Elevator, operation panel, and elevator control method

Abstract

To provide an elevator capable of preventing a non-contact sensor from committing erroneous registration.SOLUTION: This elevator comprises: an operation panel including a plurality of non-contact sensors; a signal processing unit that processes a signal from each of the non-contact sensors; and a control device that controls driving of a car on the basis of the processing result of the signal processing unit. Each non-contact sensor can detect an area of an object located near each non-contact sensor within a prescribed distance range. The signal processing unit determines whether the non-contact sensor has been operated on the basis of the area of the object detected by each of the non-contact sensors.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an elevator, an operation panel, and an elevator control method. [Background technology]

[0002] A technology for contactlessly registering elevator calls is disclosed in the following Patent Document 1. Patent Document 1 states that "the selection unit selects an operation for a first sensor whose operation timing (order) is latest among the non-contact sensors, and deselects an operation for an earlier second sensor. Alternatively, if the right side of the operation panel is close to a corner of the elevator, the selection unit may select an operation for a first sensor belonging to a row closer to the corner, and deselect an operation for a second sensor belonging to a row farther from the corner." [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2022-2991 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, with the above-mentioned technology, unintended registration may be performed depending on the hand movements of the passenger who is the operator, and erroneous registration may occur due to the proximity of a bag or luggage.

[0005] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an elevator, an operation panel, and an elevator control method that can prevent erroneous registration using a non-contact sensor. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above problems, for example, the configurations described in the claims are adopted. The present application includes multiple means for solving the above-mentioned problems, and one example is an elevator equipped with an operation panel having multiple non-contact sensors, a signal processing unit that processes signals from each of the non-contact sensors, and an operation control unit that controls the operation of a car based on the processing results of the signal processing unit, wherein each of the non-contact sensors is capable of detecting the area of ​​an object that is close to each of the non-contact sensors within a predetermined distance range, and the signal processing unit determines whether or not a non-contact sensor has been operated based on the detected area of ​​the object by each of the non-contact sensors. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] An object of the present invention is to provide an elevator, an operation panel, and an elevator control method that can prevent erroneous registration using a non-contact sensor. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an elevator according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the appearance of an elevator control panel according to an embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an elevator according to an embodiment. [Figure 4] 3 is a flowchart showing a first example of an elevator control method according to the embodiment. [Figure 5] FIG. 1 is a diagram (part 1) illustrating the detection range of a non-contact sensor. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a diagram (part 2) illustrating the detection range of a non-contact sensor. [Figure 7] 6 is a flowchart showing a second example of the elevator control method according to the embodiment. [Figure 8] 10 is a flowchart showing a third example of the elevator control method according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration of an elevator equipped with a control panel of the present invention will be described, followed by examples of elevator control methods implemented by operating the control panel. In the drawings referred to in the embodiment, the same components will be designated by the same reference numerals, and duplicated explanations will be omitted.

[0010] <Elevator> FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an elevator 1 according to an embodiment. The elevator 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a car 10. The car 10 has a car door 10a for entering the car, and is equipped with an in-car operation panel 11, which will be described in detail below, inside the car. The car 10 is suspended by a main rope 12 within a track 1a that extends vertically along the building.

[0011] A landing door (not shown here) is provided on the wall of the travel path 1a. The landing door is provided facing each landing 1c, engages with the car door 10a when the passenger car 10 arrives at each landing 1c, and opens and closes in response to the opening and closing drive of the car door 10a. A landing operating panel 21, which will be described in detail below, is provided on each landing 1c.

[0012] The elevator 1 also has a hoist 13 around which the main rope 12 is wound, and a counterweight 14 fixed to the end of the main rope 12 opposite the car 10. The elevator 1 also has an elevator control device 15 for controlling the drive of the hoist 13 and the drive of the car door 10a. The elevator control device 15 is connected to the car operation panel 11 by a moving cable 16, and is also connected to each hall operation panel 21 by wiring not shown here. Next, the main components of the elevator 1 will be described.

[0013] <In-car operation panel 11 and hall operation panel 21> Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the appearance of an elevator control panel according to an embodiment, and is a diagram showing the appearance of the previously described car control panel 11 and hall control panel 21. Next, the configurations of the car control panel 11 and hall control panel 21, which are main components of the elevator 1, will be described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2.

[0014] The car operation panel 11 has operation buttons 101. The operation buttons 101 are a destination floor button 101a for calling and registering a destination floor of the car 10, an open button 101b for operating the opening and closing of the car door 10a, and a close button 101c. The car operation panel 11 also has a display unit 102 that shows the next destination floor and the traveling direction of the car 10.

[0015] The hall operating panel 21 also has an operation button 201 which is a hall call registration unit for calling the car 10. The operation button 201 is at least one of an up call button 201a for heading to an upper floor and a down call button 201b for heading to a lower floor. The hall operating panel 21 also has a display unit 202 which shows the next destination floor of the car 10 and the running direction of the car 10.

[0016] 3 is a block diagram of an elevator 1 according to an embodiment. As shown in this figure, an in-car operation panel 11 includes a non-contact sensor 11a, a contact sensor 11b, a response light 11d, and a signal processing unit 11c. Of these, the non-contact sensor 11a, the contact sensor 11b, and the response light 11d are arranged so as to overlap the range of each of the operation buttons 101 described above. In the following description, it is assumed that the sensor surface of the non-contact sensor 11a coincides with the surface of the operation button 101.

[0017] Each non-contact sensor 11a arranged over the area of ​​each operation button 101 detects that an object has approached within a predetermined distance from the surface of each operation button 101 (i.e., the sensor surface of the non-contact sensor 11a), and transmits a detection signal to the signal processing unit 11c. Furthermore, this non-contact sensor 11a is configured to measure the detection area of ​​an object that has approached within a predetermined distance from the surface of each operation button 101 (i.e., the sensor surface of the non-contact sensor 11a). Such non-contact sensors 11a are typically optical sensors using infrared beams or the like, but the type is not limited thereto and may be capacitive or pyroelectric sensors.

[0018] On the other hand, each contact sensor 11b arranged on each operation button 101 is either a touch type that detects when an object touches the operation button 101, or a push type that detects when the operation button 101 is pressed. Each of these contact sensors 11b transmits a detection signal directly to the elevator control device 15.

[0019] Furthermore, in response to an instruction from the elevator control device 15, the response light 11d lights up the operation button 101 corresponding to the floor for which the destination is registered.

[0020] The signal processing unit 11c determines whether the operation button 101 has been operated without contact based on the signal from the non-contact sensor 11a, and transmits the determination result to the elevator control device 15. The signal processing unit 11c is configured by a computer. The computer is equipped with hardware used as a computer, such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), RAM (Random Access Memory), and ROM (Read Only Memory), as well as non-volatile storage units, and a network interface. The determination procedure by the signal processing unit 11c will be described in detail below in the elevator control method.

[0021] The hall operating panel 21 also includes a non-contact sensor 21a, a contact sensor 21b, a response light 21d, and a signal processing unit 21c. These are similar to the non-contact sensor 11a, contact sensor 11b, response light 11d, and signal processing unit 11c of the car operating panel 11, and therefore will not be described here.

[0022] <Elevator control device 15> The elevator control device 15 controls the operation of the hoisting machine 13 and the operation of the car door 10a based on signals from the car operating panel 11 and the hall operating panel 21. The elevator control device 15 is configured by a computer, as are the signal processing units 11c and 21c. Therefore, the signal processing units 11c and 21c may be provided in the elevator control device 15.

[0023] The elevator control device 15 has an operation control unit 15a and a hoisting machine drive control unit 15b for controlling the drive of the hoisting machine 13 in accordance with instructions from the operation control unit 15a. The operation control unit 15a has functional units, namely, an input processing unit 151, an in-car registration processing unit 152, and a hall registration processing unit 153.

[0024] The input processing unit 151 receives and processes signals from the in-car operating panel 11 and the hall operating panel 21, registers the destination floor of the elevator car 10 (see Figure 1), and transmits the registration information to the in-car registration processing unit 152 and the hall registration processing unit 153.

[0025] The car in-registration processing unit 152 instructs the response light 11d of the car in-operation panel 11 to light up the operation button 101 (see FIG. 2) based on information from the input processing unit 151. At this time, the car in-registration processing unit 152 transmits an instruction to the response light 11d to light up the operation button 101 corresponding to the floor for which the destination is registered.

[0026] Furthermore, the hall registration processing unit 153 instructs the response light 21d of the hall operating panel 21 to light up the operation button 201 (see FIG. 2) based on the information from the input processing unit 151. At this time, the hall registration processing unit 153 transmits an instruction to the response light 21d to light up the operation button 201 of the hall operating panel 21 of the floor for which registration has been accepted.

[0027] <Elevator control method> Next, we will explain examples of elevator control methods implemented in the above-mentioned elevator 1. The elevator control methods explained here are first to third examples of elevator control implemented in accordance with a program stored in the signal processing unit 11c of the in-car operating panel 11 or the signal processing unit 21c of the hall operating panel 21. In the following, we will explain the control method of the elevator 1 by operating the in-car operating panel 11, representing the in-car operating panel 11 and the hall operating panel 21, but the control method of the elevator 1 by operating the hall operating panel 21 is also implemented using the same procedure.

[0028] <First example of elevator control method> Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing a first example of an elevator control method according to an embodiment. Hereinafter, the first example of the elevator control method will be described in the order shown in Fig. 4, with reference to Figs. 1 to 3 and other figures.

[0029] [Step S101] In step S101, the signal processing unit 11c determines whether the non-contact sensor 11a has detected an operation of the operation button 101. In this case, when an object approaches within a predetermined distance from the surface of the operation button 101, the non-contact sensor 11a detects this and transmits a detection signal to the signal processing unit 11c. When the signal processing unit 11c receives a signal from the non-contact sensor 11a detecting that an object has approached the operation button 101, it determines that detection has occurred (YES) and proceeds to the next step S102.

[0030] [Step S102] In step S102, the signal processing unit 11c determines whether or not the detection area of ​​the non-contact sensor 11a that detected the approach of the object in step S101 is equal to or smaller than a preset threshold value.

[0031] 5 and 6 are diagrams (part 1) and (part 2) illustrating the detection range of the non-contact sensor 11a, showing a plan view and a cross section of a main part of the car operation panel 11. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the non-contact sensor 11a provided on the car operation panel 11 detects the approach of an object [B] when the object [B] approaches within a predetermined distance [d] from the surface of the operation button 101. The predetermined distance [d] is the detectable range of the non-contact sensor 11a. The object [B] is, for example, a passenger's hand.

[0032] The signal processing unit 11c (see FIG. 3) determines whether the detection area [A] of an object [B] approaching within a predetermined distance [d] from the surface of the operation button 101 is equal to or smaller than a threshold value based on the signal from the non-contact sensor 11a. The threshold value is a preset value, and is, for example, the area of ​​the fingertip that a passenger brings close to the operation button 101 when operating the operation button 101 without contact. Such a threshold value may be a value determined experimentally, and is, for example, 1.5 cm 2 It is assumed that the degree of

[0033] If the signal processing unit 11c determines that the detection area is equal to or smaller than the threshold (YES), the process proceeds to step S103. If the signal processing unit 11c determines that the detection area is not equal to or smaller than the threshold (NO), the process proceeds to step S104. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the operation buttons 101 for the ninth and eighth floors both have detection areas [A] of the corresponding non-contact sensors 11a that are equal to or larger than the threshold (1.5 cm 2 ) and is not equal to or less than the threshold (NO), the process proceeds to step S104.

[0034] In the example shown in FIG. 6, the operation button 101 for the ninth floor has a detection area [A] of the corresponding non-contact sensor 11a that is smaller than the threshold value (1.5 cm 2) (YES), and the process proceeds to step S103. On the other hand, the operation button 101 for the 8th floor has a detection area [A] of the corresponding non-contact sensor 11a that is equal to or smaller than the threshold value (1.5 cm 2 ) and is not equal to or less than the threshold (NO), the process proceeds to step S104.

[0035] [Step S103] In step S103, the signal processing unit 11c determines that the operation button 101, about which the non-contact sensor 11a detected the approach of the object [B] in step S101, has been operated without contact, and permits registration by operating the operation button 101. The signal processing unit 11c transmits the registration information to the elevator control device 15 and ends the process.

[0036] As a result, the input processing unit 151 of the elevator control device 15 performs registration corresponding to the operation of the operation button 101 that detected the approach of the object [B], and transmits the result to the car in-registration processing unit 152 (or the hall registration processing unit 153). As an example, in the example shown in FIG. 6, the input processing unit 151 determines that only the operation button 101 for the ninth floor has been operated, registers a car call for the ninth floor, and transmits the result to the car in-registration processing unit 152. The car in-registration processing unit 152 turns on the response light 11d that corresponds to the operation button 101 for the ninth floor on the car in-operation panel 11. In addition, the hoist drive control unit 15b controls the drive of the car 10 by the hoist 13, based on the registration information in the car registration processing unit 152.

[0037] [Step S104] In step S104, the signal processing unit 11c determines that the operation button 101, about which the non-contact sensor 11a detected the approach of object [B] in step S101, has not been operated, prohibits registration corresponding to the operation of this operation button 101, and terminates the processing.

[0038] [Effect of Example 1] According to the first example of the embodiment described above, among the non-contact sensors 11a that have detected the approach of the object [B], only the non-contact sensor whose detection area [A] is equal to or smaller than a preset threshold is determined to be the operated non-contact sensor 11a. This prevents the non-contact sensor 11a from being erroneously determined to have been operated without contact when a large area of ​​a passenger's body or luggage unintentionally approaches the non-contact sensor 11a installed on the operation button 101. As a result, it is possible to prevent erroneous registration due to unintentional non-contact operation of the non-contact sensor 11a.

[0039] <Second example of elevator control method> Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing a second example of the elevator control method according to the embodiment. Hereinafter, the second example of the elevator control method will be described in the order shown in Fig. 7 with reference to Figs. 1 to 3 and other figures.

[0040] [Step S201] In step S201, the signal processing unit 11c determines whether the non-contact sensor 11a has detected the operation of the operation button 101. This step S201 is performed in the same manner as step S101 (see FIG. 4) in the first example. When the signal processing unit 11c receives a signal from any of the non-contact sensors 11a indicating that an object has approached the operation button 101, the signal processing unit 11c determines that an object has been detected (YES) and proceeds to the next step S202.

[0041] [Step S202] In step S202, the signal processing unit 11c determines whether the non-contact sensors 11a corresponding to the multiple operation buttons 101 have simultaneously detected the operation of the operation buttons 101. This determination is made for the non-contact sensors 11a provided on the same control panel. Here, the operation of the car operation panel 11 is described as an example, so it determines whether the multiple non-contact sensors 11a provided on the car operation panel 11 have simultaneously detected the operation of the operation buttons 101. Here, "simultaneously" may refer to a preset time period, for example, approximately 0.5 seconds. If the signal processing unit 11c determines that multiple operations have been detected (YES), it proceeds to step S203. On the other hand, if it determines that multiple operations have not been detected simultaneously (NO), it ends the processing.

[0042] [Step S203] In step S203, the signal processing unit 11c performs a process of reducing the sensitivity of the non-contact sensor 11a. This process reduces the detectable range of the non-contact sensor 11a. The detectable range is the predetermined distance [d] in FIGS. 5 and 6. The amount of reduction in the detectable range due to the sensitivity reduction process is determined experimentally in advance. Note that the sensitivity reduction process may be configured to set a sensitivity threshold for the signal strength detected by the non-contact sensor 11a, and to determine that only signal strengths exceeding the sensitivity threshold are detected.

[0043] The sensitivity reduction process in step S203 is performed as a temporary switching process, and after the sensitivity reduction process, the detectable range is restored to its original state.

[0044] After the above, the processing of the first example shown in Figure 4 is performed, and when the non-contact sensor 11a detects the proximity of an object [B] to the operation button 101 and the detection area [A] is equal to or less than a threshold value, it determines that the operation button 101 has been operated without contact, and registration is permitted.

[0045] [Effect of the second example] According to the second example of the embodiment described above, when a plurality of non-contact sensors 11a detect the proximity of object [B], the sensitivity of the non-contact sensors 11a is temporarily reduced. This makes it possible to extract the operation button 101 to which object [B] is closest. Then, from among the operation buttons 101 (non-contact sensors 11a) to which object [B] is closest, only the non-contact sensor whose detection area [A] is equal to or smaller than a preset threshold is determined to be the operated non-contact sensor 11a, making it possible to prevent erroneous registration due to unintended non-contact operation of the non-contact sensor 11a.

[0046] <Third example of elevator control method> Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing a third example of the elevator control method according to the embodiment. Hereinafter, the third example of the elevator control method will be described in the order shown in Fig. 8, with reference to Figs. 1 to 3 and other figures.

[0047] [Step S301] In step S301, the signal processing unit 11c determines whether the non-contact sensor 11a has detected an operation of the operation button 101. This step S301 is performed in the same manner as step S101 (see FIG. 4) in the first example above. When the signal processing unit 11c receives a signal from the non-contact sensor 11a indicating that an object has approached the operation button 101, the signal processing unit 11c proceeds to the next step S302, where it determines that an object has been detected (YES).

[0048] [Step S302] In step S302, the signal processing unit 11c determines whether or not the non-contact sensors 11a corresponding to the multiple operation buttons 101 have detected non-contact operations of the operation buttons 101. This determination is made in the same manner as in step S202 (see FIG. 7) in the second example above, and if it is determined that multiple operations have been detected (YES), the process proceeds to step S303, and if it is determined that multiple operations have not been detected (NO), the process proceeds to step S305.

[0049] [Step S303] In step S303, the signal processing unit 11c extracts the non-contact sensor 11a with the largest detection area [A] (see FIGS. 5 and 6) from among the plurality of non-contact sensors 11a that detected the approach of an object in step S301.

[0050] [Step S304] In step S304, the signal processing unit 11c accepts the operation of the operation button 101 corresponding to the non-contact sensor 11a extracted in step S303, permits registration, transmits the registration information to the elevator control device 15, and ends the process.

[0051] [Step S305] On the other hand, step 305 is a step to which the process proceeds based on the result of step S302 that multiple objects have not been detected (NO). In this case, the signal processing unit 11c accepts the operation of the operation button 101 corresponding to the non-contact sensor 11a that detected the proximity of an object in step S301, permits registration, transmits the registration information to the elevator control device 15, and ends the process.

[0052] In addition, in step S304 or step S305, the signal processing unit 11c transmits the registration information to the elevator control device 15, and as explained in step S103 of the first example (see Figure 4), the elevator control device 15 registers the operation of the operation button 101 for which registration is permitted, and turns on the response light 11d corresponding to the operation button 101.

[0053] [Effect of Example 3] According to the third example of the embodiment described above, among the non-contact sensors 11a that detected the proximity of the object [B], the non-contact sensor with the largest detection area [A] is determined to be the operated non-contact sensor 11a. As a result, among the non-contact sensors 11a installed on the operation button 101, the non-contact sensor 11a that is intentionally approached by an object (for example, a passenger's finger) can be determined to be the operated non-contact sensor 11a. This prevents the non-contact sensor 11a that is unintentionally approached by an edge of an object due to an intentional operation from being erroneously determined to have been operated without contact. As a result, it is possible to prevent erroneous registration due to unintentional non-contact operation of the non-contact sensor 11a.

[0054] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and modifications, and includes various other modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those including all of the described configurations. Furthermore, it is possible to replace part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, or to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. Furthermore, it is possible to add, delete, or replace part of the configuration of each embodiment with other configurations. [Explanation of symbols]

[0055] 1. Elevator 10...Car 11...In-car control panel 11a...Non-contact sensor (in-car control panel) 11b...Contact sensor (in-car control panel) 11c...Signal processing unit (in-car control panel) 15...Elevator control device 21...Platform control panel 21a...Non-contact sensor (landing control panel) 21b...Contact sensor (landing control panel) 21c...Signal processing unit (landing operation panel) 101...Operation button (in-car operation panel) 101a... Destination floor button (inside car control panel) 101b...Open button (inside car control panel) 101c... Close button (in-car control panel) 201...Operation button (landing operation panel) 201a...Up call button (landing control panel) 201b...Descent call button (landing control panel) [A]…Detection area [d]…Predetermined distance

Claims

1. An elevator equipped with an operation panel having a plurality of non-contact sensors, a signal processing unit that processes signals from each of the non-contact sensors, and a control device that controls the operation of a car based on the processing results of the signal processing unit, each of the non-contact sensors is capable of detecting an area of ​​an object that is close to the non-contact sensor within a predetermined distance range; The signal processing unit determines whether or not the non-contact sensor has been operated based on the detection area of ​​the object at each of the non-contact sensors. Elevator.

2. The signal processing unit determines that only the non-contact sensor whose detection area is equal to or smaller than a preset threshold is the operated non-contact sensor among the non-contact sensors that have detected the proximity of an object. The elevator according to claim 1.

3. The signal processing unit temporarily reduces the sensitivity of the non-contact sensors when a plurality of the non-contact sensors simultaneously detect the proximity of an object. The elevator according to claim 1.

4. The signal processing unit determines that only a non-contact sensor whose detection area is equal to or smaller than a preset threshold value is an operated non-contact sensor while the sensitivity of the non-contact sensor is reduced.

4. The elevator according to claim 3.

5. When a plurality of the non-contact sensors simultaneously detect the proximity of an object, the signal processing unit determines that only the non-contact sensor with the largest detection area is the operated non-contact sensor. The elevator according to claim 1.

6. each of the non-contact sensors is a sensor for registering a call; The control device registers a call corresponding to the non-contact sensor that is determined to have been operated by the signal processing unit. The elevator according to claim 1.

7. The signal processing unit is provided on the operation panel. The elevator according to claim 1.

8. the operation panel has a plurality of contact sensors corresponding to the non-contact sensors, The control device controls the driving of the car based on the signal from the signal processing unit and the signals from each of the contact sensors. The elevator according to claim 1.

9. The non-contact sensors and the contact sensors are arranged within the range of the same operation button.

9. The elevator according to claim 8.

10. A control panel including a plurality of non-contact sensors and a signal processing unit that processes signals from the non-contact sensors, each of the non-contact sensors is capable of detecting an area of ​​an object that is close to the non-contact sensor within a predetermined distance range; The signal processing unit determines whether each of the non-contact sensors is on or off based on the area of ​​the object detected by each of the non-contact sensors. Operation panel.

11. An elevator control method in which signals from a plurality of non-contact sensors provided on an operation panel are processed by a signal processing unit, and a control device controls the driving of a car based on the processing results of the signal processing unit, each of the non-contact sensors detects an area of ​​an object that is close to the non-contact sensor within a predetermined distance range; The signal processing unit determines whether or not the non-contact sensor has been operated based on the detection area of ​​the object at each of the non-contact sensors. How to control an elevator.

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