Passenger Conveyor Drive Support With External Motor Mounting
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing escalator and moving walkway systems face challenges with high load forces requiring robust and complex drive systems, which occupy excessive space and incur high manufacturing costs, especially in extra-long designs, and maintenance is cumbersome due to integrated components.
Innovation Solution
A passenger conveying system with a drive unit where motors are mounted outside the supporting structure, supported by an orthogonal projection, using a hypoid gearbox and detachable support, allowing for modular assembly and easy maintenance, reducing space requirements and costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If motors are mounted inside the supporting structure, then the drive system is compact, but the gearbox must be very robust and rigid to support motor forces, making it large and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the motors from the supporting structure and mounts them on a separate support structure. This separation removes the motors and their forces from the supporting structure, allowing the gearbox housing to be smaller and less complex while still providing adequate support for the drive shaft.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the gearbox housing serves as support for motors and drive shaft, then it provides structural stability, but it becomes very large and expensive to manufacture
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the support function from the gearbox housing by introducing a separate support structure. The support structure handles all motor mounting and force absorption, while the gearbox housing focuses solely on transmitting drive forces, making it smaller and cheaper to manufacture.
3Volume of moving object
If drive unit components are integrated within the supporting structure, then the system is compact, but maintenance requires removal of the entire drive unit requiring considerable space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the motors from the supporting structure and mounts them on a separate support structure that extends below the supporting structure. This allows motors to be accessed and maintained from below without removing the entire drive unit, while still maintaining a compact overall system.
4Ease of operation
If a separate drive frame is used completely separate from supporting structure, then motors are easily accessible, but enormous tensile forces act between the two components requiring secure anchoring
Solution Approach 1:
The patent positions the support structure in a different spatial dimension by extending it below the supporting structure. This vertical extension allows motor mounting away from the main structure while maintaining proximity through the extended support, reducing tensile forces compared to a completely separate drive frame.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to a passenger transport system (1) comprising a circulating transport belt (25) and comprising a drive (41) for driving the belt. The drive (41) has a motor (80), a connecting gear unit (83) and a drive shaft (84) which is operatively connected via the connecting gear unit (83) to the motor (80). The passenger transport system (1) has a supporting structure (11) in which the transport belt (25) is movably guided and the drive shaft (84) is rotatably mounted. The passenger transport system (1) also has a support (33) which is arranged in the region of a first end (8) of the supporting structure (11) in order to support the first end (8) of the supporting structure (11) against a building structure (3). The support (33) projects from a bottom (U) of the supporting structure (11) and from the supporting structure (11) in an orthogonal direction relative to the longitudinal extent of the supporting structure (11). The motor (80) is secured to the support (33) outside of an interior space (12) bounded by the supporting structure (11).