Shaft elevator system comprising hardware elements for energy storage

Abstract

1. A shaft elevator system (10) comprises a cabin (12) which is driven along a shaft (14) by a drive unit (16). The shaft elevator system (10) comprises a generator unit (18) able to produce electrical energy retrieved from the energy produced by movement of the cabin (12) along said shaft (14), said generator unit (18) being able to supply electrical energy to the drive unit (16), said cabin (12) having a rigid structure (20) made of structural elements including vertical walls (22), a floor element (24), and a roof element (26), wherein at least one of said structural elements is made of an assembly of several electrical energy storage modules (28), said electrical energy storage modules (28) being connected to the generator unit (18) and to the drive unit (16), wherein said electrical energy storage modules (28) are constituted of bricks elements assembled to form the structural elements.

Description

SHAFT ELEVATOR SYSTEM COMPRISING HARDWARE ELEMENTS FOR ENERGY STORAGETECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to a shaft elevator system and to the management of energy.BACKGROUND

[0002] Elevator systems typically comprise a cabin and a counterweight, both being guided in an elevator shaft in opposite directions. Both the cabin and counterweight are mechanically connected by one or more hoist ropes, for example steel ropes, slung over a grooved drive sheave the axle of which is connected to a gear box and an electrical motor in order to enable rotation of the drive sheave at a desired speed an into the right direction. The counterweight may have a mass approx, equal to that of the cabin, to which about half the maximum load of the cabin is added.

[0003] The present invention aims at improving energy management within the elevator system.SUMMARY

[0004] The scope of protection is set out by the claims.

[0005] A first aspect concerns a shaft elevator system comprising a cabin which is driven along a shaft by a drive unit, and comprising a generator unit able to produce electrical energy retrieved from the energy produced by movement of the cabin along said shaft, said generator unit being able to supply electrical energy to the drive unit, said cabin having a rigid structure made of structural elements including vertical walls, a floor element, and a roof element, wherein at least one of said structural elements is made of an assembly of several electrical energy storage modules, said electrical energy storage modules being connected to the generator unit and to the drive unit, wherein said electrical energy storage modules are constituted of bricks elements assembled to form the structural elements.

[0006] In order to combine full sustainable mobility and cabin movement, it is proposed to make the cabin as such:

[0007] The cabin body is solely composed of electrical energy storing systems such asrows / lines of batteries or capacitors or combination of both.

[0008] The electrical energy storing system, or electrical energy storage modules, is fed through mechanical power energy harvesting or by electromagnetic regenerative power recovery, or by windmill actioned by an airflow generated by the movement of the cabin and / or its counterweight, or by photovoltaic panels on the elevator faces (for evaluator systems arranged outside buildings), or by any other means of energy / power harvesting.

[0009] For elevator systems comprising a cabin and an associated counterweight, both cabin and counterweight may be made of energy storing systems such as batteries and capacitors.

[0010] According to an embodiment, the energy storage modules are connected at least partially in parallel according to the requested nominal electrical power capacity.

[0011] According to an embodiment, all the structural elements are made of an assembly of electrical energy storage modules.

[0012] According to an embodiment, said cabin is provided with at least one cooling module.

[0013] According to an embodiment, said at least one cooling module comprises an arrangement of air flow paths within at least one structural element, said arrangement of air flow paths providing a cooling effect within the cabin depending on the movement of the cabin along the shaft.

[0014] According to an embodiment, the shaft elevator system further comprises a switch configured to supply the electrical energy from said generator unit selectively to said drive unit, a power grid or said storage modules.

[0015] According to an embodiment, an input of the switch is connected to an output of the generator unit, a first output of the switch is electrically connected to the drive unit, a second output of the switch being electrically connected to the grid and a third output is electrically connected to the storage modules.

[0016] According to an embodiment, the shaft elevator system further comprises a controller configured to control said switch.

[0017] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Example embodiments will be more fully understood from the detailed description provided herein and the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of illustration only. Inthe present description and in the drawings.

[0019] FIG.l is a perspective view showing schematically a shaft elevator system according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0020] FIG. is a lateral view showing schematically the shaft elevator system of FIG.l;

[0021] FIG.3 is a perspective view showing schematically a vertical wall of the shaft elevator system of FIG.l including a cooling module.

[0022] FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a subsystem for switching energy produced by a generator unit to various outputs.

[0023] It should be noted that these figures are intended to illustrate the general characteristics of methods, structure and / or materials utilized in the described exemplary embodiments. The drawings are not to scale and should not be interpreted as limiting the range of values or properties encompassed by the exemplary embodiments.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] A shaft elevator system 10 is represented schematically on figures 1 and 2.

[0025] The shaft elevator system 10 comprises a cabin 12 which is driven along a shaft 14 by a drive unit 16.

[0026] The shaft elevator system 10 also comprises a generator unit 18 able to produce electrical energy retrieved from the energy produced by movement of the cabin 12 along said shaft 14. Said generator unit 18 is able to supply electrical energy to the drive unit 16.

[0027] The cabin 12 has a rigid structure 20 made of structural elements including vertical walls 22, a floor element 24, and a roof element 26.

[0028] In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, at least one of said structural elements is made of an assembly of several electrical energy storage modules 28, said electrical energy storage modules 28 being connected to the generator unit 18 and to the drive unit 16.

[0029] In the exemplary embodiment shown on figures 1 and 2, each lateral vertical wall22 is made of four electrical energy storage modules 28. Each electrical energy storage module 28 has a substantially parallelepipeds shape and attachment means 30 allowing assembly of the electrical energy storage modules 28 together such that they can be rigid enough to be part of the rigid structure 20 forming the cabin.

[0030] Similarly, as can be seen on figure 2, the roof element 26 is made of an assembly of three or more electrical energy storage modules 28 linked by attachment means 30.

[0031] In accordance with the embodiment shown, said electrical energy storage modules28 are constituted of bricks elements assembled to form the structural elements.

[0032] Each structural element comprises a structural frame 32 onto which said electrical energy storage modules 28 are assembled.

[0033] According to an embodiment, all the structural elements are made of an assembly of electrical energy storage modules 28 which means vertical walls 22, floor element 24, roof element 26. Optionally also the doors 34 can be made of an assembly of electrical energy storage modules 28.

[0034] According to another embodiment, only some vertical walls 22 and / or the floor element 24 and / or the roof element 26 are made of an assembly of electrical energy storage modules 28.

[0035] Advantageously, the cabin 12 can be provided with at least one cooling module 36 in order to help the electrical energy storage modules 28 and / or the cabin interior to cool down when in use.

[0036] In accordance with an exemplary embodiment shown on figure 3, the cooling module 36 comprises an arrangement of air flow paths 38 within at least one structural element, for example within the vertical wall 22, said arrangement of air flow paths 38 providing a cooling effect within the cabin 12 depending on the movement of the cabin 12 along the shaft 14, or up and down movement. The air flow paths 38 comprises here a vertical duct 40 arranged between two electrical energy storage modules 28 and comprising an upper end 42 and a lower end 44 with enlarged openings in order to improve cooling by generating a venturi effect when the cabin 12 is moving vertically.

[0037] According to alternative embodiments, the colling module 36 could comprise air cooling fluid channels arranged on the external walls of the electrical energy storage modules 28. Other cooling systems could be provided.

[0038] Advantageously, the present invention is applicable to an elevator system 10 such as the one described in the document EP4019451A1 comprising a counterweight and which relates to kinetics energy generation being transferred and stored in the counterweight elevator system (shaft-counterweight).

[0039] The cabin 12 can be a self-sustainable apparatus which generates energy, stores the energy, and transports its utility. The generation of energy is described in the pre-cited patent involving the transfer of rotation kinetic energy along the vertical lines into electricalenergy thanks to alternators. In the present disclosure, these generators are attached to the cabin 12.

[0040] The electrical energy storage modules 28, which can be capacitors, batteries, are part of the skeleton of the cabin. The rigid structure of the cabin composed of vertical jambs, horizontal beams, doorpost, floor, side walls and roof are made of capacitors- batteries.

[0041] Advantageously, only small guiding wheels, or ball bearings maintain the cabin 12 within ascensional vertical corridors.

[0042] Advantageously, the cabin 12 is fully furnished with electrical energy storage modules 28 which are electrically connected in parallel to sum up the number of energy storing capacities.

[0043] According to an embodiment illustrated by figure 4, the shaft elevator system comprises a switch 51 configured to supply the electrical energy from the generator unit 18 selectively to drive unit 16, the power grid or the storage modules.

[0044] In figure 4, an input of the switch is connected to an output of the generator unit18, a first output 51_1 of the switch is electrically connected to the drive unit 16, a second output 51_2 of the switch is electrically connected to the grid (not illustrated) and a third output 51_3 is electrically connected to the storage modules. A controller 52 provides a signal for controlling the switch 51. According to an illustrative and non-limiting example, the first and second outputs of the switch may be connected to the drive unit and the grid using respective cables.

[0045] According to a variant embodiment, the second output of the switch is configured for connection to any power sink external to the shaft elevator system. According to an embodiment, responsive to receiving more electrical energy than it requires at a given moment, the drive unit is configured to feed the surplus of electrical energy to the power grid, i.e. the drive unit then acts as power source rather than power sink.

[0046] The total energy stored in the electrical energy storage modules 28 assembled on the elevator system 10 can be superior to the energy need for vertical mobility. In that case, the energy stored can be used to feed the grid and provide additional energy towards other electrical equipment outside the elevator system 10.

[0047] The cabin 12 and / or the counterweight are composed of the relevant number of batteries for the longest vertical mobility trip, based on the electrical power of the motor or drive unit 16, plus friction loss, needed to generate the gravitational energy. Spare electricalenergy storage modules 28 can be used to provide energy to the grid during off peak hours.

[0048] Advantageously, the electrical energy storage modules 28 are composed of bricks elements (capacitors or batteries) which pave the surface either full stack or alternatively composed of dummy energy storage elements to strengthen the surface mechanically without contributing to energy storage. Thus, some of the bricks elements could be empty such that they contribute to robustness of the structure of the shaft elevator system 10 without adding too much weight to said structure.

[0049] The electrical energy storage modules 28 can be assembled in parallel, fully or partially, depending on the desired total nominal capacity of energy storage. The connections between the electrical energy storage modules 28 can be switchable through remote command.

[0050] To cool the electrical energy storage modules 28 on the external side, thin furrows may be engraved to generate a long line of vertical vortexes to enhance the air flow for heat exchange. Said thin furrows may be about 1 mm thick.

[0051] The inner side of the walls 22 may be covered with an insulation layer to protect the passenger from any high voltage effect.

[0052] On the surface of the electrical energy storage modules 28, small holes may be manufactured to create a local air vortex when the cabin 12 is travelling up and down, thanks to the air pressure within the berth of the elevator shaft system 10.

[0053] Thermal management of the elevator shaft system 10 is passive and can be simulated ahead of the installation by the local data of the cabin installation. The ambient air is generally between 10°C to 40°C and the heat exchange can be matched according to the external condition by spreading the number of vortexes on each surface (vertical or horizontal wall).

[0054] The number of charge / discharge cycles being 3000 on the average, the walls 22 or electrical energy storage modules 28 can be fully replaced by another one during the maintenance monitoring. Betting on recent industrial improvement the number of cycles can be increased, reducing the replacement rate.

[0055] As a discharge element, the vertical walls 22 can be furnished with "Contact Picots", or pins, with the relevant discharge capacity located on the ground (embedded at the zero level) or can be also on "line side picots", or pins, at a given level or at each floor level. The discharged energy will be geared towards a discharge management system previously determined.

Claims

Claims1. A shaft elevator system (10) comprising a cabin (12) which is driven along a shaft (14) by a drive unit (16), and comprising a generator unit (18) able to produce electrical energy retrieved from the energy produced by movement of the cabin (12) along said shaft (14), said generator unit (18) being able to supply electrical energy to the drive unit (16), said cabin (12) having a rigid structure (20) made of structural elements including vertical walls (22), a floor element (24), and a roof element (26), wherein at least one of said structural elements is made of an assembly of several electrical energy storage modules (28), said electrical energy storage modules (28) being connected to the generator unit (18) and to the drive unit (16), wherein said electrical energy storage modules (28) are constituted of bricks elements assembled to form the structural elements.

2. The shaft elevator system (10) according to claim 1, wherein the energy storage modules (28) are connected at least partially in parallel according to a requested nominal electrical power capacity.

3. The shaft elevator system (10) according to anyone of claims 1 or 2, wherein all the structural elements are made of an assembly of electrical energy storage modules (28).

4. The shaft elevator system (10) according to anyone of claims 1 to 3, wherein said cabin (12) is provided with at least one cooling module (36).

5. The shaft elevator system (10) of claim 4, wherein said at least one cooling module (36) comprises an arrangement of air flow paths within at least one structural element, said arrangement of air flow paths providing a cooling effect within the cabin (12) depending on the movement of the cabin (12) along the shaft (14).

6. The shaft elevator system (10) of one of the claims 1 to 5, further comprising a switch (51) configured to supply the electrical energy from said generator unit (18) selectively to said drive unit (16), a power grid or said storage modules (28).

7. The shaft elevator system (10) of claim 6, an input of the switch (51) being connected to an output of the generator unit (18), a first output (51_1) of the switch being electrically connected to the drive unit (18) , a second output (51_2) of the switch being electrically connected to the grid and a third output (51_3) being electrically connected to the storage modules.

8. The shaft elevator system (10) of one of the claims 6 or 7 , further comprising a controller (52) configured to control said switch (51).

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