Elevator

Abstract

To provide an elevator capable of reducing labor and time in maintenance / inspection work when the rise of a tension pulley is detected.SOLUTION: An elevator 10 comprises: a tension pulley 40 vertically movably supported which gives a compensating rope 12 to prevent a car 20 from jumping up; and a tie down device 60 for preventing the upward movement of the tension pulley 40 by applying braking force of the tension pulley 40 when the tension pulley 40 rises to a prescribed position. The elevator comprises: a rise detection part 41 (refer to Fig.2) for detecting that the tension pulley 40 rises before the tension pulley 40 rises to the prescribed position; a monitoring part 34 (refer to Fig.2) for monitoring a position of the tension pulley 40; and an operation control part 32 (refer to Fig.2) for stopping the operation of the car 20 when the rise of the tension pulley 40 is detected via the rise detection part 41 and resuming the operation of the car 20 when a monitoring result by the monitoring part 34 satisfies a prescribed condition.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an elevator equipped with a tie-down device that suppresses the jumping up of a tension wheel. [Background technology]

[0002] In a rope-type elevator, the upper part of the car and the counterweight are suspended in a basin-like manner via the main rope, and both ends of the compensating rope, which is stretched across a tension wheel installed at the bottom of the elevator shaft (pit), are connected to the bottom of the car and the counterweight, respectively. This compensating rope serves to compensate for the imbalance in the weight of the main rope, etc., which fluctuates depending on the elevation position of the car.

[0003] However, if the car suddenly stops while ascending or descending due to some factor, the inertial force of the car or the counterweight attempting to move upward may act on the tension wheel through the compensating rope, causing the tension wheel to jump up.

[0004] To prevent this jumping up, a braking device called a tie-down device is provided directly above the tensioner. The tie-down device is attached, for example, to a guide rail that supports the tensioner in a state in which it can move up and down. When the tensioner is urged from below as it jumps up, a wedge provided on the tie-down device presses against the guide rail, thereby applying a braking force to the tensioner. This activates the tie-down device, applying a braking force to the tensioner and preventing it from jumping up.

[0005] In addition, a detection unit is provided that is separate from the tie-down device and has the function of detecting the tension wheel bouncing up, and this detection unit is set up so that the raising and lowering operation of the car is stopped when it detects the tension wheel bouncing up.

[0006] When the detector detects the jumping up of the tensioner, a maintenance worker must enter the bottom of the elevator shaft and perform maintenance and inspection work such as returning the tie-down device to its original position, i.e., the position before the device was activated. Then, once the maintenance and inspection work is completed, the car operation will be resumed.

[0007] Incidentally, some elevators are equipped with the above-mentioned detection unit so as to detect the rise of the tension wheel before it bounces up to the position where the tie-down device operates, i.e., the position where the braking force of the tie-down device acts on the tension wheel.

[0008] In such elevators, even if the detector detects the tension wheel jumping up, the tie-down device is not necessarily in operation, and it may happen that the detector detects the tension wheel jumping up but the tie-down device is not in operation. If the tie-down device is not in operation, there is no need to perform recovery work to return the tie-down device to its original position.

[0009] In this regard, Patent Document 1 discloses an elevator in which a manually reset tie-down operation detection switch (detection unit) fixed to a counterweight rope tensioner cover that moves in sync with the counterweight rope tensioner detects the operation by coming into contact with a kick metal fitting fixed to the tie-down device. It also discloses that when the tie-down operation detection switch is activated, a maintenance worker enters the bottom of the elevator shaft from the landing on the lowest floor to check the operation status of the tie-down device and then performs restoration work for the device. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0010] [Patent Document 1] JP2006-117352A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0011] In the elevator configuration described in Patent Document 1, when the detector detects the jumping up (rising) of the tension wheel, a maintenance worker must enter the hoistway to check whether the tie-down device is working or not, thus requiring maintenance and inspection work that requires time and effort.

[0012] An object of the present invention is to provide an elevator that can reduce the effort required for maintenance and inspection work when the rise of a tension wheel is detected. [Means for solving the problem]

[0013] The elevator of the present invention is an elevator equipped with a tension wheel that is supported so as to be able to move up and down in order to apply tension to a compensating rope that suppresses the bouncing up of the car, and a tie-down device that applies a braking force to the tension wheel when the tension wheel rises to a predetermined position, thereby suppressing the upward movement of the tension wheel.The elevator is equipped with a detection unit arranged to detect the rising of the tension wheel before it rises to the predetermined position, a monitoring unit that monitors the position of the tension wheel, and an operation control unit that stops operation of the car when the rising of the tension wheel is detected via the detection unit, and resumes operation of the car only if the monitoring results of the monitoring unit satisfy predetermined conditions.

[0014] In the elevator of the present invention, the predetermined condition may include the tension wheel not rising to a predetermined position.

[0015] In the elevator of the present invention, the predetermined condition may include that the rotation axis of the tension wheel is not inclined relative to the horizontal direction.

[0016] In the elevator of the present invention, the monitoring unit may be configured to monitor the position of the tension wheel using an acceleration sensor provided on the tension wheel.

[0017] In the elevator of the present invention, the position of the tension wheel may be monitored using an ultrasonic sensor disposed below the tension wheel. Effect of the Invention

[0018] According to the elevator of the present invention, even if the lift of the tension wheel is detected and the operation of the car is stopped, the operation of the car can be resumed if the monitoring result of the monitoring unit satisfies a predetermined condition. This makes it possible to resume the operation of the car while reducing the labor of maintenance and inspection work when the lift of the tension wheel is detected. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0019] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an elevator in the present embodiment. [Diagram 2] 1 is a block diagram showing the relationship between a control system centered on a control device for determining whether or not to resume operation of the elevator car when a detection unit detects the jumping up of a tension wheel in the elevator of this embodiment. FIG. [Diagram 3] Fig. 3(a) is a diagram showing the configuration of the tension wheel and the tie-down device as viewed from the side of the tension wheel, and Fig. 3(b) is a diagram showing the configuration of the tension wheel and the tie-down device as viewed from the front of the tension wheel. [Figure 4] Fig. 4(a) is a diagram showing the configuration of the tensioner and the tie-down device when the tensioner jumps up a distance less than ΔL and equal to or greater than ΔM, and Fig. 4(b) is a diagram similar to Fig. 4(a) showing the state in which the tie-down device is activated by the tensioner jumping up a distance equal to or greater than ΔL. [Diagram 5] Fig. 5(a) is a diagram showing the state where the tension wheel jumps up to the position shown in Fig. 4(a) and then drops down. Fig. 5(b) is a partially enlarged view showing the configuration around the detection arm and detection lever included in Fig. 5(a). Fig. 5(c) is a diagram showing the state where only the detection arm has returned to the engagement position from the detection state shown in Fig. 5(a). Fig. 5(d) is a diagram showing the state where the detection lever has further returned to the engagement position from the detection state shown in Fig. 5(b). [Figure 6] 13 is a flowchart showing the flow of a process for determining whether or not the car can resume operation when the control device detects the jumping up of the tension wheel. [Figure 7]Fig. 7(a) is a diagram showing the configuration around the tension wheel in the case of a first modified example in which an ultrasonic sensor is installed directly below the tension wheel instead of an acceleration sensor to measure the position of the tension wheel, and Fig. 7(b) is a diagram showing the configuration around the tension wheel in the case of a second modified example in which an ultrasonic sensor is installed directly below each end of the tension wheel in the width direction to measure the position of the tension wheel instead of an acceleration sensor. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0020] Hereinafter, an elevator 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In each drawing, "X" indicates a horizontal direction parallel to the axial direction of the sheave 16A, "Y" indicates a substantially vertical direction, and "Z" indicates a horizontal direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction X and the vertical direction Y.

[0021] Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an elevator 10. In order to avoid complicated illustration, each of the main rope 11 and the compensating rope 12 is shown by a single line in Fig. 1, but in reality, each of them is made up of a plurality of ropes.

[0022] As shown in Fig. 1, elevator 10 is a traction type elevator having a machine room M directly above a hoistway 14. This elevator 10 is equipped with a car 20 and a counterweight W suspended in a tether-like manner via a main rope 11 stretched across a sheave 16A and a deflector pulley 16B provided on a hoisting machine 16 installed in the machine room M. In addition, elevator 10 is equipped with a control device 15 in the machine room M that performs overall control of the operation of the car 20.

[0023] Fig. 2 is a diagram showing functional blocks centered on the control device 15. As shown in Fig. 2, the control device 15 includes storage devices (not shown) such as a ROM, a RAM, and a HDD in which various control programs are stored, and a CPU reads out the programs from the storage devices and performs arithmetic processing to function as an operation control unit 32 and a monitoring unit 34 that monitors the position of a tensioner 40, which will be described later.

[0024] The operation control unit 32 controls the driving of the electric motor 16M provided in the hoist 16 based on the operation of registering the destination floor performed via an operation panel installed in the car 20 or a call button (not shown) installed at each floor landing, and raises and lowers the car 20. When the rotational power from the electric motor 16M is transmitted to the sheave 16A via a power transmission mechanism (not shown) and the sheave 16A is rotated, the main rope 11 runs accordingly, and the car 20 and the counterweight W suspended from the main rope 11 are guided by guide rails (not shown) and move relatively up and down in the hoistway 14.

[0025] 1, both ends of a compensating rope 12 are connected to the bottom of the car 20 and the counterweight W. The compensating rope 12 is hung on a tension wheel 40 installed at the bottom (pit) PT of the elevator shaft 14, and serves to compensate for the imbalance in weight of the main rope 11, traveling cable TL, etc., which varies depending on the elevation position of the car 20.

[0026] Fig. 3(a) is a diagram showing the tension sheave 40 as viewed from the side. Fig. 3(b) is a diagram showing the tension sheave 40 as viewed from the front. Note that the compensating ropes 12 are omitted from Fig. 3(a) and 3(b). As shown in Fig. 3(a) and 3(b), the elevator 10 includes the tension sheave 40 on which the compensating ropes 12 are stretched, and a tie-down device 60 that suppresses the tension sheave 40 from bouncing up.

[0027] The tension pulley 40 is a movable pulley equipped with side plates 42A and 42B that cover both side surfaces and an upper cover 42C that covers the upper surface. In addition, the tension pulley 40 is provided on its circumferential surface with rope grooves 40G-1, 40G-2, and 40G-3 (hereinafter, referred to as "rope groove 40G" unless otherwise required) into which the compensating ropes 12 are fitted.

[0028] Furthermore, a rotation shaft 40X is provided in the center of the tension wheel 40, and the tension wheel 40 is rotatably supported by the side plates 42A, 42B via the rotation shaft 40X. Since the side plates 42A, 42B have almost the same configuration, the following explanation will mainly focus on the side plate 42A, and will omit explanations of the side plate 42B as appropriate.

[0029] As shown in Fig. 3(b), guide shoes H1, H2 are provided at both upper and lower ends of the side plate 42A. These guide shoes H1, H2 are provided to sandwich the guide rail GL1 erected in the pit PT of the elevator shaft 14 in a vertically slidable state, and serve to guide the tensioning wheel 40 along the guide rail GL1. Similarly, guide shoes H3, H4 having the same configuration as the above-mentioned guide shoes H1, H2 are provided at both upper and lower ends of the side plate 42B, and are configured to guide the tensioning wheel 40 along the guide rail GL2 erected in the pit PT. With the above configuration, the tensioning wheel 40 is supported by the guide rails GL1, GL2 in a vertically movable state.

[0030] As shown in Figures 3(a) and 3(b), a rise detection unit 41 having a function of detecting the rise of the tension sheave 40 is attached to the side plate 42A of the tension sheave 40. In addition, a buffer member 43 made of rubber or the like is attached to the center of the upper cover 42C of the tension sheave 40 in order to reduce the impact when it collides with the tie-down device 60 located directly above, and an acceleration sensor 52 for detecting the acceleration of the tension sheave 40 is provided on the end side. As an example, the acceleration sensor 52 is a sensor having a function of detecting acceleration in each of three axial directions (horizontal directions X and Z and vertical direction Y), and detects the acceleration in each axial direction and transmits it as an output value to the monitoring unit 34 (see Figure 2).

[0031] As shown in FIG. 3(a), the rise detection unit 41 is a contact-type switch that detects the jumping up of the tension wheel 40, and has a rotatably supported detection lever 44 and a rotatably supported detection arm 46 located on the rear side of the detection lever 44.

[0032] Detection lever 44 has a generally cross-shaped appearance, has a rotation shaft 44A provided in the center, and includes a detection piece 44B extending to the right from rotation shaft 44A and a locking piece 44C extending to the left from rotation shaft 44A. Directly above detection piece 44B is located a tie-down arm 62, the upper end of which is connected to tie-down device 60 described above.

[0033] 3(b), the tie-down arm 62 is a plate-like member that is generally C-shaped when viewed from the side and extends downward from the tie-down device 60. The tie-down arm 62 has the role of causing the rise detection unit 41 to detect the jumping up of the tension wheel 40 by coming into contact with the detection piece 44B of the detection lever 44 that constitutes part of the rise detection unit 41 when the tension wheel 40 jumps up.

[0034] 3(a), the tip of the locking piece 44C is bifurcated and bent toward the rear side so as to have a substantially L-shape in a side view, so that the engagement protrusion 46A of the detection arm 46 can be held in a state in which it is locked to the detection lever 44 via the locking piece 44C.

[0035] The detection arm 46 is provided with an engagement protrusion 46A at its upper portion for engaging with the detection lever 44, and is configured to be rotatable about a rotation shaft 46B provided at its lower end portion.

[0036] 3(a), during normal operation, i.e., when the tensioner sheave 40 is not jumping up, the distance ΔM between the tie-down arm 62 and the detection piece 44B is set to be shorter than the distance ΔL between the tie-down device 60 and the buffer member 43 of the tensioner sheave 40. In other words, the distance ΔL corresponds to the position where the buffer member 43 of the tensioner sheave 40 comes into contact with the tie-down device 60, in other words, the distance to the position (predetermined position) where the tie-down device 60 operates as a result of the tensioner sheave 40 rising, and the distance ΔM corresponds to the distance to the position where the rise detection unit 41 detects the jumping up of the tensioner sheave 40.

[0037] With the above configuration, the jumping up of the tensioner 40 can be detected via the rise detector 41 before the tensioner 40 jumps up to a position that activates the tie-down device 60. As a result, the jumping up of the tensioner 40 can be detected by the control device 15 via the rise detector 41 as early as possible.

[0038] The detection arm 46 described above is constantly biased by an elastic spring (not shown) in the direction of arrow A shown in Fig. 3(a), i.e., in the direction away from the detection lever 44, and is normally held in the engagement position P shown in Fig. 3(a) with the locking piece 44C of the detection lever 44 locked to the engagement protrusion 46A of the detection arm 46 located on the rear side. When the tension wheel 40 springs up and the detection piece 44B of the detection lever 44 abuts against the tie-down arm 62 and rotates downward, the opposite locking piece 44C rotates upward and is disengaged from the engagement protrusion 46A of the detection arm 46.

[0039] When the engagement between the locking piece 44C of the detection arm 46 and the engagement protrusion 46A of the detection lever 44 is released, the detection arm 46 rotates in the direction A (see FIG. 4(a)) because it is biased in the direction A shown in FIG. 3(a) by an elastic spring (not shown) as described above. This cuts off the current applied to the safety circuit (not shown) of which the detection arm 46 is a part, and the jumping up of the tension pulley 40 is detected by the operation control unit 32. Then, the operation control unit 32 stops the sheave 16A and applies a braking force to the sheave 16A via the braking device 16D (see FIG. 2) attached to the sheave 16A, stopping the lifting and lowering of the car 20.

[0040] In addition, the detection lever 44 is provided with a first motor M1 (see FIG. 2) that has the function of rotating the detection lever 44 toward the engagement position P via the rotation shaft 44A after the rise detection unit 41 detects the jumping up of the tension wheel 40. Similarly, a second motor M2 (see FIG. 2) is provided on the rotation shaft 46B of the detection arm 46 and has the role of rotating the arm 46 toward the engagement position P.

[0041] Next, with further reference to Figures 4(a) and 4(b), the operation of the rise detection unit 41 and the tie-down device 60 when the tension sheave 40 jumps up will be described. Figures 4(a) and 4(b) both show the state when the tension sheave 40 jumps up, and Figure 4(a) shows the operating state around the tension sheave 40 when the relationship ΔM≦U<ΔL is satisfied, where U is the distance the tension sheave 40 has jumped up, i.e., when the rise detection unit 41 detects the rise of the tension sheave 40 but the tie-down device 60 does not operate.

[0042] Similarly, Fig. 4(b) is a diagram showing the operating state around the tension sheave 40 when ΔL≦U, that is, when the tension sheave 40 has jumped up to a position where both the rise detection unit 41 and the tie-down device 60 are activated. Note that in Figs. 4(a) and 4(b), the position of the tension sheave 40 during normal operation, that is, the position before the tension sheave 40 jumps up, is shown by a dashed line.

[0043] As shown in Figure 4(a), when the jumped-up distance U of the tension wheel 40 is greater than ΔM and less than ΔL, the tie-down arm 62 urges the detection piece 44B of the detection lever 44 downward, disengaging the detection lever 44 and the detection arm 46, and the detection arm 46 rotates, detecting the jumping-up of the tension wheel 40 via the rise detection section 41.

[0044] When the rise detection unit 41 detects the jumping up of the tension sheave 40 in this manner, the control device 15 stops the electric motor 16M (see FIG. 2) of the hoisting machine 16 and applies a braking force to the sheave 16A of the hoisting machine 16 via the braking device 16D (see FIG. 2) to stop the car 20. After jumping up, the tension sheave 40 will then descend due to its own weight to the normal position indicated by the dashed line.

[0045] In this case, the tensioner 40 is not in contact with the tie-down device 60, so the tie-down device 60 is not activated. Therefore, there is no need to perform recovery work to return the tie-down device 60 to its original position.

[0046] On the other hand, as shown in Figure 4(b), when the rise distance U by which the tension sheave 40 has jumped up is a distance equal to or greater than ΔL, the jumping up of the tension sheave 40 will be detected by the operation control unit 32 (see Figure 2) via the rise detection unit 41, just as in the case shown in Figure 4(a) described above. Also, as the tie-down device 60 is urged from below against the tension sheave 40 via the buffer member 43, a wedge (not shown) provided on the device 60 will bite (squeeze) the guide rails GL1, GL2, thereby entering an operational state in which a braking force is applied to the tension sheave 40 via the guide rails GL1, GL2.

[0047] As a result, the force of the tension wheel 40 trying to jump up is offset by the braking force of the tie-down device 60, suppressing the jump up (ascension) of the tension wheel 40. After that, the tie-down device 60 descends by its own weight to the position shown by the dashed line when the car 20 is in normal operation.

[0048] Also, as shown in Figure 4(b), the tie-down device 60 is fixed by being engaged with the guide rails GL1, GL2 at a position higher than the position at which the tie-down device 60 was attached before it was activated, because the wedges (not shown) are engaged with the guide rails GL1, GL2.

[0049] For this reason, in order to return the tie-down device 60 to the position during normal operation, a maintenance worker or the like must perform recovery work, such as releasing the wedges (not shown) of the tie-down device 60 from the biting state and then lowering the device 60 to the position during normal operation. Furthermore, since normal operation of the car 20 cannot be resumed until these recovery works are performed, it will take time before the car 20 can resume operation.

[0050] Therefore, in this embodiment, by monitoring the position of the tension pulley 40 using the monitoring unit 34, it is possible to know whether the tie-down device 60 has been activated when the tension pulley 40 jumps up. More specifically, the monitoring unit 34 has a function of calculating the vertical position of the tension pulley 40 by performing arithmetic processing such as integration based on the acceleration output value output from the acceleration sensor 52. The monitoring unit 34 may also have a function of calculating the inclination of the tension pulley 40 with respect to the horizontal direction based on the output value of the acceleration sensor 52.

[0051] Next, the return operation when the rise detection unit 41 returns to the position during normal operation after the jumping up of the tension pulley 40 is detected by the rise detection unit 41 will be described with reference to Figs. 5(a) to 5(d). Fig. 5(a) is a diagram showing the state in which the tension pulley 40 rises to the position shown in Fig. 4(a), in other words, the position detected by the rise detection unit 41 even though the tie-down device 60 is not operated, and then the state in which the tension pulley 40 falls. Fig. 5(b) is a partially enlarged view showing the detection state of the detection arm 46 and the detection lever 44 in the rise detection unit 41 included in Fig. 5(a). Fig. 5(c) is a diagram showing the state in which only the detection arm 46 has returned to the engagement position P (see Fig. 3(a)) from the detection state shown in Fig. 5(b). Fig. 5(d) is a diagram showing the state in which the detection lever 44 has further returned to the engagement position P (see Fig. 3(a)) from the state shown in Fig. 5(c).

[0052] As shown in Figure 5(a), when the operation control unit 32 determines based on the monitoring results of the monitoring unit 34 that the tensioner 40 has not jumped up to a position that would activate the tie-down device 60, it returns the rise detection unit 41 shown in Figure 5(b) from the detection position when the rise detection unit 41 detected the rise of the tensioner 40 to the position during normal operation shown in Figure 5(d).

[0053] More specifically, when the jumping up of the tension wheel 40 is detected via the rise detection unit 41 as shown in Fig. 5(b), the operation control unit 32 rotates the detection arm 46 in direction B to the engagement position P (see Fig. 3(a)) via the first motor M1 (see Fig. 2) after a certain time (for example, 5 minutes) has elapsed since detecting the jumping up of the tension wheel 40, thereby reaching the state shown in Fig. 5(c). Furthermore, the operation control unit 32 rotates the detection lever 44 in direction C to the engagement position P (see Fig. 3(a)) via the second motor M2 (see Fig. 2), thereby reaching the state shown in Fig. 5(d).

[0054] As a result, the locking piece 44C of the detection lever 44 is held in a locked state with the engaging protrusion 46A of the detection arm 46. As a result, the state where the jump-up of the tension wheel 40 can be detected via the rise detection portion 41 is restored.

[0055] Here, Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of the process of determining whether or not the operation of the car 20 can be resumed by the operation control unit 32 when the tension sheave 40 jumps up. As shown in Fig. 6, when the operation control unit 32 detects the rise of the car 20 via the rise detection unit 41 (step S1: YES), it stops the driving of the electric motor 16M and applies a braking force to the sheave 16A via the brake device 16D (steps S2, S3). This allows the car 20 to be stopped quickly.

[0056] Furthermore, the operation control unit 32 judges whether or not the operation of the car 20 can be resumed (step S4). More specifically, the operation control unit 32 judges that the operation of the car 20 can be resumed when the monitoring results calculated by the monitoring unit 34 satisfy all of the predetermined conditions (step S4: YES). Here, the predetermined conditions include the following first and second conditions.

[0057] The first condition is that the lift distance U of the tensioner 40 calculated by the monitoring unit 34 is less than the distance ΔL (see Figs. 4(a) and 4(b)). By satisfying this first condition, it can be determined that the tensioner 40 is not in contact with the tie-down device 60, in other words, that the tie-down device 60 is not operating.

[0058] The second condition is that it can be determined that the tension sheave 40 is not inclined relative to the horizontal direction based on the calculation results of the monitoring unit 34. This makes it possible to determine whether an abnormality has occurred, such as a part of the compensating rope 12 coming out of the rope groove 40G of the tension sheave 40 causing the tension sheave 40 to be inclined relative to the horizontal direction, or damage occurring to the tie-down device 60 causing the tension sheave 40 to be inclined relative to the horizontal direction.

[0059] When the above first and second conditions are satisfied, the operation control unit 32 determines that the operation of the car 20 can be resumed (step S4: YES).

[0060] When the operation control unit 32 determines that the operation of the car 20 can be resumed (step S4: YES), the operation control unit 32 executes the above-mentioned return operation via the first motor M1 and the second motor M2 after a predetermined time (e.g., 5 minutes) has elapsed since the timing when the rise of the car 20 was detected via the rise detection unit 41 (step S5: YES, step S6). This allows the detection arm 46 and the detection lever 44 of the rise detection unit 41 to be displaced to the engagement position P (see FIG. 3(a)).

[0061] Then, the operation control unit 32 releases the braking (operated) state of the braking device 16D (see Figure 2) so that no braking force is applied to the sheave 16A, and resumes driving the electric motor 16M (see Figure 2) (steps S7, S8), thereby completing the series of control processes.

[0062] On the other hand, in step S4, if either or both of the first and second conditions are not satisfied, the operation control unit 32 determines that the operation of the car 20 cannot be resumed (step S4: NO). Then, the operation control unit 32 transmits an abnormality detection signal to a remote monitoring center or the like (step S9). This allows it to notify that the operation of the car 20 has stopped due to the jumping up of the tension wheel 40 or the like. As a result, a maintenance worker is dispatched from the remote monitoring center to carry out recovery work for the elevator 10. Then, after the recovery work is completed, the operation of the car 20 is resumed.

[0063] According to the elevator 10 of this embodiment, even if the lift of the tension pulley 40 is detected and the operation of the car is stopped, the operation of the car 20 can be resumed if the monitoring result of the monitoring unit 34 satisfies a predetermined condition. This allows the operation of the car 20 to be resumed while reducing the effort of maintenance and inspection work when the lift of the tension pulley 40 is detected.

[0064] In the above embodiment, an example is described in which the operation control unit 32 determines that the car 20 can resume operation only when the second condition is satisfied in addition to the first condition as the predetermined condition in the process of step S4, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, depending on the specifications of the elevator 10 and the installation environment, the second condition may not be included in the predetermined conditions, and the operation control unit 32 may determine whether or not the car 20 can resume operation based only on the first condition.

[0065] In the above embodiment, the operation control unit 32 resumes the operation of the car 20 in the process of step S4 when the first and second conditions are satisfied as the predetermined conditions. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the operation control unit 32 may resume the operation of the car 20 only when the predetermined conditions, in addition to the first and second conditions, further satisfy a third condition related to the period of the up and down movement of the tension wheel 40 shown below.

[0066] Here, the position of the rotation axis 40X (see FIG. 3(b)), which is the center of rotation of the tension wheel 40, does not coincide with the center of gravity position and is slightly shifted, i.e., eccentric. Therefore, due to the influence of the eccentricity, when the tension wheel 40 rotates as the car 20 rises and falls, the tension wheel 40 moves up and down at a predetermined cycle according to the rising and falling speed of the car 20.

[0067] On the other hand, if some abnormality occurs, such as a part of the compensating rope 12 coming out of the rope groove 40G of the tension wheel 40, it may happen that the tension wheel 40 does not move up and down at the above-mentioned specified period when the car 20 rises and falls.

[0068] Therefore, when the car 20 rises or falls, it is possible to determine whether or not there is an abnormality in the operating condition of the tension wheel 40 based on whether or not the tension wheel 40 moves up and down at a predetermined period.

[0069] Therefore, as a third condition, it is possible to add that the tension wheel 40 moves up and down at a predetermined period when the car 20 rises and falls as one of the conditions for determining whether or not the car 20 can resume operation.

[0070] In this case, the operation control unit 32 prestores a periodic pattern of the vertical movement of the tension wheel 40 when the car 20 is raised and lowered for a certain period of time. The operation control unit 32 also has a function of calculating a periodic pattern of the vertical movement of the tension wheel 40 based on the position information of the tension wheel 40 calculated by the monitoring unit 34.

[0071] After confirming that the first and second conditions are satisfied, the operation control unit 32 sets the condition for restarting the operation of the car 20 as follows: the period of the vertical movement of the tension wheel 40 when the car 20 is raised and lowered for a certain period of time matches the periodic pattern of the vertical movement stored in advance. In this case, too, the same effect as that of the elevator 10 in the above embodiment can be obtained.

[0072] In the above embodiment, the monitoring unit 34 monitors the position of the pulley 40 using the output value of the acceleration sensor 52 attached to the upper cover 42C. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an ultrasonic sensor may be used instead of the acceleration sensor 52. A first and second modified example in this case will be described with reference to Figs. 7(a) and 7(b). In the following description, parts that are the same as those in the elevator 10 in the above embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as appropriate, and a description thereof will be omitted as appropriate, and only parts that are different in configuration will be described.

[0073] Fig. 7(a) is a diagram showing a configuration in which an ultrasonic sensor 72 according to a first modified example is used. As shown in Fig. 7(a), the ultrasonic sensor 72 may be disposed in the center of the width direction immediately below the tension sheave 40. This ultrasonic sensor 72 has a function of measuring the distance to an object by measuring the time it takes for an emitted ultrasonic wave to hit the object and be reflected back, and measures the distance from the sensor 72 to the tension sheave 40 in a non-contact manner. The monitoring unit 34 monitors the vertical position of the tension sheave 40 based on the measurement (output) value of the ultrasonic sensor 72. Even in this case, the operation control unit 32 can determine whether the first condition described above is satisfied or not.

[0074] Therefore, in the processing of step S4 described above, when determining whether or not to resume operation of the car 20 based on whether or not only the first condition is satisfied as a specified condition, the configuration related to this first modified example can also achieve the same effect as the above embodiment.

[0075] Fig. 7(b) is a diagram showing a configuration in which ultrasonic sensors 74, 76 according to a second modified example are used. As shown in Fig. 7(b), the monitoring unit 34 may monitor the change in the distance to the tension sheave 40 via ultrasonic sensors 74, 76 respectively arranged on both ends in the width direction directly below the tension sheave 40. The ultrasonic sensors 74, 76 are sensors having the same function and configuration as the ultrasonic sensor 72 described above.

[0076] In this case, the monitoring unit 34 can calculate and monitor the vertical position of the tension wheel 40 and the inclination of the tension wheel 40 with respect to the horizontal direction based on the output values ​​output from both ultrasonic sensors 74, 76.

[0077] Therefore, in the process of step S4 described above, the operation control unit 32 can determine whether or not to resume operation of the car 20 based on whether or not both the first condition and the second condition are satisfied as the predetermined conditions. Therefore, in the case of the second modified example, the same effect as in the above embodiment can be obtained.

[0078] The present invention can be implemented in various forms that include improvements, modifications, or variations based on the knowledge of a person skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention. In addition, the present invention can be implemented in a form in which any of the invention-specific features are replaced with other technologies within the scope of the same action or effect. [Explanation of symbols]

[0079] 10. Elevator 12 Main Rope 14 Hoistway 15 Control device 16 Hoisting machine 16A Sheave 19 Tie-down device 20 Car 32 Operation control unit 34 Monitoring Department 40 Zhang car 41 Rise detection unit 44 Detection lever 46 Detection Arm 52 Acceleration Sensor 60 Tie-down device 62 Tie-down arm 72,74,76 Ultrasonic sensors X,Y horizontal direction Z vertical direction

Claims

1. An elevator comprising: a tension wheel supported so as to be movable up and down in order to apply tension to a compensating rope that suppresses the jumping up of a passenger car; and a tie-down device that applies a braking force to the tension wheel when the tension wheel rises to a predetermined position, thereby suppressing the upward movement of the tension wheel, A detection unit configured to detect the lifting of the tension wheel before the tension wheel is lifted to the predetermined position; A monitoring unit that monitors the position of the tension wheel; an operation control unit that stops the operation of the elevator car when the lift of the tension wheel is detected via the detection unit, and resumes the operation of the elevator car only when the monitoring result of the monitoring unit satisfies a predetermined condition; An elevator equipped with:

2. The predetermined condition includes that the tension wheel is not raised to the predetermined position.

2. The elevator of claim 1.

3. The predetermined condition includes that the rotation axis of the tension wheel is not inclined relative to the horizontal direction.

2. The elevator of claim 1.

4. The monitoring unit is configured to monitor the position of the tension wheel using an acceleration sensor provided on the tension wheel.

2. The elevator of claim 1.

5. The monitoring unit is configured to monitor the position of the tension wheel using an ultrasonic sensor disposed below the tension wheel.

2. The elevator of claim 1.

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