Method for generating a request for maintenance of an elevator component of an elevator system

Abstract

The invention is about generating a request for maintenance of one or more elevator components (13) in an elevator system (1; 11) including the step of acquiring information related to the operation of these elevator components (13) and determining, by a diagnostic system (15), whether any elevator component requires maintenance based on the acquired information. If it is determined that one or more of the plurality of elevator components requires maintenance, a current location of the elevator component in question is then determined by the diagnostic system (15) based on the acquired information, wherein a request for maintenance of an elevator component is generated. Said request comprises identification information about the elevator component which requires the maintenance and information about the current location of the elevator component and providing the request for maintenance of an elevator component. In the following, it can then be determined an optimal elevator car trip to access that elevator component based on its current location.

Description

[0001] METHOD FOR GENERATING A REQUEST FOR MAINTENANCE OF AN ELEVATOR COMPONENT OF AN ELEVATOR SYSTEM

[0002] FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present invention relates to the field of elevator systems and their maintenance. In particular, the present invention relates to a method for generating a request for service / maintenance of an elevator component of an elevator system, by means of which the maintenance of an elevator component requiring such service can be speeded up and simplified.

[0004] BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0005] An elevator may be considered in general as a distributed mechatronic system having an elevator car and possibly a counterweight, wherein the elevator car and the counterweight are suspended in an elevator shaft by suspension means or supported by any hydraulic mechanism. To such systems a plurality of mechanical and electrical components belongs, anyhow, being arranged along the elevator shaft. Those elevator components may contribute in various elevator functions, such as guiding elevator car movement in the elevator shaft, measuring elevator car position, lighting an elevator system, suspending the elevator car, driving the elevator car, controlling the elevator system, transferring data within the elevator system and / or with an entity external to an elevator system, interfacing with an elevator user, ensuring safety of the elevator system and braking and / or arresting elevator car movement, etc. These elevator components may comprise for example inter alia guiderails, fixing brackets, hoisting ropes, traction sheaves, electrical motors, encoders, bearings, lights, control nodes, user interfaces, data cables, cameras, position measurement targets for measuring elevator car position, safety switches and safety contacts, safety brakes, control cabinets, electrical power units, and various other kind of sensors, actuators and structural components. The functionality of any such an elevator component can for example be monitored by means of electrical and / or electronic data that can be collected from any of these components.

[0006] Identifying and locating a component failure and accessing a failed elevator component may however be problematic and / or time consuming for a service technician. This problem becomes the more severe the longer and / or more complex the system is. A long and complex elevator shaft is present for example in a type of so-called zigzagshafts and it could be problematic and / or time consuming to find and arrive at the correct place in the shaft to fix the issue. For instance, with a system having an absolute positioning system, a missing magnet can be recognized by a safety controller monitoring elevator safety. It can be a programmable electronic safety device. If it detects that the elevator safety is somehow compromised, it performs safety shutdown of the elevator. However, normally such controller does not separate any position reference. Known solutions are further relying on the knowledge of the service technician about that particular elevator, which is fixed to find the correct site. Fault codes can give some information like the side where the failed magnet(s) is, wherein they can however also give unclear information as the same indexing does not apply to different elevator components, for example to both position and floor magnets.

[0007] Document EP 3 502 030 A1 in prior art discloses a method for diagnosis and / or maintenance of a transportation system, said transportation system having at least one transportation device and a remote monitoring unit being remote from said transportation device, wherein the device has a control board for controlling and / or monitoring a function of said transportation device, and further a local control unit for controlling and / or monitoring said control board. The method includes detecting raw data connected to said at least one function at said control board and / or said local control unit and generating condition information and / or performance information based on said raw data at said control board and / or said local control unit; Further calculating statistics information based on said condition information and / or performance information at said local control unit; Buffering said condition information and / or performance information and / or statistics information at said local control unit; Transmitting said condition information and / or performance information and / or statistics information to said remote monitoring unit, at predetermined and / or adaptive time intervals; Processing said condition information and / or performance information and / or statistics information at said remote monitoring unit, for establishing a service need condition; And transmitting said service need condition selectively to the local control unit and / or a mobile service unit.

[0008] AIM OF THE INVENTION

[0009] It is an object of embodiments of the invention to address the above-identified drawbacks. In particular, it is an object of embodiments of the invention to speed-up and simplify service / maintenance of an elevator component which requires service / maintenance.

[0010] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] This object is solved by the subject matter of the independent claims. The dependent claims relate to beneficial embodiments. In this sense, the invention / .a. shall bring forward a progressed transfer of a service technician to that elevator component, which is diagnosed as requiring service / maintenance, inspection or repair in an elevator shaft, in the following summed up under "service" or "maintenance". Basic background of the invention is to realize a special automated elevator run for transferring an authorized service technician by means of an elevator car to the elevator component, which is diagnosed as requiring maintenance, inspection or repair in an elevator shaft. In other words, the invention aims to escort the service technician directly and as quick as possible to the correct location of the failed component. According to one embodiment of the invention, this object is solved by a method for generating a request for service / maintenance of an elevator component in an elevator system, wherein the elevator system comprises a plurality of elevator components arranged in an elevator shaft, further an elevator car, a diagnostic system communicatively coupled to one or more elevator components and configured to monitor one or more of the elevator components, and a control system configured to operate the elevator car, wherein the method comprises acquiring information related to the operation of one or more of the plurality of elevator components, determining, by the diagnostic system, whether one of the one or more of the plurality of elevator components requires maintenance based on the acquired information, and, if it is determined that one of the one or more of the plurality of elevator components requires maintenance, determining a current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance based on the acquired information and generating, by the diagnostic system, a request for maintenance of an elevator component, wherein the request for maintenance of an elevator component comprises identification information about the elevator component which requires maintenance and information about the current location of the elevator component and providing the request for maintenance of an elevator component.

[0012] Here, information related to the operation of one or more of the elevator components can mean information that is indicative of the operation and functioning of the one or more of the plurality of elevator components, respectively, and information based on which it can be determined whether at least one of the one or more of the plurality of elevator components requires maintenance.

[0013] Further, a current location of the elevator component means the location respectively the position of the elevator component within the elevator system at the time when it is determined that the elevator component requires maintenance.

[0014] A diagnostic system in elevator technology is configured to monitor and acquire information about the various components within the system. In particular, there are sensors installed at different elevator components like motors, doors, brakes, etc. These sensors can collect real-time data, such as vibrations, temperature, current usage, speed, and more. As a special embodiment, the diagnostic system can be configured to determine whether one of the one or more of the plurality of elevator components requires maintenance based on the acquired information by utilizing corresponding algorithms and / or machine learning techniques that have been trained based on correspondingly labelled data and / or corresponding historical data.

[0015] The diagnostic system here also cooperates and communicates with the safety system of the elevator system, a part of which is an electronic safety controller. As part of this cooperation the electronic safety controller analyses how serious the malfunction of the elevator component having triggered the service alert is, and whether automatic operation can be maintained at all even for the maintenance stuff. If the safety system evaluates that there is a malfunction in a component that is too serious for continued operation, then in this case even a special car trip to the failed component would be not safe anymore and the electronic safety controller would cause the system to shut down. The provided request for maintenance would in this case be overruled by the action of the electronic safety controller. Further, the service personal is provided a corresponding alert message in response to the action of the electronic safety controller. Due to said cooperation between the diagnostic system and the electronic safety controller the whole information would nevertheless be presented that the request for maintenance carries anyhow, including the information about the determined current location of the corresponding elevator component under consideration.

[0016] That the request for maintenance of an elevator component additionally includes information about a determined current location of the corresponding elevator component has the advantage that a service technician can be directly routed to the correct location, respectively, that more detailed fixing instructions are provided. The inventors use especially KCECPU (KONE Controller Electrification-CPU) that shall collect the information and forward it to a cloud or make a local analysis based on the gathered data. However, this is not mandatory to use this special type of CPU, even if convenient. This additional data is used for planning the shortest / fastest route to the failed component. KCECPU or the cloud can then create a pin code or similar authentication key, which is forwarded for the service technician before service operation is started.

[0017] Therefore, a method for generating a request for maintenance of an elevator component is provided, with which maintenance of an elevator component which requires maintenance can be speeded up and simplified.

[0018] Therein, if it is determined that anyone (or even some) of the one or more of the elevator components requires maintenance, an optimal elevator car trip to access the elevator component which requires maintenance can further be determined by the diagnostic system based on the determined current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance.

[0019] Here, an optimal elevator car trip to access the elevator component which requires maintenance is an elevator car trip that is necessary to provide the elevator trip to a position where optimal maintenance can be provided that is closest to the elevator component, respectively, that can be reached fastest.

[0020] Based on such an optimal elevator car trip, maintenance of an elevator component which requires maintenance can be further speeded up and simplified.

[0021] In one embodiment, determining the current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance comprises determining the exact position of the elevator component which requires maintenance. This embodiment is particularly useful if the current location can exactly be determined by corresponding sensing devices, for example magnets. Based on the exact position maintenance of an elevator component which requires maintenance can then be further speeded up and simplified In another embodiment or additionally, determining the current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance comprises determining an approximation of the position of the elevator component which requires maintenance.

[0022] Here an approximation means an estimation of the current location, respectively a determination of the current location based on statistical or numerical models. The position of the component in question is then determined as accurately as possible by evaluating data in order to be able to deduce the position of the component using computer calculation. This is for example useful in situations when a position magnet is located between different floors. In those cases, however, it would be still possible to determine a best mode for how to arrive at such position, possibly and / or partially by the car.

[0023] Therefore, the method is also applicable in situations in which the current location cannot be exactly determined by corresponding sensing devices themselves but being able to be determined by data analysis.

[0024] According to another embodiment of the invention, a method for servicing / maintaining an elevator component of an elevator system is provided, wherein the elevator system comprises a plurality of elevator components arranged in an elevator shaft, an elevator car, a diagnostic system communicatively coupled to one or more of the plurality of elevator components and configured to monitor one or more of the plurality of elevator components, as well as a control system configured to operate the elevator car, and wherein the method comprises acquiring information related to the operation of one or more of the plurality of elevator components, generating a request for maintenance of an elevator component based on the acquired information using a method for generating a request for maintenance of an elevator component in an elevator system as described above, and forwarding the generated request for maintenance of an elevator component to a service technician to instruct the service technician to service / maintain the component which requires maintenance. Therefore, a method for maintaining an elevator component of an elevator system is provided, that is based on a request for maintenance of the elevator component generated by a method for generating a request for maintenance of an elevator component with which maintenance of an elevator component which requires maintenance can be speeded up and simplified. That the request for maintenance of an elevator component additionally includes information about a determined current location of the corresponding elevator component has the advantage that a service technician can be directly routed to the correct location, respectively, that more detailed fixing instructions are provided.

[0025] Therein, the step of forwarding the generated request for maintenance of an elevator component to a service technician can comprise continuously forwarding the request for maintenance of an elevator component to the service technician until the service technician acknowledges receipt of the request for maintenance of an elevator component.

[0026] Here, continuously forwarding the request means that the request is repeatedly forwarded to the service technician, possibly in given time intervals.

[0027] Thereby, it can be ensured that the request is in each case received by the service technician. Further, the time until maintenance is provided can be better estimated.

[0028] Further, the method can comprise executing, by the control system, the determined optimal elevator car trip to access the elevator component which requires maintenance. Therefore, the elevator component which requires maintenance can be automatically brought into an optimal service position for the component.

[0029] Therein, after the determined optimal elevator car trip has been executed, new starts of the elevator car for a run in the normal operation mode can be made to be first possible after the elevator component which requires maintenance has been serviced, in order to give the service technician time to service the elevator component which requires maintenance, for example to open the ceiling and gain access to the roof of the elevator car. Such normal elevator operation should be first possible after the elevator component which requires service / maintenance has been maintained since any manual low-speed operation from a manual operation panel is to be kept possible for the service technician also during the maintenance, whereas normal operation mode - meaning automatic operation serving passengers based on elevator calls - should not be possible until the maintenance has been carried out and thus prevented.

[0030] According to still another embodiment of the invention, an elevator system is provided, wherein the elevator system comprises a plurality of elevator components arranged in an elevator shaft, an elevator car, a diagnostic system communicatively coupled to one or more of the plurality of elevator components and configured to monitor one or more of the plurality of elevator components, and a control system configured to operate the elevator car, wherein the elevator system further comprises at least one acquiring device configured to acquire information related to the operation of one or more of the plurality of elevator components, and wherein the diagnostic system is configured to determine, whether one of the one or more of the plurality of elevator components requires maintenance based on the acquired information, and, if it is determined that one or more of the plurality of elevator components requires maintenance, determine a current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance based on the acquired information and generate a request for maintenance of an elevator component, wherein the request for maintenance of an elevator component comprises identification information about the elevator component which requires maintenance and information about the current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance, and wherein the elevator system further comprises a providing device configured to provide the request for maintenance of an elevator component.

[0031] Therefore, an elevator system is provided, with which service of an elevator component which requires maintenance can be speeded up and simplified. That the request for maintenance of an elevator component additionally includes information about a determined current location of the corresponding elevator component has the advantage that a service technician can be directly routed to the correct location, respectively that more detailed fixing instructions are provided.

[0032] Therein, the diagnostic system can be further configured to, if it is determined that one of the one or more of the elevator components requires maintenance, determine an optimal elevator car trip to access the elevator component which requires maintenance based on the current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance. Based on such an optimal elevator car trip, maintenance of an elevator component which requires maintenance can be further speeded up and simplified.

[0033] In one embodiment, the diagnostic system is configured to determine the exact position of the elevator component which requires maintenance. This embodiment is particularly useful if the current location can exactly be determined by corresponding sensing devices, for example magnets. Based on the exact position maintenance of an elevator component which requires maintenance can then be further speeded up and simplified.

[0034] In another embodiment or additionally, the diagnostic system is configured to determine an approximation of the position of the elevator component which requires maintenance. The position of the component in question is then determined as accurately as possible by evaluating data in order to be able to deduce the position of the component using computer technology. Therefore, the system is also applicable in situations in which the current location cannot be exactly determined by corresponding sensing devices themselves. This is for example useful in situations when a position magnet is located between different floors. In those cases, however, it would be still possible to determine a best mode for how to arrive at such position, possibly and / or partially by the car.

[0035] According to still another embodiment of the invention, a system for servicing / maintaining an elevator component in an elevator system is provided, wherein the system comprises an elevator system as described above, and a forwarding device configured to forward the generated request for maintenance of an elevator component to a service technician to instruct the service technician to service / maintain the component which requires maintenance.

[0036] Therefore, a system for maintaining an elevator component of an elevator system is provided that is based on a request for maintenance of the elevator component generated by an elevator system with which maintenance of an elevator component which requires maintenance can be speeded up and simplified. That the request for maintenance of an elevator component additionally includes information about a determined current location of the corresponding elevator component has the advantage that a service technician can be directly routed to the correct location, respectively, that more detailed fixing instructions are provided.

[0037] Therein, the forwarding device can be configured to continuously forward the request for maintenance of an elevator component to the service technician until the service technician acknowledges receipt of the request for maintenance of an elevator component. Thereby, it can be ensured that the request is in each case received by the service technician. Further, the time until maintenance is provided can be better estimated.

[0038] Further, the control device can be configured to execute the determined optimal elevator car trip to access the elevator component which requires maintenance. Therefore, the elevator car can be automatically brought into an optimal service position for the component.

[0039] Therein, the system can be configured in such a way that, after the determined optimal elevator car trip has been executed, new starts of the elevator car for a run in the normal operation mode can be made to be first possible after the elevator component which requires maintenance has been serviced, in order to give the service technician time to service the elevator component which requires maintenance, for example to open the ceiling and gain access to the roof of the elevator car. Such normal elevator operation should be first possible after the elevator component which requires service / maintenance has been maintained since any manual low-speed operation from a manual operation panel is to be kept possible for the service technician also during the maintenance, whereas normal operation mode - meaning automatic operation serving passengers based on elevator calls - should not be possible until the maintenance has been carried out and thus prevented.

[0040] The invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the attached drawings.

[0041] Fig. 1 illustrates a method for servicing / maintaining an elevator component in an elevator system according to embodiments of the invention;

[0042] Fig.2 illustrates a system for servicing / maintaining an elevator component in an elevator system according to embodiments of the invention.

[0043] The invention provides a method for maintenance of an elevator system, wherein the above object is achieved by subject matter of claim 1. Advantages embodiments are disclosed in the respective subclaims.

[0044] Fig.1 illustrates a method for servicing / maintaining an elevator component in an elevator system 1 1 according to embodiments of the invention.

[0045] The elevator may be considered as a distributed mechatronic system having an elevator car and possibly in addition a counterweight, wherein the elevator car (and the counterweight) are suspended in an elevator shaft by suspension or support means, wherein having a plurality of mechanical and electrical components arranged along the elevator shaft. Such elevator components may contribute in various elevator functions, such as guiding elevator car movement in the elevator shaft, measuring elevator car position, lighting an elevator system, suspending the elevator car, driving the elevator car, controlling the elevator system, transferring data within the elevator system and / or with an entity external to an elevator system, interfacing with an elevator user, ensuring safety of the elevator system and braking and / or arresting elevator car movement, etc. Those elevator components may comprise for example guiderails, fixing brackets, hoisting ropes, traction sheaves, electrical motors, encoders, bearings, lights, control nodes, user interfaces, data cables, cameras, position measurement targets for measuring elevator car position, safety switches and safety contacts, safety brakes, control cabinets, electrical power units, and various other kind of sensors, actuators and structural components. The functionality of any such an elevator component can for example be monitored by means of electrical and / or electronic data collection.

[0046] Identifying and locating a component failure and accessing a failed elevator component may however be problematic and / or time consuming for a service technician, especially in a long and complex elevator shaft. Such shafts can be for example long or complex like a so-called zigzag-shaft and it could be problematic and / or time consuming to find the correct place in shaft to fix the issue. For instance, with a system having an absolute positioning system, a missing magnet can be recognized by a safety controller monitoring elevator safety. It can be a programmable electronic safety device. If it detects that elevator safety is somehow compromised, it performs safety shutdown of the elevator. However, normally such controller does not separate any position reference. Known solutions are further relying on the knowledge of the service technician about that particular elevator, which is fixed to find the correct site. Fault codes can give some information like the side where the failed magnet(s) is, wherein they can however also give unclear information as the same indexing does not apply to different elevator components, for example to both position and floor magnets.

[0047] Fig. 1 illustrates a method for servicing / maintaining an elevator component in an elevator system 1 , wherein the elevator system comprises a plurality of elevator components arranged in an elevator shaft, a diagnostic system communicatively coupled to one or more of the plurality of elevator components and configured to monitor one or more of the plurality of elevator components, and a control system configured to operate an elevator car or multiple cars, wherein the method comprises a step 2 of acquiring information related to the operation of one or more of the plurality of elevator components, a step 3 of determining, by the diagnostic system, whether one of the one or more of the plurality of elevator components requires maintenance based on the acquired information, and a step 4 of, if it is determined that one of the one or more of the plurality of elevator components requires maintenance, determining a current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance based on the acquired information and generating, by the diagnostic system, a request for maintenance of an elevator component, wherein the request for maintenance of an elevator component comprises identification information about the elevator component which requires maintenance and information about the current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance and providing the request for maintenance of an elevator component.

[0048] That the request for maintenance of an elevator component additionally includes information about a determined current location of the corresponding elevator component has the advantage that a service technician can be directly routed to the correct location, respectively that more detailed fixing instructions are provided.

[0049] Therefore, a method for generating a request for maintenance of an elevator component is provided, with which maintenance of an elevator component which requires maintenance can be speeded up and simplified.

[0050] Therein, the step 3 of determining, by the diagnostic system, whether one of the one or more of the plurality of elevator components requires maintenance based on the acquired information can utilize corresponding algorithms and / or machine learning techniques that have been trained based on correspondingly labelled data and / or corresponding historical data. For example, the diagnostic system can be configured to compare the current acquired data with predefined thresholds or historical data to detect anomalies. When the system detects abnormal behaviour or potential faults, it identifies the specific component or area that might be problematic. It can diagnose issues like malfunctioning motors, worn-out brakes, or door obstructions. Advanced diagnostic systems can predict when a component is likely to fail based on trends and patterns in the data, allowing for maintenance to be scheduled at the most convenient times, reducing downtime and costs.

[0051] Further, as shown in Fig. 1 , if it is determined in step 3 that none of the one or more of the plurality of elevator components requires maintenance, the method 1 refers back to step 2 and steps 2 and 3 are repeated.

[0052] According to the embodiments of Fig. 1 , the method 1 further comprises a step 5 of, if it is determined that one of the one or more of the plurality of elevator components requires maintenance, determining an optimal elevator car trip to access the elevator component which requires maintenance by the diagnostic system based on the current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance.

[0053] Therein, the optimal elevator car trip can be determined based on the determined current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance and can for example correspond to the shortest and / or fastest trip of the elevator component to a position at which maintenance can simply be carried out. For example, the optimal elevator car trip can be a trip to a floor closest to the position of the failed component.

[0054] Further, according to the embodiments of Fig. 1 , determining the current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance can comprise determining the exact position of the elevator component which requires maintenance.

[0055] Therein, the exact position can be determined based on data acquired by corresponding position sensors, for example corresponding position and floor magnets. In this respect, absolute position sensors for measuring any position of an elevator car can be used. Alternatively, door zone sensors are convenient to be used. Therewith target magnets can be implemented for this purpose. According to the embodiments of Fig. 1 , determining the current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance can also comprise determining an approximation of the position of the elevator component which requires maintenance.

[0056] This is for example useful in situations when the position magnet is located between different floors.

[0057] As shown in Fig. 1 , the method 1 further comprises a step 6 of forwarding the generated request for maintenance of an elevator component to a service technician to instruct the service technician to service / maintain the component which requires maintenance.

[0058] Therein, the forwarding can be based on a wired and / or a wireless communication. For example, the forwarding can be based on telemetry messages. The request for the telemetry can include for instance a number how many times a safety controller (like the KCEMSC for example (= KONE Controller Electrification safety controller)) shall send the message and interval for sending the message.

[0059] It is also possible that KCEMSC send the telemetry continuously after it has been requested until KCECPU indicates that it has received the data.

[0060] Further, the node within the diagnostic system who has detected the issue that requires maintenance can be configured to directly forward the request for maintenance of an elevator component. Therein, the corresponding logic can be implemented in each node of the diagnostic system.

[0061] Forwarding the generated request for maintenance of an elevator component can further comprise forwarding the request to a cloud or directly forwarding the locally, wherein local analysis of the acquired data can be made. Therein, the locally forwarded date can also be used for checking the latest status of the failure when a service technician has arrived at the site. According to the embodiments of Fig. 1 , the step 6 of forwarding the generated request for maintenance of an elevator component to a service technician comprises continuously forwarding the request for maintenance of an elevator component to the service technician until the service technician acknowledges receipt of the request for maintenance of an elevator component.

[0062] Alternatively, the request can be forwarded a predetermined number of times and in predetermined intervals, wherein the predetermined number of times and the predetermined intervals can for example depend on the corresponding failure.

[0063] As shown in Fig. 1 , the method further comprises a step 7 of executing, by the control system, the determined optimal elevator car trip to access the elevator component which requires maintenance.

[0064] Therein, the elevator system can comprise a position measurement system for positioning the elevator car at said specified location. In that case the control system may extend the trip directly to the elevator component subject to maintenance. In an alternative solution the optimal elevator car trip may end to the closest possible position, such that service technician standing on a corresponding service platform, which can be on the elevator car roof or inside the car, can without difficulties continue with low- speed manual service drive to the position where the elevator component can be accessed. The control system is thus able to calculate and generate test instructions for the special automated elevator car trip to the specified location along with data of the positioning system.

[0065] Therein, the optimal elevator car trip can be started automatically or after an authentication code, for example a PIN code has been entered by the service technician, wherein the authentication code can for example be generated by the diagnostic system and be forwarded to the service technician with the request for maintenance of an elevator component, or alternatively the authentication code can be forwarded to the service technician at any time before the corresponding service operation is started. With an NHR elevator, which means having No-HeadRoom in the elevator shaft and thus does not provide any natural refuge space in the upper portion of an elevator shaft for a service technician working on a car roof, the car can be driven to the position of the failed component with a normal run, wherein the ceiling is then to be opened and the service platform to be lowered inside the closed car. In this respect, the run can be triggered for example with a PIN code or by other authentication mechanisms.

[0066] Further, an audible sound can be generated when the elevator car has reached the corresponding desired position at which the service technician can start his operation at the component. For example, a buzzer (under the car) can give an audible indication that the correct location has been reached.

[0067] After the desired position has been reached, the service technician can then use the top of car inspection mode, respectively the slow speed of the inspection mode to fine tune the position to get access to the failed component.

[0068] According to the embodiments of Fig. 1 , after the determined optimal elevator car trip has been executed, new starts of the elevator car for a run in the normal operation mode can be made to be first possible after the elevator component which requires maintenance has been serviced.

[0069] Fig. 2 illustrates a system for servicing / maintaining an elevator component in an elevator system according to embodiments of the invention.

[0070] As shown in Fig. 2, the system comprises an elevator system 1 1 and a forwarding device 12 configured to forward a request for maintenance of an elevator component generated by the elevator system 1 1 to a service technician to instruct the service technician to service / maintain the elevator component which requires maintenance. Therein, the forwarding device can for example be a transmitter, for example a transmitter configured to transmit telemetry messages.

[0071] As further shown in Fig. 2, the elevator system 1 1 comprises a plurality of elevator components 13 arranged in an elevator shaft, an elevator car 14, a diagnostic system 15 communicatively coupled to one or more of the plurality of elevator components and configured to monitor one or more of the plurality of elevator components 13, and a control system 16 configured to operate the elevator car 14, wherein the elevator system 1 1 further comprises at least one acquiring device 17 configured to acquire information related to the operation of one or more of the plurality of elevator components 13, and wherein the diagnostic system 15 is configured to determine, whether one of the one or more of the plurality of elevator components 13 requires maintenance based on the acquired information, and, if it is determined that one or more of the plurality of elevator components 13 requires maintenance, determine a current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance based on the acquired information and generate a request for maintenance of an elevator component, wherein the request for maintenance of an elevator component comprises identification information about the elevator component which requires maintenance and information about the current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance, and wherein the elevator system 1 1 further comprises a providing device 18 configured to provide the request for maintenance of an elevator component.

[0072] Therein, the providing device can for example be a transmitter and configured to provide the generated request for further processing, for example for forwarding to the service technician by the forwarding device.

[0073] According to the embodiments of Fig. 2, the diagnostic system 15 is further configured to, if it is determined that one of the one or more of the elevator components requires maintenance, determine an optimal elevator car trip to access the elevator component which requires maintenance based on the current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance. Therein, the diagnostic system can for example be configured to determine the optimal elevator car trip based on code relating to corresponding algorithms and / or machine learning techniques that have been trained by corresponding labelled training data or historical data, wherein the code is stored in a memory and processable by a processor.

[0074] According to the embodiments of Fig. 2, the diagnostic system 15 is configured to determine the exact position of the elevator component which requires maintenance.

[0075] The diagnostic system is additionally configured to determine an approximation of the position of the elevator component which requires maintenance.

[0076] Therein, the determination can for example again be based on code stored in a memory and processable by a processor.

[0077] According to the embodiments of Fig. 2, the forwarding device 12 is again configured to continuously forward the request for maintenance of an elevator component to the service technician until the service technician acknowledges receipt of the request for maintenance of an elevator component.

[0078] Further, a control device of the control system is configured to execute the determined optimal elevator car trip to access the elevator component which requires maintenance.

[0079] Therein, the control device can be communicatively coupled to the diagnostic system.

[0080] According to the embodiments of Fig. 2, the system 10 is further configured in such a way that, after the determined optimal elevator car trip has been executed, elevator operation in the normal mode is first possible after the elevator component which requires service / maintenance has been maintained. The shown system 10 is further configured to execute a method for servicing / maintaining an elevator component in an elevator system as described above. Reference Numerals: elevator system 1 / 11 forwarding device 12 elevator components 13 elevator car 14 diagnostic system 15 control system 16 acquiring device 17 providing device 18

Claims

AMENDED CLAIMS received by the International Bureau on 27 May 2025 (27.05.2025)1. A method for generating a request for service / maintenance of an elevator component (13) in an elevator system (1; 11 ), wherein the elevator system comprises a plurality of elevator components arranged in an elevator shaft, an elevator car (14), a diagnostic system (15) communicatively coupled to one or more of the plurality of elevator components (13) and configured to monitor one or more of the plurality of elevator components, and a control system (16) configured to operate the elevator car (14), the method comprising the steps of:Acquiring information related to the operation of one or more of the plurality of elevator components (13);- Determining, by the diagnostic system (15), whether one of the one or more of the plurality of elevator components require(s) service / maintenance based on the acquired information:If it is determined that one or more of the plurality of elevator components require(s) service / maintenance, determining a current location of the elevator component which require(s) service / maintenance based on the acquired information and generating, by the diagnostic system (15), a request for service / maintenance of an elevator component, wherein the service / maintenance request comprises identification information about the elevator component which requires service / maintenance and information about the current location of the elevator component (13) which requires service / maintenance and providing the request for service / maintenance of an elevator component, characterized in that the diagnostic system determines an optimal elevator car trip to access the elevator component which requires service / maintenance based on the current location of the elevator component which requires service / maintenance, wherein the current location of the elevator component which requires service / maintenance comprises either determining by the diagnostic system theexact position of the elevator component which requires service / maintenance or comprises determining by the diagnostic system an approximation of the position of the elevator component which requires service / maintenance.

2. A method for servicing / maintaining an elevator component (13) in an elevator system (1; 1 1 ), wherein the elevator system comprises a plurality of elevator components (13) arranged in an elevator shaft, an elevator car (14), a diagnostic system (15) communicatively coupled to one or more of the plurality of elevator components, and a control system (16) configured to operate the elevator car, wherein the method comprises:Acquiring information related to the operation of one or more of the plurality of elevator components (13);Generating a request for service / maintenance of an elevator component based on the acquired information using a method for generating a request for service / maintenance of an elevator component according to one of claim 1; andForwarding the generated request for service / maintenance of an elevator component to a service technician to instruct the service technician to service / maintain the elevator component which requires service / maintenance.

3. Method according to claim 2, wherein the step of forwarding the generated request for service / maintenance of an elevator component (13) to a service technician comprises continuously forwarding the request for service / maintenance of an elevator component to the service technician until the service technician acknowledges receipt of the request for service / maintenance of an elevator component (13).

4. Method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the method further comprises:- Executing, by the control system (16), the determined optimal elevator car trip to access the elevator component (13) which requires service / maintenance.

5. Method according to claim 4, wherein, after the determined optimal elevator car trip has been executed, normal elevator operation is first possible after the elevator component which requires service / maintenance has been maintained.

6. Elevator system (1 ; 1 1 ), wherein the elevator system comprises a plurality of elevator components (13) arranged in an elevator shaft, an elevator car (14), a diagnostic system (15) communicatively coupled to one or more of the plurality of elevator components and configured to monitor one or more of the plurality of elevator components (13), and a control system (16) configured to operate the elevator car (14), wherein the elevator system further comprises at least one acquiring device (17) configured to acquire information related to the operation of one or more of the plurality of elevator components, and wherein the diagnostic system (15) is configured to determine, whether one of the one or more of the plurality of elevator components requires service / maintenance based on the acquired information, and, if it is determined that one or more of the plurality of elevator components requires service / maintenance, determine a current location of that elevator component based on the acquired information and generate a request for service / maintenance of an elevator component, wherein said request comprises identification information about the elevator component which requires service / maintenance and information about the current location of the elevator component, and wherein the system further comprises a providing device configured to provide the request for service / maintenance of an elevator component, characterized in that the diagnostic system (15) is further configured to, if it is determined that one of the one or more of the elevator components requires service / maintenance, determine an optimal elevator car trip to access the elevator component (13) based on the current location of the elevator component which requires maintenance, wherein the diagnostic system (15) is configured to determine the exact position of the elevator component (13) which requires service / maintenance or an approximation of the position of the elevator component (13) which requires service / maintenance.

7. System for servicing / maintaining an elevator component (13) in an elevator system (1 ;1 1 ), wherein the system comprises an elevator system according to one of claim 6 and a forwarding device (12) configured to forward the generated request for service / maintenance of an elevator component to a service technician to instruct the service technician to service / maintain the elevator component which requires service / maintenance.

8. System according to claim 7, wherein the forwarding device is configured to continuously forwarding the request for service / maintenance of an elevator component (13) to the service technician until the service technician acknowledges receipt of the request for service / maintenance of an elevator component.

9. System according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the control system (16) is configured to execute the determined optimal elevator car trip to access the elevator component which requires service / maintenance.

10. System according to claim 9, wherein the system is configured in such a way that, after the determined optimal elevator car trip has been executed, new starts of the elevator car (14) are first possible after the elevator component (13) which required service / maintenance has been serviced.

Images