Elevator monitoring device and elevator monitoring method

Abstract

In elevators that are not equipped with car entrapment failure detection devices, there have been problems such as delayed detection of car entrapment and the need to dispatch maintenance personnel in the event of a disaster, even though the elevators are operating normally. [Solution] An elevator monitoring device monitors a first elevator equipped with a car entrapment failure detection device and a second elevator not equipped with a entrapment failure detection device but equipped with an acceleration sensor that detects the acceleration of the car, and has a control unit that, upon receiving information that a car entrapment failure has occurred in the first elevator, estimates the occurrence of a car entrapment failure in the second elevator based on the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor of the second elevator.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an elevator monitoring device and an elevator monitoring method that assume a case in which a car is trapped due to an earthquake or the like. [Background technology]

[0002] When a disaster occurs, elevator operation within a certain range may be interrupted, resulting in passengers becoming trapped inside the elevator car and causing a trapping failure.

[0003] Patent document 1 describes a device that estimates the likelihood of users becoming trapped in a particular elevator when a particular disaster occurs, based on location information indicating the elevator's location and disaster information including the severity of an earthquake or other disaster at the location. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 7248073 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, some elevators currently in use do not have a lock-in failure detection device. In such cases, unless passengers contact the elevator through an intercom or other means, the lock-in failure may go unnoticed, and rescue may take time.

[0006] In the method of sending maintenance personnel to elevators where it is estimated from disaster information that people may be trapped inside, such as in Patent Document 1, in the event of an earthquake or other disaster, maintenance personnel are sent more often even when people are not actually trapped inside, which is inefficient.

[0007] The present disclosure has been made to solve such problems, and aims to enable maintenance personnel to be dispatched quickly when a person is trapped in an elevator, even in an elevator that is not equipped with a special trapped-in failure detection device. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The present disclosure relates to an elevator monitoring device that monitors a first elevator equipped with a car entrapment fault detection device and a second elevator that is not equipped with a car entrapment fault detection device but is equipped with an acceleration sensor that detects the acceleration of the car, and has a control unit that, upon receiving information that a car entrapment fault has occurred in the first elevator, estimates the occurrence of a entrapment fault in the second elevator based on the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor of the second elevator and the horizontal distance between the car of the second elevator and the car of the first elevator. Effect of the Invention

[0009] This makes it possible to prevent unnecessary dispatches of maintenance personnel to elevators that were operating normally even after the disaster, and to speed up the restoration of elevators that have experienced car-confined failures. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing an elevator monitoring system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] 1 is a conceptual external view showing an elevator monitoring system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 3] 1 is a configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of an elevator according to a first embodiment. [Figure 4] 1 is a configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of an elevator according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 5] 2 is a diagram illustrating a storage unit of the elevator monitoring device of the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 6] 4 is a diagram showing a data format of a report master of the elevator monitoring device of the embodiment 1. FIG. [Figure 7] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data matrix of the car distance master of the elevator monitoring device of the first embodiment. [Figure 8] 4 is a flowchart showing car confinement failure detection and processing in the elevator monitoring device of the first embodiment. [Figure 9] 13 is a flowchart of detection of a confinement failure in the first elevator in the first embodiment. [Figure 10]13 is a flowchart of reception of confinement failure information at the maintenance terminal of the first embodiment. [Figure 11] 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of acquiring acceleration in the nth elevator of the first embodiment. [Figure 12] 3 is a diagram showing a data format of a record table of the elevator monitoring device of the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 13] 10 is a flowchart showing an update process of the inter-car distance threshold in the elevator monitoring device of the embodiment 2. [Figure 14] FIG. 11 is a graph showing the occurrence of a confinement fault versus distance in the elevator monitoring device of the embodiment 2. [Figure 15] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of hardware resources of an elevator monitoring device. [Figure 16] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating another example of hardware resources of the elevator monitoring device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Hereinafter, a detailed description will be given with reference to the drawings. Duplicate descriptions will be appropriately simplified or omitted. In each drawing, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

[0012] Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an elevator monitoring system according to a first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a conceptual external view showing the elevator monitoring system, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are configuration diagrams showing the schematic configuration of an elevator.

[0013] This elevator monitoring system 1 is mainly composed of N elevators to be monitored, from a first elevator 100-1 to an Nth elevator 100-N, an elevator monitoring device 201 located in a center 200 capable of communicating with these elevators, and a maintenance terminal 301 located at a base 300 where maintenance personnel are on standby.

[0014] The first elevator 100-1 to the Nth elevator 100-N, the elevator monitoring device 201, and the maintenance terminal 301 are connected by a communication line 400 so as to be able to communicate with each other.

[0015] 3 is a configuration diagram showing the first elevator 100-1. In the first elevator 100-1, a first machine room 3-1 is provided above the first hoistway 2-1. In the first machine room 3-1, a first hoisting machine 4-1, a first deflector sheave 5-1, and a first control device 6-1 are installed.

[0016] The first hoist 4-1 has a hoist motor and a drive sheave, and a first rope 7-1 is wound around the drive sheave and the first deflection pulley 5-1.

[0017] A first car 101-1 and a first counterweight 8-1 are provided in the first elevator shaft 2-1 so as to be movable up and down. The first car 101-1 is connected to a first end of the first rope 7-1. The first counterweight 8-1 is connected to a second end of the first rope 7-1. The first car 101-1 and the first counterweight 8-1 move up and down in the first elevator shaft 2-1 by rotating the drive sheave.

[0018] Further, a landing 10-1 is provided on each of a plurality of floors in the building. Each landing 10-1 is opened and closed by a pair of landing doors.

[0019] The first car 101-1 is provided with a confinement failure detection device 102-1. This is used to detect confinement failure in the car. For example, some devices are equipped with a floor landing sensor, a door opening / closing sensor, etc., and detect a failure by detecting that the car door does not open or close even when the car has landed on the floor with passengers inside.

[0020] The first machine room 3-1 is also provided with a first communication device 110-1. This first communication device 110-1 transmits the state of the first control device 6-1 and operation information of the first elevator 100-1 to the outside, and acquires information from the outside. In addition, the first communication device 110-1 has an alarm unit 111-1 that transmits information to the outside when the confinement failure detection device 102-1 detects a confinement failure of the car.

[0021] In Fig. 3, the confinement failure detection device 102-1 is provided in the first car 101-1, but it may be disposed outside, for example, at a landing. Also, if it is possible to detect a confinement failure in the car, it is not necessary to use a door opening / closing sensor.

[0022] 4 is a configuration diagram showing the second elevator 100-2. The third elevator to the Nth elevator 100-N have the same configuration as the second elevator 100-2. Like the first elevator 100-1, the second elevator 100-2 also has a second elevator shaft 2-2, a second machine room 3-2, a second hoist 4-2, a second deflector sheave 5-2, a second control device 6-2, a second rope 7-2, a second counterweight 8-2, a second car 101-2, and a second communication device 110-2.

[0023] The second car 101-2 also has a second acceleration sensor 103-2. The second acceleration sensor 103-2 detects the acceleration of the second car 101-2 when it moves up and down the second elevator shaft 2-2. The acceleration sensor is essential for elevator operation control, and is equipped as standard in normal elevators. The first car 101-1 is also equipped with one as a matter of course.

[0024] Second communication device 110-2 also includes acceleration acquisition section 112-2, which is for acquiring acceleration information from second acceleration sensor 103-2 and transmitting it to the outside.

[0025] In FIG. 4, the second acceleration sensor 103-2 is provided in the second car 101-2, but for example, it may be disposed externally, or may be incorporated in the second control device 6-2, for example.

[0026] In FIG. 1, the elevator monitoring device 201 includes a communication unit 211, a control unit 212, a storage unit 213, and a threshold setting unit 214.

[0027] The communication unit 211 acquires information transmitted from the communication devices of the elevators being monitored, from the first communication device 110-1 to the N-th communication device 110-N, and transmits and receives information between these communication devices and the maintenance terminal 301 as necessary.

[0028] The control unit 212 executes internal processing and creates information to be transmitted from the first communication device 110-1 to the Nth communication device 110-N and the maintenance terminal 301 based on the information received by the communication unit 211. The storage unit 213 stores preset information. Furthermore, the threshold setting unit 214 sets the threshold value of the inter-cage distance, which is a condition for determining a cage confinement failure. This will be described in detail later.

[0029] The maintenance terminal 301 is equipped with at least a communication unit 302 that transmits and receives data to and from the communication unit 211 of the elevator monitoring device 201, and a notification display device 303 that receives notifications sent from the communication unit 211 of the elevator monitoring device 201 and displays the notifications.

[0030] Next, the concept of car confinement monitoring by the elevator monitoring system 1 will be described. The first car 101-1 is equipped with a confinement failure detection device 102-1. Therefore, when a confinement failure occurs, it is detected, and an alarm issuing unit 111-1 transmits information of the occurrence of the confinement failure to the elevator monitoring device 201. The communication unit 211 of the elevator monitoring device 201 transmits this information to the maintenance terminal 301. This allows the maintenance staff to know that a confinement failure has occurred in the car. Therefore, the maintenance staff can immediately head to the first elevator 100-1 to rescue the passengers and repair the elevator.

[0031] However, in the second elevator 100-2 to the Nth elevator 100-N, the second car 101-2 to the Nth car 101-N do not have a confinement fault detection device, and therefore cannot directly detect the occurrence of a confinement fault.

[0032] Incidentally, if an elevator stops operating due to a natural disaster, such as an earthquake or flood, and a car becomes trapped inside, there is a possibility that a similar trapped-in fault may also be occurring in nearby elevators.

[0033] Therefore, when a cage confinement fault occurs in the first elevator 100-1, the elevator monitoring device 201 uses this as a trigger to detect the operating status of the other elevators being monitored, that is, the acceleration in the running direction of the cage in the hoistway. If the acceleration is smaller than a threshold value, it indicates that the cage is not moving. If that elevator is adjacent to the first elevator 100-1, it is highly likely that a cage confinement fault has occurred in that elevator, as in the first elevator 100-1, and the occurrence is estimated. Therefore, the estimated occurrence of a cage confinement fault is notified to the maintenance terminal 301, and a maintenance worker is dispatched.

[0034] It should be noted that the first elevator 100-1 to the Nth elevator 100-N to be monitored by the elevator monitoring system 1 do not need to be installed in the same building.

[0035] Next, the handling of a cage confinement fault will be specifically described. First, as shown in Fig. 5, the storage unit 213 of the elevator monitoring device 201 holds a report master 213a, a record table 213b, and an inter-car distance master 213c. Fig. 6 shows the data format of the report master 213a. As shown in Fig. 6, the notification master 213a stores an acceleration threshold value 213a1 and an inter-car distance threshold value 213a2, which are the criteria for determining whether a passenger is trapped. 2 , 100m.

[0036] 7 shows a data matrix of the cage distance master 213c. As shown in FIG. 7, the distances from the first cage 101-1 and other cages to be monitored, that is, the second cage 101-2, to the N-th cage 101-N are stored in a matrix format.

[0037] FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing car confinement failure detection and processing in the elevator monitoring device 201. First, the control unit 212 acquires the acceleration threshold value 213a1 and the inter-car distance threshold value 213a2 from the report master 213a (step S101). Next, the control unit 212 acquires the distance from the first elevator 100-1 to each elevator to be monitored from the inter-car distance master 213c (step S102).

[0038] Next, the trapped-in failure occurrence information is transmitted from the first communication device 110-1 of the first elevator 100-1, and the elevator monitoring device 201 determines whether the trapped-in failure occurrence information has been received (step S103), and continues step S103 until it is determined that the information has been received.

[0039] FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the detection of a confinement failure in the first elevator 100-1. First, the confinement failure detection device 102-1 constantly judges whether or not a confinement failure has occurred (step S201). If the occurrence of a confinement failure is detected in step S201 (if "YES"), the confinement failure detection device 102-1 notifies the alarm transmission unit 111-1 of the occurrence of the confinement failure. The alarm transmission unit 111-1 generates confinement failure occurrence information and transmits it to the elevator monitoring device 201 (step S202).

[0040] When the trapped-in failure occurrence information is transmitted in step S202, the elevator monitoring device 201 receives the trapped-in failure occurrence information in step S103. Then, the control unit 212 checks the contents of the trapped-in failure information, and then transmits the trapped-in failure occurrence information to the maintenance terminal 301 (step S104).

[0041] FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing how the maintenance terminal 301 receives information about the occurrence of a confinement failure. In the maintenance terminal 301, the communication unit 302 constantly judges whether or not it has received information on the occurrence of a trapped-in failure (step S301), and when it has received information on the occurrence of a trapped-in failure (if "YES"), it displays a message on the notification display device 303 to prompt the dispatch of a maintenance worker (step S302). This message includes an indication of the elevator to be dispatched.

[0042] In the elevator monitoring device 201, since a car confinement failure has occurred in the first elevator 100-1 and information on the occurrence of the confinement failure has been received, the elevator monitoring device 201 uses this as a trigger to check whether there is a possibility that a confinement failure has occurred in other elevators to be monitored. Specifically, the control unit 212 first identifies the elevator to be monitored. That is, in the flowchart of Fig. 8, n is set to 2 (step S105), and it is checked whether n is equal to or less than N of the Nth elevator, which is the last elevator to be monitored (step S106).

[0043] Here, if n is equal to or less than N in step S106 (if "YES"), the process has not yet reached the end, so an acceleration transmission command is issued to the n-th elevator, and acceleration is acquired from the n-th elevator (step S107).

[0044] FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a procedure for acquiring acceleration in the nth elevator. First, the acceleration acquisition unit 112-n constantly determines whether it has received an acceleration transmission instruction (step S401). If the acceleration transmission instruction has been received from the elevator monitoring device 201 in step S401 (if "YES"), the acceleration generated within a certain period (e.g., several seconds) is acquired from the acceleration sensor 103-n (step S402). Then, the acceleration is transmitted to the elevator monitoring device 201 (step S403).

[0045] The reason we used acceleration over a fixed period here is that even during normal operation, the acceleration changes when departing from a floor and arriving, but otherwise does not change when moving at a constant speed. Since the acceleration during constant speed operation alone is indistinguishable from stopping, we decided to obtain the acceleration within a fixed period.

[0046] In Fig. 8, in step S107, the acceleration of the n-th elevator is acquired, and it is determined whether this acceleration is smaller than the acceleration threshold value 213a1 acquired in step S101 (step S108). If the acquired acceleration is smaller than the acceleration threshold value 213a1 in step S108 (in the case of "YES"), it is determined whether the distance between the n-th car 101-n and the first car 101-1 is smaller than the inter-car distance threshold value 213a2 acquired in step S101 (step S109).

[0047] In step S109, when it is determined that the distance between the n-th cage 101-n and the first cage 101-1 is smaller than the cage distance threshold 213a2 (if "YES"), there is a possibility that a cage confinement failure has occurred in the n-th cage 101-n. Therefore, the control unit 212 creates confinement failure estimation information and transmits the confinement failure estimation information to the maintenance terminal 301 (step S110). After that, the control unit 212 records the date and time, the cage name, and the acceleration in the record table 213b (step S111).

[0048] Similarly, if the acquired acceleration is equal to or greater than the acceleration threshold value 213a1 in step S108 (if "NO"), the date, time, cage name, and acceleration are recorded in the recording table 213b in step S111. Also, if the distance between the n-th cage 101-n and the first cage 101-1 is equal to or greater than the inter-cage distance threshold value 213a2 acquired in step S101 (if "NO") in step S109, the date, time, cage name, and acceleration are also recorded in the recording table 213b in step S111.

[0049] In step S110, the maintenance terminal 301 that receives the transmitted trapped-in failure inference information operates in the same manner as in the flowchart shown in Fig. 10. That is, the communication unit 302 receives the trapped-in failure inference information, and displays a message on the notification display device 303 to prompt the dispatch of a maintenance worker.

[0050] Here, steps S108 and S109 will be described with an example. For example, when n is 2, the target is the second car 101-2, so the acceleration acquired by the second acceleration sensor 103-2 is acquired. 2 If it was, then 1m / s 2 Thus, in step S111, the acceleration of the second car 101-2 is recorded in the record table 213b. 2 If so, the elevator is likely to be operating normally.

[0051] For example, if the acceleration acquired by the second acceleration sensor 103-2 is 0.1 m / s 2 If it was, then 1m / s 2 Moreover, the distance between the first car 101-1 and the second car 101-2 is 50 m, which is less than the inter-car distance threshold value 213a2 of 100 m.

[0052] In this case, in step S110, information on the estimated confinement fault in the second car 101-2 is transmitted to the maintenance terminal 301 via the communication unit 211. Acceleration is 0.1m / s 2 In this case, the second car 101-2 is stopped, and since it is close to the first car 101-1, it is highly likely that the same phenomenon as that of the first elevator is occurring.

[0053] In addition, the maintenance terminal 301 that has received this confinement failure estimation information displays on the notification display device 303 a message urging the dispatch of a maintenance worker to the second elevator 100-2.

[0054] Also, for example, when n is N, the target car is the Nth car 101-N, so the acceleration obtained by the acceleration sensor 103-N is obtained. For example, if this is 0.1 m / s 2 If there was, it would be 1m / s 2 However, the distance between the first car 101-1 and the N-th car 101-N is 1 km, which is greater than the inter-car distance threshold 213a2 of 100 m. Therefore, in step S111, the acceleration of the N-th car 101-N is written in the record table 213b.

[0055] The acceleration of the Nth cage 101-N is 0.1 m / s 2 However, since it is 1 km away from the first car 101-1, it cannot be assumed that the same phenomenon as that in the first elevator 100-1 is occurring, and therefore the maintenance terminal 301 is not notified of the information on the estimated confinement failure.

[0056] In FIG. 8, the elevator monitoring device 201 records the acceleration of the n-th elevator in the record table 213b in step S111, and then increments the variable n (step S112), and proceeds to step S106.

[0057] FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the data format of the record table 213b. The record table 213b has a date and time column 213b1, a car name column 213b2, an acceleration column 213b3, and a dispatch result column 213b4. Of these, the date and time column 213b1, the car name column 213b2, and the acceleration column 213b3 are recorded in step S111 of FIG.

[0058] For example, in the first line of FIG. 12, the date and time column 213b1 is filled with "2024 / 1 / 29 12:00:00", the car name column 213b2 is filled with "2nd car", and the acceleration column is filled with "0 m / s 2 " It says. This is because, in response to the occurrence of a confinement failure in the first cage 101-1 on 2024 / 1 / 29, the acceleration of the second cage 101-2 is acquired at 12:00:00 on 2024 / 1 / 29 in the flowchart of FIG. 2 This shows that it was.

[0059] Moreover, the dispatch result column 213b4 is not recorded in step S111, but is recorded by the maintenance staff using the maintenance terminal 301. Specifically, when the notification display device 303 of the maintenance terminal 301 displays that there is a possibility of a car trapped fault occurring in the second car 101-2, the maintenance staff goes to the second elevator 100-2, checks, and performs recovery work and rescues passengers. At that time, when the maintenance staff confirms the car trapped fault, they use the maintenance terminal 301 to record "trapped" in the dispatch result column 213b4. Also, if the maintenance staff goes to the second elevator 100-2 to check but no car trapped fault has occurred, they record "-" in the dispatch result column 213b4.

[0060] In this way, in the first embodiment, when a trapped-in fault occurs in a car equipped with a car trapped-in fault detection device, it is possible to estimate whether a trapped-in fault has occurred in other cars from the acceleration and prompt maintenance personnel to take action. This makes it possible to prevent maintenance personnel from being dispatched to elevators where no trapped-in faults have occurred, and makes it possible to quickly rescue passengers and restore services in the event of a disaster.

[0061] Incidentally, the occurrence of a confinement fault is estimated by comparing the acceleration with an acceleration threshold value. However, if the acceleration is used, the estimation may be made based on a calculation formula or an algorithm of artificial intelligence.

[0062] In addition, in the first embodiment, the first elevator is the first elevator equipped with a confinement fault detection device, and the second elevators are the second to N-th elevators that do not have the device. However, it goes without saying that there may be a plurality of elevators equipped with a confinement fault detection device, i.e., the first elevator. In that case, the range that can be covered is expanded, making it possible to estimate the confinement fault of the car more accurately. It goes without saying that there may also be a single elevator that does not have a confinement fault detection device, i.e., the second elevator.

[0063] Furthermore, the number of thresholds set in the report master 213a may not be one, but may be multiple. Depending on the elevator model, the acceleration may differ, and accordingly, the acceleration threshold may be changed for each model.

[0064] Also, when acquiring acceleration, since the elevator attempts to land on the nearest floor immediately after an earthquake, it is possible to wait a certain amount of time before requesting acquisition of acceleration, or to request acquisition of acceleration multiple times.

[0065] Embodiment 2 In the second embodiment, the inter-car distance threshold value of the report master 213a shown in FIG. 6 can be updated based on the state of car confinement failures that have occurred in the past. In the second embodiment, the detection and processing of car confinement failure and the system configuration are the same as those in the first embodiment.

[0066] First, when an earthquake or the like occurs and a cage entrapment failure occurs in some of the monitored cages, processing based on FIG. 8 is performed, and finally, the dispatch results are recorded and stored in record table 213b.

[0067] In the elevator monitoring device 201, the threshold setting unit 214 updates the inter-car distance threshold 213a2 of the report master 213a based on the dispatch result recorded in the record table 213b. FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the update process of the inter-car distance threshold 213a2.

[0068] First, the threshold setting unit 214 reads the record table 213b (step S501). Next, the threshold setting unit 214 reads the car distance master 213c (step S502). Next, the threshold setting unit 214 grasps whether or not a confinement failure has occurred in the car to be monitored and the distance relationship between that car and the first car 101-1, and obtains a threshold (step S503). Specifically, a confinement fault occurrence-distance graph as shown in FIG. 14 is created. In this case, the inter-car distance threshold 213a2 is set to 1.1 Km, and it is assumed that all of the cars being monitored, that is, the second car 101-2 to the N-th car 101-N, are equal to or less than the inter-car distance threshold 213a2.

[0069] 14, first, for each car to be monitored from the record table 213b, the car in which a confinement fault has occurred is assigned a "1" and the car in which it has not occurred is assigned a "0." Then, a two-dimensional graph is generated with the distance from the first car 101-1 recorded in the inter-car distance master 213c to the target car as the X-axis, and the occurrence of a confinement fault in the car as "1" and its non-occurrence as "0" as the Y-axis, and a linear regression curve is generated.

[0070] In Fig. 14, the value of the X-intercept is 0.88. From this, it can be determined that cars that are 0.88 km or more away from the first car 101-1 are not significantly related to the confinement failure that occurred in the first car 101-1, and therefore do not need to be targeted for the dispatch of a maintenance technician. Therefore, the threshold setting unit 214 updates the value of the inter-car distance threshold 213a2 of the report master 213a from 1 Km to 0.88 Km (step S504).

[0071] In this way, by narrowing down the cars to which maintenance personnel are dispatched based on past conditions, it becomes possible to respond more efficiently. Note that although the regression curve is a simple straight line in this example, a higher-order regression curve may also be used.

[0072] 15 is a diagram showing an example of hardware resources of the elevator monitoring device 201. The elevator monitoring device 201 includes, as hardware resources, a communication unit 211 such as a communication adapter, a processor 220, and a memory 221. Note that there may be multiple processors 220 and memories 221.

[0073] In the first and second embodiments, the storage unit 213 of the elevator monitoring device 201 is the memory 221. The memory 221 also stores a program, which is read out as appropriate and executed by the processor 220 to perform the functions of the control unit 212 and the threshold setting unit 214.

[0074] The processor 220 is also called a CPU (Central Processing Unit), central processing unit, arithmetic unit, microprocessor, microcomputer, or DSP. The memory 221 may be a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, a flexible disk, an optical disk, a compact disk, a mini disk, or a DVD. The semiconductor memory that can be used includes RAM, ROM, flash memory, EPROM, and EEPROM.

[0075] Fig. 16 is a diagram showing another example of hardware resources of the elevator monitoring device 201. In the example of Fig. 16, the elevator monitoring device 201 includes a processing circuit including a processor 220, a memory 221, and dedicated hardware 222. Fig. 16 shows an example in which a part of the functions of the elevator monitoring device 201 is realized by the dedicated hardware 222. It is also possible to realize all of the functions of the elevator monitoring device 201 by the dedicated hardware 222. As the dedicated hardware 222, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, or a combination of these can be adopted. [Industrial Applicability]

[0076] In this way, the elevator monitoring device of the present disclosure is useful for detecting the occurrence of a car entrapment failure when monitoring elevators equipped with an entrapment failure detection device and elevators not equipped with such a device. [Explanation of symbols]

[0077] 1 Elevator monitoring system, 2-1 First elevator shaft, 2-2 Second elevator shaft, 3-1 1st machine room, 3-2 2nd machine room, 4-1 1st hoisting machine, 4-2 2nd hoist, 5-1 1st deflector, 5-2 2nd deflector, 6-1 1st control device, 6-2 2nd control device, 7-1 1st rope, 7-2 2nd rope, 8-1 1st counterweight, 8-2 2nd counterweight, 10-1 platform, 100-1 1st elevator, 100-2 2nd elevator, 100-N Nth elevator, 101-1 1st cage, 101-2 2nd cage, 101-N Nth cage, 102-1 Entrapment failure detection device, 103-2 Second acceleration sensor, 110-1: first communication device, 110-2: second communication device, 110-N: Nth communication device, 111-1 Emergency Reporting Department, 112-2 Acceleration acquisition section, 200 Center, 201 elevator monitoring device, 211 communication unit, 212 control unit, 213 Memory section, 213a report master, 213a1 acceleration threshold, 213a2 cage distance threshold, 213b record table, 213b1 date and time column, 213b2 basket name column, 213b3 Acceleration field, 213b4 Dispatch result field, 213c Inter-car distance master 214 threshold setting unit, 220 processor, 221 memory, 222 dedicated hardware, 300 locations, 301 maintenance terminal, 302 communication unit, 303 notification display device, 400 communication lines

Claims

1. An elevator monitoring device for monitoring a first elevator having a cage entrapment failure detection device and a second elevator not having the cage entrapment failure detection device and having an acceleration sensor for detecting the acceleration of the cage, an elevator monitoring device comprising: a control unit that, when triggered by receiving information that a cage entrapment fault has occurred in the first elevator, estimates the occurrence of a cage entrapment fault in the second elevator based on the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor of the second elevator and the horizontal distance between the cage of the second elevator and the cage of the first elevator.

2. The elevator monitoring device according to claim 1, further comprising a memory unit that stores an acceleration threshold and a distance threshold for a horizontal distance between elevator cars, and the control unit estimates that a confinement fault has occurred in the second elevator when the acceleration detected in the second elevator is smaller than the acceleration threshold and the horizontal distance between the cars of the second elevator and the first elevator is smaller than the distance threshold.

3. 3. The elevator monitoring device according to claim 2, wherein the memory unit has a record table for recording the acceleration of the second elevator after receiving information that a cage-confined fault has occurred in the first elevator.

4. The elevator monitoring device according to claim 3, wherein when the control unit estimates that the confinement fault has occurred in the second elevator, the control unit transmits information on the confinement fault estimation to a maintenance terminal.

5. 5. The elevator monitoring device according to claim 4, wherein the maintenance terminal receives the information on the estimated confinement failure and displays a message urging a maintenance worker to be dispatched.

6. 6. The elevator monitoring device according to claim 5, wherein said record table enables a maintenance person to record whether or not a car entrapment fault has occurred in said second elevator.

7. 7. The elevator monitoring device according to claim 6, further comprising a threshold setting unit that updates the distance threshold based on the record of the occurrence or non-occurrence of the confinement fault recorded in the record table.

8. An elevator monitoring method for monitoring a first elevator equipped with a car entrapment fault detection device and a second elevator not equipped with the entrapment fault detection device but equipped with an acceleration sensor for detecting car acceleration, comprising: a first step of receiving information of the occurrence of a car entrapment fault from the first elevator; a second step of issuing an instruction to the second elevator to transmit car acceleration and receiving acceleration information transmitted from the second elevator based on the instruction; and a third step of estimating the occurrence of a car entrapment fault in the second elevator based on the acceleration information and a horizontal distance between a car of the second elevator and a car of the first elevator.

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