Elevator

Abstract

An elevator (10) includes a car (11), a car lifting mechanism (25) that lifts and lowers the car (11), and a transmission / reception unit that receives an earthquake occurrence signal indicating occurrence of an earthquake. If the transmission / reception unit receives the earthquake occurrence signal, a low-speed car operation is performed in which the car (11) moves at a speed lower than the highest moving speed of the car (11) during a normal operation in which the car (11) moves up and down on the basis of landing input information input on a car call button (15) provided in each of a plurality of landings (22) and car input information input on a destination floor designation button (16) provided in the car (11).

Description

elevator

[0001] The present disclosure relates to elevators.

[0002] A conventional elevator is described in Patent Document 1. In this elevator, when the control device receives an earthquake early warning, the car moves to a position where it does not engage with the landing door. In this way, the engaging means between the car door and the landing door is prevented from being damaged by earthquake shaking.

[0003] JP 2018-193149 A

[0004] When an earthquake occurs, the vibration frequency of the building matches the resonant frequency of long objects in the elevator, such as ropes and control cables, amplifying the vibration of the long objects, which can cause the long objects to get caught on elevator shaft equipment installed in the elevator shaft. Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to provide an elevator that can prevent long objects from getting caught on elevator shaft equipment when an earthquake occurs.

[0005] In order to solve the above problems, the elevator according to the present disclosure includes a car, a car lifting mechanism for raising and lowering the car, and a receiving unit for receiving an earthquake occurrence signal indicating the occurrence of an earthquake, and when the receiving unit receives the earthquake occurrence signal, the elevator performs car low-speed operation in which the car moves at a speed slower than the maximum moving speed of the car during normal operation in which the car moves up and down based on hall input information input to hall operation units installed at each of a plurality of halls and car input information input to a destination floor designation operation unit installed within the car.

[0006] Note that, except for the case where the car speed is 0 at the turning position, a state where the car speed is 0 is not included in car low-speed operation. Also, except for the case where the car is stopping to turn around, a state where the car is performing a stopping operation and the car speed is greater than 0 is also not included in car low-speed operation. Also, the hall input information includes car call information, and the car input information includes destination floor information.

[0007] According to the present disclosure, when the receiver receives the earthquake occurrence signal, the car moves at a speed slower than the car's maximum speed during normal operation. This slow movement of the car can continuously vary the resonant frequency of the long object, preventing the resonant frequency of the long object from matching the building's shaking frequency for a long period of time. This can prevent the vibration of the long object from being amplified, and prevent the long object from getting caught on elevator shaft equipment.

[0008] If a long object gets caught in elevator shaft equipment during an earthquake, the elevator will be unable to operate, and recovery will take a long time. Meanwhile, in the past, when an earthquake occurred, it was common for the car to stop at the landing, and there was no technical concept of deliberately moving the car at a slow speed during an earthquake. However, by deliberately moving the car at a slow speed during an earthquake, as in the elevator disclosed herein, a special and significant effect can be achieved, in that it is possible to prevent long objects from getting caught in elevator shaft equipment while stabilizing the behavior of the car.

[0009] The system may also include a low-speed driving end identification unit for identifying the end of the car low-speed driving, and a low-speed driving end determination unit for determining whether or not to end the car low-speed driving based on information from the low-speed driving end identification unit, and the car low-speed driving may end when the low-speed driving end determination unit determines that the car low-speed driving has ended.

[0010] After the car low-speed operation is completed, the car may be stopped at any of the landings or at a location other than the landing. Alternatively, when the car low-speed operation is completed, the car may be directly switched from the car low-speed operation to the normal operation without stopping the car.

[0011] According to this configuration, when the low-speed operation termination determination unit determines that a long object will not get caught on the elevator shaft equipment, the car's low-speed operation can be terminated, allowing for a smooth transition to normal operation.

[0012] In addition, the receiving unit may be provided with a long-distance direction identification unit that identifies a long-distance direction in which the car can travel a long distance when the receiving unit receives the earthquake occurrence signal, and the car may move in the long-distance direction at the beginning of the car's low-speed operation.

[0013] According to this configuration, when an earthquake occurs, the car can be operated at low speed for a long time with the behavior of the car 11 stable. Therefore, even if the earthquake continues for a long time, it is easy to prevent long objects from getting caught.

[0014] The car low speed operation may be terminated after a predetermined time, and the car may not perform a turnaround operation at the car low speed operation.

[0015] Furthermore, by calculating the speed of the car when it is operating at low speed based on the distance the car can move in the long-distance direction, the distance the car moves when accelerating, the car stopping distance required to stop the car, and the above-mentioned specified time, it is possible to prevent the car from making a turn when it is operating at low speed.

[0016] According to this configuration, the car does not perform a turnaround operation during low-speed operation, which stabilizes the behavior of the car during low-speed operation and further reliably prevents long objects from getting caught on elevator shaft equipment.

[0017] In addition, the low-speed driving end determination unit may include an earthquake sensor, and the low-speed driving end determination unit may determine whether to end the car low-speed driving based on a physical quantity detected by the earthquake sensor.

[0018] This configuration can more effectively prevent long objects from getting caught on elevator shaft equipment.

[0019] In addition, the low-speed driving end determination unit may include a photographing device capable of photographing long objects, the low-speed driving end determination unit may include an image analysis unit that performs image analysis of the image photographed by the photographing device, and the low-speed driving end determination unit may determine whether or not to end the low-speed driving of the car based on image information from the photographing device.

[0020] This configuration can more effectively prevent long objects from getting caught on elevator shaft equipment.

[0021] The elevator may also be provided with a human detection unit capable of detecting whether or not a person is present in the car, and when the human detection unit detects a person, the car may not operate at low speed, and the car door and the hall door may open after the car stops at any of the halls.

[0022] According to this configuration, if there are people inside the car when an earthquake occurs, the people inside the car can be quickly evacuated from the car.

[0023] According to the elevator of the present disclosure, it is possible to prevent long objects from getting caught on elevator shaft equipment in the event of an earthquake.

[0024] 1 is a block diagram illustrating a wide area of ​​an elevator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, illustrating a method for identifying an earthquake occurrence; FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the elevator; FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a control device's car movement control when an earthquake occurs; and FIG. 4 is a flowchart corresponding to FIG. 3 for an elevator according to a modified example.

[0025] The following describes in detail exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is anticipated that, when multiple embodiments and variations are included in the following description, new embodiments may be constructed by appropriately combining their respective features. In the following examples, identical components are designated by the same reference numerals in the drawings, and redundant description will be omitted. Among the components described below, components not recited in the independent claims representing the highest concept are optional and not essential. In the elevators 10, 110, and 210 of the present disclosure, a state in which the speed of the car 11 is zero is not considered to be car low-speed operation, except when the speed of the car 11 is zero at a turning position. In the elevator 10 of the present disclosure, a state in which the car 11 is stopping and the speed of the car 11 is greater than zero is not considered to be car low-speed operation, except when the car 11 is stopping to turn around.

[0026] FIG. 1 is a wide-area block diagram illustrating a method for an elevator 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure to identify the occurrence of an earthquake. As shown in FIG. 1 , the elevator 10 receives an Earthquake Early Warning issued by, for example, the Japan Meteorological Agency via at least one of Route A and Route B using a wide area network or a local area network. On Route A, the Earthquake Early Warning issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency 1 is received by an information processing system 3 of an information processing center 2, such as a maintenance company that maintains the elevator 10, and an earthquake occurrence signal (information) indicating the occurrence of an earthquake is transmitted directly or indirectly to a transceiver 42 of the elevator 10. The transceiver 42 is an example of a receiver. For example, multiple information processing centers 2 exist throughout Japan.

[0027] A plurality of information processing systems 3 installed in a plurality of information processing centers 2 manage and utilize data on equipment including, for example, hundreds of thousands (e.g., 200,000) elevators and hundreds of thousands (e.g., 300,000) air conditioners throughout Japan, and handle repairs and malfunctions and remotely monitor the equipment. An earthquake occurrence signal (information) indicating the occurrence of an earthquake is transmitted to a plurality of elevators 10 from, for example, one or more information processing systems 3 in one or more information processing centers 2 related to the earthquake.

[0028] The information processing system 3 may simultaneously transmit an earthquake occurrence signal to multiple elevators 10 managed by it. Each information processing system 3 may include one or more processing servers 4 and one or more database (DB) servers 5 that store data on the multiple devices. In addition, in route A, the information processing system 3 may directly transmit the earthquake occurrence signal to the elevators 10. Alternatively, if the information processing center 2 is a higher-level organization for one or more business establishments, the information processing system 3 may indirectly transmit the earthquake occurrence signal to the elevators 10 via an information processing device installed in the business establishments.

[0029] Alternatively, the elevator 10 may receive the earthquake occurrence signal via route B. In route B, an information processing device 7 installed in the facility 6 where the elevator 10 is installed, such as a building, an amusement park, or a museum, receives the Earthquake Early Warning issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency 1 and transmits the earthquake occurrence signal to the transmitter / receiver 42 of the elevator 10.

[0030] The elevator 10 includes a car 11, a car lifting mechanism 25, a transceiver 42, a timer 43 as an example of a low-speed operation end determination unit, an encoder 45, a weighing device 46 as an example of a human detection unit, and a control device 19 configured with a control panel and the like. The car lifting mechanism 25 includes a hoist and the like, and raises and lowers the car 11. The car lifting mechanism 25 will be described in detail later using FIG. 2. The transceiver 42 is an interface for transmitting and receiving data with external devices via a network (not shown) connected to the elevator 10, and is configured with, for example, an Ethernet-compatible interface. Upon receiving an earthquake occurrence signal from the information processing system 3 (or the information processing device 7), the transceiver 42 may transmit a receipt signal indicating receipt of the signal to the information processing system 3 (or the information processing device 7). Alternatively, the elevator disclosed herein may have a receiving unit instead of a transceiver, or may not be capable of transmitting signals.

[0031] The timer 43 is a control device that outputs an output signal at a predetermined time after receiving an input signal, and in this embodiment, outputs an output signal to the control device 19 a predetermined time after receiving an input signal from the control device 19. The encoder 45 is an absolute type encoder that detects the rotation distance and rotation direction from the origin of the motor 12a (see FIG. 2) of the hoist 12, thereby detecting the position of the car 11 and the movement direction of the car 11. The encoder 45 may be configured as any of a mechanical (contact type), optical type, magnetic type, and electromagnetic induction type.

[0032] The weighing device 46 detects whether or not a person is present in the car 11. The weighing device 46 may be configured with any known device. The car 11 has, for example, a lower frame body of a car frame suspended by wire ropes 14, and a bottom of the car 11 placed on the lower frame body via an elastic body such as vibration-isolating rubber. The weighing device 46 detects whether or not a person is present in the car 11, for example, by detecting a change in the distance between the lower frame body and the bottom.

[0033] The control device 19 is preferably configured by a computer, such as a microcomputer, and includes a control unit 40 and a storage unit 41. The control unit 40, i.e., the processor, includes, for example, a central processing unit (CPU). The storage unit 41 is configured by a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), or the like, and may include a nonvolatile memory, such as a read-only memory (ROM), or a volatile memory, such as a random access memory (RAM). The storage unit 41 may be configured by only one storage medium or by multiple different storage media. The CPU reads and executes programs and the like stored in the storage unit 41. The nonvolatile memory stores control programs, predetermined thresholds, and the like in advance. The volatile memory temporarily stores the read programs and processing data. The control unit 40 includes an earthquake determination unit 40a, a person presence determination unit 40b, a car stop determination unit 40c, a car control operation control unit 40d, a long-distance direction identification unit 40e, a car speed calculation unit 40f, a low-speed operation control unit 40g, a low-speed operation end determination unit 40h, and a normal operation control unit 40i. The operation of the control unit 40 will be described in detail later using FIG. 3.

[0034] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an elevator 10. In FIG. 2, the X direction is the depth direction of the car 11, the Y direction is the width direction of the car 11, and the Z direction is the height direction of the car 11. The X direction, Y direction, and Z direction are perpendicular to one another. The elevator 10 includes a car 11, a hoisting machine 12, a counterweight 13, a wire rope 14, a car call button 15 as a hall operation unit, a destination floor designation button 16 as a destination floor designation operation unit, a floor landing position detection sensor 18, and a control device 19. The control device 19 and the hoisting machine 12 are provided in a machine room 30 above a hoistway 20. If the elevator does not have a machine room, the control device (control panel) and the hoisting machine are provided, for example, in a pit below the hoistway. The wire rope 14 is wound around the hoist 12, and one end is fixed to the top of the car 11, while the other end is fixed to the counterweight 13 via a deflector wheel (not shown). Car call buttons 15 are buttons that call the car 11 and specify the direction of travel of the car 11, and are provided at the landings 22 of all floors. In addition, destination floor designation buttons 16 are provided inside the car 11 to specify the destination floor of the car 11.

[0035] The car 11 and the counterweight 13 are each guided by a guide rail provided in the hoistway 20. A control device 19 receives signals from the car call button 15, the destination floor designation button 16, and the encoder 45 and appropriately controls the rotation speed and direction of the motor 12a of the hoist 12, causing the car 11 to rise and fall in the hoistway 20. The landing position detection sensor 18 detects the landing position of the hall 22 at which the car 11 lands. The landing position detection sensor 18 is composed of, for example, a vane 18a made of a steel plate or the like provided in a hoistway position corresponding to the landing position on each floor, and a magnetic detector 18b that detects the vane 18a. The landing position detection sensor 18 detects the landing of the car 11 by the detector 18b detecting the vane 18a. The control device 19 receives a signal from the landing position detection sensor 18 indicating that the car 11 has landed at the landing hall 22 and controls the car door motor (not shown), thereby opening the car door 32 and the landing hall door 31, allowing passengers to get on and off the car 11. The wire rope 14, the hoist 12, the motor 12a, the deflector wheel, and the counterweight 13 constitute a car lifting mechanism 25.

[0036] 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the control device 19's control of the movement of the car 11 in the event of an earthquake. When a new elevator 10 is first driven or transitions from maintenance mode to normal operation mode, normal operation begins, controlling the elevation and descent of the car 11 based on input information to the car call button 15 and the destination floor designation button 16. Movement control then begins, and in step S1, the earthquake determination unit 40a (see FIG. 1) of the control device 19 determines whether an earthquake occurrence signal has been received via the transceiver unit 42. If the determination in step S1 is negative, step S1 is repeated. On the other hand, if the determination in step S1 is positive, the process proceeds to step S2, where the occupant presence determination unit 40b (see FIG. 1) determines whether a occupant is present in the car 11 based on information from the weighing device 46.

[0037] If a positive determination is made in step S2, the process proceeds to step S3, where the car control operation control unit 40d lands the car 11 at any of the landings 22, for example, lands the car 11 at the nearest landing 22 in the direction of movement of the car 11. Thereafter, in step S4, the control device 19 controls the motor for opening and closing the car door 32 to open the car door 32 and the landing door 31, allowing people inside the car 11 to escape from the car 11 to the outside.

[0038] If the car 11 has arrived at any of the halls 22 at the time of determination in step S2, the process proceeds directly to step S4, where the car door 32 and the hall door 31 are opened. After step S4 is completed, a recovery operation is performed in step S5, and if the recovery operation confirms that each device of the elevator 10 is normal, the process proceeds to step S6, where the normal operation control unit 40i performs normal operation of the elevator 10. Thereafter, control returns, and step S1 and subsequent steps are repeated.

[0039] On the other hand, if a negative determination is made in step S2, the process proceeds to step S7, where the car stop determination unit 40c determines whether the car 11 is stopped. If a positive determination is made in step S7, the long-distance direction identification unit 40e identifies the direction in which the car 11 will be operated at low speed in step S8, and the car speed calculation unit 40f calculates the maximum speed for low-speed car operation, etc. By performing steps S8 and S9, the car 11 is prevented from turning around when the car is operated at low speed.

[0040] In step S8, the car speed calculation unit 40f identifies a direction in which the car 11 can move further in the vertical direction to the turning point based on the position information of the car 11 from the encoder 45, the position information of the upper turning point of the car 11 (for example, the landing position of the platform on the top floor), and the position information of the lower turning point of the car 11 (for example, the landing position of the platform on the bottom floor). Also, in step S9, the maximum speed of the car is identified, for example, as follows.

[0041] In detail, the acceleration of the car 11 when accelerating until it reaches the maximum speed is a １ The acceleration when the car 11 is decelerated to stop is a ２ The distance in the long distance direction (the height distance between the car position and the car position at the turning point in the long distance direction) is L, the time (predetermined time) of the car low speed operation is T, the time during which the car 11 is accelerating is t1, and the time during which the car 11 is moving at a constant speed is t ２ The time during which the car is decelerating is set to t3, and the maximum speed of the car 11 during normal operation is set to V.

[0042] Here, the predetermined time T is the time it takes to determine that the earthquake has subsided. For example, when a long-period earthquake motion is defined as an earthquake motion with a period of 2 to 20 seconds, the predetermined time T can be set to the occurrence time of the longest long-period earthquake motion from among multiple (e.g., 10) different long-period earthquake motions in Japan selected in order of shortest time from occurrence to the present.

[0043] In step S9, for example, the following equations (1) to (4) are simultaneously satisfied: １ , a ２, t １ , t ２ , t ３ By determining (1 / 2)·(a), the moving speed of the car 11 is determined, and the car 11 is prevented from turning around when the car is operated at a low speed. When step S9 is completed, the process proceeds to step S10. １ ・t １ ２ +a ２ ・t ３ ２ ) + a １ ・t １ ・t ２ = L (1) t １ +t ２ +t ３ = T... (2) a １ ・t １ = a ２ ・t ３ ... (3) a １ ・t １ <V... (4)

[0044] On the other hand, if a negative determination is made in step S7, the process immediately proceeds to step S10. In step S10, the low-speed operation control unit 40g starts car low-speed operation, and at the same time, timing by the timer 43 starts. In car low-speed operation, the car 11 moves at a speed slower than the maximum moving speed V of the car 11 during normal operation. A control program for the elevator 10 during car low-speed operation and a control program for the elevator 10 during normal operation are stored in advance in the storage unit 41. Note that, when step S10 is performed via step S9, the car 11 is prevented from turning around during car low-speed operation.

[0045] In step S11 after step S10, the low-speed operation end determination unit 40h determines whether the time of low-speed car operation has reached or exceeded the predetermined time T. As described above, the predetermined time T is the time during which it is possible to determine whether the earthquake has subsided. If a negative determination is made in step S11, the process proceeds to step S12, where the low-speed car operation continues, and then the process proceeds to step S11. On the other hand, if a positive determination is made in step S11, the process proceeds to step S13, where the car low-speed operation is switched to normal operation, and then the control returns, and step S1 and subsequent steps are repeated. This control ends, for example, when the elevator 10 enters a maintenance mode for maintenance.

[0046] As described above, elevator 10 includes car 11, car lifting mechanism 25 that raises and lowers car 11, and transceiver 42 that receives an earthquake occurrence signal indicating the occurrence of an earthquake. Furthermore, when transceiver 42 receives the earthquake occurrence signal, it performs car low-speed operation in which car 11 moves at a speed slower than the maximum speed of car 11 during normal operation in which car 11 moves up and down, based on hall input information input to car call buttons 15 installed at each of multiple halls 22 and car input information input to destination floor designation buttons 16 installed in car 11.

[0047] According to the present disclosure, when the transmitter / receiver 42 receives an earthquake occurrence signal, the car 11 moves at a speed slower than the car's maximum moving speed during normal operation. Therefore, this slow movement of the car 11 can continuously vary the resonant frequency of the long object (e.g., the wire rope 14 or the control cable), preventing the resonant frequency of the long object from matching the frequency of the building's shaking for a long period of time. This can prevent the vibration of the long object from being amplified, and can prevent the long object from getting caught on elevator shaft equipment (e.g., the counterweight 13, the vane 18a, the guide rail, or a member fixed to the guide rail (e.g., a bracket supporting the guide rail, etc.)).

[0048] If a long object gets caught in elevator shaft equipment during an earthquake, the elevator will be unable to operate, and recovery will take a long time. Meanwhile, in the past, when an earthquake occurred, it was common for the car to stop at the landing, and there was no technical concept of deliberately moving the car at a slow speed during an earthquake. However, if the car 11 is deliberately moved at a slow speed during an earthquake, as in elevator 10, a special and significant effect can be achieved, in that the behavior of the car 11 can be stabilized and long objects can be prevented from getting caught in elevator shaft equipment.

[0049] The system may also include a timer 43 for determining the end of car low-speed operation and a low-speed operation end determination unit 40h for determining whether or not to end car low-speed operation based on information from the timer 43, and car low-speed operation may end when the low-speed operation end determination unit 40h determines that car low-speed operation has ended. After car low-speed operation has ended, the car 11 may be stopped at any of the landings 22, or may be stopped at a location other than the landing 22. Alternatively, when car low-speed operation has ended, the system may directly transition from car low-speed operation to the above-mentioned normal operation without stopping the car 11.

[0050] According to this configuration, when the low-speed operation termination determination unit 40h determines that a long object will not get caught on the elevator shaft equipment, the car low-speed operation can be terminated, and a smooth transition to normal operation can be made.

[0051] Furthermore, when the transmitter / receiver 42 receives an earthquake occurrence signal, the long-distance direction in which the car 11 can travel a long distance may be identified, and the car 11 may move in the long-distance direction at the beginning of low-speed car operation.

[0052] According to this configuration, when an earthquake occurs, the car 11 can continue to operate at low speed for a long period of time while maintaining stable behavior. Therefore, even if the earthquake continues for a long period of time, it is easy to prevent long objects from getting caught. Note that when the car 11 moves in a long-distance direction at the beginning of low-speed operation, the car may perform a turnaround operation during low-speed operation.

[0053] Also, the car low-speed operation may be terminated after a predetermined time, and the car 11 may not perform a turnaround operation during the car low-speed operation. As described above, by calculating the speed of the car 11 during the car low-speed operation based on the car's movable distance in the long-distance direction, the car's movable distance when accelerating the car 11, the car's stopping distance when decelerating the car 11, and the predetermined time, it is possible to prevent the car 11 from performing a turnaround operation during the car low-speed operation.

[0054] According to this configuration, the car 11 does not perform a turnaround operation during low-speed car operation. Therefore, the behavior of the car 11 during low-speed car operation can be stabilized, and the occurrence of long objects getting caught on elevator shaft equipment can be further reliably prevented.

[0055] In addition, a weighing device 46 capable of detecting whether or not a person is present in the car 11 may be provided, and when the weighing device 46 detects a person, the car may not be operated at low speed, and the car door 32 and the hall door 31 may be opened after the car 11 stops at one of the halls 22.

[0056] According to this configuration, if there are people inside the car 11 when an earthquake occurs, the people inside the car 11 can be quickly evacuated from the car 11.

[0057] The present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiment and its variations. Various improvements and modifications are possible within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the weighing device 46 is used to determine whether or not a person is present in the basket 11. However, the timer 43 may be used to determine that a person is absent in the basket 11 if the basket 11 has not moved for a predetermined period of time. Alternatively, the timer 43 and a sensor (e.g., a camera) capable of detecting movement within the basket 11 may be used to determine that a person is absent in the basket 11 if no movement is detected within the basket 11 for a predetermined period of time. Alternatively, the camera may be used to determine whether or not a person is present in the basket 11. Furthermore, the car 11 may be determined to be absent when the car is in an energy-saving mode in which the lights in the basket are turned off, or when the lights in the basket are turned off.

[0058] Also, a case has been described in which the car 11 is moved in a long-distance direction and the car 11 does not perform a turnaround operation during low-speed car operation. Also, a case has been described in which the low-speed operation end specifying unit is the timer 43, and the low-speed operation end determining unit 40h determines that the earthquake has subsided when a predetermined time has elapsed since the start of low-speed car operation, and the car directly transitions from low-speed car operation to normal operation.

[0059] However, when the low-speed operation end determination unit determines that the earthquake has subsided, the car 11 may be stopped at the platform at the end of the car's movement direction in the long-distance direction (the platform on the top floor or the platform on the bottom floor) without directly transitioning to normal operation. Furthermore, the maximum car speed during low-speed car operation may be increased continuously or in stages as the car's possible movement distance in the long-distance direction increases. Alternatively, the predetermined time for low-speed car operation may be increased continuously or in stages as the car's possible movement distance in the long-distance direction increases. Alternatively, the maximum car speed during low-speed car operation may be increased continuously or in stages as the car's possible movement distance in the long-distance direction increases, and the predetermined time for low-speed car operation may be increased continuously or in stages as the car's possible movement distance in the long-distance direction increases.

[0060] Furthermore, the maximum car speed during low-speed car operation may be decreased continuously or in stages as the car's travel distance in the long-distance direction decreases. Alternatively, the predetermined time for low-speed car operation may be shortened continuously or in stages as the car's travel distance in the long-distance direction decreases. Alternatively, the maximum car speed during low-speed car operation may be decreased continuously or in stages as the car's travel distance in the long-distance direction decreases, and the predetermined time for low-speed car operation may be shortened continuously or in stages. Furthermore, a control program for low-speed car operation may exist for each floor of elevator 10, and when control device 19 recognizes the occurrence of an earthquake, the control program for low-speed car operation at the floor where car 11 is stopped may be executed, thereby identifying the long-distance direction and performing low-speed car operation without turning around.

[0061] 1, the elevator 110 of the modified example may not have the timer 43, and the low-speed operation end specifying unit may be an earthquake sensor 47. The earthquake sensor 47 includes an acceleration sensor, for example, a capacitance type acceleration sensor, and can detect acceleration. FIG. 4 is a flowchart corresponding to FIG. 3 for the elevator 110 of the modified example. Note that in FIG. 4, the same steps as those in FIG. 3 are assigned the same step numbers, and explanations of the operations of those steps will be omitted.

[0062] When control starts in the elevator 110, in step S1', it is determined whether the earthquake sensor 47 has detected an earthquake. If a negative determination is made in step S1', step S1' is repeated, and if a positive determination is made in step S1', the process proceeds to step S2. As shown in FIG. 2, the earthquake sensor 47 is installed, for example, in the machine room 30, and detects the occurrence of an earthquake by detecting acceleration. Furthermore, when the control device receives a signal from the earthquake sensor 47 and determines that the acceleration detected by the earthquake sensor 47 is equal to or greater than a first threshold, it determines that an earthquake has occurred. Furthermore, in the control shown in FIG. 4, step S3' is performed instead of step S3.

[0063] In step S3', if the car 11 has landed on any floor, the car 11 is kept stopped, whereas if the car 11 is moving, the car 11 is landed on a floor where the wire rope 14 does not resonate. The earthquake sensor 47 can detect the direction of acceleration, so it can estimate the period of an earthquake, i.e., the period of vibration of the building in which the elevator 10 is installed. Furthermore, the information from the encoder 45 can be used to identify the positions of the wire rope 14, the car 11, and the counterweight 13 for each landing when the car 11 has landed on that floor. Therefore, the information from the earthquake sensor 47 can be used to estimate the period of vibration of the building, and the information from the encoder 45 can be used to identify the resonant frequency of the wire rope 14, so it is possible to identify a floor where the wire rope 14 does not resonate.

[0064] Therefore, in step S3', when the car 11 is moving, the car 11 is landed on a floor where the wire rope 14 does not resonate. In this case, when the control device 19 recognizes the occurrence of an earthquake, the car 11 may be stopped on a floor that is closest to the position where the car 11 is located, is ahead in the direction of movement of the car 11, and furthermore, does not resonate with the wire rope 14.

[0065] In this way, if there is a person inside the car 11 when the control device detects an earthquake and the car 11 is landed on any floor, the person can be quickly evacuated from the car 11, while if the car 11 is moving, the person can be quickly evacuated from the car 11 and the wire rope 14 can be effectively prevented from getting caught on the elevator shaft equipment.

[0066] In the control shown in FIG. 4, step S10' is performed instead of step S10, and step S11' is performed instead of step S11. In step S10', the car is operated at a low speed. In step S11', the control device, upon receiving a signal from the earthquake sensor 47, determines that the acceleration detected by the earthquake sensor 47 is equal to or less than the second threshold, and determines that the earthquake has ended. The first threshold may be the same as or different from the second threshold. If a negative determination is made in step S11', the process proceeds to step S12, where the car continues to operate at a low speed, and then step S11' is repeated. If a positive determination is made in step S11', the process proceeds to step S13.

[0067] As described above, in the elevator 110 of the modified example, the low-speed operation end specifying unit may include the earthquake sensor 47, and the low-speed operation end determining unit may determine whether to end the low-speed operation of the car based on the physical quantity detected by the earthquake sensor 47. This configuration can more effectively prevent long objects from getting caught on elevator shaft equipment. Note that, in the above modified example, the end of the earthquake is determined when the acceleration is equal to or less than the second threshold value. However, the end of the earthquake may also be determined by calculating the amplitude of the wire rope sway based on the physical quantity detected by the earthquake sensor 47, and by calculating the calculated amplitude equal to or less than a predetermined value.

[0068] Alternatively, as shown in Fig. 1, another modified example of elevator 210 may employ, as the low-speed operation end identifying unit, a camera 48 capable of photographing a long object in hoistway 20, instead of timer 43 or earthquake sensor 47. Also, as shown in Fig. 2, camera 48 may include an upper camera unit 48a installed at the upper end of car 11 and capable of photographing an area located above car 11, and a lower camera unit 48b installed at the lower end of car 11 and capable of photographing an area located below car 11.

[0069] The low-speed operation end determination unit may also include an image analysis unit that performs image analysis on images captured by the imaging device 48, and the low-speed operation end determination unit may determine whether to end car low-speed operation based on image information from the imaging device 48. In this case, the low-speed operation end determination unit may determine the end of car low-speed operation when the amplitude of the swing of the wire rope 14 is equal to or less than a third threshold value and the amplitude of the swing of the control cable is equal to or less than a fourth threshold value, and may end car low-speed operation in that case. This also effectively prevents long objects from getting caught on elevator shaft equipment.

[0070] The maximum speed of the car 11 during car low-speed operation may be 4 / 5 or less of the maximum speed of the car 11 during normal operation, or 3 / 5 or less of the maximum speed of the car 11 during normal operation. Alternatively, the maximum speed of the car 11 during car low-speed operation may be 2 / 5 or less of the maximum speed of the car 11 during normal operation, or 1 / 5 or less of the maximum speed of the car 11 during normal operation. Furthermore, the elevator of the present disclosure may be a hydraulic elevator, and in a hydraulic elevator, long objects such as control cables may be prevented from getting caught on hoistway equipment during an earthquake.

[0071] 1 Japan Meteorological Agency, 2 Information Processing Center, 3 Information Processing System, 4 Processing Server, 5 Database Server, 7 Information Processing Device, 10, 110, 210 Elevator, 11 Cage, 12 Hoisting Machine, 12a Motor, 13 Counterweight, 14 Wire Rope, 15 Cage Call Button, 16 Destination Floor Designation Button, 18 Landing Position Detection Sensor, 18a Vane, 18b Detector, 19 Control Device, 20 Hoistway, 22 Landing, 25 Cage Lifting Mechanism, 30 Machine Room, 31 Landing Door, 32 Cage Door, 40 Control Unit, 40a Earthquake Determination Unit, 40b Person Presence Determination Unit, 40c Cage Stop Determination Unit, 40d Cage Control Operation Control Unit, 40e Long-Distance Direction Identification Unit, 40f Cage speed calculation unit, 40g low-speed operation control unit, 40h low-speed operation end determination unit, 40i normal operation control unit, 41 memory unit, 42 transmission / reception unit, 43 timer, 45 encoder, 46 weighing device, 47 earthquake sensor, 48 imaging device, 48a upper imaging unit, 48b lower imaging unit.

Claims

1. A basket and A cage lifting mechanism for lifting and lowering the cage; a receiving unit for receiving an earthquake occurrence signal indicating the occurrence of an earthquake, when the receiving unit receives the earthquake occurrence signal, a car low-speed operation is performed in which the car moves at a speed slower than a maximum moving speed of the car during normal operation in which the car ascends and descends, based on hall input information inputted to a hall operation unit installed at each of a plurality of halls and car input information inputted to a destination floor designation operation unit installed in the car, When the receiving unit receives the earthquake occurrence signal, a long-distance direction in which the cage can move a long distance is identified, The elevator, wherein the car moves in the long distance direction at the beginning of the car low speed operation.

2. A low-speed driving end determination unit for determining the end of the car low-speed driving; A low-speed driving end determination unit that determines whether to end the car low-speed driving based on information from the low-speed driving end determination unit, The elevator according to claim 1 , wherein the car low-speed operation is terminated when the low-speed operation termination determination unit determines termination of the car low-speed operation.

3. The car low-speed operation is ended after a predetermined time, 2. The elevator according to claim 1, wherein the car does not perform a turnaround operation during the car low speed operation.

4. The low-speed driving end determination unit includes an earthquake sensor, The elevator according to claim 2 , wherein the low-speed operation end determination unit determines whether or not to end the low-speed car operation based on a physical quantity detected by the earthquake sensor.

5. The low-speed driving end determination unit includes an imaging device capable of imaging a long object, The low-speed driving end determination unit includes an image analysis unit that performs image analysis of the image captured by the imaging device, The elevator according to claim 2, wherein the low-speed operation end determination unit determines whether or not to end the low-speed operation of the car based on image information from the photographing device.

6. A basket and A cage lifting mechanism for lifting and lowering the cage; a receiving unit for receiving an earthquake occurrence signal indicating the occurrence of an earthquake; A human detection unit capable of detecting whether or not a person is present in the car, when the receiving unit receives the earthquake occurrence signal, a car low-speed operation is performed in which the car moves at a speed slower than a maximum moving speed of the car during normal operation in which the car ascends and descends, based on hall input information inputted to a hall operation unit installed at each of a plurality of halls and car input information inputted to a destination floor designation operation unit installed in the car, When the human detection unit detects a human, the car is not operated at a low speed, and the car door and the hall door are opened after the car stops at any hall.