC) 20-1 to 20-m are installed on each floor in the building. In this embodiment, the case where there are three double-deck elevators installed in the building will be described, but the number is not limited to this, and it may be two or four or more.

[0028] The elevator 10A of machine A has an upper car 11A, a lower car 12A, and a control device 13A of machine A. The control device 13A of machine A outputs, as elevator information, the position information, running status information, door opening / closing status information, load status information, car call registration information, etc. of the upper car 11A and the lower car 12A to the group management control device 30. Further, the control device 13A of machine A causes the elevator 10A of machine A to respond to the registered floor of the call according to the assignment command from the group management control device 30 and opens the corresponding car door.

[0029] Since the elevator 10B of machine B and the elevator 10C of machine C have the same configuration as the elevator 10A of machine A, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0030] The landing destination floor registration devices 20-1 to 20-m are each a device for registering a landing call in which a user at the landing designates a destination floor and calls one of the cars 11A to 11C and 12A to 12C. The landing destination floor registration devices 20-1 to 20-m each output identification information of the machine number to be boarded to the user who registered the landing call.

[0031] Hereinafter, when it is not specified which one of the landing destination floor registration devices 20-1 to 20-m it is, it is described as the landing destination floor registration device 20. Similarly, when it is not specified which one of the Machine A control device 13A, Machine B control device 13B, and Machine C control device 13C it is, it is described as the control device 13.

[0032] The group management control device 30 performs group management on the Machine A elevator 10A, Machine B elevator 10B, and Machine C elevator 10C. The group management control device 30 includes a landing call registration unit 31, a determination rule storage unit 32, an elevator information acquisition unit 33, an assigned car determination unit 34, an assignment information output unit 35, an assignment change unit 36, and a misboarding determination unit 37.

[0033] The landing call registration unit 31 receives and registers the landing call information acquired from the landing destination floor registration devices 20-1 to 20-m.

[0034] The determination rule storage unit 32 stores information on determination rules preset to determine whether there is a possibility of misboarding in which a user who registered this landing call boards another car of the same machine as the assigned car when a predetermined car is assigned to a new landing call.

[0035] The elevator information acquisition unit 33 acquires elevator information output from each of the control devices 13A, 13B, and 13C.

[0036] The assigned car determination unit 34 determines a car (assigned car) to be assigned to the newly generated landing call so that users can be transported most efficiently overall for the newly generated landing call and the registered calls. When determining the assigned car, the assigned car determination unit 34 assigns any car other than the car determined by the misboarding determination unit to have a possibility of misboarding, as described later, to the landing call.

[0037] Based on the information of the assigned car determined by the assigned car determination unit 34, the assignment information output unit 35 outputs an assignment command to the control device of the corresponding elevator, and notifies the landing destination floor registration device 20 where the landing call registration operation has been performed of the car number information corresponding to the determined assigned car.

[0038] When another car of the same car number as the assigned car for the landing call determined by the assigned car determination unit 34 arrives first and the door opens in the same direction as the direction indicated by the landing call at the floor where the landing call occurs, the assignment change unit 36 changes the assigned car for the landing call to the first-arrived other car of the same car number and makes an immediate response. However, when the destination floor of the landing call is the top floor or the bottom floor among the service floors of elevators 10A, 10B, and 10C, the assignment change unit 36 does not change the assigned car for the landing call.

[0039] When the destination floor of the landing call is the top floor or the bottom floor among the service target floors of elevators 10A, 10B, and 10C, for each car that can land on this destination floor, the misboarding determination unit 37 determines whether there is a possibility of a misboarding occurring where the user who registered the landing call boards another car of the same car number as the assigned car when this landing call is assigned.

[0040] <Operation of the double-deck group management control system according to an embodiment> The operation of the double-deck group management control system 1 according to this embodiment will be described. In the following description, the "advance floor" means, when the elevator is running, the floor where the elevator can stop if deceleration is started at the current time, and when the elevator is decelerating, the floor determined to stop at the start of deceleration, and when the elevator is stopped, the floor where it is stopped. Also, the "cage to be assigned candidate" means the cage that is about to be assigned in the current assignment process for the generated landing call. However, this is the stage before the assignment to that cage is determined. Also, the "forward direction" means the running direction in which the cage can respond to the landing call without changing direction, and it holds when the current running direction of the cage is the same as the direction of the landing call, and when the cage is stopped and has no direction, that is, when the next running direction is not determined. Also, the "reverse direction" means the running direction in which the cage can respond to the landing call after changing direction once, and it holds when the current running direction of the cage is different from the direction of the landing call. Also, the "rear direction" means the running direction in which the cage can respond to the landing call after changing direction twice, and it holds when the current running direction of the cage is the same as the direction of the landing call, but the cage is at a position past the floor where the landing call occurred.

[0041] FIGS. 2A and 2B are flowcharts showing the operation of the assigned cage determination process executed by the group management control device 30 when the double-deck group management control system 1 according to this embodiment operates.

[0042] When a user inputs information on the top floor of the service target floors as the destination floor and performs a landing call registration operation at the landing destination floor registration device 20 on any floor in the building, the information on the landing call X is registered in the landing call registration unit 31 of the group management control device 30 ( "YES" in S1).

[0043] When the information of landing call X is registered, the allocated car determination unit 34 determines whether the destination floor of landing call X is the terminal floor, that is, the uppermost or lowermost floor among the service floors of elevators 10A, 10B, and 10C (S2). Here, it is assumed that the allocated car determination unit 34 determines that the destination floor of landing call X is the uppermost floor of the service floors. At this point, the allocated car determination unit 34 recognizes all of the upper cars 11A, 11B, and 11C, which are cars that can stop at the uppermost floor, as candidate cars for allocation to landing call X.

[0044] When the allocated car determination unit 34 determines that the destination floor of landing call X is the uppermost floor (「YES」 in S2), the misboarding determination unit 37 starts a loop process of executing the misboarding determination process for each elevator (unit). In the misboarding determination process, it is determined whether there is a possibility of a user's misboarding when the upper car of each unit is temporarily allocated to landing call X.

[0045] First, as the misboarding determination process for elevator 10A of unit A, the misboarding determination unit 37 determines whether there is a possibility of a user's misboarding when the upper car 11A is temporarily allocated to landing call X.

[0046] When elevator 10A of unit A is in the stopped state or decelerating state (「YES」 in S3), the misboarding determination unit 37 determines whether the upper car 11A satisfies any of the following two conditions: [Condition 1] When decelerating, the floor of the same-unit car as the upper car 11A, which is the temporarily allocated car, that is, the floor of the lower car 12A, is the floor where the landing call occurs; [Condition 2] When stopped, the inside of the lower car 12A is not empty and the next traveling direction is not determined. (S4). Here, when the misboarding determination unit 37 satisfies any of the conditions (「YES」 in S4), it determines that there is a possibility of misboarding when landing call X is allocated to the upper car 11A. (S5).

[0047] In step S4, when neither [Condition 1] nor [Condition 2] is satisfied (the "NO" in S4), after the lower car 12 lands at a floor other than the floor where the landing call is generated, the operation of Elevator 10A of Machine A continues until the upper car 11A lands at the floor where the landing call is generated. In this case, since it is unlikely that the lower car 12A travels in the direction of the landing call X and passes through the floor where the landing call is generated before the upper car 11A, the upper car 11A is left as a candidate car for allocation.

[0048] When it is determined in step S3 that Elevator 10A of Machine A is not in a stopped state or a decelerating state (the "NO" in S3), the process proceeds to step S6. In step S6, the misboarding determination unit 37 performs misboarding determination processing using a method based on "deadband check" that is used in normal elevator group management control.

[0049] The following explains "deadband check". Generally, in a group management system, in many cases, the elevator control device that controls individual machines and the group management control device are separate devices. After the group management control device determines the car to be assigned to the landing call, there is a time delay until the elevator control device starts control reflecting that determination. Also, when the group management control device determines the assigned car, the information indicating the state of each machine grasped (such as the advance floor, running status, running direction, etc.) is information transmitted from each elevator control device, but since there is a delay in transmission, this information is somewhat old at the stage of performing the assignment process.

[0050] Therefore, even if the group management control device assigns a running machine whose advance floor is the floor where the landing call is generated to the landing call, due to the freshness of the machine information and the problem of control delay, the assigned car may pass by the floor where the landing call is generated.

[0051] To address this issue, when the floor difference between the advance floor of the allocation candidate car and the floor where the landing call occurs during the allocation process is less than the threshold Th, the priority of the allocation for this allocation candidate car is decreased. For example, when the threshold Th = 2, if a landing call from the 6th floor to the 8th floor is registered, considering that the car running upward with the advance floor being the 5th or 6th floor may pass by the 6th floor, it is made difficult to allocate to this landing call. Cars with an advance floor of the 4th floor or lower are determined to be able to stop at the 6th floor surely and can be allocated normally.

[0052] In this way, for a car where the floor where the landing call occurs is in the forward direction with respect to the advance floor, but the advance floor is too close to the floor where the landing call occurs, refraining from allocating to the landing call due to concerns about passing through is called "dead band check". Dead band check is also incorporated in a normal group management system. In step S6, the misboarding determination unit 37 applies this dead band check method to the misboarding determination process.

[0053] The misboarding determination unit 37 determines whether the temporarily allocated upper car 11A is running in the forward direction, that is, upward, with respect to the landing call X, and whether the floor difference between the advance floor of the upper car 11A and the floor where the landing call occurs is less than the threshold Th1 = 2 (S6).

[0054] When the upper car 11A is running upward and the floor difference between the advance floor of the upper car 11A and the floor where the landing call occurs is less than the threshold Th1 = 2 ( "YES" in S6), there is a concern that the upper car 11A may not be able to land in time and pass by the floor where the landing call occurs, and the lower car 12A may land at the floor where the landing call occurs.

[0055] FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing, as an example, the relationship between the positions of the upper car 11A and the lower car 12A of Elevator 10A of Machine A and the floor where the landing call X1 occurs when user U1 performs a registration operation of a landing call X1 with the top floor 8 as the destination floor on the 6th floor. In the figure, the △ mark indicates the floor where the landing call occurs, that is, the departure floor of the car when responding to the landing call, and the ○ mark indicates the destination floor of the landing call. When the landing call X1 is registered in the landing call registration unit 31, the upper car 11A and the lower car 12A are running upward, and the advance floor of the upper car 11A is the 5th floor.

[0056] In this state, if the upper car 11A is temporarily assigned to the landing call X1, since the floor difference "1" between the advance floor "5th floor" of the upper car 11A and the floor where the landing call occurs "6th floor" is less than the threshold Th1 = 2, the upper car 11A cannot land on the 6th floor in time, and the lower car 12A may land on the 6th floor and open its doors before the upper car 11A, and there is a possibility that user U1 may mistakenly board the lower car 12A. In this case, since the lower car 12A in which user U1 has boarded turns back on the 7th floor, user U1 cannot reach the 8th floor. After that, the upper car 11A lands and opens its doors in the order of the 6th floor → the 8th floor, but when the doors open on the 6th floor, user U1 has already boarded the lower car 12A.

[0057] To avoid the occurrence of such a situation, when the upper car 11A is running upward but the floor difference between the advance floor of the upper car 11A and the floor where the landing call occurs is less than the threshold Th1 = 2, the misboarding determination unit 37 determines that there is a possibility of misboarding when the landing call X1 is assigned to the upper car 11A (S5).

[0058] In step S6, when it is not in the state where "the temporarily assigned upper car 11A is running upward and the floor difference between the advance floor of the upper car 11A and the floor where the landing call occurs is less than the threshold Th1 = 2" ( "NO" in S6), the misboarding determination unit 37 determines whether the upper car 11A is running in the backward direction with respect to the landing call X1 and whether the lower car 12A of the same machine's different car is running in the forward direction (S7).

[0059] In the case where "the upper car 11A is traveling in the backward direction with respect to the landing call X1, and the lower car 12A of the same car number is traveling in the forward direction", as shown in FIG. 4, although the advancer floor of the upper car 11A has passed the landing call generation floor, the advancer floor of the lower car 12A has not passed the landing call generation floor, and this corresponds to the case where there is a possibility of arriving at the landing in time.

[0060] In this case, there is a possibility that the lower car 12A will land on the landing call generation floor and open the door before the upper car 11A, and the user U1 may board by mistake. Therefore, when the upper car 11A is traveling in the backward direction with respect to the landing call and the lower car 12A is traveling in the forward direction ( "YES" in S6), the misboarding determination unit 37 determines that there is a possibility of misboarding when the landing call X1 is assigned to the upper car 11A (S5).

[0061] As shown in FIG. 5, when the advancer floor of the lower car 12A has also passed the landing call generation floor, neither the upper car 11A nor the lower car 12A can reach the landing in time and both have passed the landing call generation floor. Therefore, there is no problem even if the landing call X1 is assigned to the upper car 11A.

[0062] When it is not the case where "the upper car 11A is traveling in the backward direction with respect to the landing call and the lower car 12A is traveling in the forward direction" in step S7 ( "NO" in S7), the misboarding determination unit 37 examines the possibility of misboarding when the upper car 11A is traveling in the opposite direction to the landing call, that is, in the downward direction.

[0063] When an upward landing call X1 is registered and the upper car 11A, which is above the landing call generation floor and traveling downward, is temporarily assigned, since the lower car 12A travels downward and passes through the landing call generation floor, the possibility of the user U1 boarding by mistake is low. However, since it takes time until the control of the car assigned to the landing call X1 starts, there is a possibility that the lower car 12A will land on the landing call generation floor and reverse its traveling direction during that time. In this case, the lower car 12A will be in a state where it opens the door at the landing call generation floor with the upward direction as the traveling direction before the upper car 11A.

[0064] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the positions of the upper car 11A and the lower car 12A and the floor where the landing call X3 is generated when the user U2 performs a registration operation of the landing call X3 in a state where there is a landing call X2 for which the upper car 11A has already been assigned. The landing call X2 is a call whose floor where the landing call is generated, that is, the departure floor of the car when responding, is the 7th floor and the destination floor is the 2nd floor. The landing call X3 is a call whose floor where the landing call is generated is the 3rd floor and the destination floor is the 8th floor. When the landing call X3 is registered in the landing call registration unit 31, the upper car 11A and the lower car 12A are running downward, and the advisor floor of the lower car 12A is the 4th floor.

[0065] When the upper car 11A is assigned to the landing call X3 in this state, it is assumed that before the determination of this assignment, it is determined to stop the upper car 11A on any floor and reverse the running direction in order to make the upper car 11A respond to the landing call X2. Here, if the floor difference between the advisor floor of the lower car 12A and the floor where the landing call X3 is generated is less than the threshold Th2, the lower car 12A may stop at the floor where the landing call X3 is generated and reverse the running direction. Specifically, if the floor difference "1" between the advisor floor "4th floor" of the lower car 12A and the floor where the landing call X2 is generated "3rd floor" is less than the threshold Th2 = 2, the lower car 12A may stop at the 3rd floor and reverse the running direction.

[0066] In this case, since the lower car 12A stops in a state where the running direction is reversed upward at the 3rd floor, there is a possibility that the user U2 may mistakenly board the lower car 12A.

[0067] To avoid the occurrence of such a situation, when the upper car 11A is running in the reverse direction with respect to the landing call X3, the lower car 12A has not passed the floor where the landing call is generated, and the floor difference between the advisor floor of the lower car 12A and the floor where the landing call is generated is less than the threshold Th2 (i.e., "YES" in S8), the misboarding determination unit 37 determines that there is a possibility of misboarding when the upper car 11A is assigned the landing call X3 (S5).

[0068] In the case of FIG. 6, when the advancer floor of the lower car 12A is the 3rd or 4th floor, the floor difference “1” between the floor where the landing call occurs “3rd floor” is less than the threshold Th2 = 2, and it is determined that there is a possibility that the user U2 may board the wrong car. On the other hand, when the advancer floor of the lower car 12A is a floor of the 5th floor or higher, since the response to the landing call X3 is reflected in the operation schedule before the traveling directions of the upper car 11A and the lower car 12A are reversed, when the lower car 12A lands on the 3rd floor, the traveling direction is in the downward state. Therefore, the possibility that the user U2 boards the lower car 12A by mistake is low. In this case, the upper car 11A opens the door while traveling upward on the 3rd floor, and then moves in the order of the 8th floor → 7th floor → 2nd floor and opens the door to respond to the landing calls X3 and X2.

[0069] Also, when the advancer floor of the lower car 12A is the 2nd or 1st floor, since the lower car 12A travels downward and passes the floor where the landing call X3 occurs “3rd floor”, there is no possibility that the lower car 12A travels upward and passes through the 3rd floor ahead of the upper car 11A, and there is no possibility that the user U2 boards the lower car 12A by mistake.

[0070] The misboarding determination unit 37 holds the determination result as to whether there is a possibility that the user may board the wrong car when the upper car 11A is temporarily assigned to the landing call X by the processes of steps S3 to S8. Thereafter, the misboarding determination unit 37 loops through steps S3 to S8 for each car, and also determines whether there is a possibility that the user may board the wrong car when the upper cars 11B and 11C are temporarily assigned to the landing call X, and holds the determination result.

[0071] When the misboarding determination process is completed for all cars, the process proceeds to step S9, where the assigned car determination unit 34 sets, as assignment candidates, cars other than the cars for which the misboarding determination unit 37 has determined that there is a possibility of misboarding, and determines the assigned car for the landing call X (S9). As the method for determining the assigned car here, an existing method is used. For example, for the newly registered landing call X and each of the other already registered calls, the predicted value of the user's waiting time is calculated, and when the newly registered landing call X is added to the operation schedule of a predetermined car, the car that minimizes the increase in the total waiting time for all cars may be assigned to the landing call X.

[0072] The assignment information output unit 35 notifies the landing destination floor registration device 20 where the landing call registration operation was performed, of the information on the car corresponding to the assigned car determined by the assigned car determination unit 34. The landing destination floor registration device 20 that has received this car information notifies the user of the car to board, by outputting the received information.

[0073] Also, the assignment information output unit 35 outputs an assignment command for the landing call X to the control device 13 corresponding to the information on the assigned car determined by the assigned car determination unit 34. The control device 13 that has received the assignment command controls the corresponding car to land at the floor where the landing call X has occurred, and then move to the destination floor.

[0074] In step S2, when the assigned car determination unit 34 determines that the destination floor of the landing call X is not the terminal floor (''NO'' in S2), the assigned car is determined from among the upper cars 11A, 11B, and 11C that are the assigned candidate cars for the landing call X (S9).

[0075] When the allocation process is being executed as described above, if the allocation change unit 36 detects that a car other than the allocated car for the landing call determined by the allocated car determination unit 34 has arrived first in the same direction as the direction indicated by the landing call at the floor where the landing call occurred and the door has opened, the allocated car for the landing call is changed to the car of the same elevator that arrived first, and a response is immediately made. However, the allocation change unit 36 does not change the allocated car for the landing call when the destination floor of the landing call is the top floor or the bottom floor among the service floors of elevators 10A, 10B, and 10C.

[0076] According to the above embodiment, in the group management control of double-deck elevators, when determining the allocated car for a newly registered landing call to the terminal floor, it is possible to determine the allocated car while avoiding the elevator that may be passed through first by a car of the same elevator. Thereby, it is possible to avoid the occurrence of a situation where the user accidentally boards a car different from the allocated car and cannot get off at the destination floor. In particular, in this embodiment, by using the concept of deadband check considering the freshness of information in the group management control device and the delay in time until the allocation information to the landing call is reflected in the control, it is possible to determine the possibility of accidental boarding with higher accuracy.

[0077] Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0078] 1... Double-deck group management control system, 10A... Elevator of Machine A, 10B... Elevator of Machine B, 10C... Elevator of Machine C, 13A... Control device of Machine A, 13B... Control device of Machine B, 13C... Control device of Machine C, 20-1 to 20-m... Landing destination floor registration device, 30... Group management control device, 31... Landing call registration section, 32... Judgment rule storage section, 33... Elevator information acquisition section, 34... Allocated car determination section, 35... Allocation information output section, 36... Allocation change section, 37... Misriding judgment section

Claims

1. Managing a plurality of double-deck elevators consisting of an upper car and a lower car, A landing call registration unit that registers information on a landing call with a designated destination floor, When new landing call information is registered in the landing call registration unit by the operation of the user, and the destination floor of the new landing call is the uppermost floor or the lowermost floor among the service target floors of the plurality of double-deck elevators, for each car that can land on the destination floor in the plurality of double-deck elevators, when the new landing call is assigned, an incorrect boarding determination unit that determines whether there is a possibility of an incorrect boarding in which the user boards another car of the same machine as the assigned car; A double-deck elevator group management control device comprising: an assignment car determination unit that assigns, to the new landing call, any one of the cars among the cars of the plurality of double-deck elevators other than the cars determined by the incorrect boarding determination unit to have a possibility of incorrect boarding.

2. The incorrect boarding determination unit, When new landing call information is registered in the landing call registration unit by the operation of the user, and the destination floor related to the new landing call is the uppermost floor or the lowermost floor among the service target floors of the plurality of double-deck elevators, among the cars that can land on the destination floor in the plurality of double-deck elevators, the first condition "decelerating, and the floor where the other car of the same machine is determined to stop at the start of deceleration is the landing call generation floor where the landing call operation was performed", or, the second condition "stopped, and the other car of the same machine is not in a state of being unmanned and having an undetermined next travel direction", any car that satisfies either condition is determined to have a possibility of incorrect boarding when the landing call is assigned. The double-deck elevator group management control device according to claim 1.

3. The incorrect boarding determination unit, When new boarding call information is registered in the boarding call registration unit by the operation of the user, and when the destination floor for the new boarding call is the top floor or the bottom floor among the service target floors of the plurality of double-deck elevators, among the cars that can land on the destination floor in the plurality of double-deck elevators, a car that is traveling in the same direction as the direction from the boarding call generation floor to the destination floor of the boarding call and, if deceleration is started at the current time, can stop at a floor where the floor difference from the boarding call generation floor is less than a predetermined value is determined to have a possibility of misboarding when assigned to the boarding call. The group management control device for double-deck elevators according to claim 1.

4. The misboarding determination unit When new boarding call information is registered in the boarding call registration unit by the operation of the user, and when the destination floor for the new boarding call is the top floor or the bottom floor among the service target floors of the plurality of double-deck elevators, among the cars that can land on the destination floor in the plurality of double-deck elevators, a car that is traveling in the same direction as the direction from the boarding call generation floor to the destination floor of the boarding call and has passed the boarding call generation floor, but a car of the same elevator number has not passed the boarding call generation floor is determined to have a possibility of misboarding when assigned to the boarding call. The group management control device for double-deck elevators according to claim 1.

5. The misboarding determination unit When new boarding call information is registered in the boarding call registration unit by the operation of the user, and when the destination floor for the new boarding call is the top floor or the bottom floor among the service target floors of the plurality of double-deck elevators, among the cars that can land on the destination floor in the plurality of double-deck elevators, a car that is traveling in the opposite direction to the direction from the boarding call generation floor to the destination floor of the boarding call, a car of the same elevator number has not passed the boarding call generation floor, and a car of the same elevator number, if deceleration is started at the current time, can stop at a floor where the floor difference from the boarding call generation floor is less than a predetermined value is determined to have a possibility of misboarding when assigned to the boarding call. The group management control device for double-deck elevators according to claim 1.

6. Group management of a plurality of double-deck elevators each consisting of an upper car and a lower car A group management control device for a double-deck elevator, which includes a landing call registration unit for registering information on a landing call with a specified destination floor, When new landing call information is registered in the landing call registration unit by a user operation, and the destination floor of the new landing call is the uppermost floor or the lowermost floor among the service target floors of the plurality of double-deck elevators, for each car that can land on the destination floor in the plurality of double-deck elevators, when the new landing call is assigned, it is determined whether there is a possibility that the user may board another car of the same elevator instead of the assigned car. A group management control method for a double-deck elevator, which assigns any one of the cars other than the cars determined to have a possibility of misboarding among the cars of the plurality of double-deck elevators to the new landing call.

Images